Ouro Preto

3rd – 5th May 2008

Following our sleepless night, we made it to Ouro Preto and were at our hostel by 11am! Ady had a lie down to recover, Sam had lunch with 30 european students, and their guide, in the hostel. By the time Ady woke up, it was 6pm and time to go out and explore. By now it was dark, so the proper sight seeing would have to wait until the morning.

Ouro Preto is the former state capital of Minas Gerais, with cobbled streets that wind up and down steep hills crowned with 13 churches. Mansions, fountains, terraced gardens, ruins, towers shining with coloured tiles, all blend together to maintain a delightful 18th century atmosphere.

We walked around the town and found a Comida a Kilo place for dinner… Afterwards, our guide book recommended a place for desserts. Having got our sweet tooth’s back (and knowing we didn’t have the pressure of having to strut our stuff on the beach for at least 2 months) we decided a nice big slice of cake was in order. Still tired, we headed to bed and prepared for a busy day sightseeing!

13 churches are situated around Ouro Preto. We looked in 2. When you’ve seen two…! We visited one of the many mines in the town, and crawled around the tunnels.

We then took the Trem da Vale steam train to the next town, a scenic journey of 18kms through the mountains – you can see the pictures here.

In the evening, we headed out for what turned out to be a very mediocre pizza. Still feeling hungry, we had some cake again. This time, black forest gateaux. Mmmmm.

Having spent 2 nights in Ouro Preto, we decided that we needed go somewhere without the temptation of cake. We had been recommended to visit a monastery in a national park, not too far from Ouro Preto. It sounded like a bit of a mission to get there, but we were up for the challenge. 1 bus per day left Ouro Preto for the nearest town to the Monastory, at 7.25am. This should be interesting!