Ouro Preto, Brazil Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

The drive to OURO PRETO , 100km southeast of Belo Horizonte, begins unpromisingly with endless industrial complexes and favelas spread over the hills, but in its later stretches becomes spectacular, winding around hill country 1000m above sea level and passing several valleys where patches of forest survive: imagine the entire landscape covered with it and you have an idea of what greeted the gold-seekers in the 1690s. On arrival, the first thing that strikes you is how small the town is, considering that until 1897 it was the capital of Minas – its population is still only around 65,000. That said, you can … more »