Ouro Preto and Mariana

This UNESCO World Heritage site had developed to become the most important town of Minas Gerais during the gold rush age. It was connected to the distant commercial port of Paraty by the "Caminho do Ouro" (Gold Trail) road through which the precious metal made its way to the Portuguese shores when not plundered by pirates. Revolutionary ideas that took shape here didn't go too far and basically ended with the execution of the leader, nicknamed Tiradentes, on the gallows in the homonym main square. The historical city center hasn't changed much since and features fine examples of Baroque style buildings and churches. Shouldn't noisy vehicles tread the cobbled streets, a travel back in time would be almost perfect. Some streets are really steep and the occasional smell of burned clutches is no surprise to pedestrians who quickly get out of the way of incoming traffic. Not that I wanted to try and check, but I doubt that anybody would ever stop and yield to pedestrians. Pavement can be very slippery even if bone dry and I imagine it can pose a serious threat on rainy days.

Free-admission Casa dos Contos, where gold tax was collected, is an interesting building and museum. The basement hosts questionable artifacts from the slavery period, items that should never have been invented.
It's also worth seeing the Mina da Passagem, the most generous gold mine in the entire area, which still holds gold although too costly to be extracted. From Ouro Preto's main square, Praça Tiradentes, the bus to Mariana stops in front of the mine just west of this town, also worth seeing for its well preserved historical center.



Tour GPS tracklog available here:

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=792797