Ouro Preto

After having a great time in Belo Horizonte, Michael and I rented a car and drove 2 hours to the charming town of Ouro Preto – translated, Black Gold, as it was the focal point of Brazil’s gold rush in the 18th century. Ouro Preto is a former colonial mining town of about 60,000 people which has what seemed like just as many old, historic and very ornate churches (they are known for their Baroque architecture). The town is full of romantic little cobblestone streets that wind up and down the hills which provided us quite the workout each day as we explored. And at the top of every hill there seemed to be yet another breathtaking, picturesque view.

In Ouro Preto we basically just walked around (a lot), ate great food, saw museums, attended an awesome little classical music concert, checked out a million churches and had a great mass at one! Also, we stayed at an Oscar Niemeyer hotel which, although was not overly impressive in itself, was still a cool bonus about the trip. To all of my friends living in São Paulo, I would totally recommend making your way to Ouro Preto at some point. Here is a little of our visit in pictures…