Ouro Preto - Day 1

Leaving Rio area today and driving 6 hours into the interior mountains. Which turned into a 7 hour drive because i made one small wrong turn. The highways and roads are so complicated in Rio and impossible to know which ramp is the right one sometimes as there will be several lanes all exiting at once to different roads. My gps will say exit right and there are 4 options to the right haha. And then finding a way back to where i need to be is even worse. Very challenging!

Once outside of Rio, it was smooth sailing. Very good roads through the mountains and almost always a divided highway. Finally reached Ouro Preto which is a gorgeous town built on the top and steep sides of a mountain. All narrow steep cobblestone streets, and quaint European buildings. And lots of huge ornate churches.

Arrived later than i wanted. Sun down is at 5:30pm here so i quickly picked a hotel that i had just drove past and set off exploring before it got too dark. Walked around the main plaza and tried to find a nice restaurant but almost everything was closed. Seems most things are closed on mondays. But then stumbled across a really nice cellar gastro pub with a hobbit sized door :) And made this my home for most of the evening before getting a good night's rest from a long day.Read more