Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Exploring Minas Gerais
Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, is the
focus of life here. Most colonial mining towns,
including Ouro Preto and Congonhas, lie immediately
to its south. Mariana, another colonial city south of
Belo Horizonte, is still a working mining center.
Farther south, and a day's drive from the capital is the
hilly Serra da Canastra National Park. Northern Minas
is much wilder, with large tracts of
cerrado
forest in
the Serra do Cipó and around Diamantina. The
extreme north is arid, dominated by the
sertão
, a
region of scrub and grassland, whose distinct culture
and language was mythologized in the most famous
of all Brazilian novels,
Grande Sertão: Veredas
, by
João Guimarães Rosa
(see p31)
.
Painting inside Igreja Nossa
Senhora do Carmo, Diamantina
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SIGHTS AT A GLANCE
KEY
Highway
Towns & Cities
Belo Horizonte
3
Diamantina
1
Mariana
5
Ouro Preto pp126-8
4
São João del Rei
8
Tiradentes
7
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Major road
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Minor road
Railroad
State border
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National Parks & Areas
of Natural Beauty
Parque Nacional Serra da
Canastra
9
Parque Nacional Serra
do Cipó
2
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Historic Buildings
Basílica do Senhor Bom
Jesus de Matosinhos,
Congonhas
pp130-31
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Ouro Preto, the architecturally stunning colonial city in Minas Gerais
For additional map symbols
see back flap
