Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
served at this stylish place with a terrace (often with live
jazz). With delightful views onto a small park and the river
you can expect to pay about R$28-35 for a pizza or plate of
pasta.
Daily
noon-midnight.
Quinto do Ouro
Rua Conde de Bobadela (aka Rua
Direita) 76
T
31 3552 2633,
W
quintodoouro.com.br.
Thankfully, for those on a tight budget, there are also
several cheap places to eat in town, including this attractive
lanchonete
, with an excellent
por quilo
buffet (R$42/kg).
Daily 11am-3pm.
DRINKING AND NIGHTLIFE
During term time, and at the weekend, steep
Rua Conde de Bobadela
(aka Rua Direita), leading up to Praça Tiradentes,
is packed with students spilling out of bars and cafés. Beer drinkers should try one of the excellent local brews from
Cervejaria Ouropretana
(
W
ouropretana.com.br), available all over town.
2
★
Bar Barroco
Rua Conde de Bobadela (Rua Direita)
106
T
31 3551 3032.
Hip student dive bar with wooden
benches and gra
ti-smothered walls. Has plenty of live
music (mostly MPB and jazz) and tasty
coxhimba
(fried
chicken or cheese-filled
pasteles
).
Mon-Sat noon-2am.
Choperia Real
Rua Barão de Camargos 8
T
31 3551
1584.
A few psychedelic paintings decorate this popular
joint, with tables on the cobbled street in front the perfect
spot for a
chopp
on a warm evening. There's live bossa nova
or MPB most nights from 8pm, though the food isn't that
great.
Daily noon-2am.
O Sótão
Rua São José 201
T
31 3552 3804.
Fun,
colourful paintings decorate this student-friendly place
with straw lightshades casting shadows on the walls. Does
cheap buffets at lunch and excellent
rodizio
(Tues-Sun
from 5pm; R$25), as well as
cachaças
and light bites such as
filled pancakes. From 8pm live and relaxing samba, MPB
and bossa nova set the mood.
Tues-Sun noon-2am.
DIRECTORY
Hospital
Santa Casa de Misericórdia, Rua José Moringa
620, Bairro Bauxita (24hr;
T
31 3551 1133).
Internet
Compuway
, Praça Tiradentes 52 (Mon-Fri
8am-9pm, Sat 8am-6pm);
Raitai
, Rua Paraná 100 (daily
9am-9pm).
Laundry
Ask at your hotel/hostel as there are no self-
service laundries downtown. Nacente Lavanderia, at Rua
dos Inconfidentes 5 (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm, Sat 8am-noon),
picks up and drops off washing.
Money and exchange
All the major banks with ATMs
and exchange facilities are located along Rua São José;
HSBC (
T
31 3551 2048) is at Rua São José 201, while Banco
do Brasil is at Rua São José 189.
Post o
ce
Rua Conde de Bobadela (Rua Direita) 180
(Mon-Fri 9am-5pm;
T
31 3551 1855); also at Rua Getúlio
Vargas 233 near Rosário church (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm,
Sat 9am-noon).
Mariana
A thirty-minute bus ride from Ouro Preto, lovely
MARIANA
, founded in 1696 and
named after King Dom João V's wife Maria Ana de Austria, is home to two of Minas's
most elegant town squares and a beautifully preserved colonial centre. In the first half
of the eighteenth century the town was far grander than its younger rival 12km to the
west (Ouro Preto) and acted as the administrative centre of the gold mines of central
Minas until the 1750s. The town can be visited as a day-trip from Ouro Preto, but it's
also a great place to stay should you wish to escape the hordes of tourists elsewhere.
Buses drop you at the base of the hill and colonial district along the main commercial
drag, Avenida Salvador Furtado (the information o
ce is here too). Rua Padre Lopes
leads one block south to Praça Cláudio Manoel, in front of the large Catedral Basílica;
from here, Rua Frei Durão, lined with several of the most notable eighteenth-century
public buildings, leads to the exquisite
Praça Gomes Freire
. Continue in a loop to Praça
João Pinheiro, then back down Rua Dom Silvério to the bus stop.
Catedral de Nossa Senhora da Assunção
Praça Cláudio Manoel • Tues-Sun 8am-6pm; organ recitals Fri 11.30am, Sun 12.15pm • R$2; organ recitals R$25 •
W
arqmariana.com.br
Dominating Praça Cláudio Manoel, the oldest church in Mariana is the
Catedral de
Nossa Senhora da Assunção
(aka Catedral da Sé), begun in 1713 and choked with
gilded Rococo detail. his is very much an Aleijadinho family venture: his father,
Manoel Francisco Lisboa, designed and built it, while Aleijadinho contributed the
