Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
9
Museu do Vinho Mário de Pellegrin
Praça do Coreto • Mon-Fri 9-11.30am & 1.30-5.30pm, Sat 9am-noon • R$2 •
T
49 3566 6133
The only attraction in town is the small but well-organized
Museu do Vinho
Mário
de Pellegrin
, housed in a traditional wooden building dating from 1931 on Praça do
Coreto, next to the pretty church, the
Igreja Matriz Imaculada Conceição
(1947).
he
museum chronicles local wine making in the early years of settlement. There's a
cantina
inside where you can taste the local vintages.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
VIDEIRA
By bus
Reunidas (
W
reunidas.com.br) runs buses from
Joaçaba to Videira (6 daily; 1hr 15min; R$18-20), and from
Videira to Treze Tílias at 8.20am & 6pm (1hr 5min; R$10).
Caçador
Some 35km northeast of Videira along the Rio do Peixe (and SC-303),
CAÇADOR
is very different in character from the largely agricultural settlements to the south,
with a workaday atmosphere, a landscape dominated by pine plantations and an
engaging museum.
Museu do Contestado
Getúlio Vargas 100 • Tues-Fri 8.30am-noon & 2-6pm, Sat & Sun 9am-5.30pm • R$2.50 •
T
49 3567 1582,
W
museudocontestado.com.br
The one reason to stop in Caçador is to visit the small but illuminating
Museu do
Contestado
, housed in the old train station. The museum commemorates the brutal
war ("
Guerra do Contestado
") that took place in the Rio do Peixe valley from 1912
to 1916 between the Brazilian government, which was protecting the interests of the
American-owned railway company that had been awarded huge land grants in the
region, and the displaced native and
caboclo
population led by a charismatic “monk”
named José Maria. The war eventually led to the deaths of 20,000 people, and
well-presented exhibits in the museum commemorate the lives of the local indigenous
peoples and
caboclos
who fought in the conflict. Outside the station is a perfectly
preserved 1907 Baldwin locomotive and passenger carriage.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
CAÇADOR
By bus
Reunidas (
W
reunidas.com.br) runs 2 daily buses
here direct from Florianópolis (11.15am & 8.30pm; 8hr).
Buses on to Chapecó (for the Museu Entomológico Fritz
Plaumann) depart at 1.15pm (6hr), and to Joaçaba (for
Treze Tílias) 4 times daily (3hr).
By car
If you're travelling north towards Paraná by car you
can take one of two possible routes; the paved SC-350 road
connecting to the BR-153 is the fastest, but it is much more
interesting to take the road to Calmon, a village on the
banks of the Rio do Peixe, and continue on north to União
da Vitória. The road is absolutely appalling but the
landscape is starkly dramatic, dominated by huge
plantations of imported pine trees and the occasional patch
of original Paraná pine.
Museu Entomológico Fritz Plaumann
Nova Teutônia • Mon-Thurs 8.30am-noon & 1-5pm, Sat 9am-4pm • R$3 •
T
49 3452 1191,
W
museufritzplaumann.ufsc.br
One of the few attractions in the far west of the state, the
Museu Entomológico Fritz
Plaumann
lies in
NOVA TEUTÔNIA
, an overwhelmingly German rural community some
20km west of the town of
Seara
(285km northwest of Lages). Housed in a large 1940s
wooden house typical of the region, the museum boasts what is quite possibly the most
important (if not the biggest) collection of
insects
in Latin America. Plaumann
(1902-94) arrived in Nova Teutônia from Germany in 1924 and went on to dedicate
his life to entomological studies, collecting 80,000 specimens representing 17,000
species, including 1500 that had previously been unknown. Pride of place goes to the
displays of butterflies at every stage of development, but what's truly impressive is that
the entire collection is supported by detailed notebooks, correspondence and other
documentation representing seventy years of Plaumann's professional and personal life.
