On the Road!

Decided to have a holiday within a holiday and head south from Rio by bus for 5 hours to the old colonial Portuguese town of Paraty - it lived its first boom on the Gold Route and its second in the coffee era. The gold used to come from the inland town of Ouro Preto (Black Gold) to Paraty on the coast for transportation by sea to Rio de Janeiro and then back to Portugal. The problem was the pirates hiding in the coves and islands. When a safer overland route was established to Rio, Paraty’s ‘golden’ days were over. The town lives on tourism now and also a hugely successful and influential literary festival.

Our last visit was 21 years ago!

The extras show the trip down and the beautiful guest house/pousada we have landed in through Dd's great research, including the beautiful cool-silk aircon!