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Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo
Separated from the Atlantic by the small state of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais in particular attracts visitors to its beautiful colonial-era cities, to its spa resorts created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and to Belo Horizonte, its thriving capital.
The state's main administrative, industrial and cultural metropolis, Belo Horizonte, lies in the center of the rich agricultural hinterland
And a miner who transformed the state into one of Brazil's economic powerhouses
From the coffee estates in the west of Minas to the mines and cattle pastures in the Rio Doce valley in the east.
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The biggest cities in the region, apart from Belo Horizonte, are Juiz de Fora in the south, Governador Valadares in the east
Visit these cities in Minas Gerais
And Uberaba and Uberlândia, to the west, all modern and uninteresting; only Belo Horizonte can honestly be recommended as worth visiting.
All miners, however, would agree that the soul of the state lies in the rural areas
In the hills of colonial times and in the towns and cities of its vast interior.
North of Belo Horizonte, the grassy slopes and occasional stretches of forest are quickly replaced by the trees and savannahs of the Central Plateau
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In the northeast of Minas Gerais, through the cactus, rock and perennial drought of the sertão
As desperately poor and economically backward as anywhere in the northeast.
The northern part of the state is physically dominated by the hills and mountains of the Espinhaço mountain range
A strip that runs north-south across the state like a huge dorsal fin before disappearing south of Belo Horizonte.
To the east, the Jequitinhonha River sustains life in the parched landscapes of the Minas Gerais hinterland; to the west lies the São Francisco River valley
Almost to the coast of the Northeast
Which climbs here before winding its way through the northeastern interior.
The far west of the state is known as the Triângulo Mineiro, a rich agricultural region, but uninteresting for visitors
Centered on the city of Uberlândia, with much closer economic ties to São Paulo than to the rest of Minas Gerais.
In the southwest of the state, in fact, in beautiful mountainous landscapes near the border with São Paulo
There are several spa towns built around mineral springs, including the small, tranquil resorts of São Lourenço and Caxambu.
The historic cities of Minas Gerais, "the historic cities"
They represent some of the best examples of Portuguese colonial architecture
And they are certainly repositories of a great flowering of 18th century Baroque religious art
Sacred art from Minas Gerais was the best work of its time in the Americas
Minas Gerais represented by "Aleijadinho"
And Minas Gerais can claim arguably the greatest figure in Brazilian cultural history, the mulatto leopard sculptor Aleijadinho
Their magnificent work is scattered throughout the state's beautifully preserved historic cities.
The most important of the historic cities are Ouro Preto, Mariana and Sabará, all within easy reach of Belo Horizonte
Modern capital of the state, and Congonhas, São João del Rei, Tiradentes and Diamantina.
Espírito Santo is the kind of place you rarely hear about, even in Brazil.
With the exception of its coastal resorts, it is almost completely off the tourist map.
This is hard to understand, as the interior of the state claims to be one of the most beautiful parts of Brazil.
Settled mainly by Italians and Germans, it has a disconcertingly European feel,
Cows graze in front of German-looking farmhouses and, if it weren't for the heat
Palm trees, coffee bushes and hummingbirds scurrying about, you can imagine yourself somewhere in the foothills of the Alps.
Trips to Espirito Santo
A large number of people from Minas Gerais go to Espírito Santo on vacation, but they are only interested in the beaches, which Minas Gerais, which has no coastline, lacks.
This has the effect of cramming all the crowds into an easily avoidable coastal strip, leaving the interior free for you to explore.
The only places of any size in Espírito Santo are Vitória, a very dirty city
Saved by a good location (on an island surrounded by mountains and granite outcrops) and Vila Velha, its equally uninspiring twin city.
During colonial times, these were some of the points on the coast that could be easily defended by the Botocudo Indians.
That's one of the reasons why the interior is relatively thin
The other is the great difficulty of communicating in the steep, densely wooded hills.
The semi-deciduous rainforest that once covered much of Brazil's southern coast still survives here relatively unscathed
And this is what the south of Minas Gerais looked like before the gold rush.
The best way to see the region is to visit the towns that began as German and Italian colonies:
Santa Teresa, Santa Leopoldina, Santa Maria, Domingos Martins and Venda Nova,
The latter near the remarkable granite face of Pedra Azul, one of the country's lesser-known but most spectacular sights.
