Tourism & Travel: Sabará | State of Minas Gerais | Brazil

Tourism & Travel: Sabará | State of Minas Gerais | Brazil

Sabará is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the microregion of Belo Horizonte.

Located in a majestic valley where the Velhas and the Sabará Rivers meet, this beautiful city in Minas Gerais emerged from the 18th Century gold rush. Few cities were able to keep their architecture virtually intact like Sabará, so much so that the entire history of an era can be told just by walking down its streets.

Sabará is a faithful portrait of one of the most fascinating periods in Brazilian history, told through its churches baroque architecture, through the mines hidden in the mountains, through the wooden troughs and other crude instruments used in gold extraction. Many of these, by the way, can be found at the bottom of the rivers

To walk the streets and city neighborhoods is to know part of the glorious saga of those explorers who searched for gold, and how the emerging Minas society was formed. It is also to be in an open-air museum.

That’s why the city catches the interest of tourists and scholars alike who can admire the best representative engravings of the baroque movement in the urban center.

Sabará is located in the Gold Circuit in the central tourist area of Minas Gerais. The main attractions are the townhouses, churches and big houses spread about the city’s narrow and centuries-old streets.

• Events
  

Holy Week
Holy Week is a tradition in the city and it is celebrated with the re-enactment of Christ’s Passion and Death in a very beautiful presentation. Presentations of solemn liturgies, the Via Sacra of Penitence and several processions are also part of the celebrations.

Sabará Festival
During the entire month of July, activities and cultural workshops are held to celebrate the elevation of Sabará to the Royal Villa.

Our Lady of Assumption Festivity
This is a traditional celebration in the Ravena district (former Arraial da Lapa), one of the first settlements in the region. A novena, little stands, Mass, music shows, auctions and a procession are highlights at the traditional event.

Cachaça (Sugar Cane Rum) Festival
This festival is held on the Esportes Square with cachaça tasting and selling of the best sugar cane rums in Minas Gerais. Little stands, music shows, the Best Cachaça Contest and the Best Snack Food.

Festival of the Divine
This is one of the city’s traditional parties, with the participation of the Butler and the Emperor, who organize the entire event together with the Society for the Divine Holy Spirit. The highlights include the raising of the flagpole and flag, processions, the distribution of bread and medals.

• Attractions
  

Our Lady of the Rosary Church
Work began in 1768 and it portrays the faith and strength of the African Negro. The slaves decided to build their own church, but the decline in gold mine activity did not permit it to be completed.

Our Lady of Carmo Church
This is one of the most spectacular stages for the art and geniality of Antônio Francisco Lisboa, the Aleijadinho. The images of San Juan de La Cruz, Saint Simon Stock and the Atlantes are attributed to the artist.

Saint Francis of Assisi Church
Before its construction, the site was home to a simple, rustic chapel dedicated to Our Lady Queen of the Angels, to whom Saint Francis was devoted. Work began in 1781, and truly accelerated between 1798 and 1805.

Municipal Theater
This is the second oldest theater in Brazil, and still in full operation. It has excellent acoustics and its architectonic lines are influenced by the English Theaters during the reign of Elizabeth I. That”s why it is also called the Elizabethan Theater.

Museum of Gold
This is an authentic example of crude Brazilian colonial architecture of the 18th Century (1713). This old Foundry and Magistrate House (the only construction with these characteristics still standing in Brazil) served for some time as a school. It has a permanent exhibit of sacred art and furniture pieces on the upper floor, which was the Magistrate”s residence. The ground floor is paved with round stones and it exhibits pieces related to the extraction, foundry process, coining and control of gold.

Tourism & Travel: Urubici | State of Santa Catarina | Brazil

Tourism & Travel: Urubici | State of Santa Catarina | Brazil

The charming town of Urubici was founded in 1915, as the village of São Joaquim. Today, its natural beauties attract tourists and backpackers from all corners of Brazil looking for the landscapes of the mountain ridge of the state of Santa Catarina. Located in the valley of the Canoas river, the town has in its hills, valleys, trails and waterfalls perfect places for those who want to rest or go for ecotourism and adventure tourism.

Urubici is part of the important São Joaquim National park, which is very rich in flora and fauna. The park has an area of 493 km2 (190.34 square miles) and is divided between the fields on top of the ridge, where we have the lowest temperatures in Brazil, and the area at the foot of the ridge, with temperature around the 20°C (68°F). A visit to it reveals incredible landscapes, such as the Laranjeiras Canyon (Canyon of the Orange Trees) and the famous Pedra Furada (Holed Rock), which can be seen from the Morro da Igreja (Church Hill), known as the highest point in the South of Brazil, with 1,827 meters (5,994.09 ft.) of altitude. In the surroundings of the town there are other places that deserve a visit, such as the Avencal Waterfall, with 100 meters (328.08 ft.) of free fall, and indigenous caves that are found in the area. There it is possible to see rupestral engravings which date back to more than four thousand years ago. In the severe winter, between the months of June and August, there can be some snow, which gives a European appearance to its streets. In 1996, the town registered the lowest temperature ever recorded in thermometers in Brazil, -17.8 °C (0.04°F). It is the ideal weather for those who like chatting in front of a fireplace, sipping some good wine, or just relax.

Throughout its history, Urubici suffered the influence of Portuguese, Italian, German, African and Latvian settlers, who have left their characteristics in its culture, arts, architecture, and cuisine. The city is also known as the land of the vegetables because of the variety and quality of the local production.

• Attractions
  

Morro da Igreja (Church Hill)
Located in the center of the São Joaquim Park, the Morro da Igreja is one of the most beautiful mountains of the area. With 1,822 meters (5,977.69 ft.) of altitude, it is the highest peak of the state, greatly sought by those who like mountain climbing and mountaineering. In clear days, it becomes a great belvedere to see the scarps of the General Mountain Ridge (Serra Geral) and the coast, at more than 60 kilometers (37.28 mi.) away from there. It was in the Morro da Igreja that the lowest temperature in Brazil of -17.8°C (0.04°F) was recorded.

Pedra Furada (Holed Rock)
A rocky formation with a window-shaped hole, with approximately 30 meters (98.43 ft.) of circumference, sculpted by the action of nature, in the middle of the Atlantic forest. It can be seen from the Morro da Igreja.

Springs of the Pelotas River
The springs of the Pelotas river are in an area of flooded fields, where there are many trails. From there it is also possible to see the Morro da Igreja (Church Hill).

Corvo Branco Mountain Ridge (White Crow Mountain Ridge)
One of the town’s most visited places, there is a road connecting Urubici to Grão-Pará, crossing its highest point, at 1,470 meters (4,822.83 ft.) of altitude. On the way there, it is possible to see canyons and deep valleys from many belvederes. In the winter it may snow in the area.

Avencal Waterfall
One of the most beautiful waterfalls of the area, the Avencal Waterfall has a fall of 88 meters (288.71 ft.). To get there, we have to walk for an 800-meter (874.89-yard) long trail.

Campestre Hill
Located at 8 km (4.97 mi.) from the center of Urubici, in that hill there is belvedere which offers partial view of the valley of the Canoas river. The best time of the day for visitation is right before the sunset.

History of the Brazilian Golf

History of the Brazilian Golf

Golfe is the Portuguese word that names this sport in Brazil, deriving from the English word golf, which, on its turn, comes from the German word kolb, which means club. There are many versions for the origin of that sport, a synonym of elegance, but the mostly likely one is that it was created in Scotland, around the year of 1400.

Its rules as they are known today were defined in the eighteenth century, in the year of 1744, in the Scottish city of Edinburgh. And the games consists in going from a certain place, in an open field, and put the ball into holes that are strategically placed at varying distances, with the fewest strokes possible. Games are normally played in courses of 18 holes, and the one who has the fewest number of strokes at the end of the 18 holes is the greatest winner.

The arrival of the sport to Brazil happened in a fairly curious way. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, English and Scottish engineers who were building the Santos–Jundiaí Railway convinced the Benedictine monks to cede them part of the area of the Saint Benedict Monastery (Mosteiro de São Bento, in Portuguese), so that they could make the first golf course in the country, in the area that is currently located between the Luz Station and the Tietê River.

The expansion of the city towards the river forced the transference of that course, in 1901, to a place near the confluence of the Paulista and Brigadeiro Luiz Antônio Avenues. Until today the place is called "Morro dos Ingleses" (Hill of the English), due to such “Englishmen” who used to play golf there.

In 1957, representative of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews – considered the creator of the modern golf – and of the United States Golf Association met in Washington, D.C., to organize the first world team championship. Brazil was invited to participate in it through Seymour G. Marvin, at the time the only Brazilian member of Saint Andrews.

Brazil was present in the World Amateur Team Championship in Saint Andrews, Scotland, with a team led by Seymour and also formed by Humberto de Almeida, Raul Borges, Sylvio Pinto Freire Jr., and João Barbosa Correa. Until today, Brazil and the United States are the only two countries to have participated in all world championships.

Today there are nearly 25,000 golfers in Brazil, and the sport is booming, thanks to the development of new projects and to the marketing initiatives aimed at fostering the practice of golf throughout the whole country.