Hello everyone!
Today I chose a super special and charming place in Brazil to show to you – Paraty. It is impossible not to fall in love with this place. This city located in between Rio and São Paulo has everything to please.
To start off, its historical heritage is one of the most well preserved from the time of colonial Brazil. The city was built in the late 16th century and grew a lot for being an important port, where ships departing with gold, diamonds, silver and coffee produced by skilled slave labor. Its streets are paved with stones, the houses are small and have colorful facades and the churches are beautiful with unusual designs. Imagine that the city was built by the Portuguese below sea level so that the water could invade the streets and thus make a cleaning with the intention of preventing epidemics. This still happens today, every day, in high tide times. When you least expect it, the streets near the beach begin to flood. It is very interesting.
An event that made the city develop was the Flip. An important literary fair which takes place every year in Paraty. However, in addition, the city was blessed by nature. It lies between the sea and the mountains. Its bay is beautiful and even has a fjord (where the sea meets with high mountains), the bag of Pantanal. Its access is difficult, just by speedboat, in traditional fishing boats or by long trails.
As for the mountains, the waterfalls are the stars. There are so many and so beautiful. Be sure to circulate through the Serra da Bocaina for the Cachoeira Pedra Branca, the Seven Falls and the waterfall of waterslide. But, choose days without movement to have everything just for you.
Paraty is also famous for its sugar cane brandies. It comes from the times of the Colonial period when there were more than a hundred distilleries in the city. The best known are the Paratiana, Maria Izabel, Engenho D’Ouro and Coqueiro. If you can, visit some stills and do cachaça tasting in the warehouse of Cachaça, in the historic center. The caiçara cuisine is another high point. The restaurants Banana da Terra and the Quinta das Letras are worth a booking. For dinner at an interesting place, to go to the Voilá Bistrô on the road connecting Paraty to Cunha, it is located in mid Atlantic Forest.
As for a nice place to stay, I recommend two hotels. The Casa Turquesa is my favorite. It is super exclusive with only 9 apartments and attentive service. Another super cute hotel is the Pousada Literária. It has a beautiful internal garden and a very cozy reading room.
Did you like the Paraty tips? Any question or concern, please leave them down below on the comments section so I can answer them.
XoXo and until next Tuesday!
