On January me and my partner decided to travel by car a bit until we would move to another country.
The best option was to explore the neighbor state of Minas Gerais (MG) as we were living in the Federal District (DF) of Brazil.
'Till the end of the 17th century this state was habited by natives of the language family Macro-jê. Since that time all these tribes have been exterminated by colonizing people (**“bandeirantes”) from São Paulo who came here in the purpose of searching for indigenous people to be slaved and for gemstones.
I made our itinerary consisting on these destinations:
1. Belo Horizonte (capital city of MG, 716 km from DF)
In 1701 at this place was established Curral del Rei.
At the end of the 19th century the necessity of moving the actual metropolis (Ouro Preto) arised and Belo Horizonte was selected as the place with the best condition.
During the last century this city has grown memorably and became a megalopolis (more than 2,5 million inhabitants - 2018).
Unfortunately, it caused such a big change in architecture and urbanism that nowadays you can hardly discover all the gems of its history.
Thanks to my explorer soul I’ve found them out easily.
Image of the Américo Renné Gianetti lakeside with palm trees and greenary
Image od the Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem cathedral built in neo-gothic style
2. Ouro Preto - the most beautiful colonial town of brazilian hinterland
Our next step took us to this cozy center of gold mining, the real pearl of Brazil with old name Villa Rica.
It was founded in 1711 and in the 30’ of the same century had approximately 40.000 inhabitants already. At that tine Ouro Preto was twice bigger than New York, for example, and was considered as the most populous city of Latin America.
Sloping terrain (the best cardio fitness destination I’ve ever visited), narrow cobbled streets, typical coloured colonial houses, numerous churches, squares, old municipal buildings, gorgeous views all around, all that distinguishes this fenomenal town.
Take a look and you will understand. 
Panoramic image of Ouro Preto from the Igreja Matriz de Santa Efigênia church
Image of one “cardio” acclivitous cobbled street with colonial architecture and Araucária tree in the front
Image of the Museu da Inconfidência building at Praça Tiradentes square
3. São João del Rei
Another mining city on the southwest from Ouro Preto.
Image of the Igreja de São Francisco de Assis church with a wavy cobbled road at the front temple park
4. Tiradentes
One more pearl of mining towns in the state of Minas Gerais.
Image of one cobbled street with colonial houses in the historical center of Tiradentes