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From Angra, Highway 101 winds around Bafa da Ilha Grande until it reaches the Bay of Paratf, which offers visitors a trove of beaches and islands. The Guaiana, who supplied the first European sailors with brazilwood and spices, were the original inhabitants of Parati, the "Pearl of the Colonial Era." In the 19th century the town was an port for the export of gold from Minas Gerais, and later coffee from the Vale do Paraf. But after independence was declared, the gold remained in the region. Roads were built, though the harbor proved to be too shallow for large vessels, and Parati was more or less forgotten - a fortunate occurrence, in the opinion of many enchanted inhabitants and visitors! Car traffic is banned in most of the colonial town center, which has changed little since the 18th century and is a protected national monument.
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No one ever forgets Paratf, with its picturesque winding streets, which, as one strolls through them, reward the alert visitor with occasional brief but almost heart-rendingly beautiful glimpses of the bay against the the luminous backdrop of the densely forested Serra do Mar, whose peaks rise to a height of 1,600 meters. Many corner beams of the town's two-story colonial structures are embellished, and colorfully painted window frames and doors abound. The museum of religious art in the church of Santa Rita de Cassia (1722) is well worth a visit, too. During colonial times only whites were allowed to worship in it, and blacks consequently built their own Nossa Senhora do Rosdrio dos Homens Pretos three years later.
Demand for sugar-cane spirits called pinga used to be strong enough to keep 150 sugar refineries and distilleries busy. Today, however, only Engenho do Vapor is still in operation, but it is not open to the public. |
