#2 City on hills

As I told in previous blog, the first impression of Belo Horizonte was nothing special but after 2 nights I moved to another hostel, just 2km away from the first one and I saw another face of the city. City was built in 19th century to be the capital of Minas Gerais state - as the whole state - in the hills.

Main avenue - Avenida das Amazonas

Wherever you want to go in this huge city, you have to beat at least two hills. First day in new hostel I went to the main city attraction to Freedom square (Praca de Liberdade) - and I could see, why it is the main square in Belo Horizonte - many fountains, palm trees, many people just chilling there, some of them singing, dancing samba - everyone relaxing. Seeing that made me more relaxed too.

Panorama of Freedom square

Praca de Lberdade - Freedom Square

On the northern side of the city is also one very nice place to visit - Pampulha lake. It took me and my host here more than 1 hour to get there, but it was worth it. We stepped from bus directly in front of stadium Mineirao - the place where Germany won Brazil 7 to 1 at last world cup in 2014. There was match of Cruzeiro team and fans were gathering like 3h before the match. Next to stadium is smaller stadium Mineirinho - in front of which there was some market (it was Sunday) and where I could taste a lot of Brazilian Sweets. The most impressive was nectar made from sugarcane in front of me - like they were putting wooden sticks into the machine and squeeze the juice out of them. Then we went to the lake - nice lake, a lot of families, first feeling of nature after few days, I also saw lake animals - Capivaras and very strangely build church of Saint Francis of Asiss.

Mineirao stadium

Church of Saint Francis of Asiss

Capivaras - lake animals

For the night drinks and hanging I highly recommend Savassi area of the city, with many bars and relaxed people. 

For me, this was first city in South America so I did not know what to expect. I saw a lot of different perspectives of the city, but at the end I can conclude I felt mostly safe and the city is worth of visiting, maybe for 3 or 4 days. 

Now I am in Foz do Igaussu and blog from this amazing part is coming soon!

Best regards,

Simon