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Estrada Real: Minas Gerais and its Hidden Treasure
The journey along the Estrada Real is full of adventures and gastronomic delights
Words by Ana Wambier and Gabriel Silvestre
Pictures: Acervo Instituto Estrada Real
featured on JungleDrums issue 55 March 2008
On the side of the last stretch of dirt road leaving the town of São Bartolomeu, a road sign indicates that Ouro Preto is only three kilometres away. If it had existed three hundred years ago, it would have come as a blessed relief to the representatives of the Portuguese Royal Family and the adventurers on their way to the richest city in the colony. Today, the effi cient sign post serves visitors who, driving along in their 4x4s, cycling on their mountain bikes or riding on horseback, are all coming towards the end of the Caminho Velho.
The Estrada Real was constructed at the end of the 17th Century to transport the gold found in the deposits situated in Minas Gerais to the coast, where it would be drained off in ships heading towards Europe. The fi rst route, knowon as Caminho Velho, connected Ouro Preto to Paraty, but later it was substituted by a shorter path, the Caminho Novo, to Rio de Janeiro. Later on, after the discovery of diamonds in the Diamantina region, a new extension was built giving the Estrada Real its inverted 'Y' shape and a total length of 1,633km.
Nowadays, the upkeep of the route is under the jurisdiction of the Estrada Real Institute, a non-profi t organisation created by the Industrial Federation of the State of Minas Gerais (FIEMG), with the express aim of promoting tourism and business opportunities in the 177 towns the road passes through.
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