Sâo Joâo del Rei

SÃO JOÃO DEL REI is the only one of the historic cities to have adjusted successfully to life after the gold rush. It has all the usual trappings of the cidades históricas - gilded churches, well-stocked museums, colonial mansions - but it's also a thriving market town, easily the largest of the historic cities, with a population of around 80,000. This modern prosperity complements the colonial atmosphere rather than compromising it, and, with its wide central thoroughfare enclosing a small stream, its stone bridges, squares and trees, São João is a very attractive place, well worth lingering in. If possible, stay over on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday when you can take a ride on the "Smoking Mary", a lovingly restored nineteenth-century steam train, to the nearby village of Tiradentes - a great day out. Founded in 1699 on the São João River, the town had the usual turbulent early years, but distinguished itself by successfully turning to ranching and trade when the gold ran out early in the nineteenth century. São João's carpets were once famous, and there is still a textile factory today. Tiradentes was born here, Aleijadinho worked here, and in more recent times the great mineiro politician, Tancredo Neves , shepherded Brazil out of military rule when he was elected president in 1985. Tragically, he died before he took office and is buried in the nearest place the town has to a shrine in the cemetery of São Francisco. The Town   São João's colonial sections are complemented by some fine buildings of more recent eras, notably the end of the nineteenth century, when the town's prosperity and self-confidence were high. The 1920s and 1930s were also good times - some of the vaguely Art Deco buildings combine surprisingly well with the colonial ones. The main public buildings line the south bank of the stream, best viewed from Avenida Tancredo Neves on the north side; there's a sumptuous French-style theatre (1893), and the graceful blue Prefeitura with an imposing Banco do Brasil building facing it. The relaxed atmosphere is reinforced by the number of bars and restaurants, and if you stumble across knots of people staring at walls take a closer look: in São João a good half-dozen traditional " street newspapers " still survive. Broadsheets rather than papers, they are posted on the streets for passers-by to catch up on local events, just as they were in the earliest days of the Brazilian press; their content varies from dry commentaries on agricultural issues to peppery tales with headlines like "Cobra-man speaks all!"