Royal Road Cunha

Surprises in the cities.

[xt_video type="youtube" clip_id="ErEnXFLc6Ts"]

We arrived and the hunger was enormous, it was very late, we hunted for a place and found it right at the entrance, with a P.F. for R$6.00, that's right, SIX REAIS! I couldn't believe it, a very polite lady attended to us and we each placed our order. We ended up choosing beef and chicken, which came on 4 plates with rice and beans, a platter of fried potatoes, salad and meats very well served on separate platters, delicious!

Fed and happy, we could finally move on. We entered the town and strolled around a bit to get to know the place, discovering that it is rich in waterfalls, but as time was short we couldn't enjoy it, it was already late! The goal was to reach São Lourenço by the end of the first day, but the unforeseen car accident delayed everything and with the arrival of night, we preferred to stay in Cunha anyway. The squindô drums were already warming up and the kids were sambaing, with lots of confetti and streamers. It was the first time on the trip that we had stopped to enjoy the carnival and we were surprised by the local festivities.

We decided to stay, but where to stay? Oh my, the town is CRAZY! Hotels, hostels and campsites, in fact I couldn't even find a campsite, everything was empty. At least we got to know the whole city looking for a place to sleep and on our last attempt, close to the center, a modest hotel owned by a very nice man answered our prayers! There was room for everyone, as luckily for us, the group that had rented the place for the carnival gave up at short notice and didn't go. We were very happy and decided to stay at the Hotel Belvedere, for a fair price and breakfast, nham miam! Very good!
We left our things at the hotel and I finally had a shower, so off we went to enjoy the city! We had dinner at a delicious wood-fired pizzeria and then rushed off to enjoy the carnival, which was beckoning from afar with its lively drums. We would have liked to have stayed longer, but the next day we were due to leave at 7 a.m., with our bags packed and ready for breakfast.

We woke up, tidied up and when we went up to the café, a delicious surprise! First of all, they made the coffee ahead of time for us, since they knew we were in a hurry, and secondly, almost everything was made by them, even the most elaborate breads, which were divine, I thought it was very nice, I loved it!

The road was screaming my name and it was time to leave, we followed the trails of the Estrada Real and the next town was Guaratinguetá, theoretically a passing town, with no way out of the car, but the trails of the Estrada Real almost always end or start at the main churches and as soon as we arrived we saw the Santo Antônio de Guaratinguetá Cathedral, we were enchanted by it and there's no getting away from it, it's so beautiful that we had to stop, after all even Don Pedro II was there, how could Cris not? Its construction dates back to 1630, but it was only finished in 1651, magnificent, no? The town is also known for being the home of Frei Galvão, the first Brazilian saint. His house is very famous there and brings religious people from all over the world to visit it, but this attraction was left for next time, as there were still many kilometers to go to reach our goal for the day.

We started the trail from Guaratinguetá to Vila do Embaú even though there was information about a bridge that had collapsed and would prevent the car from accessing it, we continued until tcharãm, the hopes that they had repaired it literally went down the drain, the bridge was still broken! Yes, they still haven't fixed it and it was impossible to pass, we had to take a detour that took us to another road, I wish I could have done it all on foot, but come on.
We passed through Vila do Embaú and didn't even see it, the road is much faster and before we knew it we had crossed the border from the state of São Paulo to Minas Gerais. We found a lookout point along the way with a little chapel, stopped to take a photo and even bought some blackberries, red, fresh, beautiful! And the view? Green all over the horizon.

Hey! Yes, it's getting late, we're going to Passa Quatro, the first town we entered in Minas Gerais, so let's stop. Hiii, but the stories about it and the next ones will be left for the next post, and where will I sleep? What about the Estrada Real trails, will I continue on them or on the normal road?
We'll have it all here for you next week.