Paraty, UNESCO World Heritage site due to its preserved Portuguese Colonial architecture.  

We were in a coastal hostel just outside of the town of Paraty. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its colonial Portuguese architecture in the historic old centre. Its sheltered harbour was a great asset and there was an Indian track that climbed into the hills and the heartland. Beyond the hills is the province of Minais Gerais where gold was found by the first adventurers.

They used the trail to get the gold down to the coast at Paraty and hence its importance. From here it was taken by ship to Rio further up the coast. However a better route was discovered that lead from the heartland direct to Rio and Paraty was virtually abandoned. Hence it has not suffered any development and has preserved it architecture.

The river that runs into the harbour and the bridge over the river.

A view along the harbour mooring area.

Some of the buildings along the river.

One of the four major churches in the town.

The east front of the church.

A couple of shots of the inside of the church.

The square in front of the church.

Lots of photos of the main and side streets.

It is approaching carnival time so that all the streets were festooned with tinsel.

Some of the streets were built at the high tide mark and the sea floods in and washed the streets clean of straw and horse dung.

I also visited the cemetery on a hill overlooking the town but I didn't find the wealth of lavish funeral architecture that I had hoped to see but the views were good.