Free Day in BH Means Churches and Museums: Churches First

Don't jump, Santa! I promise the kids will be good this year and not have an unearned sense of entitlement.

I had an unexpected free (and very rainy) day in Belo Horizonte. I was supposed to take a tour to Ouro Preto, a beautiful old colonial town a few hours south of Belo Horizonte, but the tour company (after repeated attempts by me to contact them) finally let me know the night before that they no longer run that tour to Ouro Preto. Well, thank you for the advance notice! It was too late to find an alternative way of getting there, so I decided I would take a free day and explore more of BH.

Churches first!

This beautiful church is relatively close to my hotel, so it is the first stop on the trek. This is the Basilica of Out Lady of Lourdes, or Basílica Nossa Senhora de Lourdes.

It's a basilica, which we all know means it is not a parish church. It is quite ornate, however. Let's have a look inside, shall we?

The exterior colors and design pattern are brought into the interior to positive effect, don't you think?

And there was a nativity scene off to the side.

The manger has no baby in it. Why's that? Because the Christ Child has not yet been born. We have to wait a little less than three weeks.

I continue walking the area searching for various churches that are photogenic and I happen on this little tiny church.

This is not actually a full-fledged church. It's listed as just a chapel: Capela Nossa Senhora do Rosário. Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary.

I saw on the way to this landmark church: Santuário São José.

Sanctuary of St. Joseph, which google maps describes as a "Catholic church dating to 1902, with a striped facade, colorfully patterned nave & biblical murals."

Which sounds all kinds of awesome. Except that it was locked tight as a drum. It closes at 11:40 in the morning most days, which means you have to get up early in the morning to see those Biblical murals and colorful nave.

And as I wind my way to the next church, I pass a large Christmas tree on the street.

This is next to Belo Horizonte City Hall, a building decorated with columns being held up by put-upon, over-taxed members of the general public.

A block down was yet another colorful building whose colors, unfortunately, are muted by the extremely overcast skies on this very rainy day.

This is the UFMG Conservatory of Music, or Conservatório UFMG. The worst thing about trying to photograph a beautiful city on a rainy day -- or any overcast day -- is that the sun makes the colors come alive. Here, the beautiful peach color of the building has not come alive. It's laying in a hospital bed. In a coma. On the verge of flatlining.

And why do we call this color "peach" anyway? Peaches aren't this color. Bite into a peach and it's orange or orange-yellow, to be more precise. And the skin is white with giant red blotches that frequently overwhelm the white. So where is the peach color in a peach? It is a nice color, however. Too bad it has nothing to do with peaches the fruit.

We then reach the final church of the day's churches tour. This is Igreja Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem, Church of Our Lady of Boa Viagem. 

"Boa Viagem" means "good travel," but I don't think this is the Church of Our Lady of Fun Vacations. Boa Viagem is the name of the local neighborhood in this part of Belo Horizonte. I think that's the reference. Although I am having "good travels" notwithstanding the tour cancellation of the downpour. These things happen.

And let's happen to have a look inside, since the church is one of the open ones.

This was off to the side as you enter the church.

There was no sign banning photography, but there were people inside using this as a church, so I was being discrete with my photography.

And the church grounds doubled as a park.

That's a whole lot of ornate churches packed into a relatively small area of the city. But the day wasn't all about churches. There were museums. And a market visit. Up next on the vacation blog.