These two images scan down the streets to the south and north of my hotel room window in the old Portuguese port city of Parati (pronounced Para-chee). The city was used as a port for the gold ships that took the royal fifth back to the home country. The streets are paved with large ballast stones left by the fleet after being loaded with gold. The buildings in the old quarter are in the simple but elegant Brazilian baroque style. The hotel we stayed at was the Pousada do Ouro.


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