Paraty and the Sierra Gaucha

Another World Heritage Site, on the coast and 5 hours drive South of Rio, we spent a night at Pousada Arte Colonial, an historic guest house in old town Paraty. The cobbled streets are car free and at high tide some streets near the estuary flood. So we find ourselves driving our Hertz SUV in a "canal" to find the nearest carpark. The afternoon heat and humidity are unbearable as we drag our wheely cases over the cobbles. As charming as historic buildings and antique furniture are, ancient,  drippy aircon units blasting warm air are not. 

Out in the streets there's no breeze at all but we wander happily from bar to ice cream stand. It's a really quaint seaside town and we'll worth a stop over. We find a pirate themed restaurant with outside tables and live music for dinner. 

The drive the next morning is beautiful. Driving South we waste at least an hour in slow traffic through the outskirts of Sao Paulo, and after a full day of driving through amazing forests and greenery, we make it as far as Curitiba and the Rio Hotel.

Another full day of driving and we roll into Bento Gonzales by sundown and a day ahead of schedule. This is the main city in the Sierra Gaucha, the premier wine region of Brazil. It's ugly and souless and like most of Brazil's cities can be avoided. The Pousada Cantelli in the hills outside town, however is charming and comfy.

They have a restaurant but we are served home-made pasta in our converted loft apartment for dinner. This area has a great Italian influence; Italian immigrants planted the first vineyards here.

It's easy to cover the different sections of the wine region in one day. The most picturesque area is Val de Vinhedos and there are lots of places to do wine tastings and have lunch.

 Our first stop is at Salton, a fairly large and commercial operation. Next we visit Giesse to taste their bubblies and we end up at Casa Valduga for a wonderful lunch; an extensive pasta tasting menu. This vineyard has some award winning wines, so we stock up with a few bottles for our journey.