Tuesday, 21 October 2014
Breakfast at 8 am again, and at about 9 am I made my way to the tour agency for the tour to Petropolis. I was right - Sebastian was on this tour as well! Today was a rainy day in Rio, and Petropolis was situated in a hilly area, so the temperature was about 17 or 18 degrees Celcius. And I was in shorts and a blouse. Just great. But all the travel information I read on Petropolis never warned me about the cold weather, so how was I supposed to know? It's Rio de Janeiro after all!
There is some confusion about Rio de Janeiro, and I cleared it up with my guide, Sergio. There is Rio de Janeiro the state, and Rio de Janeiro the municipality, within the state of Rio de Janeiro. Petropolis is another municipality within the state of Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro means "river of January" and was named as such after the first explorers came to the harbour in January and mistakenly thought it was a river mouth.
Petropolis means "city of Peter" (Petro from Pedro, in English Peter, and polis from the Greek word meaning city). It is also known as the Imperial City of Brazil, and was the summer residence of the Brazillian emperors and aristocrats in the 19th century. Between 1722 and 1725, an alternative route was opened between Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. While traveling to Minas Gerais along this route, King Dom Pedro I (the son of King Dom Joao VI) found the region's climate pleasant, while staying at the farm of Correia, a Catholic priest. As the priest's sister and heiress refused to sell his property, the King bought in 1830 the neighboring one, the Córrego Seco Farm. He had his Summer Palace built there, but never saw it finished. His son, King Dom Pedro II, finished the palace and stayed there with his family.
Today Petropolis is a city of about 300,000 people. The main industry here is chocolate and beer. The famous local brand of beer, Bohemia has a big factory here which we passed by.
Our fist stop was at the Quitandinha hotel, a beautiful European looking building. It used to be a hotel with a casino, and most of its guests came there mostly to gamble. However, in the 1950s casinos were not allowed by law, so they sold the hotel rooms as apartments to people, and the common area is looked after by the government. We saw what used to be the casino, a hall with very little lighting and few windows; apparently this was to make people oblivious to the time i.e. whether it was night or day, so that they would stay and gamble longer. There was also a swimming pool, a children's room, a show room, and what used to be a big bird cage with various birds kept in it. But since this is no longer the fashion nowadays, the cage with its interior decorations remains, but empty of bird life.
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