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Northeast of Volta Redonda, the university towns of VASSOURAS
and VALENÇA make good targets if you have a car and a few
spare days. Both are considered national historical monuments, key
centres of Brazil's nineteenth-century coffee-based economy. Today,
dairy farming has almost totally replaced coffee production, but
relics from the days when the "coffee barons" reigned supreme are
still visible.
Vassouras, on the main BR-393, is the smaller and more attractive of
the two towns, with many late nineteenth-century buildings in the
centre of town around the Campo Belo. However, it's the old
coffee fazenda houses nearby that are the main attraction, but
without your own car you won't be able to see much. The tourist
information office is at Rua Barão de Capivari 20 (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm)
and will give details of which of the privately owned houses are
open for visits. The most impressive ones are located off the RJ-115
highway north of town, with Santa Mônica being the oldest,
best preserved and generally the most interesting of the houses.
Another beautifully preserved house that's often open to visitors is
São Fernando , about 1km from Massambará, an outlying
district in the municipio of Vassouras. If you want to
stay , the Gramado da Serra at Rua Aldo Cavalli 7, the
Mara Palace at Rua Chanceler Raul Fernandes 121 (phone
024/471-2524; $35-50), and the Santa Amelia, Av. Rui Barbosa
526, are all central.
Google maps
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Valença is less attractive, but the fazenda houses off RJ-145
and RJ-151 to the east merit a look: ask at the tourist office at
Praça XV de Novembre 676 (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm). The hotels in
Valença are simpler and less expensive than in Vassouras. The best
is Hotel dos Engenheiros, Rua Teodorico Fonseca 525, while,
near the Rodoviária, there's the more basic Valenciano, Praça
Paulo de Frontin 360 (phone024/452-0890; $20-35). |
Rio de Janeiro
guide
Rio de Janeiro
Brief
history
State
Travel details
Warning
Orientation:
Centro,
Zona Sul, Zona Norte
Getting around
Nightlife
Film
Rio Gay
Best of Rio
Info
Favelas
Arrival
Shopping
Carnaval
 Eating
and drinking:
Churrascarias, vegetarian
For eating in Brazil, read also:
Eating & drinking
Street foods,
snacks
Restaurants
Vegetarian/natural
Soft drinks, hot
drinks
Rio
pictures 1
Rio pictures 2
and see also
Pictures of
Rio by
Thereza Eugenia
Pictures of Brazil by
Cecilia dos Guimaraes
Bastos
|
 Zona
Sul
Sports, beach fashion
Arpoador, Ipanema,
Leblon
Jardim
Botanico
Lagoa
Lagoa Christmas tree
Leme and Copacabana Beach
Alto da Boa Vista, Parque Nacional da
Tijuca
Urca and Pao-de-Acucar
Gavea and Jockey Club
Buzios
Buzios Town and its beaches
Restaurants
Eating options
Getting there
Getting around
Climate and travel info
Buzios
Beaches
Buzios Beaches 2
 Buzios
Scuba Diving
Buzios Golf
Buzios
Stones St and
night life
Ecotourism
Hotels in Buzios |
