Ouro Preto means Black Gold, and the name comes from the dark, iron-stained metal that miners found in the streams around here in the 1690s. The strike set off one of the biggest gold rushes in history, and within a few decades the town, then called Vila Rica, had become the richest in Brazil and one of the largest in the Americas. Today the gold is gone, but the town is still a spectacular set of whitewashed houses, baroque churches and steep, cobbled streets draped over a series of hills.
The wealth built dozens of churches, many decorated with gold leaf, and it also built a community of artists and writers who began to think of themselves as something other than colonial subjects. In 1789 a group of intellectuals in Vila Rica plotted a rebellion against the Portuguese crown, and the plot was betrayed. Its best known figure, an army officer nicknamed Tiradentes, was executed in 1792 and became a national hero. The sculptor Aleijadinho worked here, and his church of São Francisco de Assis is regarded as a masterpiece of Brazilian baroque. UNESCO made the town the first Brazilian World Heritage Site in 1980.
The riding is more of a challenge than it looks. The roads into town, from Belo Horizonte or from Mariana nearby, wind through the hills, passing old mining villages, and inside the centre the streets are steep and paved with rough stones, polished smooth and very slippery when wet. Parking and manoeuvring a heavy bike here takes patience. Rain is frequent from November to March, and mornings in winter can be misty and cool. Evenings, when the lanterns come on and the church bells ring, are magical.
Ouro Preto has fuel stations at the edge of town, plenty of pousadas in old houses, and restaurants serving the hearty food of Minas Gerais, such as tutu, pork and collard greens. Mariana, about nine kilometres away, is a smaller colonial town with its own churches and is easy to combine. Leave the bike at your accommodation and explore on foot. The student population gives the town a lively evening scene.