Day 84 - From Petersburg to Petropolis

Despite sounding like a place in a comic book, Petropolis - or the Imperial City - is a pretty serious place, about an hour by car from Rio. It was the former summer residence of the emperor Pedro II. Hence the name, meaning "city of Peter". Just like Saint-Petersburg, the fact that for some reason really pleased my mother. The weather here is also very Saint-Petersburg-like in that it's always drizzling, but the mountain fog and the pleasant warmth of the air (compared to the usual bone-chilling wind of my native town) unambiguously clarify my current geographic location.

I fell in love with Petropolis the minute we arrived last night, although I could hardly see anything in the darkness that had already fallen on the town by the time we made it. If there's any view that I love more than the sea + mountains combination (as in Rio), it is the mountains + forest combination. And that is Petropolis - a beautiful green town tucked in the mountains, with gorgeously landscaped parks, eye-pleasing colonial mansions, and roads that make even my motion-proof stomach turn a little as our car totters along the serpentine cobblestone.

We went to visit the emperor's summer palace in the morning. It is always very interesting to see royal houses around the world, and since Pedro II was the successor to the Portuguese emperor, the palace looks very European. It hosts a lot of paintings of old Rio, and it makes me feel very sad for the reconstruction that butchered the city in the 1960's. The heirs to the royal family still live in Petropolis. In fact, Elisio and Isabel are friendly with them and describe them as very intelligent, socially conscious, humble and nice people.

Our cultural tour was followed by an eco-gastronomic experience, as the restaurant we went to is located in the heart of the woods. Sheer beauty! The crystal clean air, the dopy fragrance of some tropical flowers, the age-old huge pine trees instantly transported me to a fairy-tale forest, full of dangerous adventures and exciting characters. The only adventure that we were faced with though was an outrageously delicious lunch, but that was equally as exciting as any characters that I could potentially meet in my imaginary fairy-tale. This restaurant was open several years ago on the premises of a trout farm. The owners live right here in the mountains, and during the week farm and sell all sorts of trout, and over the weekend open the doors of this cosy eatery.

My meal consisted of a very elaborately prepared trout ceviche (never tried trout ceviche before - yum!) and almond-baked filet of trout. We sat there for a loooooong time after finishing our meals, because honestly, you don't really want to ever get out of this forest paradise - you just want to keep looking at the squirrels playing nearby, sip your cafezinho, and lose yourself in the complete absence of thought...