Belo Horizonte: Hospitality

Hello dear readers, 

I'm having lot of fun writing about BH and I'm sure you will fall in love with the city and with the mineiros. Today, let's see what are the best hotel options, both close to the stadium (Pampulha) and close to the restaurants and shops (Savassi and Lourdes). 
Savassi and Louders are very close to the Central Market and Praça da Liberdade. The distance from those locations to the stadium is about 20 minutes by car, and 1 hour by bus. But leave earlier, the traffic can be pretty bad. If you decide to take a bus it's not complicated, it's usually one bus only to get to the stadium. Later on, I will check the new options for the World Cup.
Book your hotel as soon as possible, many hotels already don't have vacancies for the World Cup.

Hotels at Savassi (blue on the map)

• Savassi - free wi-fi, breakfast included, restaurant in the hotel.
• My place Savassi - there are 40 two-story apartments in this charming hotel. 
• Boulevard Express - breakfast included, free wi-fi.
• Ibis Afonso Pena - brand new, opened in 2013 the hotel offers free wi-fi.

Hotels at Lourdes (green on the map)

• Mercuri Lourdes - offers free wifi, gym, and has a restaurant in the hotel.
• Ibis BH Liberdade - located close to the Praça da Liberdade, it's a new hotel that offers free wi-fi and has a restaurant in the hotel.
• Clarion Lourdes - in this hotel if you make your check in between 7 and 9pm you get a free glass of champagne! Free wi-fi and breakfast included. 

Another location:

• Quality Afonso Pena (Serra) - offers free wi-fi, breakfast included, restaurant in the hotel. 13.4 km from the stadium.

Hotels Close to the Stadium:

• Pampulha - it's 15 min walking to the stadium. Breakfast included.
• Bristol Jaraguá - if you prefer to walk to avoid traffic it takes 30 minutes. It was opened in 2012, it offers free wi-fi, breakfast and the restaurant is in the hotel.
• Bristol Pampulha Lieu - 7 min driving or 40 min by bus to the stadium.

World Cup Qualifiers: June 11th and 12th

Hello everyone,

Today we have exciting games going on...

Let's cheer!

Japan is already on... what teams from South America will qualify?
Today we also have the USA, Sweden, and the African countries.

* The matches time are set for local time, so for example the first game will be at 15:30 in Barranquilla, Colombia.

fifa.com

Belo Horizonte

Belo Horizonte is the capital of the state of Minas Gerais located at the southeast of Brazil. 

Population: 2.37 million
Person born in Minas Gerais: Mineiro - the Mineiros are in general very welcoming, relatively quiet, reserved and prudent. Oh, they are also famous for telling people that the places are "right there" at walk distance, when actually, for regular people, the place is far away! "Uai" (sounds exactly like "why") is a common expression they use, but impossible to translate. 
Distance from other cities:  
Rio de Janeiro 444 km
São Paulo 602 km
Brasília 747 km
Airport: Tancredo Neves / Cofins Intenational Airport - 38 km (23mi) from Belo Horizonte
Stadium: 

Mineirão - Avenida Abrahão Caram, 970 - São Luis, Belo Horizonte, MG

Matches: World Cup 6 matches:
- June 14th - Colombia x Greece
 - June 17th - Belgium x Algeria
- June 21st - Argentina x Iran
- June 24th - Costa Rica x England
- June 28th - 1A x 2B
- July 8th - W57 x W58

The city know as BH (/Bay-Agah/) is a beautiful wooded city to visit, with nice historical architecture, parks, markets and an amazing cuisine. The state of Minas Gerais is the country's largest milk producer, it produces 41% of milk produced in Brazil and the largest coffee producer as well, it produces 50% of the national production. It is 100% arabica beans, being the majority exported. In the past Minas Gerais was one of the biggest gold, diamond, and gems explorers.

To begin exploring the city go to the Praça da Liberdade, there you will find many museums, and historical buildings from the 19th century, it is a nice place to relax and look around.

After visiting Praça da Liberdade you can take a bus or cab and visit the Central Market (Mercado Central). There are over 450 tents selling everything you can imagine, the Market has more than 80 years. Don't forget to buy a mineiro cheese, cachaça (Brazilian Liquor), desserts made of fruits and "dulce de leche" (in Portuguese - doce de leite). You will also fall in love with the crafts.  

Save a day to visit the Complexo Arquitetônico da Pampulha, projected by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, it has 18 km of beautiful buildings placed around the Pampulha Lake, very close to the Mineirão Stadium. Take a cab to make this tour, there's a lot to see and walking would take too long. Pay attention to the Arts Museum, Casa do Baile and the São Francisco de Assis Church. 

If are planning to stay a little longer in BH, visit the Inhotim Institute, it's located in Brumadinho, 63 km from BH. The Institute is the biggest outdoor contemporary museum in the world, the arts are exposed at the Botanic Garden. The collection has around 500 pieces of art; sculptures, paintings, installations, draws, photographies, movies and videos made by 100 artists from 30 different countries. The arts are dated from 1960 to today's date. A driver in an electric car can take you through the whole space, it costs $10 dollars and you can use it as many time as you want, it's worth it. The tickets for the museum vary between $10 and $14 dollars, grab a map at the entrance and it will be easy to find the collections.

Where can I go with the kids?

Zoo: located at the Pampulha Lake, there are over 900 animals.

Toy's Museum (Museu dos Brinquedos): the kids will have a chance to see toys from other countries and from older times.

I will talk more about BH on my next posts.

See You!

Songs: Michel Teló

Since we are talking about Curitiba this week, I've chosen a singer from the state of Paraná for this Saturday's music post.

Who haven't heard the song "Ai se Eu te Pego" yet?

I'm sure every single one of you have. The music became famous in 2011 and the video you will watch now have been watched over half billion times on You Tube. The music was translated into several languages including Polish, Greek and Hebrew. 

The Nuggets stars danced this song and the video is at the NBA's Official Website! 

How about the football (soccer) stars?

World Cup Qualifiers: Matches of June 7th

What exciting Friday!

There are many matches today, just choose your favorite teams and lets go!

Remember that the time showed is local time, ok?

Today we have South America, Africa, Europe, Caribbean, and North America.

fifa.com

Vote for the best goal in FIFA Confederations Cup history from their '13 Goals for 2013' shortlist: 13 Goals for 2013

Who is closer to qualify?

What team are you cheering for?