Beauties of Tiradentes and Ouro Preto, in Minas Gerais state, are praised in The New York Times

I've said this before, but I've gotta say it again: ever since New York journalist Seth Kugel moved to São Paulo, a few months ago, the already excellent coverage by The New York Times of Brazil as a whole went up yet another notch.

My theory was once again confirmed by the publication, this weekend, of yet another travel story in the Times that shuns the tired clichés of the girls from Ipanema, soccer players and party beaches. It paints a vivid portrait of a part of Brazil that is absolutely stunning and yet hardly known by foreigners: the colonial towns of Minas Gerais state.

As Kugel puts it, too many tourists miss "the Brazil that lies beyond the Christ on the hill in Rio, the eco-lodges of the Amazon and the model-flecked beaches of Florianópolis. Instead of a cross on a hill, Minas has colonial towns loaded with Baroque-style churches. Instead of vast rain forests, Minas has gorgeous mountains and countless waterfalls. And instead of beaches, it’s the home of a country cooking style famed across this nation of more than 190 million."

It's worth a read.