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Sixty-six kilometres directly to the north of Rio de Janeiro, high in the mountains, stands the imperial city of PETROPOLIS . The route there is a busy one, with Facil and Unica company buses leaving Rio every fifteen minutes, but even so you may have to wait a day or two for a bus with available seats. It's worth the hassle, for the journey there is glorious. On the way up, sit on the left-hand side of the bus and don't be too concerned with the driver's obsession with overtaking heavy goods vehicles on blind corners, bordered by naked rock on one side and a sheer drop on the other - it's a one-way road, and the return to Rio is made by a different route which also snakes its way through terrifying mountain passes. The scenery is dramatic, climbing among forested slopes which give way suddenly to ravines and gullies, while clouds shroud the surrounding mountains. In 1720, Bernardo Soares de Proenca opened a trade route between Rio and Minas Gerais, and in return was conceded the area around the present site of Petropolis as a royal land grant. Surrounded by stunning scenery, and with a gentle, alpine summer climate, it had by the nineteenth century become a favourite retreat of Rio's elite. The arrival of German immigrants contributed to the development of Petropolis as a town, and has much to do with the curious European Gothic feel to the place. Dom Pedro II took a fancy to Petropolis and in 1843 designated it the summer seat of his government. He also established an agricultural colony, which failed because of the unsuitability of the soil, and then in 1849 - with an epidemic of yellow fever in Rio - the emperor and his court took refuge in the town, thus assuring Petropolis' prosperity
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