My farewell to Brazil started then and I said goodbye to my cousins Carla and Ale in Morretos over a nice lunch of “barreado” and sea food.

Morretos is an historic town founded in 1721 and situated at the base of the Serra do Mar (Ocean Mountain). It would be more appropriated to call it Cordilheira do Mar (Mar Range) because it runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean coast from the state of Espírito Santo to southern Santa Catarina.

Originally the area was inhabited by the Carijós Indians. In 1646 gold was found in the region and that attracted all sorts of people and the poor Carijós end up being displaced.

Part of the local folklore tell that the name of Morretos was given by the first emigrants to arrive in the area from the Austria and Swiss regions. Used to the height of the Alps and Pyrenees mountains people thought that the surrounding Serra do Mar were mere hills and therefore called the area Morretos (small hills).

The town is famous for its well preserved buildings, restaurants serving the typical dish barreado, mountain and bush walking tracks. Canoeing and white water raft in truck tyres is practiced in the Nhundiaquara River flowing from the Graciosa Mountain (1880 m) and Marumbi peak (1539 m) through the town.

The famous train ride from Curitiba to Paranaguá has a tourist trip ending at Morretos. The 120 plus years old train runs down the Serra do Mar (2200 m) and it is a 3 hours hair raising experience of bridges, tunnels and the suspended viaduct Carvalho. We have done it 3 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.

We have visited Morretos several times in previous trips do Brazil and always enjoyed this clean a well organised town.

View of the Nhundiaquara river

Nossa Senhora de Porto church