"Beautiful Historical City" Top 5 Page for this destination Petrópolis Favorite Tip by besbel

Favorite thing: Urbanistic Desing!

Fondest memory: Petrópolis is a city that manages to let you know even in the streets their imperial past and their culture, and yet be modern. That's why I am very fond of this ville.
The representations of eagles and dragons (symbols of Peter the II's two royal houses, Portugal's Bragança dinasty and Austria's Habsburg dynasty), are present in most palaces and ancient furniture. Moreover, in some of the stoned streets you can find the P, the initial letter of the name of its mentor Emperor.
Beyond history, the city is also remarkable urbanistically speaking: the mountain surroundings, the stoned streets and the channels made me doubt sometimes if I was in Germany, Switzerland or Portugal instead of Brazil. It had an explanation... after its foundation in 1843, the first habitants of Petrópolis were German, Italian and Portuguese immigrants. Immigration was important in Petrópolis life, especially for shaping its traditions.