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Ponta Grossa is the fourth-largest city of Paraná in southern Brazil, on the high plateau of the Campos Gerais about 100 kilometres from Curitiba, famous for the sandstone towers of the Parque Estadual de Vila Velha, the cave waterfall of Buraco do Padre and the grasslands and canyons around it. Locals call it the Princess of the Fields.
The town grew around a resting place of the tropeiro drovers who crossed the plateau, and the arrival of the railway in 1894 made it a major junction. The eclectic Estação Saudade, opened in 1900, recalls that era, while the Catedral Sant'Ana and the Museu Campos Gerais tell the story of the city and the region.
Most visitors come for the landscape. In Vila Velha, rocks shaped by wind and rain over hundreds of millions of years look like a ruined city, beside deep sinkholes called furnas and the Lagoa Dourada. Further out lie the Parque Nacional dos Campos Gerais and the Guartelá Canyon.
The Parque Estadual de Vila Velha, 20 kilometres from central Ponta Grossa, protects a group of sandstone towers that look like the ruins of a medieval city. Shaped by wind and rain over about 340 million years, the reddish columns average 20 metres high, and trails lead between them.
The Taça de Vila Velha is a sandstone formation in the shape of a giant goblet and the symbol of the Parque Estadual de Vila Velha near Ponta Grossa. Its narrow stem and wide top were carved by erosion, and nearby rocks are named after shapes such as the camel, the tortoise and the boot.
The Furnas de Vila Velha are three huge sinkholes with vertical walls in the Parque Estadual de Vila Velha near Ponta Grossa. The largest is about 100 metres deep and half filled with water, and the craters are linked underground to each other and to the nearby Lagoa Dourada.
The Lagoa Dourada is a lake in the Parque Estadual de Vila Velha near Ponta Grossa, one of the park's three neighbouring sites and linked underground to the furnas. Its name means golden lagoon, from the effect of its crystal-clear water and the colour of its sands at sunset.
The Buraco do Padre is a vast sandstone cave about 24 kilometres from Ponta Grossa where the Quebra-Pedra River pours down as a waterfall. An easy 880-metre trail leads to the entrance, and light falls through the opening of the cave, so no artificial lighting is needed inside.
The Parque Nacional dos Campos Gerais, created in 2006, protects about 21,300 hectares of grassland, araucaria forest, sinkholes and waterfalls around Ponta Grossa, Castro and Carambeí. Highlights include the Buraco do Padre and the Cachoeira da Mariquinha, along with ancient rock paintings.
The Guartelá Canyon lies in the Campos Gerais region near Ponta Grossa, between Castro and Tibagi, and is about 30 kilometres long and up to 450 metres deep, carved by the Iapó River. The Parque Estadual do Guartelá protects its waterfalls, rapids, sandstone formations and rock inscriptions.
The Parque Lago de Olarias is one of the largest parks in Ponta Grossa, set in the Olarias district with five lakes and a broad green area. Its walking and cycling tracks make it a favourite place for exercise, and the park has helped make Olarias one of the most sought-after districts in the city.
The Catedral Sant'Ana is the cathedral of Ponta Grossa and the seat of its Catholic diocese. Tradition says the first chapel was built where a pair of released doves landed on a cross beside a large fig tree; the old church was pulled down in 1978 and the present one was finished in 2009.
The Estação Saudade is a former railway station in central Ponta Grossa, built in an eclectic style in 1899 and 1900 and opened in March 1900. It brought rapid growth as trains linked the city with São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul, and today the restored building is a cultural space.
The Museu Campos Gerais is a free museum in central Ponta Grossa run by the Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa and housed in the city's first courthouse, completed in 1928. Its collection of more than 10,000 pieces covers fossils, indigenous peoples and everyday life in the region.
Estação Paraná is the first passenger railway station of Ponta Grossa, an eclectic building in local sandstone on Rua Benjamin Constant, opened on 2 March 1894. Listed as state heritage in 1990 and restored by the city, it has the Maria Fumaça 250 steam locomotive in the park in front.
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Log in to add photosPhoto: Marinelson Almeida - Traveling through Brazil from Niteroi, Brasil, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Marinelson Almeida - Traveling through Brazil from Niteroi, Brasil, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
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