Blogs from Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America

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David here... The taxi arrived promptly at 05:00, an obscene time to have to get up, but it was the cheapest flight from Salvador to Rio. The airport and flight were both fine. Once at Rio airport we found the BRT ticket booth at the far end of the hall and bought tickets for the bus, which was waiting outside at the platform. The Rio BRT service is exactly like the Bogota Transmilenio service, where you purchase a card and amount of journeys you want and you scan your card to get onto the platform. One card for as many people as you like. The 30 semi-directo bus was the one in so we just jumped on. We were soon on our way and following our route on the map on the bus. This bus didn't ... read more
View of Rio from Santa Teresa area - Sugar Loaf mountain in the background
Parakeet in the park next to Flamengo beach
Sugar Loaf from Flamengo beach


When one thinks about Rio de Janeiro images of sun kissed beaches, bikinis, women, legendary nightlife, futbol, and a vibrant and friendly populace come to mind. Everything you have heard, read, dreamed about and then some is true. I spent about a week in Rio (probably should have stayed longer) and it has been one of the absolute highlights of my trip to date. It was the exact recharge and reinforcement I needed for me to again get my state of mind to where it should be. Welcome to "The Magnificent City". Up early in Porto Seguro I was able to secure a taxi for the 1km ride to the airport for a cost of R$20. Really a total ripoff considering you can take a long distance 50km bus for the same cost, but at 3am ... read more
copa
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Wednesday 3rd June 2015 Our journey back from the Rio Mamori to Manaus was without incident as was the four hour flight to Rio, which arrived on time at 23.15. Since we were arriving late at night, we had asked for an airport pick up to the hotel, which we had booked online before going to Mamori, but since we hadn´t received any confirmation, we were half expecting not to get it and we didn´t! However, it was easy to get a taxi and we got to our hotel just after midnight. After the jungle experience, we wanted a bit of luxury, so booked four nights in a nice boutique hotel in the old district of Santa Teresa, which justifiably boasts the best views in Rio. From our spacious 15 square metre terrace, we have a ... read more
Out of the jungle...
A room with a view
The Corcovado and Redeemer to our right


rio ist schön, schön, schön. heute, bei tageslicht dürfen wir die wahren ausmaße der stadt und den grund des lobgesanges auf sie, ergründen. wie miami inmitten halong bays, so ist rio. jung, knackig, sportlich verfolgt ein promenadenweg die türkise bucht, während sich hinter dem schmalen bebauten streifen von copacabana dschungelige hügel erheben. daran schlängeln sich noch die favelas, die armenviertel rio de janeiros, die wir geradewegs aus unserem zimmerfenster sehen. übereinander geschachtelt und mit waghalsigen stiegen verbunden gehören sie leider auch, schon fast als eigenes wahrzeichen, zu rio. und in der bucht, sowie an den seiten der strände und auch mitten in der city, ragen immer wieder steile klippenreiche felstürme in den feuchtwarmen himmel. eben wie in halong bay ist die stadt durchlöchert von felsspitzen. einer davon ist der zuckerhut, pão de açúcar, und einer beherbergt ... read more
copacabana
cristo redentor
pão de açúcar


6/19 I woke up and had breakfast at the hostel. I put the same dirty clothes on from the last Amazon adventure and packed for the coming days adventure in the rainforest. On the agenda was fishing for piranha, seeing the meeting of the rivers, meeting different natives than the other day, and eating at a floating restaurant. The tour company was supposed to pick me up at 8 and then I was supposed to pay for the trip. At 9 I figured they were running on Brazil time. At 9:15 I had my hostel call them... no answer. Called again at 9:30, 9:45, and 10. Still no answer. I decided to accept that they had left me behind and to do something else with my day. I changed out of the dirty clothes, wrote a ... read more


Day 4 and our hosts for the day are Luiz Carlos and wife Bea who superbly guide us around Rio, starting off in the oldest immigrant quarter of Rio, Sahara, which was originally settled by Lebanese people. Today it is a great market with narrow streets and stalls selling souvenirs to Cariocas and tourists alike. We push on to the historical heart of Rio, from the recently-renovated, gleaming, golden Theatro Municipal to the Imperial palace, before having lunch in a restaurant in the old port customs area. The day lightens up and for a while we think we’ll be able to head up Pão de Azucar (Sugar loaf mountain). We change our mind at the sight of the queue, which extends beyond the cable car building, and spills onto the square by at least 200 metres! ... read more
Sahara market s bustling streets
the old and the new
Imperial palace


My last stop in South America - Rio! I didn't do an awful lot here as I had no money. I arrived on a Saturday afternoon which meant I couldn't get more money until Monday! A guy at my hostel asked if I wanted to go to Copacabana beach for sunset so I thought why not. When we arrived, I was a little disappointed. Copacabana- there is a song written about this place so it had to be amazing! Hmmm, I've seen better. Think its appeal is that it is right next door to the shops and the town and people play sport on the beach all day long. Nothing to shout about in my opinion. We went to find a typical Brazilian dish and I was shocked to see how much more money I would ... read more


1. Stopp: Rio Die letzte Woche in Brasilien, die erste Woche ohne Begleitschutz und 30 Personen im Schlepptau. Es ist toll, wenn man mal einfach machen kann, worauf man Lust hat. So geschehen in Rio, wo wir in 2,5 Tagen einen Streifzug quer feldein wagen. Begonnen haben wir mit Santa Teresa, Künslerviertel: viele Bars, Restaurants und Hipster. Weiter am nächsten Tag: Pão de Açúcar erst einmal am Morgen. Die beiden Seilbahnfahrten von 0 auf 395 m bieten einen gewagten und ungewöhnlichen Blick runter auf beide Strände, Copacabana und Ipanema. Während ersterer eher bei den Touris beliebt ist, gehört der zweite eher den Locals. Macht aber nichts, beide Strände sind toll. Soviel kann schon mal gesagt sein. Der Acucar ist wider Erwarten relativ leer. Mit uns ist nur Gruppe 32 und 39 von irgendeinem grossen Ozeandampfer mit ... read more
Travelroute Brasilien
Hoch geht's zum Zuckerhut
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Our adventure begins in Rio de Janeiro. We land late at night on a Friday at Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport (GIG), so named after the Galeão beach that used to exist on that site and also Brazilian musician Antonio Carlos Jobim who referenced the airport in one of his songs. (Later on our trip we would hear his music played at a jam in Salvador). We taxied over the Rio-Niteroi Bridge to a nice neighbourhood called Botofogo. As it was about 1am there werent many taxi options at the airport, and we ended up using Radio Taxis who were expensive! $R110. We later heard to avoid booking taxis and you are better off jumping a metered cab. Botafogo has a marina and a (mostly unused) beach and is close by bus or metro to Zona ... read more
Santa Teresa View
Santa Teresa Tram
Santa Teresa Hug


05-02 to 10-02 : Rio de Janeiro Rio is in places a very pretty city and in some places it looks like a bomb site... We arrived 3 days before Carnaval to be able to visit the city prior to Carnaval madness.... However the flow of people in the street and the Carnaval atmosphere was already in full flow...! We went to see the famous Corcovado: it is an impressive piece of Art Deco Style this Christ the Redeemer, Portuguese Cristo Redentor, colossal statue of Jesus Christ at the summit of Mount Corcovado. It was completed in 1931 and stands 98 feet (30 metres) tall, its horizontally outstretched arms spanning 92 feet (28 metres). The statue, made of reinforced concrete clad in a mosaic of thousands of triangular soapstone tiles, sits on a square stone pedestal ... read more
Corcovado
Corcovado
view from the Corcovado




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