Advertisement
Published: February 25th 2010
Edit Blog Post
A few days of sightseeing in Rio during Carnival week means long, long queues. So we had no grand plans to do too much in a day, bearing in mind we’d have to queue for ages to do anything.
First destination was Sugarloaf Mountain, an imposing granite rock standing proud in the bay. To reach the viewpoints we took a cable car, one to the first low viewpoint then another to Sugarloaf Mountain. The views were superb, giving you a 360 look around the city. You could see Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado Mountain in the distance and loads of yachts in the surrounding harbours.
There was a jungle walk around Sugarloaf and along the way we saw some tiny marmoset monkeys. As it was fairly late in the day we decided to hang around and watch the sunset over Rio. This turned out to be absolutely spectacular and illuminated Christ the Redeemer and the rest of the Corcovado Mountain in a burnt orange/red hue.
In the evening Andy & Nickie headed out to Copacabana promenade for a Caipirinha cocktail - a local favourite of sugarcane liquor (Cachaca), with crushed limes and ice. Refreshing but lethal.
The next
day we headed into Centro to go on the Bonde Tram to Santa Teresa but it was closed due to the carnival. So instead we headed for the Botanical Gardens which would give us a bit of an escape from the searing heat in the city. The gardens were a tropical oasis, with palm tree lined paths, beautiful flowers, exotic cacti and ornate orchids. There was abundant birdlife and we were very excited to see some Toucans in the trees.
When we were ready to leave the gardens it turned out that the exit was blocked by thousands of people joining in a Street-Band parade through the streets. We found another exit and escaped where the crowd had thinned. Afterwards a quick stop at a playground for Amy while we enjoyed a very cold beer.
My turn to go out to Copacabana in the evening with Nickie for a mosey around the night market and then the obligatory cocktail overlooking the beach. There were fewer people out and about than over the carnival weekend but a good atmosphere nonetheless.
On the Wednesday Andy and Nickie lucked out with some tickets to the football (see previous blog).
Thursday we
took the Bonde Tram to Santa Teresa. It’s a bit of a historic treasure and is certainly showing its age. We squeezed on the open-sided tram with dozens of other tourists and held on tight. It started by going on a bridge over the city with sheer drops on either side, then it clanked through the old streets of Santa Teresa on very old rickety tracks. Every turn of the tram was jerky and we felt every bump on the tracks. Some people hung off the sides of the tram, ducking in when another vehicle passed close by.
Santa Teresa neighbourhood was full of character buildings, some derelict, some with graffiti. They were colourful and the shops and restaurants were quite bohemian. It had a nice feel to it but we were wary as it has a reputation for trouble - muggings in particular. We asked the tourist police where we could walk and they suggested we didn’t go down the hill so we stayed quite local. We had a delicious lunch in an outdoor cafe, sipping espressos and eating gorgonzola sandwiches.
Back on the Bonde Tram a bit further along the track and then back into the
centre to get the Metro home.
Our last day in Rio was full-on. We spent the day going to Corcovado to see Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer). The queues were worse than usual and we would have had a 3 hour wait for the train to the top. Instead we took a minibus which, while not as exciting, got us there much faster. It also stopped at a good viewpoint on the way up. The views from the top are outstanding, twice as high as Sugarloaf Mountain. The statue of Christ is enormous and towered above us. We sat at the cafe at the top with an ice-cream, enjoying the views out over Rio, such a beautiful setting.
That evening we went back to The Sambadrome for the Champions’ Parade. The top 6 Samba Schools got the chance to parade again. On the way to our Sector (6) we passed the floats which were getting ready for the parade. We got quite close to them and could see the amazing detail in them.
Our seats were not as good as last time, we were further back and in order to see past people we had to stand on the
chairs. We held Amy at times, on our shoulders and balanced on the chairs. However, we really were in the thick of the crowds. People were dancing on their chairs, chanting the samba songs, applauding as the floats passed, the atmosphere was electric!
As we were heading off to Paraty the next day we decided to take a taxi rather than the metro, cost us a little bit more, but we were home in bed by 5.00am!
What we didn’t know was that the clocks had gone back an hour into Winter time, so we could’ve slept in for another hour!
It had been an exciting week in Rio - one we will never forget.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.122s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 12; qc: 63; dbt: 0.083s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb