Advertisement
Published: October 5th 2007
When in Rome
I mean Rio, or should I say Heeeo as the locals pronounce itThe Brazilians are very proud of Rio de Janeiro. So proud that they believe the big man upstairs actually created the world in 6 days and spent the whole of the next just on Rio. They have every right to be proud, it is a truly stunning city. Situated on the edge of Guanabara bay amongst various mounds of rock and tumbling wooded mountains it is a city to rival Cape Town and Sydney for natural beauty. Add to that the Brazilian party spirit and we had great spot for our weekend city break.
But before we arrived in Rio, we had some other stopovers to make. Having left the state of Bahia we headed south on an 18hr bus ride to Rio State, to the coast about 200km east of Rio itself. Still keen to see as much beach as possible we packed in Cabo Fio, Arraial do Cabo and Buzios. Buzios is the most famous of these, becoming so in the 60's when Brigitte Bardot was spotted wandering along the sand with her then Brazilian boyfriend. Since then this quiet fishing village has turned into a rather trendy getaway. It seemed to make sense to pick Buzios as
Nice View of Rio
Shame we weren´t the only ones who wanted to check it out! the place to cash in my birthday present from M - a night in a fancy hotel. What a change from hostel life it was too. Gone were the shared bathrooms and in came the spa and pool overlooking the bay. We checked in early and made full use of all the facilities possible. Alright! It also meant that we were now enjoying a treat, within a holiday within some world travelling. 😊
After our brief sojourn of luxury, it was back to reality and onto a boat for a tour around the surrounding beaches. It was possibly the best boat trip ever. We hung out on the cushioned sun deck, stereo blasting, drinking beers and caiparinias, occasionally stopping to check out some beaches. Here, we would jump off the boat, have a swim, get back on and move onto the next destination. Happy days.
All recharged and relaxed, it was time to say goodbye to the coast and head for the city. Not that there are an absence of beaches in Rio but they just weren´t really our priority for our short time there. Although we did end up staying at Copacabana beach, which interestingly enough is
No time for a nap
The beach below looks too inviting one of the most densely populated parts of the world. There are 62,000 people per square kilometer here, making a total of a quarter of a million people situated along a 4km stretch of beach and the land behind it. It really made us think back to Namibia where a square kilometer contained only 2 people. Copacabana really wasn´t as crowed as you´d think. In fact it was a whole lot nicer than both of us expected, especially the beach itself. This clean golden expanse of sand was packed with people from all walks of life playing sports, soaking up the sun and hanging out at the barracas. As I said, hanging out at the beach wasn´t really our priority for our time here. Instead we had the typical tourist itinerary of seeing the city from its two famous miradors: Sugar Loaf Mountain and Corcovado (This is where JC stands and looks over the city). You can´t beat seeing a city from up high, even if it was a little hazy during our visit.
No trip to Rio would be complete without testing out its famous nightlife. Every Friday night, the Lapa district hosts a street party. Imagine Notting
...and relax
The beach looks even better from up close Hill carnival, only EVERY week. There were literally thousands of people on the streets, wandering between bars and clubs and buying drinks and food from stalls. We armed ourselves with some pints of Caipariniah, straws full of coloured cachaça and went for a wander. It was a great night out, the only criticism being the lack of music on the street. To see most of it you had to pay for a club, which we weren´t up for. But we did manage to crowd into a corner bar for an impromptu samba session before crawling home at gone 3am. Which, believe it or not, was the latest we had stayed up for over 6 months!
This Week Likes: * Rodizio overload! Not that we are complaining, we loved every moment of the 5 we have had in the last 3 weeks. Not all meat ones either, we have had pizza rodizio and sushi rodizio too, and they all rock!
* Cheese on a stick. Exactly what it says on the tin - another beach favourite, grilled over coals and dipped in oregano.
* Arraial de cabo beaches. One in particular was only accessible by walking track over a
Star Shapes
Probably the wrong angle to see, but trust me, I was a star head of land. A totally deserted paradise beach with nothing but white sand, calm turquoise waters a some huts serving snacks. Bliss
This Weeks Dislikes:
- Cabo Frio. We arrived in the rain and it took us ages to find a place to stay. It was during these moments we knicknamed it the arse end of Brazil. The next morning we awoke to glorious sunshine and though our comment was a little harsh ...
- The undercurrent of danger in Rio. It was a lovely vibrant place, but you always had to be on your guard.
- It was also the most expensive place we have been yet, although worth every centavos
Advertisement
Tot: 0.193s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 20; qc: 100; dbt: 0.1169s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Hayley
non-member comment
Awesome
I am sooo loving those glasses, no wonder they are all the rage!!!