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Our first stop in Brazil was the incredible city of Rio de Janeiro. We had heard many stories about how fantastic Rio was with the best location for a city on the planet... and for once, it lived up to its expectations! The city has gorgeous beaches, is surrounded by forest and mountains and has the most incredible giant rocks jutting out of the ground in the middle of the city.
We stayed in a hotel in Copacabana, only a couple of blocks from the iconic Copacabana beach, so in one of the best locations in the city. As we were driving from the airport we could see Sugar Loaf mountain in the distance and saw Christ the Redeemer on the top of Corcodova before driving under the mountain. All very surreal, as we have seen images of Brazil and Rio in so many films and on TV so many times... we had one of those ´my god, we are actually in Brazil!´ moments!
We only stayed in Rio for a couple of days as we have been in cities for about a month with Santiago, Buenos Aires and now Rio. To try and see as much of the
city as possible in the short time we were here, we went on a city tour that took us around the most famous sites. So off we went, up to the top of Corcodova to see Christ the Redeemer with spectacular views across the whole city. It wasn´t the best day weather wise, as it was a bit cloudy but Rio still looked incredible and the sun focused on Sugarloaf which looked stunning. We drove back down and were taken past the massive Maracana football stadium (unfortunately not enough time to go in and have a look) on the way to the Sambadrome, where the main Carnival parade takes place. It is a pretty dull street with a massive concrete structure but when the 90,000+ party goers arrive for carnival we could only imagine how spectacular it must be... another thing to add to the list of things to do! We saw some of the costumes used during the carnival this year, which some people tried on and walked down the street trying to imagine what it would be like to be part of it all!
A visit to Rio wouldn´t be the same without going on to Copacabana
Beach, and as it was on our doorstep we just had to go and see what the fuss is all about. It is a massive beach with gorgeous soft sand, with all sorts of people wandering along the boardwalk from tourists and joggers to children trying to sell us drinks etc. We sat down for a while with a cold drink and thought about the fact that we were finally on the Atlantic and home was just the other side of that small little ocean...
Rio is a pretty amazing city and it is an absolute mix of all different people. Although we stayed in the ´posh´ part of the city, we were never far away from some of the rougher sides of Rio and you can´t miss the favelas when driving across the city. Our time was only short here, as we now head to Ilha Grande (an island just off the coast) to enjoy some more sun and to relax on some gorgeous beaches for a while!
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Jenny Goldswain
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"Things to do"
Thanks for yet another great Blog. The list of "things to do" is getting so long you will need another year out ! Please don't do that, we miss you too much. Love Dad and Mum xx