Our flight arrived at 5.30am on Friday 27 February. Despite Jayna's bag being called 'Travelproof', it was already missing a strap when it arrived in Rio. Our apartment wasn't ready so we headed straight to Copacabana beach! Unfortunately this left Jayna with immediate patchy sunburn, despite liberal application of suncream, clothes and caipirinhas (basically, rum), plus a sun shade. We went for a couple of swims in the sea which was a nice temperature, a balmy 25 degrees! Our apartment had a kitchenette and all of the necessaries, and was centrally located in mid Copacabana district, with a supermarket across the road and a Metro stop just around the corner. It was sandwiched between a garage and a bike shed, and the shower left something to be desired (with it being over the toilet...) however, we were simply grateful for a shower! We found ourselves eating cereal out of mugs due to a lack of bowls.
The following day we took ourselves to the Sugar Loaf (Pao de Acucar)
Ken and Jayna on Copacabana Beach. This was two cable cars up a mountain for some spectacular views over Rio. On the way we saw Brazilian Tanagers and Common Marmosets! Later we headed to Ipanema for the beach, more caipirinhas and an attempt at sunset, which didn't go very well when it was cloudy and rained. On the walk back to Copacabana, we admired the copious amounts of sand sculptures, celebrating Rio's 450th birthday.
On Sunday 1 March, we went to Cosme Velho and took the tram up to Christ the Redeemer (Christo Redentor Corcovado) for more spectacular views over Rio. The tram was good fun, we would recommend it. We had a look in the chapel below Christ the Redeemer and took in the views in a leisurely way; thankfully it wasn't too busy despite it being a very sunny Sunday. After taking the tram back down, and navigating the bus routes, we went to Rio's botanical gardens. Here we saw plenty, including orchids, bromeliads, huge palm trees, huge eucalyptus' complete with widow makers, and lots more. We also saw terrapins, Toco Toucans and more Common Marmosets. We also saw no less than 8 pregnant women, wandering around the gardens with their bellies on full display - some of them were having photo shoots done. Must be a Brazilian thing. We then headed back to Ipanema for a successful attempt at watching the sunset, and more caipirinhas, sampling street food on the way back - churros and milho verde
Monday was a day of organisation, with highs and lows. We struggled to book a bus, and so the low was having to catch a bus to the bus station, to book a bus, then having to take a bus back to Copacabana. This scuppered our plans of a late afternoon swim off Copacabana.
On Tuesday 3 March we took in an excellent walking tour of Rio, covering parts of the districts Centro, Lapa and Santa Teresa. We navigated the very efficient metro to Cinelandia and took in the sights over a 9 kilometre walk, including ancient churches, the escadaria selaron, an aqueduct (now a train line featured in the movie Rio?), a statue to Mahatma Gandhi, a not so ancient and very ugly cathedral, and the Teatro Municipal. We also heard lots of history of Rio's development; the origin of the name 'Brazil', wars, invasions, and abolition of the monarchy and slavery. Later we went to Copacabana beach, and again our plans of swimming were scuppered by signs saying 'Do Not Swim'. Jayna went in for a dip anyway, in between sips of a caipirinhas, whilst Ken enjoyed a cerveja. Good times!
Rio is a beautiful and metropolitan city, well worth a visit. The temperatures whilst we were there ranged from 26 degrees to 33 degrees (day and night), and usually hovered around 32 degrees. Mostly sunny and definitely hot, we enjoyed the sights and would recommend it to anyone.
Jayna is peeling already from the patchy sunburn.
Next stop - Foz do Iguacu via a very long bus ride!a
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| Rio de Janeiro: Gateway to South America Travel |
The following day we took ourselves to the Sugar Loaf (Pao de Acucar)
Ken and Jayna on Copacabana Beach. This was two cable cars up a mountain for some spectacular views over Rio. On the way we saw Brazilian Tanagers and Common Marmosets! Later we headed to Ipanema for the beach, more caipirinhas and an attempt at sunset, which didn't go very well when it was cloudy and rained. On the walk back to Copacabana, we admired the copious amounts of sand sculptures, celebrating Rio's 450th birthday.
On Sunday 1 March, we went to Cosme Velho and took the tram up to Christ the Redeemer (Christo Redentor Corcovado) for more spectacular views over Rio. The tram was good fun, we would recommend it. We had a look in the chapel below Christ the Redeemer and took in the views in a leisurely way; thankfully it wasn't too busy despite it being a very sunny Sunday. After taking the tram back down, and navigating the bus routes, we went to Rio's botanical gardens. Here we saw plenty, including orchids, bromeliads, huge palm trees, huge eucalyptus' complete with widow makers, and lots more. We also saw terrapins, Toco Toucans and more Common Marmosets. We also saw no less than 8 pregnant women, wandering around the gardens with their bellies on full display - some of them were having photo shoots done. Must be a Brazilian thing. We then headed back to Ipanema for a successful attempt at watching the sunset, and more caipirinhas, sampling street food on the way back - churros and milho verde
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| The Sugar Loaf. |
Monday was a day of organisation, with highs and lows. We struggled to book a bus, and so the low was having to catch a bus to the bus station, to book a bus, then having to take a bus back to Copacabana. This scuppered our plans of a late afternoon swim off Copacabana.
On Tuesday 3 March we took in an excellent walking tour of Rio, covering parts of the districts Centro, Lapa and Santa Teresa. We navigated the very efficient metro to Cinelandia and took in the sights over a 9 kilometre walk, including ancient churches, the escadaria selaron, an aqueduct (now a train line featured in the movie Rio?), a statue to Mahatma Gandhi, a not so ancient and very ugly cathedral, and the Teatro Municipal. We also heard lots of history of Rio's development; the origin of the name 'Brazil', wars, invasions, and abolition of the monarchy and slavery. Later we went to Copacabana beach, and again our plans of swimming were scuppered by signs saying 'Do Not Swim'. Jayna went in for a dip anyway, in between sips of a caipirinhas, whilst Ken enjoyed a cerveja. Good times!
Rio is a beautiful and metropolitan city, well worth a visit. The temperatures whilst we were there ranged from 26 degrees to 33 degrees (day and night), and usually hovered around 32 degrees. Mostly sunny and definitely hot, we enjoyed the sights and would recommend it to anyone.
Jayna is peeling already from the patchy sunburn.
Next stop - Foz do Iguacu via a very long bus ride!a