RIO DE JANEIRO:
This city does not need any introduction. It is one of the most sought after vacation cities and rightly so as it has everything a tourist could be looking for. It boasts two of the best beaches in the world, Copacabana and Ipanema. Christ the Redeemer being one of the new seven wonders is definitely on every travellers bucket list, and of course, the biggest draw has to be the annual Carnival which is undoubtedly the best party on earth.
Starting our tour of a new city with a free walking tour gives us a pretty good introduction to the city and in turn will help us plan and customize our must see list. So we headed to El Centro by metro. Here we met up with the tour guide who after a brief introduction to Rio went on to explain the highlights of the city such as the Municipal Theater, Plaza Cinelandia, Escadaria Selaron, Lapa neighborhood and the aqueduct arches, the Catedral Metropolitana, and the Carioca neighborhood. The tour lasted 3 hours and was very informative.
Municipal Theater
Escadaria Selaron
Carioca
Science Museum
Boulevard Olímpico
Some of the other places of interest we visited in Rio during the following days were:
Copacabana & Ipanema beaches:
These are world famous beaches known for their pristine white sand, beautiful blue waters and gorgeous waves, but most of all for the women in bikinis that you find here. Rio is the birthplace of the bikini and in keeping up with the tradition you will find everyone, young or old, fit or flab, all proudly flaunting (and rightly so!) their bikinis at the beaches. But I was mostly impressed with the beautiful waves that you could spend all day watching and never tire of them. This is truly paradise and the main reason to visit Rio in my opinion.
The signature sidewalk mosaic of Copacabana
Sunset over the mountains in Ipanema
Sugarloaf Mountain:
Another one of Rio’s biggest tourist destinations is Sugarloaf Mountain or Pão de Açúcar. This is a peak in Rio located at the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising 396 m (1,299 ft) above the harbor, its name is said to refer to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. It is known worldwide for its cableway and panoramic views of the city and beyond. It is necessary to take 2 cable car rides, one from the Urca station to the smaller peak Morro da Urca and from there another to the Pão de Açúcar. Price for the tickets is BR 116/person (US$25) and is half price for persons over 60 years. As you reach the summit, the view from here is spectacular. You can get a fantastic 360-degree panoramic view of the entire city of Rio de Janeiro and it is truly a beautiful sight to behold. Both the Copacabana and Ipanema beaches along with the bay that covers the Botafogo area can be seen from here as well as the rest of the city.
Christ the Redeemer:
It is considered one of the new seven Wonders of the World and of course is iconic in Rio de Janeiro. Located at the summit of Mount Corcovado and completed in 1931, the statue of Jesus Christ stands at 98 feet tall with his arms stretched out to either side spanning 92 feet. You can take a tram to reach the summit and the round trip ticket costs BR 67/person (US$17.85) with usually a 1+ hour wait to board the tram. Once you get off the tram, you can take an elevator or escalator to reach the statue. Here there is a large platform and in the center of it stands the statue. This is yet another place from where you get a 360-degree view of the entire city. Even though Mount Corcovado is taller than Sugarloaf Mountain, due to its location being almost in the middle of the city, Sugarloaf feels like it is taller. Views from both mountains are amazing and not to be missed.
Rio Carnival
The biggest party in the world is here and it is a once in a lifetime, must see, bucket list worthy spectacular event with more than two million people on the streets. I’m sure you can find details such as what, where, when on the internet. But if you are reading this, you are here to read about my experience attending this grand event, so let us start from the beginning. We booked our tickets for the carnival almost 3 months before and other than our flights to Trinidad and out of Sao Paulo, this was the only other item we had purchased when we started this trip.
The Carnival is held at the Sambódromo which consists of 700 metres (2,300 ft) of street converted into a permanent parade ground with bleachers (grandstands) built on either side for spectators with a capacity of 90,000.The carnival is basically a competition between various samba schools who put on a larger than life floats with several thousand participants from each school. Each samba school has a preset amount of 75 minutes to parade from one end of the Sambadrome to the other with all its thousands of dancers, its drum section, and a number of floats. Each school has its own unique qualities according to its own traditions. Schools are graded by a jury, and the competition is ferocious. The various schools compete for four days from 8 pm until the morning and on days 5 and 6, the elite special groups will march. The special group events are the biggest attraction and we had our tickets for day 5.
We returned from a 3-day trip to Belo Horizonte the day for which we had the tickets and after dropping off the rental car, we checked into the hotel which was located within walking distance to the Sambodromo. We knew that there would be thousands of people on the streets and the metro would be crowded, and also that we might have to travel to and from the stadium at odd hours of the night, so we had booked a hotel close to the stadium for one night only. We started from our hotel at around 6 pm and walked the short distance of a quarter mile to the stadium. The section where our seats were located was on the opposite side of the stadium and after making our way around checking with people that looked like staff or volunteer ushers who either had jackets or name tags with the carnival logo on, we got to our gate. We stood in line for almost a half hour as the gates were not open. Once we made it through the gate, we went up to our section which was basically the bleachers section. We were among the first to enter the section, so we picked a spot in the front row and settled down. People started coming in and eventually the entire section and the stadium filled up. As there were no assigned seats, there were more people than the available seats (or steps), so they just stood in the front where there was a railing overlooking the parade ground. This resulted in our view being obstructed a bit but we had no choice.
At around 8 pm, the program started and each school had a little over an hour to make their way from one end of the stadium to the other. The costumes, the floats, the sheer number of participants, the extravagant display that was put forth by each group was a feast for the eyes. Each school had their signature song and that was played on the loudspeakers in a loop and the audience sang along, dancing and cheering them on. The atmosphere was electric! It is really hard to put into words the magic and the grandeur of the carnival. It is something to be experienced at least once in everyone’s lifetime. It truly is ‘the greatest party on earth’. There was a 10 minute break between each school and the parade went on until 7 am in the morning. I’m sure if it was any other event, sleep would have hit us like a ton of bricks, but today, neither of us, especially Govi who normally knocks out by 11 pm, said that we were tired or needed to sleep. As the sun came up and the last float made its way to the end of the stadium, we finally made our way back to the hotel completely satisfied that one more of our bucket list items was checked off and that we had been a part of and just witnessed the fabulous event.
