We have had 3 busy days in Rio and like the city very much. We arrived on Sunday night and found our way to our hotel in St Teresa, a hill suburb behind Rio's downtown area and inner bay. We had an immediate encounter with Carneval activity, even though Carneval is several weeks away - our route was blocked by a traffic jam around one of the many practice sessions which each of the participating bands puts on.
St Teresa is a quaint area with loads of character. Old buildings, grand and not so grand, cling to the side of the hill. Almost all of them seem to have fantastic views. Access is up a series of steep, narrow, cobble-stoned streets (which taxi drivers seem to use to test their Formula 1 skills) or by cable car (bondinho). It is some distance from the tourist beach hot spots of Ipanema and Copacabana and a perfect location for exploring the city.
On our first full day, we walked around the downtown area, a fascinating mix of modern architecture - such as the dramatic metropolitan cathedral - and heritage buildings from colonial times - such as the old Santo Antonio Convent, the amazing Real Gabinete Portugues de Leitura reading room with bookshelves of very old and valuable leather-bound books towering maybe 10 metres high, and the huge Confeitaria Colombo coffee shop with furnishings which represented the height of opulence 100 years ago (and still looks pretty good today). Then we crossed Rio's inner bay by ferry to Niteroi. We had thought that this was an island because it is connected by an extremely long road bridge - in fact, however, we found that Niteroi is really part of the mainland and the road bridge is just a short-cut. It has its own relatively quiet beaches and many, many apartment buildings. A much more populated area than we had expected. One of the Niteroi highlights was to be a visit to a contemporary art collection housed in a flying-saucer shaped building on a prominent cliffside. Unfortunately, the collection was closed, but the trip was worth it just to admire the building from the outside.
The next day we took advantage of what we thought was clear weather to go up to the top of Corcovado (Hunchback) where the famous statue of Christ the Reeemer stands. The journey up is by electric cog railway and offered great views of Rio and the beaches in several directions. It is a very impressive piece of engineering. When we reached the top, the clouds were not fully cooperating. We had to be content with partial views of the panaroma below, but we were not disappointed. And the Christ statue itself was a captivating work. The panorama gave us a better understanding of how the city has developed into every little pocket of space between the hills, while the hills themselves remain green and largely free of any buildings. We came back down the mountain and went around to Rio's botannical garden, a nice collection of trees and plants representative of the area. It was very hot, with temperatures consistently 32C or more. Finally we walked, via a beautiful lagoon (Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas), to Ipanema, arguably Rio's prime beach. It was early evening and we thought we might catch one of those famous sunsets. Well, not this time, but we really enjoyed the beach anyway. The surf seemed huge and the beach was wide and white. There were a lot of people there, many of them playing or training for beach volleyball, which seems to be taken very seriously indeed. There were several other net and ball games as well, and long stretches of the beach resembled a sports arena with back-to-back playing fields. We spent the rest of the evening checking out some of Ipanema's night life. It is a very lively place, maybe the liveliest part of Rio.
Wednesday was our lucky day for views. First a visit to Museu Chacara do Ceu, the mansion-turned-museum of a wealthy art collector. Not only was the art collection impressive (mostly Brazilian and contemporary) but the location of the museum was also striking. It occupies a hilltop site with commanding views in all directions. On to Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf) where we took the cable car to the summit. It is not as high as Corcovado but the views were spectacular, and it was a very clear day, so we could enjoy the panorama at its best. From downtown to the ocean beaches, we could see everything, and we marvelled at how the city has scattered itself all around the hills. It seems as if just about everyone has a view or a beachfront or both. Rio is one of those cities with a tremendous scenic location - and one of the few which has used the location to full advantage. We came back down from the peak and did a little walking around a coastal trail before retreating to the air-conditioning of a nearby movie theater to see the latest Woody Allen movie - we have been chasing it around the world for months.
We rounded out the day with a trip to the Maracana football stadium to watch an evening match featuring one of Rio's big clubs, Flamengo. Although there wasn't a huge crowd (it was mid-week), and fan behaviour was better than we had been warned, there was still plenty of atmosphere, both on and off the field of play. Lots of colour and noise. The stadium, which is the largest in South America, was only around 20% full. We could imagine what it would be like with a full house. The game result was a convincing win to Flamengo, the team with by far the most support there.
Simon
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