Brazil: Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

We had managed to get a centrally located apartment in the Lapa district again through Airbnb.

Very nice, located on the 9th floor, with a view of the Arcas da Lapa, originally an aqueduct, now used as a tram bridge by the Santa Teresa Tram. We also took a ride on the tram, not very fast, but with nice views of the city!

Catedral Metropolitana from the outside is bunker-like or pyramid-like, but inside it is very appealing because of the cross-shaped glass windows.

What comes to mind when you think of Rio de Janeiro besides samba and carnival (which we unfortunately missed)? Of course, the famous beaches Copacabana and Ipanema - Barry Manilow and Astrud Gilberto are probably not entirely innocent of it;).

Copacabana promenade

...and of course the Christ the Redeemer statue, which holds its arms protectively over the city from the summit of the 710m high Corcovado mountain and is probably the most immediate association with this city.

Like many others, we (honestly, it was me) also wanted to go there. So we took the train up the steep hill to enjoy a wonderful view of the city, but also the famous Sugarloaf Mountain.

From up there, you can also have a good overview of the 4 km long Copacabana beach. It was a beautiful and very hot day with a sensational view, so it was not surprising that even though it was a weekday, we found ourselves there with crowds of other people, all of whom had one thing in common: they wanted to immortalize themselves with Christo;). So this excursion turned out to be a somewhat strange experience. Selfie sticks were stretched from all sides and you had to be careful not to get in between;). But we survived it well.

One highly recommended activity here is a walk along the harbor promenade.

At Boulevard Olimpico, you can find the largest street art in the world. Well-known artist Eduardo Kobra, originally from Sao Paulo, has depicted 5 ethnic groups in a very impressive way here to commemorate the 2016 Olympic Games. The colorful work "Etnias" is depicted on a 3000m2 wall area and is really very appealing.

On March 15, 2017, mass demonstrations took place in several major cities in Brazil as a protest against planned pension system reforms. Also here.

At my insistence, we went out to a nice bar in the evening. I really wanted to experience this side of Rio as well. We spent a very nice evening there, with live music and a great atmosphere. I learned something new again: even men who come with a woman seem to have little inhibitions about making contact with others when their partner briefly leaves the table;).

Homelessness is also a major problem here, although not as extreme as in Sao Paulo. Of course, this makes no difference to the individual affected. Each one is one too many.

At the beginning, our landlord had advised us on some rules of conduct: including not opening the door to a stranger and not simply getting into any taxi,...

Nevertheless, we felt reasonably safe here in Rio and had a very nice week.

But now we're heading north to Fortaleza. Since this is a distance of almost 2200 km, we have chosen a 3-hour flight this time.