Day 2 - Sightseeing at its best

Thursday, March 1, 2018 / Rio de Janeiro

We couldn't comply with the family's request to sleep in. The heat in the morning and the jet lag played a part in that.

After breakfast, we went to the beach, where I ended up staying in the sun for a minute too long despite using sunscreen. The water is pleasantly cool in contrast to the air temperature. Vendors come by regularly with cold drinks, sunglasses, and other knick-knacks.

At noon, we went to the Corcovado mountain, from where you can reach Christ the Redeemer in 20 minutes by a small train. Despite a few clouds in front of the statue, we still had a great view of Christ and the rest of the city. From up there, you could see how diverse Rio de Janeiro is. On one side, there's Copacabana, stretching over several kilometers with its beautiful wide beach, the adjacent hotels, and many tourists. A few hundred meters further inland, there are the favelas. They are as big as their own cities and have up to 150,000 residents in some cases.

Afterwards, we visited Forte Copacabana, a former military base from Brazil's colonial times.

~Viktor