Take Off - 3 compact and memorable days in Rio

3 compact and memorable days in Rio

Take Off

Jörgen Wennberg

Tue 20 Feb 2018 23:28

We left super early the next day, at 5.30am as we had booked a flight from Recife (approx 130 km from Cabedelo) to Rio de Janeiro for 9.30….thinking we had plenty of time to catch the plane. Which we initially did, but the traffic and a slow taxi driver was really not what we wished for. We all had hick-ups in the taxi on the way to the airport, begging the taxi driver to move a bit faster. We even checked for the next flight. It took us 1h30mn to drive to Recife and the next 15km to the airport took us 2h10mn! Once at the airport, we all run for our lives, the 6 of us, and we managed to catch the plane j u s t on time! We arrived at the check-in at 9.22, sat in the plane at 9.40 and lifted at 9.55!

RIO DE JANEIRO

Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese, the city was the seat of the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, a domain of the Portuguese Empire. In 1763, it became the capital of the State of Brazil, a state of the Portuguese Empire. In 1808, when the Portuguese Royal Court moved to Brazil, Rio de Janeiro became the seat of the court of Queen Maria I of Portugal. She raised Brazil to the dignity of a kingdom, within the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and Algarves. Rio remained as the capital of the pluricontinental Lusitanian monarchy until 1822, when the Brazilian War of Independence began. This is one of the few instances in history that the capital of a colonizing country officially shifted to a city in one of its colonies. Rio de Janeiro served as the capital of the independent monarchy, the Empire of Brazil, until 1889, and then the capital of a republican Brazil until 1960 when the capital was transferred to Brasília.

Yes we ended up staying just by the mythical Copacabana Beach at Hotel Windsor Excelsior.

Kids seem to be happy to have left the boat for a while. Just the joy of jumping in a bed!

Dinner at El Born by Copacabana Beach. Someone did not make it through all the day...

The day after we went to Corcovado to take the train to Cristo Redentor. While waiting for our turn, we found this playground for kids...

… and for grown-ups playing card.

Finally we made it to the top !

Stunning view from the top of the whole of Rio.

Copacabana Beach

In the afternoon Victor (World Arc yellow shirt) came to visit us at our hotel terrace with his Brazilian girl friend.

On our way for dinner at La Trattoria

Another day in Rio. We walked the Pista Claudio Cantinho to the bottom of the cable car carrying us up to the Sugar Top.

View over Urca, where our friend Joca is raised

At the far end we can see all the “favelas” climbing up the hills. Some more safe than others.

Taking the cable car to the top of Sugar Loaf.

Yet another view from the Sugar Top. Jörgen had hurt himself the day before when going for a swim at Copacabana Beach. A hard wave took him, rolling him around whereof he got stuck with his shoulder in the sand. Ouch!

Magical how Cristo Retendor appeared through the mist of the morning

We had lunch at the bottom at Circulo Militar de Praia Vermelha….

… choosing Brasil’s main home dish, Feijoada. A stew of beans and sausages. Really delicious.

Later on the afternoon we visited Forever Brasil at their headquarters in Rio. A magnificent old villa.

Visiting the Country Manager Fernando.. A very very nice meeting.

Yet another day in Rio, today visiting Escadaria Selarón. In 1990, Selarón began renovating dilapidated steps that ran along the front of his house. At first, neighbours mocked him for his choice of colours as he covered the steps in fragments of blue, green and yellow tiles – the colours of the Brazilian flag. It started out as a side-project to his main passion, painting, but soon became an obsession. He found he was constantly out of money, so Selarón sold paintings to fund his work. It was long and exhausting work but he continued on and eventually covered the entire set of steps in tiles, ceramics and mirrors.