Rio De Janeiro, the city of sunshine, sand and samba. We were pretty sure we knew what to expect after seeing many photos of Copacabana beach, where the beautiful people go to strut their stuff, with one hand on their popped out hip, and the other holding an ice cold caipirinha. Well, as it turns out, we can’t have our own way all the time. When we arrive it’s the city of unseasonal rain, the so called El Nino effect has made it feel more like England than the tropical paradise we had anticipated.
Clearly we aren’t going to be spending our time here sunbathing. The high cost of transport in Brazil makes a big dent in our budget and cities can be notoriously expensive so we decide to take the offer of a free walking tour of the Downtown and Lapa districts. We visited the posh coffee shop Confeitaria once frequented by two British icons; the queen of England, and one of our travel idols, the legendary, Michael Palin.
This was followed by a trip through history as we entered the old Palace of the king of Portugal, built when he moved his court to Brazil during the Napoleonic wars. The tour took us past many famous buildings including the ornate theatre.
And concluded at the world famous Selaron steps, created over a life time by Chilean artist Jorge Selaron the steps are built from tiles from around the world.
Unfortunately we didn’t spot any from England, the closeset we found was a tile depicting wales.
Luckily we were gifted one sunny day and decided to make the most of the blue sky to visit Christ the Redeemer. Toted as one of the seven wonders of the modern world the giant statue of Christ is symbolic of Rio De Janeiro.
There are several ways to get to the famous statue. The first is to take a train to the top of the mountain, the second is to take a mini bus and the final option is to walk. I persuaded Leanne to walk, climb, and at some points scramble, to the top.
This turned out to be beneficial for a number of reasons. 1. It was free, 2. It was quicker than waiting 3 hours in a queue to get the train. 3. It was fun 4. It was hilarious when Leanne nearly crapped herself at the sight of a snake waiting in the middle of the path.
We also spotted a toucan and some monkeys.
Reaching the summit we walked into the land of selfie sticks, bum bags and immaculately dressed people. We suddenly became conscious that we were covered in mud and sweat. Most people evidently took the easy route! But not to miss out we elbowed through the mass of people to pose for the obligatory shot with the big man himself.
Walking to the top made the day worth it, there was no waiting around and we felt like we had achieved something. For those people who don’t want to exert any energy there is also an escalator for the final 200 steps from the end of the road to the top.
Out of the seven wonders the Statue of Christ is my least favourite. It’s just a statue of Jesus and it is not as big as I imagined, the Angel of the North is probably bigger. But what really is mind blowing is the view of Rio Janeiro.
Night out in Lapa
As a beach party wasn’t looking likely we decided that joining a pub crawl would be a good idea to meet other people and see the city. We visited two pubs and two clubs. As you enter the clubs you are given a card which you use to pay for everything in the club, you are then expected to pay for everything on the way out. Somehow I can’t see that working in England.
Just to prove a point that the world is smaller than you think the host for the pub crawl had spent a year living in Northumberland, England. If you’re from Northumberland like us you might know where Otterburn is but it’s just as likely that you don’t. It’s a tiny village in the heart of Northumberland and is a strange place to be talking about with a Brazilian in Rio.
Stocking up on cheap drink before the tour might of made us feel ten years younger at the time but the next day our true ages showed, unable to get out of bed until 2pm the rest of the day was a write off.
With the weather forecast still looking gloomy we decide to move on from Rio in search of sunnier climates.
