In our airline ratings, LATAM have scored 5/5 and Aerolineas Argentinas 3.5/5 (generally good, but too many changes of flight timings). Unfortunately our one flight with GOL from Iguazu to Rio was a rather stressful experience - chaos at check-in and not much better at boarding - but they at least got us here safely, only ten minutes late. 2/5!
We are staying on Copacabana beach. Our hotel, the Copacabana Palace, was built in 1923. They provide a short tour of the history of the hotel each day at 4pm, so after settling in we joined that tour and then walked along the seafront before returning to the hotel for drinks, cards and dinner. The front of the hotel from the beach, and the view from our room below. They have had weeks of rain here, so it was nice to see the sun when we arrived, albeit the forecast for our time here was pretty mixed.
On our first day, we decided we should knock off the two ‘must-do’ sites in Rio - the statue of Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado Hill and Sugar Loaf Mountain. We joined a small group tour and were picked up from the hotel around 7.45am.
First stop, Christ the Redeemer. This Art Deco statue is 38m tall - including its 8-meter plinth and was inaugurated in 1931. Whilst it was a bit hazy and very crowded, it was amazing to see. The plinth at least allows the photographer to cut out all the milling heads, selfie-takers and Instagram posers. Corocovado Hill is 710m high, so it was quite a climb in the minibus to get up there. The views over the city were spectacular but difficult to photograph well because of the cloudy conditions and the position of what sun there was.
From there back to sea level before taking two cable cars to climb to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain. This is where the Moonraker scene was filmed in which James Bond wrestled Jaws on top of two cable cars. Again, very crowded at the top but you did get superb views of the city - a fantastic harbour in Baia de Guanabara, surrounded by many mountains (all a bit sugar-loafed in shape) with the main city districts squeezed in any reasonably flat land and the favelas creeping up the hillside. Copacabana beach is back left in the picture below and Christ the Redeemer back right.
A quick trip to the beach for a dip in the Atlantic Ocean and relaxing in our room before heading out late afternoon to explore the area of Santa Teresa. The plan was to take an Uber to the tram station and then take one of the old trams, the Bonde, up the hill to Santa Teresa. Unfortunately, we arrived to find that they were sold out for the day so we had to take another Uber from there instead.
Anyway, we arrived in Santa Teresa and had a very pleasant wander amongst the arts and crafts shops, cafes and bars. We even saw some of the Bonde trams that we’d failed to get on earlier! A nice relaxed feel and lots of jungle all around.
After drinks and cards in the bar in the first photo below, a bit more walking to our restaurant, Aprazivel, set on many terraced levels with views over the lights of the city below. Our section of the restaurant was nicely busy but as it is not yet high season they were not using all the terraces and I was able to take a photograph of one of these, to give an idea of where we were. We had a very good evening.
On our second full day, we took an Uber from the hotel to start a self-guided walking tour of the city centre. First stop was the Cais de Valongo - not much there any more, but it’s UNESCO-listed as it’s the old docks on which thousands of slaves arrived to work on the coffee and sugar plantations in the area.
From there to the Real Gabinete, a rather wonderful library. It’s only one room, and we found we had to queue outside for an hour to be able to get in. Frustrating but it was beautiful once finally inside.
After a brief stop in a cafe for a drink, our next port of call was the cathedral and its adjacent bell tower - an extraordinary building from the 1970s, supposedly inspired by Mayan pyramids. It’s pretty grubby on the outside and looks more like a multi-story car park. But inside is really rather impressive and dramatic in its way - surprisingly light and airy, it almost felt like you were outside.
We walked past a number of other important buildings in the city’s history, including the Theatro Municipal before taking another Uber to visit a small church called the Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Glória do Outeiro, completed in 1739 and a favourite of the Brazilian royal family. Completely deserted and very simple, but beautiful, with the walls lined with Portuguese blue and white tiles.
Back to the hotel for a rest before heading to the Lagoa area of the city for dinner - a curry made a nice change.
On our last full day in Rio, we had booked onto a small group half day tour of the Tijuca National Park. Our guide and two young American visitors made up the rest of the group. We travelled by car into the National Park - successfully re-forested in the mid-nineteenth century after the coffee plantations were removed. This urban jungle makes up about 7% of the city’s area and is said to reduce the temperature in the city by about 5 degrees.
We started with a hike through the jungle to a view point called Pedra Bonita. We saw some Capuchin monkeys en route and got great views from the top.
Once we’d descended the same trail, a short car journey took us to the Cascatinha Taunay, the biggest waterfall in the park at about 40m high. We were lucky enough to get a distant view of a sloth.
Back to the hotel at lunchtime, and we hoped to spend some time at the hotel pool before heading down for a wander around Ipanema and dinner. But this morning’s sunshine vanished and whilst we had an hour at the pool the sky was getting blacker and blacker and we got back to our room just in time before the heavens opened for a full-on tropical downpour, with thunder and lightning thrown in. So we will stay here tonight instead.
And so we come to the end of our trip. It’s been great. Exceptionally good weather for the bits when it mattered most, albeit it would have been nice to end with some sunnier days in Rio.
We really can’t decide on our top 3. Of all the cities we’ve visited, Buenos Aires was certainly our favourite but not even Buenos Aires will make it into our top 3 and possibly not into our top 5. Whilst we are pleased to have seen the cities, it’s definitely the ‘outdoor activities’ that have served up the most memorable experiences.
Our whole time at Estancia Rincon Chico on Peninsular Valdes, but particularly the afternoon walking the beach, watching the elephant seals and then being lucky enough to see an orca beaching to take a seal pup is definitely “top of the pops’ for both of us.
After that, the hike to Laguna de Los Tres, the surreal landscapes of the Atacama, the size, colours and sounds of the Perito Moreno glacier, exploring Tierra de Fuego and the Beagle Channel and the majesty of the Iguazú Falls were all amazing.
Not much we would have done differently, so that’s good.
We leave Rio at 6pm tomorrow evening, Sunday, on a BA flight back to Heathrow, landing early Monday morning and heading straight back to Marksbury.