Exploring Rio de Janeiro
In August, I had the opportunity to visit Brazil. In the past, I had always wanted to visit Brazil but never had the time to deal with the visa. However, when Brazil announced that US citizens would be granted visa free access starting in June, I took advantage of this new development as soon as I could. This was news that I had been eagerly anticipating and waiting for. It was also perfect time for me since I would be in the US in the summer. It was a no-brainer for me. I made Brazil my next travel goal in August.
Copacabana Beach
After previously spending two weeks on a marvelous guided tour in Central Asia, I was looking forward to being able to return to South America and check out Brazil’s treasures. Admittedly, I had a limited amount of time, so I did not have time to thoroughly explore the country as I would have liked. Instead, I based myself in Rio de Janeiro and tried to see as much as I could with the time I had. Even though I did not have the chance to go further afield to other parts of the country, I was able to visit Petropolis, which was the site of the former imperial residence of the Emperor of Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th century and the former official capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro during First Brazilian Republic.
A couple on Copacabana Beach
Because time was in short supply, I wanted to see as much of Rio as possible, so I wanted to base myself in the best possible location. Like many other travelers, I stayed in a hotel almost right between Copacabana Beach and Ipanema Beach and right across from Copacabana Fort. While the hotel was quite nice and more than suitable for my needs, my hotel room did not unfortunately look out at the the famed Copacabana Beach but instead looked out towards an apartment block. However, the hotel did provide a rooftop pool and sitting area that gave excellent views of the entirety of Copacabana Beach along with a nice view of Copacabana Fort.
Copacabana Fort from the hotel
Shortly after arriving in the city, despite being tired from the journey from the US, I decided to take advantage of the clear weather and made my way over to Fort Copacabana since it was literally across the street and took a grand total of 3 minutes to walk to from the hotel.
It is a well-known fact that Rio de Janeiro has a crime problem, and while I thought I was being too cautious, I decided not to chance it and kept my camera in the hotel while visiting the Fort and just brought my phone along. Even though I thought the chance of something happening literally going across the street was highly unlikely in the afternoon with tons of people around, I had read and heard of crime happening at these particular times in very open and public places. This was enough for me to err on the side of the caution. In retrospect, I’m glad that I left my DSLR in the hotel room. As I walked to the Fort, I noticed that very few if any people had cameras out in the open despite this being a major tourist area.
View of Ipanema Beach
The entry fee into the Fort was very cheap and a very pleasant place to idle for a bit, watch the surfers, and take in the scenery. The Fort also has a museum about the Brazilian Armed Forces. Unfortunately, there was no signage in English but only Portuguese. Although I could not read any of the signs, the museum was interesting since it showed various uniforms, diagrams of the Fort throughout history, and recreations that showed how the different rooms of the Fort were used. Since the Fort is still an active base, only part of it is open to the public, yet the public parts have cafes with tables overlooking Copacabana Beach where one can get food or drinks.
After visiting Copacabana Fort, I headed to the famed Ipanema Beach. Because I was still tired from the flight from the US, I only did a brief walk around the area, but I made a promise to myself to return later in the trip and walk the entire length of it (2km - 1.25 miles). Yes, I did actually walk the length of it and back later on. It was definitely worth it, but I was quite sweaty afterwards.
Since I had just arrived in the country and was still trying to get my bearings, I did not spend too much time exploring on my first day. If anything, I just wanted to get a basic sense of direction. In the early evening, I retired to the hotel, caught up on email, and then fell asleep promptly.
Sugarloaf Mountain and Guanabara Bay
The next morning on my first full day in Rio, I had scheduled a day-long tour of the city to see all of the main sites. After a wonderful breakfast of pastries, ham, orange juice, and yogurt at the hotel, I was refreshed and ready to check out Rio de Janeiro in all of its glory.
Selfie with Jesus on Corcovado
The day tour started early in the morning with a hotel pickup. Once all of the group members were picked up and assembled (about 10 of us), we first headed to see the famed statue of Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) that overlooks the city from Corcovado. The statue, which was constructed from 1922-1933, is the iconic landmark of Rio de Janeiro and shows Jesus with his outstretched arms as if embracing the city.
The goal was to head to Corcovado first in order to beat the crowds but upon reaching the top of Corcovado, a lot of other people had the same idea. It was not quiet and serene at the top like one might expect but quite hectic and full of other tourists and groups all vying to get the perfect selfie. Now, I’m not going to rip on my fellow tourists because I was one of them trying to get the perfect shot as well. It’s just the nature of tourism.
Unfortunately, while my goal was to get a photo of myself mimicking Jesus, the large amount of people doing the same thing and waiting to do the pose did not seem worth it, so I settled on a simple selfie (see above).
While the enormous statue of Jesus was amazing to see, in my opinion, the best part of going to the top of Corcovado were the marvelous views of Rio that a visitor gets. From the top, it is possible to see Sugarloaf Mountain, Guanabara Bay, and the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon. In addition to the natural sites, it is amazing to see how the city of Rio de Janeiro is spread throughout a series of valleys among mountains. It was also quite a sight to see how far the city of Rio actually spreads out.
I could have easily stayed up at the top of Corcovado for much longer and taken in the scenery, but there was a schedule to follow. Once all the members of the group had reassembled, we were taken to Sugarloaf Mountain. I was particularly excited about this part of the tour. I had seen many pictures of the area on other travel blogs and online, and I really wanted to see it with my own eyes.
View of Rio de Janeiro from Sugarloaf Mountain
After a short drive down Corcovado to the other side of the city, we got to the entry point to Sugarloaf Mountain. In order to get to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain, it was necessary to take a glass-walled cable car. There are several lookout points en route to the top, which is 396 meters (1299 feet). While each view was impressive, the most impressive and best view was the top. There are all kinds of different viewing platforms at the top of Sugarloaf Mountain that allow people to get different perspectives of the city and surrounding area. I was extremely lucky this day. The weather was absolutely perfect with hardly clouds in the sky. One could not have asked for a better day.
The Traveling Expat with Rio de Janeiro in the background
This was my absolute favorite part of my entire trip to Brazil. Having the opportunity to see Rio de Janeiro in all of its glory with picture-perfect weather was an amazing experience and definitely unforgettable. The views were absolutely amazing and have to be seen with one’s own eyes to be believed.
Please feel free to check out the gallery that shows views from not only Corcovado but also Sugarloaf Mountain.
After having time to check out the views from Sugarloaf Mountain, it was time to continue the tour. Now that the biggest sites were covered, we headed into downtown Rio de Janeiro to check out the Monastery of Saint Benedict (Mosteira da São Bento), which is a 17th century colonial church. The church was founded in the late 16th century and still functions as a church in the 21st century.
The church is particularly impressive because of its extremely ornate interior that consists of gold leaf gilding. Unfortunately, we only had a limited amount of time to walk around the church, so I did not get a chance to explore the interior as thoroughly as I would have liked, but I am extremely grateful that I got see it. I had seen pictures of this online in the past, and having had the chance to see it in real life was a real treat.
São Bento Monastery in Rio de Janeiro
After we visited São Bento Monastery, the tour continued a little way to the modern Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro. The contrast between the 17th century São Bento Monastery and the modern cathedral was extremely stark. While the monastery church was heavily and ornately decorated in gold leaf gilding, the Cathedral is in the shape of a Mayan pyramid and frankly…looks characterless and brutalist from the outside. In my humble opinion, the modern cathedral truly and completely lacks the character and uniqueness of the 17th century church. The interior space, while impressive, seemed rather cold and lifeless to me.
After a short visit to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro, the tour ended with the last stop of the day. The famed Selaron Stairs (Escadaria Selaron). This is a staircase that was the work of the Chilean artist, Jorge Selaron. According to the story, he lived in this area where the staircase was neglected and dilapidated. In 1990, he took it upon himself to renovate the stairs with ceramic tiles in the colors of the Brazilian flag, but the project morphed into the large-scale project that is seen today which uses over 2000 ceramic tiles and goes for a length of 125 meters (410 feet).
Taking photos at the base of the Selaron Stairs
Today, because of the vibrant colors, the staircase is a major tourist attraction and has been featured in many publications, such as National Geographic and Time. In addition, it has featured prominently in tourism advertisements for Brazil over the years. Because of its fame, it has attracted tourists from all over. As expected, I was not only person here. There were hundreds of other visitors.
When most people visit, they all want a picture of themselves standing at the base of the stairs. This often results in a relatively long but fast-moving line for the photo. Rather than do the typical stair base photo, I opted to climb up near the top instead and get a photo (see below) sitting on the stairs where there relatively fewer people (nothing compared to what was below me).
The author sitting on the Selaron Stairs
After visiting the Selaron Steps, it was time to end the tour, and I was dropped off back at my hotel. My first full day in Rio de Janeiro was a definite success. Not only was the tour fascinating and informative, the weather was perfect for a large majority of the day, and the views from Corcovado and Sugarloaf Mountain were unbelievable. I definitely hope to return to Rio de Janeiro one day.
Have you been to Rio? What did you think of it?
