We spent 8 days and 9 nights in Rio in total so plenty of material for a Top 5 and some added extras...
1. Inside Rio City Tour - an excellent half day tour. Stops at: Cristo Redentor (unfortunately under scaffolding, but you do get a sense of the scale and some great views), Maracana football stadium (but only
the Hall of Fame where you can stand in famous players' footsteps. This is fun (there is one female player with tiny feet!) but we would have been disappointed not to see inside the stadium if we hadn't been going back), the Sambadrome (nothing much to this outside Carnaval apart from the bank of seats where the main Carnaval parade takes place but you can try on a Carnaval costume which is fun and heavy!), Cathedral of San Sebastian (a bit of a modernist monster from the outside but absolutely stunning inside - one of the surprises of the trip), Sugar Loaf Mountain for sunset (scary cable car ride, amazing, amazing views). I would definitely recommend this tour which saves a lot of faffing around trying to get to the individual sites yourself.
2. Favela Tour - the raison d'être of this 3 hour tour seems to be to prove that the favelas aren't as lawless as they are normally depicted and that 90% of the people who live there are law obiding citizens not gun toting criminals. And it suceeds. At no point did we feel unsafe or witness any guns or crime and the scruffy houses, masses of telegraph wires and street stalls reminded us of Vietnam more than anything. However, there are two sides to any story and in this way the tour disappoints. They are clearly keeping you away from the
poorest areas, which I suspect are really shocking and of course the reason you feel safe is because 'security' is being provided by the drug lords and their lackeys who want to keep the police off their patch. I suspect our 'security' is someone else's nightmare. Having said all of that it is worth doing - the Marcelo Armstrong tour we did donates a large proportion of the cost to a community school - and it is the only way you will understand the massive contrast between rich and poor in Rio (often only separated by the thickness of a wall) but I did feel that we were only getting one side of the story.
3. Street party in Lapa - what a way to see in my 30th birthday! The streets of Lapa turn into one big party on Friday nights. The main square is filled with food and drink stalls and there are so many people trying to fit in too few bars that the streets are full with people having their own party. We started the evening with the strange experience of drinking Capirinhas while standing on a petrol station forecourt and finished it in a bar with live samba music! The whole night felt really Brazilian and wild - they really know how to throw a
party! We had also met a couple of really nice Canadian girls (shout out to Melissa and Becky) at our hostel who entered into the birthday drinking with spirit! A great night; I completely forgot to be depressed about being 30!
4. Selaron Staircase - a public staircase flanked on either side by residential buildings leading up from Lapa to Santa Teresa barrios. The thing that sets it apart though is that it is completely covered in a mosaic of tiles. It is the work of Chilean artist Selaron who has painted some of the tiles or had them donated. It is bright and
beautiful. One of my favourite things to see in Rio.
the tram! (The tram isn't far from the municipal theatre in Centro which has been *beautifully* restored and is in a gorgeous Parisian style.) The barrio itself is bohemian, artsy and scruffy but is the prettiest barrio in Rio (it feels a bit like you have gone on a day trip to a small local town) and is worth a couple of hours wandering
around.
There are some other things which I feel like I should mention:
Red Bull Air Race - a fun couple of hungover hours spent at this on my birthday morning; sat on Flamengo beach watching light aircraft pilots do time trails through various gates, while eating prawns on sticks and drinking beer (me, not the pilots!)
Botanical Gardens - not an especially beautiful botanical garden; a bit short on flowers. But it is a lovely peaceful park amid the madness of Rio and does have some lovely orchids and cacti.
Beaches - you might be surprised that I haven't mentioned Rio's beaches. That is simply because they aren't the best we have seen in Brazil. I can only really describe them as urban beaches. The two most famous beaches (Ipanema and Copacabana) are separated from a 4-lane road by a matter of a few metres, and therefore don't have the charm even of other city beaches we have seen such as Bondi in Sydney which
still retains a suburban seaside town feel. Still, they do give the city a real buzz and in some ways feel like the true heart of the city.
Shopping - I feel as if the shopping in Rio isn't very good, but I still managed to buy a lot of stuff! I think the thing about it is that it doesn't have many recognisible international chains or many independent boutiques, but what it does have is a lot of chain stores which I have only seen in Brazil which sell really nice stuff. I
particularly liked Oh Boy! and Dress. Havaianas are a bargain too of course as they are Brazilian made.
Maracana (Flamengo 1 - 1 Sao Paolo) - surprisingly the least atmospheric of the S American football stadiums we have been to despite it being Brazil's national stadium. This was probably due to the small attendance (apparently the result of a number of key players being rested in advance of the semi final of their Champions League equivalent) although in a 90,000 seater it must be hard to fill it very often. Still, the Flamengo fans were noisy enough to give us a picture of what it must be like when it is full. Wow!
Food - nothing particularly special to report on the Rio food scene. A lot of grilled meat and Italian influenced food as usual, but with more Oriental options which is good. My best meal in Rio was a palmito pizza (at Boteco Belmonte) which seemed to have no tomato and a ton of cheese and was delicious! Caipirinhas continue to play a big part in the Brazil experience. I wasn't aware that they came in any fruit
other than lime, but they do -lots! It has been fun trying out the different flavours (and cheating by substituting the cachaca for vodka or sake). My current favourite is passionfruit with vodka!
Buzios - we did a day trip to the 'Saint-Tropez' of Brazil (discovered by Bridgette Bardot in the 1950s - Bardot shops, restaurants and street names abound). For less than £40 each and including a 2 hour boat trip (with free (weak) Caipirinhas and opportunites to jump off into the beautifully warm sea), a buffet lunch and a couple of hours to wander around the swanky shops it was a really good value, fun day out. The beaches and town don't quite match Paraty though.
We also saw a few films while we were in Rio (we like the cinema,ok?).
Here are some quick reviews:
Iron Man 2 - lots of fun. In a similar vein to the first one. Robert Downey-Junior is ace and the Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell baddies are great. Shame the female parts are useless.
Whatever Works - a very lightweight Woody Allen comedy. You also have to like Larry David (and a distinctive Allen script) which isn't easy but I'll forgive him anything because of Seinfeld. Enjoyable but very
much an acquired taste.
Shutter Island - I thought this was absolutely brilliant. Clever and thrilling. Brilliantly filmed with an award winning (in my opinion only it would seem) turn from Leo DiCaprio. Very much recommended.
Finally, although it doesn't really have a place in the Rio top 5 as it was our previous destination I didn't do a blog on Paraty and just wanted to use this opportunity to sing its praises. The beautifully preserved colonial town is, well, beautiful. A mixture of whitewash and splashes of colour and all set on a river and the sea. We spent one day doing a private boat tour (private by default - no one else in our nice hostel signed up) of the local beaches and it was amazingly beautiful. All for less than £10 each. Paraty is a real Brazilian highlight.
Next stop (breathe deep!) Cusco in Peru!
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