Rio, blog
If you walk up Rua Gonçalves Dias from the Largo da Carioca, youll pass a number of cool shops. This is a great area for finding good deals on clothes. But the highlight of the street is the classic coffee shop and bakery, the Confeitaria Colombo (Gonçalves Dias 32). Used as the backdrop for numerous Brazilian films and soap operas, the café is a fantasic place to sit and have a refreshment. You can choose the upstairs balcony or downstairs in the main sala.
A landmark in itself, the café is worth a visit for a cup of coffee and a look at the wonderful furnishings, including Belgium crystal mirrors and chandeliers. If you walk farther up Gonçalves Dias and turn right onto Rua do Rosário, you’ll enter an area full of bookstores, restaurants, and coffee shops. You should find something here that interests you.
Rio
If you see one church in the downtown area, make it the Igreja de São Francisco (Largo da Carioca, 11am–4pm Wednesday–Friday). Recently restored, the church is a large and beautiful example of the Baroque churches of the 17th and 18th centuries in Brazil, such as those found in Minas Gerais. In fact, some of the master artists and sculptors from Minas worked on this church, which was erected in 1657. The altars inside are replete with wood sculptures, covered in gold. There are numerous paintings along the walls and on the ceiling and a museum of sacred art inside.
A metro station right at the Largo da Carioca makes it easy to get there and away. On the other side of the square from the São Francisco Church is the Convento de Santo Antônio, which has its share of gold covered sculpture lining the altars, along with Japanese sculpture from 1597 upstairs in the choir area. At the top of the square, you’ll encounter the street Rua da Carioca, which is full of food markets and various shops and is a great little stretch to explore. A highlight here is the age-old Bar Luiz (Rua da Carioca 39), which began in 1887 and has been the city’s favorite German bar and eatery ever since.
Rio, blog
When gold starting pouring out of Minas Gerais in the early 1700s, the small and innocuous town of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro turned into the most important port town on the Brazilian coast, even surpassing Salvador in importance. It wasn’t long before the Portuguese Crown took the capital of the colony away from Salvador and moved it to Rio de Janeiro. Roads connecting Minas Gerais (especially Ouro Preto) and Rio were constructed and traffic between the two regions grew exponentially over the next 70 years. Rio de Janeiro grew into the most important city in Brazil.
In 1808 the Portuguese court took an extended vacation in Rio, escaping the point of Napoleon’s sword for a few years. Among the more important of these tourists was the Crown Prince himself, Dom João VI. The arrival of the royal family and court turned Rio into an imperial city, loaded with spectacular architecture, parks, and public facilities. It was Prince João himself who ordered the creation of the Jardim Botânico, now a hot tourist attraction in Rio. While in Brazil, Prince João turned into King João VI with his mother’s death and as the monarch and his court returned to Portugal, Brazil was declared an independent nation–by the king’s son, the prince of Portugal, who remained in Brazil to become the country’s first emperor, Dom Pedro I.
Naturally, the emperor and his new court set themselves up in Rio de Janeiro and his grand palace is open today for viewing. His son, Dom Pedro II saw the end of the monarchy in Brazil and the beginning of the Republic, of which Rio de Janeiro was the capital from 1889 to 1960. By this time, the shift of power and economy was already leaning toward São Paulo and its booming coffee trade. The old presidential offices remain in Rio and are open to the public.
Rio, blog
In Portuguese, the word rocinha (pronounced ho-seen-yah) a literally means a tract of land that has been cleared for planting. It is also used colloquially to refer to any field or backwoods area and that is exactly what Rocinha was in the late 1800s. It started as a settlement near the sugar plantations where poor ranch hands and their families lived. At that time, Rio was a land of opportunity for Brazilians from all over the country and thousands of poor folks from all over Brazil filed into the city to work in or around the sugar trade. When the financial crisis of 1929 occurred, Brazil’s sugar business took a major hit. Thousands of workers were jobless practically overnight and many fled to the hillsides of Rio, where they were still close to the plantations, but didn’t have to pay for rent or other services. The largest of these hillside communities was Rocinha in the far south end of the city.
And so began the poor neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro, known as favelas. They are essentially squatter settlements; residents move in and find a corner of land on which to make a home…if you can call it that. Homes generally start out as large tents made of second-hand materials, like cardboard boxes, string and plastic bags. Over the years, the family will begin to swap these materials for sheets of wood, then ceramic blocks. A lucky few get water inside their homes by digging to the water table below, but most end up hauling it every day from streams nearby at the bottom of the hill. Eventually, a family might even get electricity through an illegal electric line tap, known as a gato (cat) or through an electricity reseller. Some residents or business owners on the edges of the favelas who get electricity from the city often resell it to families on the hillside, at a profit. Electric lines are over-tapped, streams are polluted, and public services are practically nil. The hillsides are communities with strong ties (many of them consisting of large extended families) and around 50–100 homes stacked on top of one another. As children grow and have their own kids, more houses get stacked on. Combine a dozen of these hillsides and you have a favela.
In the 1990s, Rocinha went from around 12,000 domiciles to around 25,000, with an estimated population of 125,000 by the end of the decade. There are currently over 500 favelas in Rio, representing over 40% of the population of the city. The growth of the favelas in Rio is increasing at a rate of 30% per year, while the growth rate of the city is only around 11% annually. The favelas are literally taking over. Since the growth of drug trafficking in the 1970s, the favelas have been increasing in power and wealth and some say that the Rio government is badly corrupted by ties to the favela drug money. Besides the drug trade, favelas also dominate Carnaval and every samba school that heads down the parade route is based in one of the favelas. This is a legitimate source of income for the favelas, but also a source of political power struggles. In 2005, for example, the president of the Mangueira samba school was murdered for not choosing a drug trafficker’s girlfriend to be the queen of the parade.
To protect their interests, traffickers in the favelas operate sophisticated security forces, usually consisting of the neighborhood’s youth, heavily armed and trained. They work long hours every day watching for intruders or other threats, including city police, residents of other favelas, or any unwelcome visitors. Street wars among the favelas and between favelas and the police are commonplace in Rio.
Although Rio’s favelas are unique because of their privileged position on the hillsides overlooking the coastline and encroaching on the rich communities below, Rio is not the only place in Brazil with so many favelas. In fact, the highest concentration of favelas is located on the outskirts of Sao Paulo in the Capao Redondo favela (meaning circular brush area), the most dangerous favela in the world. Rio takes second place and the cities of Fortaleza, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, and Belem all have significant favela populations.
See also: Visitors Include Slums in their Tours of Rio
Rio, beaches
The world’s most famous beach boardwalk, Copacabana gained its greatest fame during Brazil’s cultural boom in the first half of the 20th century. The Copacabana Palace Hotel, formerly a legendary casino, attracted playboys and debutantes from all over the world. Soon this wide strip of white sand and blue waves became the summer playground for international travelers. The beach is the site of international surfing competitions, beach volleyball and foot-volleyball competitions (a terrific sport to watch if you haven’t seen it before), television shows, and Capoeira demonstrations every week during the summer. Residents of Rio come to the beach for morning and afternoon jogs and walks down the boardwalk and there are bike lanes for the many cyclists that come here. On Sundays during the summer, the city blocks one side of the to traffic to facilitate all this movement and there are arts and crafts for sale and bikes for rent all day on Sunday.
The above activities notwithstanding, by far the most popular activity at Copacabana is people watching and there are beach kiosks with tables and chairs overlooking the sand for just that purpose. It’s common to see Brazilian celebrities and professional athletes walking here or playing foot-volley on the beach; many of them live right here in Copacabana. On the far side of the coast highway are numerous condominium buildings (Paulo Cuelho and Caetano Veloso are just two famed Brazilians with apartments overlooking the beach), top-end hotels, restaurants, bars and stores.
At night, Copacabana becomes a cauldron of activities, most involving the tourist trade. If visitors are not being assaulted on one end of Copacabana (the north end), they are being hustled by prostitutes on the other (the middle and south end mostly). There are some popular dance clubs here, but most of them are packed with prostitutes and foreigners. The color of the night in Copacabana is definitely red and almost everybody on the street is looking to buy, sell, or steal something. The inland roads that parallel Copacabana (of which there are two main ones besides Av. Atlântica on the coast) are generally less and less radical the more inland you go. The first street, Av. Nossa Sra. de Copacabana is the most active. You’ll find restaurants, lunch buffets, markets, boutique shops, shopping malls, movie theaters, cheap hotels, expensive hotels…just about anything and everything is there. You can take this street all the way to the Praia do Diabo, where you can cross over into Ipanema. The next street is Rua Barata Ribeiro, which is a milder version of the other. The south end of Ribeiro goes into the tunnel that leads to Ipanema and you can pick up a bus going out that way (better to go under than over, since the hill is home to two of Rio’s grand favelas).
NOTE: The south end of Copacabana and the inland streets is relatively safe to walk around. The northern end is not. If you are staying in the northern end of Copacabana, be sure to take taxis to other parts of the city. Also, the ocean at Copacabana is generally considered to be polluted and not suitable for swimming, although sources differ on this point.
Walking Tour of Copacabana
If you walk down the boardwalk in Copacabana, there are a few things you should be sure to include in your journey, occasionally coming in off the beach for a block or two to catch an interesting attraction on the inland streets. Before starting out, remember that this journey is farther than it appears on the maps and will take a few hours to complete. The same is true for a walking tour of Ipanema and Leblon afterward. If you’re not up for a day on foot, look into renting a bicycle to make this journey.
At the very top of Copacabana sits the Morro de Leme and there’s a trail that you can take out across the base of the mount to get a fabulous view of the beach. The trail is called the Caminho dos Pescadores (Fisherman’s Way). Coming down toward the middle of the beach (between station 3 and station 2) is the famous Copacabana Palace Hotel, the first hotel built in Copacabana, in 1923. It was frequented by the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Clark Gable, Walt Disney, and Queen Elizabeth II. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced and filmed together inside. Today it remains one of the city’s most luxurious hotels, although the casino shut down in 1946. You can stop for an afternoon tea in their tearoom for only R$40. Reservations recommended.
Walk into town along Rua Paula Freitas up to Rua Barata Ribeiro, then turn left until you see the Baratos da Ribeiro Bookstore (Rua Barata Ribeiro 354), where you’ll find all kinds of treasures. Back toward the beach down at station 5, you’ll find the Roxy Theater (Av. Nossa Sra. da Copacabana at Rua Bolivar), which was built in the 1930s and still shows art and feature films, including a 3pm matinee. On the boardwalk, just south of the Othon Palace Hotel is the famous nightclub Help, which gets going every night around midnight with driving music and plenty of drinking and dancing. It is located in an old movie house. At the far end of the beach at station 6 (posto 6) is the Fisherman’s Colony, where you can find the fresh catch of the day to take home with you.
Crossing from Copacabana to Ipanema on foot, you will walk past the southern end of Copacabana, where you’ll see fishing boats and fisherman working their trade, as if from the first half of the 1900s. You ‘ll see trees lining the point called Arpoador, where the Copacabana Fort (10am–6pm Tuesday–Sunday) is located. Built in 1914, the fort contains the Museu Histórico do Exército and some interesting German Krupp canons, along with maps and documents from Brazilian naval history. The fort offers an excellent view of Copacabana, which you can see from the patio of the Confeitaria Colombo coffee shop inside–an excellent place to sit for awhile. The walk out to the fort is also a pleasure.
Rio
Despite the poverty, congestion, pollution, and other problems here, Rio is unarguably one of the most visually stunning cities in the world. Nowhere is this more apparent than from the top of Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf), which jets out into the bay across from the Botafogo Beach. The gondola going up to Pão de Açúcar goes in two stages, stopping first at the Morro da Urca, where you’ll find a restaurant and souvenir shops. You’ll also find an incredible view of the Guanabara Bay and a heliport. From there, you can jump the second stage of the journey, to the top of Pão de Açúcar, where the view is so awesome it makes you dizzy. From there you can see all the way across the bay to the beaches of Niteroi.
To get to the starting point at the base of Urca Mount, take a taxi or city bus (most say Urca on the front). You’ll arrive at Av. Pasteur 520. From there, you pay R$20 to make the trip, which leaves every half hour with a group. The best time to go is at sunset, but any time on a clear day will make you happy. You might consider a second trip at night to see the city lights. The ride operates from 8am–10pm daily.
Art, Rio
During the golden days of Hollywood, Brazil was experiencing a cultural and economic growth period at the tail end of the coffee boom. Here in Rio, a number of things were occurring, including international recognition of the city, mostly due to the casinos in Copacabana. In the old downtown area, a number of movie houses were erected and the area that was Praça Floriano became known as Cinelândia. During the coffee boom just a few decades earlier, the praça was chosen as the location of some important public buildings. Today there is a convenient metro station right at Cinelandia and the area is buzzing during happy hour, with various bars serving cold beer. There is often live music playing in the praca (usually samba).
The highlight of the praça is the grand Theatro Municipal (21/2262-3935, 10am–5pm Monday–Friday). The Theatro, built in 1909 at the height of the coffee boom, is a neoclassic building rich in wood, marble and brass. There are stained glass windows from Europe and salas rich in crystal and ornamentation. The best way to visit is to see a orchestral performance in the evening, but there are guided tours of the Theatro during the day (subject to cancellation for rehersals). You can also catch a performance on Sundays at 10am and 5pm Also in the Cinilandia area is the Biblioteca Nacional (Av. Rio Branco 219, 9am–10pm Monday–Friday and 9am–3pm Saturday), built in 1910 in a style to match the Theatro. It’s said to be the second largest library in South America and the eighth largest in the world. Inside are numerous rare books (over three million), all of which are available for viewing. Most impressive is the building itself with its grand marble staircase and columns. It’s worth looking inside and they have guided tours for R$2.
Down the street a piece is the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, inside a 1908 building of renaissance style that was the city’s fine arts acadamy until 1937, when it became a museum. It holds over 14000 pieces from national and international artists, with a special focus on the natoinal artists (including works by Portinari, Segall, Calvalcanti and Tarsila do Amaral, among others). There are also works by Picasso, Dali, Monet and Rodin. Inside is a casual restaurant and souvenir shop. Cost is R$4 and Sundays are free.
When you’re ready to take a break from all this history and art, have a seat at the Bar Amarelinho, a classic bar from the 1940’s that sits in the Cinilandia praça and usually attracts an international crowd. In the evenings, they have samba music and dancing among other festivities.
Rio
The Praça that marks a major turning point in Brazil’s history, moving from a monarchy to a republic, is right here in downtown Rio, in front of the old Imperial Palace (noon–6:30pm Tuesday–Sunday) home of the royal family from 1808–1889. Naturally, the praça was renamed in honor of the occasion, which took place in 1889, and the Palace itself was promptly taken over by the state. Emperor Dom Pedro II and his immediate family went on an extended vacation. Inside the palace is a restaurant, food stands, and stores. Upstairs they have stages for theater presentations and rooms for exhibitions. Nearby, you’ll find other vestiges of the era, including the 18th century Arco do Teles and an 18th century chafariz (type of fountain that also served as a water supply). Exiting the praça toward Rua Primeiro de Março, you’ll find the Igreja Nossa Sra. do Carmo (7am–5pm Monday–Friday). Considered one of the finest Baroque chuches in the Region, Carmo has a huge, vaulted interior that is rich in sculpture and ornamentation. It’s worth crossing the busy boulevard for a look inside.
Art, Rio
Across Av. Rio Branco (toward the ocean) is an area full of galleries and cultural spaces. First, there’s the Casa França (Rua Visconde de Itaboraí 78, noon–6pm Tuesday–Sunday), which has temporary and permanent scultpure exhibitions in an 1820 neoclassic building. The building was designed as a fine arts school, but was used instead as a business center. Later, it served for a time as a customs house. Inside is a bookstore, coffee shop, and a lovely central atrium.
Nearby is the Espaço Cultural Banco do Brasil (Rua Primeiro de Março 66, noon–10pm Tuesday–Sunday) in a 1906 structure that was originally the headquarters of the Bank of Brazil, but was reformed and turned into a cultural center. The building is fabulous; it has a theater, cinema, exhibition rooms, tea room and souvenir shop. It usually has some excellent national and international exhibits running. Inside is a restaurant/bar that is a popular spot for happy hour. Next door is the Centro Cultural dos Correios (Rua Visconde de Itaboraí 20, noon–7pm Tuesday–Sunday), an exhibition space that focuses on Brazilian sculptors and paintors with rotating exhibits. They have ten exhibit halls and a concert hall for up to 200 people, where they often produce Brazilian musical performances. On the bottom floor, there is a nice coffee shop and a functioning office of the correios (postal service). Finally, there’s the Galeria Paulo Fenandes (Rua do Rosário 38, noon–6pm Tuesday–Sunday) with contemporary works of art from local and national artists.
At this point, you might seek out the Laranjada Americana (Rua Buenos Aires 2c) for a fabulous orange juice. The shop, open since 1925 is in a great old building.
Rio
The images that come to mind when one thinks of Rio de Janeiro are many and varied, but one that always seems to appear is of the famous Copacabana boardwalk and the Copacabana Palace Hotel with its luxurious interior and high-rolling clientele. In its heyday, Copacabana (and the hotel in particular) was the scenario of several Hollywood films, not to mention the playground of the actors themselves. Today, the Copacabana Palace remains the city’s finest hotel, sitting majestically overlooking the action on the boardwalk. Beautiful women in the latest bikini fashions, athletes playing volleyball or demonstrating Capoeira on the sand, people jogging and cycling and tourists from all nations congregate on the boardwalk to participate in the scene.
Then, like a director overlooking this stage, stands the Cristo Redentor high up on the Corcovado peak. To his left is the great historical center of town with a myriad of monuments and historical buildings from the glorious days of the 19th century, when Brazil was rich from the coffee boom and still bathing in the aftermath of the great gold rush of the 18th century. The 19th century brought many changes to Brazil, including its independence from Portugal and the end of its monarchy and formation of the Republic. All this happened right here in Rio de Janeiro. To the Cristo’s right is the famous Ipanema Beach, birthplace of Bossa Nova and home to many of the country’s rich and famous. All this history is present here in Rio…in the buildings, in the landscape and in the people themselves, who incorporate the traditional aspects of the city, while also encouraging its more modern, democratic traditions.
Not the least of these more democratic traditions is the popular festival of Carnaval, as much associated with Rio de Janeiro as Copacabana is. Carnaval is characterized by parades of highly costumed (or nearly naked) mulatas dancing to Samba rhythms, followed by elaborate floats that reach up to three or four stories tall, sparkling along the parade rout. There are also many private galas and small, neighborhood festivities.
Over the years, Rio has not ceased to attract people from all over the world. Surfers come to join a great community of like souls who practice on the many great beaches in town and to the south; artists come to setup their ateliers in the bohemian neighborhoods and wealthy playboys and debutantes continue to make Rio their home. Undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest cities, Rio de Janeiro, like Paris, Rome, or London, is a place of dreams and fantasies.
You’ll find Rio to be pleasant all year long, but the best time to visit is in the months leading up to and including summertime, from September to March. The rainy season begins around the end of February, but really hits in March and April.
Planning Your Time
With Rio’s de Janeiro’s recent bouts of violence and its overall reputation for crime, travelers are spending less and less time here than they used to. That’s a shame, because Rio is loaded with natural beauty, history, culture and attractions that continue to make this one of the world’s great cities. Some travelers are so enthralled by Rio, they return here over and over to spend their vacations. But if you’re set on breezing through Rio de Janeiro, it is possible to see most of the city’s highlights in about three days. That may not sound like much for a city this abundant, but remember that Rio de Janeiro is relatively small and compact and there are only three principal areas that attract visitors: this historic downtown, Copacabana, and Ipanema (unless you’re a surfer, in which case, you’d have to include Barra de Tijuca as a fourth). If you set yourself up in the Glória or Lapa neighborhood (where you can find reasonably-priced hotels) you’ll be close to the metro line and will be able to access just about everything in the city with ease. On the other hand, some of the hotels in Copacabana may provide the kind of luxury experience you’re looking for.
With that in mind, you’ll want to spend part of your time checking out the historical sites in the old downtown area. Some of the 19th century palaces, museums, and even coffee shops are spectacular. Take an afternoon walk along the Copacabana boardwalk and be sure to hit the high points (literally) of the city: the gondola to Pão de Açúcar and the view from the Cristo monument on Corcovado Mountain. These may require taxis to get to, since they lie just outside the main areas. Spend your evenings in Ipanema and Leblon with perhaps a happy hour in the Cinilândia area downtown. If you want to party, then a night in Lapa should probably be on the agenda. If you have a week to spend in Rio, then you’ll be able to relax on the beach, take a walk in the park, or go on a guided tour of a favela. If you like to shop, then you should reserve a day for those activities too.
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