Rio de Janeiro: Day Three

Our third day in Rio de Janeiro was something a little bit different. As Claudio and I had expected, it was a very rainy day, so we decided to skip the beaches and head for the city centre.

The city centre is not the most famous part of Rio, but it has some fantastic sights, and definitely can't be missed!

We decided to start off by seeing Theatro Municipal, which is perhaps the most beautiful building in the entire city. The grand architecture of the theatre and the buildings surrounding it, along with the rainy weather, reminded me of the times I've gone sightseeing in European cities, like Vienna, Bratislava and Paris!

Our next stop was the cathedral, which was something completely different! It was designed in a modernist style, and doesn't really look like a church at all. To be honest, it made me think of a Dalek, but it was actually inspired by Mayan pyramids. 

In fact, the interior of the cathedral is more spectacular than its exterior - once you're inside, you realise just how huge it really is. The stained-glass windows are also very beautiful.

After visiting the cathedral, we walked over to Arcos da Lapa, also known as Carioca Aqueduct. This is a beautiful architectural landmark, which is made more impressive by the fact that it was built in the 1700s. 

Fortunately, the rain started clearing up when we were here, so we could finally take some photos without our rain coats!

The final place we went to see in the city centre is probably its most famous sight - or at least the one that gets posted the most on social media! Escadaria Selarón is a huge set of steps made up of colourful tiles, some of which have paintings on them. There are also various murals surrounding the steps. Interestingly, Escadaria Selarón was actually created by a Chilean artist, Jorge Selarón. You can definitely see the Chilean influence there, and it's hard not to be reminded of Valparaíso and its many colourful staircases and street art.

One of the most memorable sights for me on Escadaria Selarón were these two beautiful cats sleeping next to each other. They looked so perfect!

It was also a nice surprise to discover an Indian restaurant (Hoje Tem Curry) located right on the steps. (I introduced Claudio to Indian food when he was staying with me and my family in the UK, and now we're both big fans!) We decided to go there for lunch, which turned out to be a great choice, as they offer a deal which includes a curry and all the trimmings!

After our delicious curries, we went to take a photo of a nearby street, simply because it reminded me of a street I'd seen in Lisbon in November 2019. The street in question had had yellow and green banners, which had made me think of Brazilian carnivals, and given me Wanderlust to visit Brazil. So it was pretty amazing to finally be in Brazil over three years later, and to see a street with almost identical banners!

By this point, it was the afternoon, and we decided to head away from the city centre and to go to our next stop: the Botanical Garden. This seems to be a less-visited attraction compared to other places in Rio; maybe it was just because of the rain, but we had the place almost to ourselves for the couple of hours we were there. It's a huge area filled with trees and plants from all over Brazil and other parts of the world, and it turned out to be one of the highlights of our entire trip.

The first part we saw was this little garden inspired by Mexico, which was filled with cacti. It's amazing how it survives in the completely different climate of Brazil!

 

One part we really liked was the Japanese garden. It was so tranquil and relaxing to sit under the little shelter there, protected from the rain.

Another beautiful and tranquil aspect of the Botanical Garden are the three waterfalls that you can find not far from the entrance.

In fact, the entire garden is incredibly beautiful and peaceful - it's hard to believe that it's in the middle of a big city!

But by far the most memorable thing about the Botanical Garden were the monkeys! We saw some medium-sized ones leaping about from tree to tree near the waterfalls, and some small ones climbing up and down the tree trunks on the other side of the garden. They were adorable! It was hard to get decent pictures of them, but I'll always have an amazing memory of the experience of seeing them in their natural habitat.

And that concludes my account of our third day in the wonderful city of Rio de Janeiro!

Next I'll be writing about Day Four, which was admittedly the least exciting day of our trip, as we had another full day of rain, but this time we hadn't been expecting it. However, we tried our best to make the most of the situation, and we had some nice moments along the way. A blog post will be coming very soon!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day One here!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day Two here!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day Four here!

Read about Arraial do Cabo here!

Rio de Janeiro: Day Two

Our first day in Rio was exciting, but our second day was just as good, if not better! Having already taken the train up Corcovado Mountain to Cristo Redentor on Day One, on Day Two Claudio and I decided to go up the other famous mountain in the city: Pão de Açúcar, or Sugarloaf Mountain. Unsurprisingly, its name comes from its resemblance to a sugarloaf, and it is one of many mountains with the same name around the world - I know there's a Pan de Azúcar in Chile and a Sugarloaf in Wales (neither of which I've visited yet!) - but this one in Rio is definitely the most famous and the most impressive.

In order to get to the peak of the mountain, you can climb up the vertical rock face, but like most people, we decided to take the cable car! On the way up you can see Praia Vermelha (Red Beach), which is a very picturesque little beach with lots of palm trees.

The cable car's first stop is Morro da Urca, a smaller mountain overlooked by Pão de Açúcar. Here you have some great views over the sights of the city, including Corcovado, Guanabara Bay and the Rio-Niterói Bridge, and of Pão de Açúcar itself.

Then we took the cable car up to the top of Pão de Açúcar, where there were even more amazing views, especially of Praia Vermelha and Copacabana. 

We stayed up there for a while enjoying the views from every angle. We also took the opportunity to try açaí for the first time, a fruit which is supposed to have lots of health benefits. It is served frozen and tastes really nice! 

One interesting thing about the top of Pão de Açúcar is that it has an area of rainforest. There are lots of jackfruits in the trees and there's even a special wishing tree, where you can make a wish as you pass through its two trunks!

We also saw some grand-looking buildings from above, which we decided to walk past once we were back down from the mountain. One of them was a university campus, but I'm not sure what the others were. To be honest, they looked more impressive from above!

Once we'd walked past the buildings, we were in the Botafogo area of the city. We had lunch in a shopping centre nearby, which had a great viewpoint of Botafogo Beach. 

Afterwards, we went for a walk along the beach, which I would actually say was one of the most stunning beaches we visited in Rio, thanks to its position opposite Morro da Urca and Pão de Açúcar. You also have a pretty good view of Cristo Redentor and Corcovado from there. The only downside is that the water is very polluted, so you can't swim or even paddle there. Even so, I would highly recommend going for a walk there, just because it's such a picturesque place.

Our next stop of the day was Ipanema Beach, where we retraced our route from the previous day onto Pedra do Arpoador peninsula, this time with our phones in order to take pictures, and a coconut to drink from!

The peninsula gives you a great viewpoint of the small and paradisiacal Praia do Diabo (Devil's Beach!).

And of course, it also gives you an amazing view of Ipanema and Leblon Beaches, as well as Morro Dois Irmãos (Two Brothers Mountain) and Corcovado. 

Sitting there with Claudio, drinking from our coconut, I really had the feeling that moments like this are what life is all about.

After relaxing on the peninsula, we decided to walk all the way along the stretch of beach, from Ipanema to Leblon. It doesn't look so far on the map, but believe me, it takes a long time when you're walking along the sand!

I think that Leblon was my favourite beach that we visited in Rio. (Though there were many that we didn't have time to go to!) Even though Ipanema is more famous, Leblon is more peaceful and has the advantage of being right next to Dois Irmãos, which makes it a really stunning setting.

We rounded off this amazing day by watching the sunset at Mirante do Leblon, a viewpoint next to the beach. This is actually one factor in which Chile's beaches beat Brazil's - we may get cold water from the Pacific Ocean, but being on the west coast means we get truly stunning sunsets over the sea! All the same, the views from Mirante do Leblon are still pretty spectacular.

We also had fun taking pictures using this machine located at the viewpoint!

All in all, Day Two in Rio really was one to remember. I hope to return to these places, especially Ipanema and Leblon beaches, at some point in the future.

Day Three was mostly a very rainy day, so we decided to focus on sightseeing instead of beaches. We saw lots of really interesting places, and I'm looking forward to writing about them within the coming days!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day One here!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day Three here!

Read about Rio de Janeiro: Day Four here!

Read about Arraial do Cabo here!