Rio Acclimatisation - 3rd Nov

Day 1 in Rio and we awoke after a good nights sleep and went straight down for breakfast. It was just as people on Trip Advisor had described, perfectly ok with smashing coffee.

After breakfast we decided to familiarise ourselves with the local area which meant a very short two block walk to the beach. It was 10.30am on a Tuesday and it was teaming with locals.... not even in Budleigh Salterton do you get that. We spent the next 2 hours sauntering up and down the delightful Ipanema beach, perfectly safe despite looking like total tourists on their first day in a new place. The beach itself is beautiful with clean golden sand and clear tepid sea, but you can not help think they have missed a trick with having a busy four lane road running adjacent to it and tall buildings on the far side.

Ipanema Beach

At the far end of the walk we climbed a vantage point to take a couple of pictures. It is here we met an English couple.. we did the obligatory take a photo for each other ritual and got talkng about what we were going to do whilst in Rio. They were very organised doing a whole day tour of Sugar Loaf mountain and the Christ the Redeemer statue tomorrow and a tour of a favela on Friday. They had booked it all back in England and thought this was the “safest” way to do it having read the guide books and the relatively high level of crime.

We in turn had not booked anything but wanted to do similar things. We returned to the hotel for lunch and discussed our plans over the coming days but decided despite being impressed by the English couples efficiency we would stick to our plans or lack of them. The weather was good at this moment in time so we would go to the Christ the Redeemer statue on the hill.

Our route was to go on the #583 bus – Ipanema to Cosme Vehlo, the station from the funicular railway. We knew this was the way due to the Rough Guide, we also knew that bus travel was a pursuit to be used but to be wary of at the same time. It turned out fine and innocuous but a very hot, crowded, long and uncomfortable affair. Cheap though.

The statue is probably the top tourist attraction in Rio however it was not as busy as we expected. It was completed in 1931, the hand and head by a French sculptor, the engineers did the rest of the body. The whole of it was mighty impressive and the views were not bad either.

Sugar Loaf Mountain from Christ the Redeemer

There was a number of tours there whilst we were visiting, most patrons of which may not have had time to see the statue or the amazing 360 views as they were to busy taking pictures of their partners / friends doing impressions of the statue with it in the background, buying souvenirs or being herded back towards the buses.

It never ceases to amaze me that the greater more impressive an attraction, the greater the tacky souvenirs – dinner plate clocks, place mats, Christ the Redeemer/ Sugar loaf mountain combo umbrellas, the list goes on.

We came back with this photo and a postcard.

Anyone want this picture on a T-shirt?

We took the R$2.35 bus back to Ipanema and went for dinner.