Rio No 2

Hi Family, Friends, Davenanters, Dancers and Bloggers,

Thursday
Today was all about sightseeing in Rio with our guide, Alex. We got up early to avoid the crowds and headed straight for Corcovado Mountain and the statue of Christ the Redeemer. To reach the top we took a small train that was originally installed by the British and when we got to the top it was such a lovely day our guide, Alex, said "we are having the best Jesus Christ day". It was quite an emotional moment seeing this iconic sight for the first time and the views were fantastic from the top of the mountain.

The train:

Seeing the Christ for the first time:

Being embraced by the Christ:

The construction of the Statue was started in 1922 and it is the largest Art Deco designed sculpture in the World standing at 30 metres high and 28 metres wide. It is, indeed, a beautiful thing!

View of Copacabana Beach - our hotel is behind the rock:

Ipanema Beach and The Lake.

After this we headed for Sugar Loaf Mountain and to access this we took two cable cars to get to the top.

 Again, the views were magnificent and we could look back and see The Christ and where we had been earlier.

After this we were shown the place where the Brazilians have their Carnival Parade - on the Sambadrome. This is a very long road with banks of seating on both sides where the spectators and judging officials watch the many entrants of the Carnival Competition. 

While we were there we saw two very attractive local women practicing Samba for the Carnival - we were very lucky!

We finished the day with a very quick look at a Favela which was quite interesting but I really wasn't comfortable looking at people living in deprived conditions. It felt intrusive. 

The Favela: