Day #18…Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil-Day #1

When the Europeans arrived in the 1500’s, the Tupi, Puri, Botocudo and Maxakalf peoples inhabited the area of Rio.  The Portuguese founded the city of Rio de Janeiro on March 1, 1565.

The population of Rio is 6,300,000 people according to a census taken in 2010 and the primary languages are Portuguese, English and Spanish.  The climate is tropical with averages temperatures that are comfortably no colder than in the 70’s year round.  The rainy season begins in the month of December and ends in March.

Some significant facts about Rio were disclosed at the port lecture talk and we will add them to this blog.  Seventy percent of all births in Brazil are by Caesarean section.   The country of Brazil is only second to South Korea in the number of plastic surgeries completed each year.  Rio was the capital of Brazil until 1960 and then Brasilia became the country’s new capital city after that year. 

Over 500,000 visitors come to Rio each year for the annual Carnival celebration and two (2) million people participate in the festivities each day.  Samba schools from Rio compete against each other as they parade through the Sambadrome over the course of a weeklong nightly expedition.   Carnival parties occur mainly in the evening hours and the partygoers wear bright colorful clothing and accessories.  Carnival can be compared to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans but with a much greater magnitude.  Preparation of floats, musicians and dancers occurs throughout the year and the climax of all efforts are exposed during the week before Ash Wednesday.  Also the street revelry, the popular blocos de carnival, occurs in almost every corner of the city every day.  Streets in the parade route are blocked off and a number of businesses close in order for everyone to enjoy the Carnival activities and truly enjoy the holiday season.

We ate a light breakfast in our cabin and headed to the Wheelhorse Bar to meet our Princess excursion group heading to Sugarloaf Mountain and Christ, The Redeemer statue.  Our bus tour is to last from 8:00 A.M. – 5:30 P.M. so it will be an exciting and extensive touring day of another one of our bucket list cities.

Dennis took photos as we were docking early this morning and the Christ statue lightened the sky.  What a breathtaking site to see! 

Our first bus stop was to the Christ, the Redeemer statue.  En route to the statue’s train station, we passed many landmarks that find fame in Rio.  Copacabana and Ipanema beaches were filled with locals and tourists and the areas were beautiful sites to behold.  Our tour guide explained the historical and current perspectives of the city in its architecture, in Olympic planning and showed us many points of interest.

Rio is famous for its Christ the Redeemer statue and we took a train up to the top of Corcovado Mountain, Rio’s highest peak to view the spectacular marvel.  The concrete and soapstone figure is 125 feet tall and was built by a team, led by French sculptor, Paul Landownsky from 1922-1931.  The statue of Christ opens his arms to the city of Brazil and can be viewed from almost any angle of the city below.  Many Catholics have their baptisms and weddings held in the small chapel underneath the statue.

We then traveled to the Santa Teresa area, located in central Rio, noted by its charming colonial architecture.  An antique rail tramline runs through the narrow streets lined with art galleries and small bohemian shops. 

A unique, pyramid-shaped church, the Rio de Janeiro Cathedral, was built between 1964-1979 and features four (4) rectilinear stained glass windows that rise more than 200 feet from the floor to the ceiling.  More than 5,000 people can attend Mass there at one time.

Lunch was enjoyed at a local churascaria  (steakhouse restaurant).  The waiters brought long metal skewers with select meats to our table and carved off slices at our request.  No one left the restaurant hungry today!

Rio de Janeiro will be the site of the 2016 Olympic Summer Games and will be the first South American city to host the event.  Many areas of the city are under construction or refurbishment and we were able to view the site of the swimming and archery events as our tour bus passed by.

We took a cable car at the Sugarloaf Station and rode to the first stop at Urca Station, about one half the distance to the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain.  Sugarloaf Mountain is one of Rio’s iconic and internationally recognized symbols.  We then boarded another cable car and rode to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain.  That stop offered us stunning panoramic views of the city and its dazzling white sand beaches. 

We continued by bus through many parts of the city and enjoyed the scenery as we traveled back to the ship.  Though we had to be cautious for safety reasons, we had no problem with anyone trying to bother us.  Unfortunately, several passengers from our cruise ship had necklaces, i-phones and cameras stolen. 

After we arrived back to the ship, we attended a local folkloric show titled “Brasileirissimo” to give us a taste of Brazilian music and dance.  We found the performance to be of very low caliber and not at the level of the other Princess entertainment we have had presented.

Tomorrow is another day in Rio and we look forward to seeing some more sites of this beautiful city.  Buenos noches…