"A CIDADE MARAVILHOOOOOOOSA" Rio de Janeiro by schurlif

Rio de Janeiro Travel Guide: 3,628 reviews and 6,543 photos

simply Rio de Janeiro - Rio de Janeiro
simply Rio de Janeiro
THE RIO ICON VIEW

THE WOOOOONDERFUL CITY , as cariocas love to call their city and of course they're right , up to a point.... In this "wonderful" a few things are not included , such as whole bairros with all houses graffiti besmeared or tourists who just arrived after a long nightflight being held up and robbed or mugged in their bus or taxi on the freeway from the airport to the hotel by "professionals" or transvestite whores in plain sight on Ave. Atlantica (= Copacabana) or civil war like shoot outs in the favela morros ( = more or less : shantytown hills) between the brazilian army and local drug lords with their own private armies) , just happened yesterday and today again..... We (my Rio family) have a house in a nice gated community but very close to "CIDADE DE DEUS", City of God..... anyone seen the film...? Well , at night , every once or so , we can hear the gun shots from there....
Yes , Rio de Janeiro is a wonderful city , it is quite dangerous though for the unprepared foreign visitor. Of the 20 years or so I have been living in Brazil I must have spent more than 3 years over the time in Rio and I believe I know the place pretty well.... But OK , I don't want to just whine about Rio's bad sides..... One good thing from there is Regina with whom I have a "relationship" for about 19 years now and who is the mother of my three biological sons , Denis , Vinicius and Thales. Good Rio stuff for tourists are breathtaking views from the Pao de Acucar = Sugarloaf or the Corcovado = some 700 meters high hill extension with the Jesus statue on top... This view here is from the Corcovado towards the Pao de Acucar with the bairro Botafogo below , the Bahia de Guanabara middle left , the outskirts of Niteroi in the background across the bay , the Pao de Acucar pretty much center, to the right the bairro Nossa Senhora de Copacabana and finally background right , the Atlantic.

ON TOP OF THE CORCOVADO
CORCOVADO TOP - Rio de Janeiro

CORCOVADO TOP

Here we are , I in the front with a slightly silly grin and Jesus , some 30 or 35 meters tall , embracing and loving Rio de Janeiro.....This statue is a french gift to Rio just like the Statue of Liberty is a french gift to New York.
On October 12th , 1931 Mr. Guglielmo Marconi , the inventor of the radio , pushed a button in Rome and thus , for the first time , actioned the illumination of the Jesus statue from the distance of some 8,000 km.
Lately there has been a vicious court battle over the "rights" on the statue.
Several people had worked on it and the head and hands were the work of one guy , whose heirs demand the payment of royalties because so many people had reproduced the statue as souvenirs , paintings and photographs on porcelain plates, post cards etc. and had made so much money without special permit from the heirs.....
Well , we'll see how this one ends......

RIO , QUARENTA GRAUS......
My sis Rita enjoying her first visit to Brazil - Rio de Janeiro

My sis Rita enjoying her first visit to Brazil

There was a film : "Rio , 40 degrees" ( Celsius, that is ) that shows the heat that can struck the city , the heat of the people and the heat of life in this metropolis....The day after Vinicius was born ( January 28th , 1993 ) I drove my older boy Denis , 4 years old then to his aunt so Regina and I could better take care of Vinicius for 48 hours , especially as Regina had to endure heavy pains after the ceasarian section.. On the way back to the clinic I saw on one of the electronic display panels in the street which show the time and temperature that it had 47 degrees Celsius , like at least 120 degrees Fahrenheit or more.... I could hardly hold the steering wheel because it felt as if putting the palm of the hands on a sizzling hot griddle..... Not very funny.....
Well , here's a picture of my sister Rita taken from the top of the Corcovado looking down on the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas with the "Hipica" prominently on display on the upper right side and between the Lagoa and the Atlantic the bairro Leblon , maybe also to the left a piece of Ipanema....
Yes..... Vinicius de Moraes ( together with Tom Jobim ) made Ipanema world famous with just one song ( I'm sure you know which one...) and I just had a second son born in Rio , Vinicius.....

Pros and Cons
  • Pros:look , it's simple , this is "A CIDADE MARAVILHOSA" ....
  • Cons:Same crap as in São Paulo , crime , traffic, pollution , but cheaper
  • In a nutshell:RIO IS HOT , IN , FAMOUS AND GLAMOUROUS , BIG THUMBS UP !
  • Last visit to Rio de Janeiro: Feb 2006
  • Intro Updated Feb 19, 2011
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Reviews (14)

Pão de Açucar looking at lower hill - Rio de Janeiro RIO IMPRESSIONS Things to Do (12)

Just to finish Rio off for the moment here are some more impressions from above...... As I always travel back to Rio... more travel advice

Dec. 1998 - Rio de Janeiro ONE MORE LOOK AT THE "SUGAR BREAD".... Things to Do (12)

Sugar Bread , because this is the correct translation of Pão de Açucar...... These pics were taken at Praia da Urca next... more travel advice

I and my youngest - Rio de Janeiro THE LOOKOUT VIEW TERRACE OF LEBLON Things to Do (12)

Leblon is a bairro , immediately adjacent to Ipanema and ends where the beach blvd "hits" the DOIS IRMÃOS rock, an... more travel advice

One of the best fruits you'll ever eat.... - Rio de Janeiro WHAT YOU MIGHT SEE ON YOUR WAY UP TO THE... Things to Do (12)

Going up the Corcovado on the winding road by car or bus or , differently , by rack railway (?) watch out , you might... more travel advice

Comments (7)

  • Reply
    Nemorino's Profile Photo
    Mar 29, 2011 at 2:23 PM

    Yes, Rio does sound MARAVILHOSA -- a word which to me sounds a lot more marvelous than just plain marvelous -- though dangerous for the uninitiated.

  • Reply
    globetrott's Profile Photo
    Feb 20, 2011 at 5:59 PM

    Solltest Du mal in die Schweiz kommen: mit einem Ticket der Corcovado-bahn kann man im selben Jahr zum halben Preis auf die Jungfrau fahren !

  • Reply
    Yaqui's Profile Photo
    Feb 19, 2011 at 7:19 PM

    Rio de Janeiro is on my list of places to see. Thank you for sharing your wonderful adventure!

  • Reply
    simbac2001's Profile Photo
    Oct 15, 2008 at 8:13 AM

    So true! Rio de Janeiro is a spendid place to see.....nice info George

  • Reply
    JessH's Profile Photo
    May 27, 2007 at 2:07 AM

    Heeey, in Rio gibts ja updates! Super schoenes Photo von Euch allen vor dem Zuckerhut in "Jesus Stellung" :-) Schoene Seite hier, freue mich schon auf mehr Tips! Jess

  • Reply
    Confucius's Profile Photo
    Dec 13, 2006 at 7:13 AM

    I was in a Brazilian fantasy basketball league last year and my team name was "Confucian Cariocas"

  • Reply
    pepples46's Profile Photo
    Mar 14, 2006 at 7:40 PM

    olha que coisa mais linda..ta ta tata..oh glorious Leblon Beach *..* e Flu Fla at Maracana

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