I visited with Mrs Wilbur in November 2018 at the end of a trip taking in Buenos Aires, Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay and Iguazu Falls in addition.
Here are a few pictorial highlights.
Copacabana & Ipanema Beaches
Are there any more famous beaches in the world? Bondai perhaps.
They really are social focal points too with sports, music, parties, dancing and posing all hugely popular pastimes.
Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro
Statue of Antonio Carlos Jobim, composer of the song ‘Girl From Ipanema’
Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking
And when she passes
Each one she passes goes “ah”
When she walks, she’s like a samba
That swings so cool and sways so gentle
That when she passes, each one she passes goes “ooh”
But I watch her so sadly
How can I tell her I love her
Yes, I would give my heart gladly
But each day, when she walks to the sea
She looks straight ahead, not at me
See the classic track performed by Astrud Gilberto in 1963 by clicking Ipanema.
Ipanema Beach
Christ the Redeemer
The huge statue, a gift from the nation of Portugal, can be seen from all across Rio.
We took the train up to see him on a cloudy day but that made for a very atmospheric visit.
Botanical Gardens, Rio
The extensive gardens are stuffed full of exotic plants and trees.
Of course you get a good view of the statue from there too.
Sugarloaf Mountain
Just like Table Mountain in Cape Town, it is pretty much compulsory to take the cable car up to the iconic outcrop for some fabulous views of the city.
Notice the statue?
View of the Rio-Niterói Bridge which is about 9 miles (14.5 km) long and connects the city of Rio de Janeiro with Niterói, located on the east side of Guanabara Bay.
Rio Waterfront (Guanabara Bay) & Santos Dumont Airport
Standing down by the waterfront you get a great view of planes taking off and landing from the Santos Dumont Airport. You can see an aeroplane landing there by clicking SAFE LANDING.
We also took in the Orquestra Voadora practising for Rio Carnival.
Orquestra Voadora, Rio Carnival Band
You can watch and hear a couple of tunes by clicking the links below.
Maracana Stadium, Rio
We paid a visit on a very damp Monday night for a Serie A league match between Fluminense and Ceara,
The huge stadium now holds just over 78,000 fans and is one of the world’s most famous venues, once holding an incredible crowd of 199,854 when Brazil played Uruguay on 16th July 1950.
There were fewer than 5,000 there when we went for a dour relegation battle that finished 0-0 and was played in torrential rain throughout.
Still glad we went though!
Santa Teresa Tram, Rio
We took the streetcar up the winding streets that climb up to the bohemian district of Santa Teresa.
Rain was again the order of the day but we still had a fine time, culminating with a lovely meal in a restaurant with live Brazilian jazz.
The Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat
The abbey was founded by Benedictine monks who came from the state of Bahia in 1590.
Richly decorated inside and perfect for sheltering from the rain!
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian
The cathedral was designed by Edgar de Oliveira da Fonseca in a modern style based on Mayan architectural style of pyramids. The current cathedral was built between 1964 and 1979.
Conical in form, inside, the area measures 8,000 square meters and can hold 5,000 seats or has standing capacity for 20,000.
The cathedral’s four magnificent rectilinear stained glass windows soar 64 metres (210 ft) from floor to ceiling.
The city beginning with the letter R that I would most like to visit that I haven’t yet? Rangoon (Yangon) in Burma (Myanmar).
How about you?
Look out for S tomorrow.
That was way off my radar.
My guess for S…
San Fransisco
Sydney
Sarajevo
Split
Stockholm
or
Southend-on-Sea
That is a lot of guesses bur to be fair there are a lot of cities beginning with S
Not been to the first two and much as I love the Essex seaside…….another one outside Europe this time.