After visiting Paraty and Ilha Grande, we headed to the city where we initially got stranded: Rio de Janeiro. On our first day, we opted for the organized city tour offered by our hostel. On first sight, the tour was expensive, but after adding up the costs for all the entrance fees and transportation, it turned out to only be 10$ more and it would save us a lot of hassle. The itinerary included highlights such as Christ the Redeemer, Santa Teresa and Lapa neighborhoods, as well as Sugarloaf Mountain.
Christ the Redeemer
We were looking forward to seeing Christ the Redeemer, but when we finally got there after one hour of waiting in line, the statue was covered in clouds. We only had fourty minutes before our tour would continue, luckily it cleared up after 15 minutes, leaving us with amazing views of Rio de Janeiro and the statue.
As with any tourist attraction it was rather crowded, but worth the wait. On one side, clear views over the city centre and Sugarloaf Mountain, on the other side the heart-shaped lake was clearly visible.
Santa Teresa & Lapa
From Christ the Redeemer, the tour brought us through the neighborhoods of Santa Teresa and Lapa. Just before entering Santa Teresa, the bus stopped for a minute to show us a favela located on the other side of the hill. This was as close as we would get to one, as we opted not to do a guided tour (yes, those exist) through one of the cities’ favelas.
Santa Teresa is considered the old part of Rio, once the playground of the upper class. However, nowadays little of that glamour remains. Its small and hilly streets are still there, but a lot of buildings are covered by graffiti. From Santa Teresa, the bus brought us to the next neighborhood: Lapa.
In Lapa we visited the famous Lapa Steps (Escadaria Selarón), one of the worlds’ biggest outdoor art displays. The colorful steps are decorated with hundreds of tiles donated by different countries. Next, we visited the Lapa Cathedral which was a massive concrete building. Nevertheless, it is a very important place for Christians in Brazil. From the cathedral, we walked to the Carioca Aqueduct area, which at nighttime comes alive with tents offering caipirinhas and different kinds of food.
Sugarloaf Mountain
The last stop of the day was Sugarloaf Mountain, which required us to take two cablecars. The first cablecar took us up to the Morro da Urca mountain, while the second one took us to the actual Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar). The view from the top was just as nice as Christ the Redeemer, although it offered a closer look at the famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches.
Copacabana & Ipanema
We had been long looking forward to seeing the glamorous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, but when we got here the next day we were rather underwhelmed as the beaches offered little atmosphere. Both beaches were poorly maintained, crowded, and they offered no beachfront restaurants, but rather a row of venders with sellers constantly shouting out what they had to offer. This made it impossible to relax so we left earlier then we though. Disappointed, we grabbed a cold coconut and were glad that we had visited the beaches of Ilha Grande.
On our last day in Rio we unfortunately had to deal with our card being cloned. Nevertheless, the two days we actually spent exploring Rio de Janeiro left us with a good impression of the city.
