Where better to celebrate
stepping into a golden decade but Rio? Despite recent troubles the city is
redolent with a Latin spirit, tropical plants, exotic fruits, and a warm
welcome from the locals. I had laughed when reading a safety advice on the
internet “try to blend in”. I thought there was only one place on this earth,
the Indian subcontinent where we succeed in blending. However to our surprise
most people spoke to us in Portuguese and mistook us for Brazilians. It is a
land of many shades of skin colour, from pale cream to dark chocolate.
The trip started with an
introduction to samba. Rio Scenarium, a night club in the Lapa district, once
judged to be one of the ten best clubs in the world truly earns its place. A
three-storey building filled to the brim by antiques – a
curious medley of umbrellas, telephones, radios and china, makes it a unique
place to dance the night away to live samba music and crooning by an excellent
Brazilian singer. We ordered some bar food, skewered chicken which was delicious. As the clock struck midnight I was befriended by a group of
enthusiastic dancers in their sixties singing “Happy Birthday” to me. I felt
quite young turning fifty and realized life is all about how you behave. Age is
just a number.
The following morning we went
for a Sunday Brunch by the pool at the Copacabana Palace hotel. It was a
luxurious spread of oysters, caviar, sushi, Brazilian and European dishes and
champagne (we suspect it was really cava) flowing.
On day three we took a bus to
see Christ the Redeemer. We knew it would be a good day to see it, as we
spotted it from our roof top terrace. The white statue appeared suddenly
amongst the clouds. Magical moment. There are plenty of buses and the network
is quite impressive. However, rush hour traffic can be a real nightmare. The
journey was livened up by a sweet seller singing “Over the Rainbow” in a strong
Brazilian accent. The trip up to the top of the hill by a cog train through
Tijuca National Forest was memorable. I desperately tried to capture images of
hibiscus plants that sped by. The statue of Christ loomed above us when we
reached the top. I am neither a Christian nor particularly a religious person
but the figure of Christ arms
outstretched, palms open in blessing filled me with peace and something close
to reverence.
After all the sightseeing there
are few things better in life than spending a day on Copacabana beach with a
chopp Brahma (draught beer) in hand. The froth of the beer, smooth and milky,
mirrored the crest of the giant waves, curling towards us, swallowing up our
ankles. We considered giving up our jobs and moving to Brazil - teaching
English, selling coconuts, or simply becoming beach bums.
We were advised
by a lovely Brazilian man from Chelmsford that the best time to visit Sugar
Loaf Mountain was at sunset. How right he was! We took two cable cars to go up
to the top where hundreds of tourists hugged the railings to capture the view
of the bay in the fading light. As dusk fell, the glimmering lights of the city
came up, a few at a time, until the whole town seemed to be infested by
thousands of fireflies. The only regret was not bringing something warm to wear
as the night air turned chilly.
A visit to
Maracana Stadium is a must when travelling with a football fan and the
Confederation Cup is about to start. For security reasons we were not allowed
to go inside for a tour. The flying saucer shaped stadium has a capacity to
hold 85,000 spectators. The World Cup in 2014 should be an exciting event
especially if there are more demonstrations.
We stayed in Windsor
Excelsior Copacabana, which is right across the beach. It is a wonderful hotel
and the breakfast was simply superb. I tasted fruits that I had forgotten,
guavas, sweet mangoes, papayas, watermelons plus a full fry up English,
European cold meats, cheeses and Brazilian fare. True to our newly adopted
exercise regime we went jogging once or twice along the beach inspired by
locals and tourists burning the calories.
Local cuisine: Feijoda is a famous Brazilian stew consisting of black beans, sausages, pork ribs and beef. It is a substantial dish served with greens and seasoned cassava flour.
On one of our
last evenings we visited the bar where the song Girl from Ipanema (Garota de
Ipanema) was written by Vinicius de Moraes in 1965. Apparently it was the
second most recorded pop song after Yesterday by Beatles. If you haven’t heard
it you can listen to it on youtube
We loved the old
style bar with ceiling fans and wooden windows. A cracked ceiling patched up by
nylon sheet only added to its charm. The walls are decorated by memorabilia of
the song. The food served there is every meat lover’s dream- succulent slices
of sizzling steak on a hot griddle.
Too soon it was
time to return and although our hearts longed for swaying palm trees and white
sandy beaches the view of the Alps driving into Grenoble from Lyon airport soon
swept away holiday blues.
Travel tips:
Stay in a safe place like Copacabana or Ipanema. It is fine to take public
transport during the day time. At night avoid unfamiliar areas. Don’t flash
valuables. We felt perfectly safe in the mains areas but didn’t stop at St
Tereza district because it looked a bit deserted. Take yellow metered taxies.
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