Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Day 2)

Having chalked up another 5,978 NM, today we began a new segment … the Atlantic Expedition.

What that means is that today was turnaround day for us, with about 170 new passengers joining the ship. We saw neither the disembarkation nor the embarkation chaos because we got an early start today … the beauty of being in port overnight.

It was already 76F when I stepped out to photograph the colorful sunrise. That did not portend well for the rest of the day. As a matter of fact, the high turned out to be 92F … with a feels like temperature of 98F. I don’t want to even think what it was in the sun!

We left the ship a little before 7:00a to walk to the terminal. But before we could disembark, we had to get our temperature taken … a requirement of the Brazilian government. No worries, though it does tend to slow down getting on and off the ship marginally. It wasn’t a problem this morning as we were the only ones disembarking at that hour of the morning.

When Sonia and Boris joined us in the terminal, we walked to the pick-up point we had agreed upon with Carlos. Once we were all loaded up, we headed to to the tram station to go up to Sugarloaf.

The reason we met up so early — aside from trying to make the most of the cooler morning temperature — was because Sonia found on Google that the tram opened at 8:00a today. Google knows all, right? No. It was 8:30a when the ticket windows opened. The good news in all this is that we were number one in the senior/preferred line. With proof that we’re over 60, we purchased our tram tickets at half-price, and were first to go through the turnstiles and get on the tram. I was surprised when the tram began moving with just 10 people or so onboard. Hey, no complaints.

Instead of dallying at Morro da Urca, the first station, we hopped on the next tram up to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain. Again, with just a few others on the tram with us. It was wonderful to pretty much have the mountain to ourselves for about 20 minutes or so. We were able to get our photos of the beautiful scenery, overlooked by Christ the Redeemer on the far side of bay, without having to compete with others for the best spots.

Then, down we went to Morro da Urca to check out the views from the terraces at that level. A quick look at the original equipment that was used to run the tram, and we were ready to go down. By this time it was getting crowded anyway. We had no idea just how crowded until we saw the long line at the ticket kiosk when we went down to the bottom station … and worse, all the people packed together like sardines, waiting to get onto the trams. Thank goodness that wasn’t the case when we first arrived as I would have turned tail immediately.

Next up was the famous Selarón Staircase in the Lapa neighborhood. OMG … what a filthy place. Not the stairs, they are beautiful, if you can see them through the masses visiting them. No, it’s the streets … filthy, filthy. There was a line that we could have joined to get better photos. Maybe we should have done so, but we really were disgusted with the surroundings and the crowds. A couple of quick detail shots and we were out of there fast.

Our next stop was at the very unique Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião. Conical in shape — inspired by the Mayan pyramids — the church was built between 1964 and 1969. It has a surprisingly large interior that can accommodate 5,000 people seated … or 20,000 people standing. Carlos said that when Pope John Paul VI came to visit, the standing-room capacity was easily reached. Inside there are four stained glass installations that are rectilinear in nature … soaring some 210 feet from the floor to the ceiling.

The next part of our day took us across the bay to Nitenói via a 13-km long bridge that connects it to Rio City proper. We passed some beautiful coastal views; interesting architecture; the Museum of Contemporary Art, housed in a building that looks like a flying saucer sitting atop a mushroom stem. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to stop the car, so we had to make do with recording the images in our brains.

By this time, it was getting on towards 1:00p, so Carlos took us to the very end of this side of the bay. Our destination was a seafood restaurant called Berbigão … in the fishing village of Jurujuba. There was a nice selection of seafood items on the menu. We wrapped up our meal with the four of us splitting a dessert that Carlos said was an upscale version of a local sweet treat, Romeo & Juliet … ice cream made with some kind of soft cheese, served with a guava sauce. It was a sundae of sorts … and it was delicious.

After lunch, we went up to the Municipal Park to enjoy the views. To get up there, we had to speed up a narrow, winding, steep road without stopping. It was worth it at the top … especially the views of the Atlantic side since the bay side light was not the greatest. Bonus … we got to watch some paragliders jump off the platform, which is at an elevation of 880 feet, for the approximately 5,000-foot glide to sea level.

Originally, Mui and I were thinking that we’d go to the Aquarium, billed as the largest in South America. It’s not too far from the port and Carlos would have dropped us off there. But we just couldn’t fathom walking back to the cruise terminal afterwards. It was just too hot to do so! So, from the park in Niterói, we headed back to the cruise terminal.

A refreshing shower did wonders to revive us, but I just couldn’t face the dining room. So, tonight we went up to the Terrace Café. With our sailaway scheduled for 7:00p, it was a good place to be since we were able to see the nighttime views as we turned our bow out to the Atlantic … bidding farewell to the distant Redeemer lit up against the dark sky.Read more