Brazil
Av. Rio Branco

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    • Day 171

      Rio de Janeiro - Chiang Mai Connection

      June 10, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

      Das Schönste auf Reisen ist, neue Bekanntschaften zu knüpfen und noch schöner ist es, wenn sich dadurch neue Reisepläne ergeben.
      Rio de Janeiro stand sowieso auf meiner Liste zum Wiederbesuchen, dann habe ich in Chiang Mai, Thailand bei einer Elefantentour Joana und Tony kennengelernt. Sie haben mich eingeladen, bei ihnen in Rio unterzukommen. Und hier bin ich! :-)
      Die beiden sind zwei sehr nette, reisebegeisterte Brasilianer und wohnen mit ihren zwei hübschen Töchtern in Laranjeiras, einem ruhigen Stadtteil mitten in Rio.
      Mit Joana gehe ich shoppen und Aperol Spritz am Ipanema Strand trinken (Joanas 1. Aperol, eher unüblich hier). Und Tony macht Fahrradtouren mit mir, zum Pão de Açucar und rund um die Lagoa de Freitas. Eine schöne Art, die Stadt zu erkunden!
      Joana ist eine tolle Köchin (italienische Abstammung ;-)) und ich komme in den Genuss vieler Leckereien.
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    • Day 173

      Frieren in Rio de Janeiro

      June 12, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

      Zum zweiten mal habe ich das Pech, Rio bei eher nicht so gutem Wetter kennenzulernen.
      Die Woche, die ich hier verbringe ist es "so kalt wie schon seit Jahren nicht mehr". Ótimo! Ganz toll...
      Strand? Vergiss es... In der Sonne ist noch alles ok, aber sobald sie weg ist, friere ich. Da es hier sonst nie kühl wird, sind auch die Häuser nicht für frierende Menschen ausgelegt.. Ich kuschele mich mit den Mädels unter eine Decke, trinke Tee und freue mich, dass es Suppe und Eintopf gibt.
      Zum Glück gibt es auch Forró :-))) Dreimal gehe ich tanzen! Das wärmt auf...
      Von der Stadt bin ich wieder beigeistert... Die Lage ist wirklich einzigartig! Und überall ist alles so grün!
      Ich freue mich, im Oktober wiederzukommen und meine beiden Freundinnen Sandra und Anja, die mich besuchen werden, in dieser schönen Stadt begrüßen zu können!
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    • Day 159

      Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

      February 9, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

      After an amazing final day in Argentina, we crossed the Brazilian border during a huge thunderstorm. The bus to Foz do Iguazu drove through the floods on the road before we eventually found a taxi to our hostel, Tetris Container. The hostel was made of large shipping containers, with each room and portacabin corresponding to a different colour.
      Next day, after a lovely breakfast, we got the public transport bus costing R$3.70 (€0.80) to Iguasu Falls. After paying the admission fee, we got a bus through the National Park to the walking trail around the Falls. We got more amazing views of the Falls before the heavens opened! However this didn't deter us from us from continuing to explore and enjoy the Falls. We walked across the bridge into the same Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat) as the day before, this time viewing it from the inside. The sound and sights of the water gushing down from overhead was incredible, but also a bit scary, giving us an insight into how dangerous Mother Nature can be. After another amazing day, we went back to the hostel to try dry out our clothes before getting the overnight bus to Florinoplolis.
      Unfortunately the weather continued to be quite miserable Brazilian style (i.e 20 degrees with drizzle) in Florinoplolis. We stayed in Tucano Hostel where we chilled out and played some pool on the wobbliest, uneven table I've come across. We went to Iguatemi shopping mall to stock up on some new essential and unessential items. One particular sales guy tried to convince me to buy a phone cover with a solar powered phone charger inside it. I don't think he was too impressed when I highlighted that there was no sun in Ireland (he clearly had the wrong target audience!).
      Next we went to the cinema to see the new Jennifer Lawrence film 'Joy'. Edel research had revealed a 2 o'clock viewing for only R$11 (€2.40). Unable to turn down the possibility of a cheap cinema date, we bought the tickets and headed into the screen. I noticed a unusually high number of buggies at the bottom of the steps and as we got to our seats, I soon realised that we had encountered a parents and baby viewing. I looked around and every adult had a baby or toddler with them. There was baby changing facilities and a little play area at the front of the screen. We sat there babyless and no shame. It took us awhlle to ignore the sounds of the young audience but we soon got use to it and enjoyed the film none the less. We found out afterwards from a couple from Tyrone, who were there with their twin girls, that this was a monthly event and an enjoyable social outting for the new parents.
      Next day, to mark Sophie's last day of her holiday and our final day in Florinoplolis, we took a beautiful boat ride out to Costa del Largo where we visited the waterfall and had a lovely dinner of breaded bass and chips by the lakeside.
      Next day after saying goodbye to Sophie we flew to Rio De Janeiro with GOL airlines. As it was the week of Carnival, accommodation was extremely expensive and booked out months in advance. We had booked an apartment, through Air B&B, last August before we left on the trip. The one bedded apartment wasn't really fit for four people and only had air conditioning in the bedroom, so we moved the mattresses from the sofa bed into the bedroom for a nice cosy stay!
      Next morning we got a taxi to the Corcovado train station and took the 20 minute trip up to Christ the Redeemer statue. It was amazing to be finally at the top of this iconic landmark that overlooks the city. When we had taken all our photos, we got the train back down before hopping in a taxi across the city to Pao du Acucar (Sugarloaf mountain). We got the cable cars up to the summit for more amazing views of the city. Next stop was the Escadaria Selaron steps in Lapa, where we climbed the 215 steps, decorated with over 2000 beautiful ceramic tiles from 60 different countries. We then walked to Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião, the conical shaped cathedral made up of four large stained glass windows, measuring 64 metres high. Unfortunately when we got there it was closed for visitors however the doorman allowed us to take photos through the little gap in the door. We finished off the day with an evening at the Bloco party in Lapa. There is a Bloco or street party organised by each suburb over the Carnival period. There was lots of music and drumming with people dressed in all sort of costumes and outfits.
      The following day we went to the world famous Maracana stadium where we did the stadium tour. It held the 1950 and 2014 World Cup Finals and is due to hold the opening and closing ceremonies in the Olympics and Paralympics later this year. We joined the stadium tour and were brought to the dressing rooms where we posed with the jerseys of various soccer players including Ronaldo, Messi and the current Brazilian favourite Neymar. The tour guide asked us all where we were all from and who we supported. To our amazement he knew all about Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers from home. Next we were brought out onto the pitch and got to sit in the dugouts and take in the incredible views of the inside of the stadium. We then got the chance to take a penalty. It may have taken me three attempts to score (one was saved) but still managed to mimic what Pele had done to score his 1000th goal.
      Next we took the Metro to the Scorial Rio hotel to collect the Carnival tickets before spending the evening at the Ipamema beach watching the sunset beside Sugarloaf mountain.
      Next day was Carnival at the Sambadrome. We arrived at spectacular stadium filled with 90,000 people over the 700 metre long stadium. We took our seats on the steps of Section 10 and watched the crowd singing and dancing while waiting for the show to start. Each samba school had 90 minutes to parade in front of the crowd, each with their own anthem and theme with floats, thousands of dancers dressed in elaborate costumes and finished off with a drumming band. The colours and lights were spectacular and it was amazing to see the amount of time and effort into it (definitely puts the Dublin Paddy's Day parade to shame). We managed to watch five of the six schools before the tiredness hit at 4am and we called it a day. It was such an incredible experience and another one of the overall highlights of the trip. One of the best ways to finish our time in the amazing continent of South America!
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    • Day 1

      Rio de Janerio

      March 18, 2015 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      Die letzte Etappe meiner Südamerika Reise führte mich Heute nach Rio de Janeiro. Die Metropole, gelegen an der Guanabara - Bucht, ist hinter Sao Paulo, die zweit größte Stadt in Brasilien und ein muss einer jeden Brasilien Reise.Read more

    • Day 75

      Rio de Janeiro

      December 15, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

      Rio de Janeiro, die letzte Station meiner Reise. Leider blieb das Wetter die ersten Tage gewitterhaft. Auf einer Satdtrundfahrt standen einige Sehenswürdigkeiten wie Corcovado, Santa Teresa, die Kathedrale, die Treppe Escadaria Selaron und der Zuckerhut.

      Rio de Janeiro, the last place of my trip. Unfortunately the weather remained unstable the first days. On a city tour I visited Corcovado, Santa Teresa, the cathedral, the steps Escadaria Selaron and the sugar loaf.
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    • Day 6

      Spectacular Rio

      October 17, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

      We departed Buenos Aires in the pouring rain and flew to Rio de Janeiro arriving at night. Our hotel for the next 3 nights was the Porto Bay Rio International. Our room on the 19th floor had a small balcony that overlooked Copacobana Beach to the left and to the right was the Statue of Christ. Totally amazing location and the biggest king sized bed I've ever seen. The only downside is the hotel only has 2 very small lifts to service 20 floors.

      Our first full day and we did a tour of 2 of the favelas - what in other places are known as slums or ghettos. One of them had an estimated 70,000 - 100,000 people. Sure they are poor, but as our guide explained to us, they are not miserable and they have a great sense of community. They don't pay any taxes or any electricity because they do not officially have an address. They are built one on top of the other like a house of cards. There is only one main street so access to their homes is via narrow stairways.... millions of steps. It must be said though that this Favela - Rochina - has some of the best views in town. The other Favela was quite small, only 3000 people. This one was more on the flat and consisted of a rabbit warren of alleyways more below ground where it was cooler. These ones had street addresses and electricity meters. An unusual way of living but a very interesting tour.

      In the afternoon, Brad wanted a swim in Copacobana Beach so we wandered over. The sand is hot, hot, hot and they have a soaker hose set up with a track from the footpath to close to the waters edge to cool the sand. A really good idea. It appears that it does not matter what size you are you can still wear an itsy-bitsy bikini. Only time for a short swim because we then had a tour on the cable car up Sugarloaf Mountain. Great views but a bit hazy. Some good photos though.

      That evening we went to a Brazilian BBQ. We have never seen anything like it. After collecting salads from the salad bar, the waiters then came around with huge skewers of meat - beef, lamb, chicken, some seafood, ribs (from a dinosaur I think), sausage, rib eye etc. that they slice of pieces of and it just kept coming. Not so good if you are vegetarian but the meat was all extremely tasty.

      The next morning we went to Corcovado Mountain and visited the statue of Christ the Redeemer at the peak. Absolutely breathtaking views even though there was some haze in the air. It is easy to access via train, then lifts and escalators to the top, once upon a time you had to walk the whole way. Then we saw the Lapa steps which is one man's project to beautify an area with colourful tiles. The idea took off and now has tiles from all over the world.

      So ends our visit to Rio. Early start in the morning to Iguassu Falls on the Brazilian/ Argentine border.
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    • Day 4

      Dois Irmaos hike

      June 17, 2017 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

      Right after we enjoyed a nice breakfast at our hostel terrace, we decided to go on a hike to Dois Irmaos, in english Two brothers mountain, which you can see on the last picture. It may look impossible to simply walk up this steep mountain, but there is a nice trail. To reach the trail we had to pass through a favela called Vidigal. At the entrance to the favela we took a public van to get to the start. The path started off pretty easy and we saw some monkeys and lizards. However, soon we got to the steeper part where we needed to grasp on the roots and branches to make our way up. At one point we also got a view facing Rocinha, the largest favela in Brazil. When we reached the top, we understood why Rio de Janeiro is called the Marvelous City. The views were just incredible. And from up there we could see all the highlights of Rio including Ipanema beach, the Christ or the Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf). Again, I think the pictures speak for itself. We were just sitting on the top of the rock and enjoyed the views at least for an hour. In the afternoon we were pretty tired so we were just chilling on the Ipanema beach which we admired before from the top. The plan for the evening was to go out to some samba bar in Lapa. Lapa is a neighbourhood in Rio, known for its lively cultural life with many bars and restaurants. However, after the hike almost everybody passed out and it was just me and Saša who were ready to hit the bars. At the beginning I was hesitating if it is a good idea going alone just two girls. But everything worked out totally fine and we had a great time in one Samba bar with live music.The way back to the hostel was an adventure, as we took motorbikes to get up through the steep hill of the favela.

      CZ:
      Hned poté co jsme si vychutnali snídani na terase hostelu, rozhodli jsme se, že půjdeme na výšlap hory Dois Irmaos, v češtině hora Dva Bratři, která je na poslední fotce. I když se na první pohled zdá nemožné vylézt na tuto příkrou horu, vede tam velmi pěkná stezka. Aby jsme se dostali na začátek trasy, museli jsme se dostat přes favelu Vidigal, která je na první fotce. Nechali jsme se vyvézt dodávkou. Stezka začala celkem pohodově, taky jsme viděli nějaké opice a ještěrky. Ale brzo začalo pěkné stoupání a museli jsme se chytat kořenů a větví kolem, abychom se vyšplhali nahoru. V jeden moment jsme dokonce měli výhled na Rocinhu, což je největší brazilská favela. Když jsme došli na vrchol, pochopili jsme proč je Rio tak úžasným městem. Ty výhledy byly naprosto božské. Z vrcholu jsme mohli vidět všechny vyhlášené atrakce Ria jako je pláž Ipanema, socha Ježíše nebo Cukrovou Homoli. Myslím, že fotky prostě mluví sami za sebe. Seděli jsme tam určitě víc jak hodinu a užívali si pohled na Rio z vrcholu. Odpoledne na nás dolehla únava, tak jsme se jen váleli na pláži Ipanema, kterou jsme předtím obdivovali z výšky. Plán na večer byl jasný...vyrazit ven do nějakého samba baru v Lapě. Lapa je taková živá čtvrť v Riu, známá svým kulturním životem s mnoha bary a restauracemi. Avšak po tom výšlapu všichni odpadli a byly jsme to jen já a Saša, připravené vydat se do víru velkoměsta. Ze začátku jsem měla trochu obavy a váhala jsem jestli je to dobrý nápad jít samotné dvě holky. Ale všechno proběhlo naprosto v pořádku a užily jsme si skvělý večer v jednom samba baru se živou hudbou. Cesta zpátky na hostel byla také dobrodružstvím, jelikož v noci již nejezdila dodávka, která nás vždy vyvezla favelou, tak jsme musely vyjet na motorkách.
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    • Day 5

      Last day in Rio

      June 18, 2017 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

      EN:
      Today was our last day in this marvelous city. It was around 28 °C, just a perfect sunny day. So after checking out at the hostel we aimed directly to Copacabana beach. We just enjoyed a fun and relaxed day in the water, sunbathing, taking pictures, drinking caiprinhas and coconuts. In the late afternoon we went to the second most famous peak in Rio...called Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf). The top of the hill is almost 400 meters above the sea level and the ride up is done by two connected cable cars. At the top, the city just unfolds beneath you, with the Christ in front of you to the west and Copacabana Beach to the south. The views were just spectacular and it was a great closure to our time in Rio de Janeiro. We went to pick up our baggage to the hostel and took a night bus back to Sao Paulo.
      I can honestly say that I was amazed by Rio and really wish to come back again especially for the famous Carnival which takes place every year around the months of January/February.
      Hope to see you soon Rio!!!

      CZ:
      Dnešek byl posledním dnem v tomto úchvatném městě. Bylo okolo krásných 28 stupňů, no prostě krásný slunečný den. Hned po odhlášení se z hostelu, jsme si to namířili přímo na pláž Copacabanu. Užívali jsme si zábavný a pohodový den plný koupání se, opalování, focení, pití caipiriňi a kokosů. Pozďěji odpoledne jsme vyrazili na druhý nejznámnější vrchol Ria, kterému se podle jeho podobnosti říká cukrová homole. Dosahuje skoro 400 metrů nad mořem a na vrchol vede lanová dráha, která má 2 části. Při pohledu dolů se před vámi město doslova rozevírá se sochou Ježíše na západ a pláží Copacanou na jih. Ten pohled byl úžasný a bylo to krásné zakončení našeho výletu v Riu. Jeli jsme si vyzvednout zavazadla na hostel a následně nočním autobusem zpátky do Sao Paula. Upřímňě můžu říct, že z Ria jsem naprosto nadšená a přeju si, vrátit se sem zpátky, především během slavného karnevalu, který se koná každý rok okolo měsíců leden či únor.
      Brzy nashledanou Rio!
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Av. Rio Branco, Avenida Rio Branco

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