Praça Mauá

In December 2015, Brenda and I spent about three weeks in Rio de Janeiro at the tail end of our retirement trip. A couple of weeks earlier, in Salvador, Brazil, we momentarily neglected safety warnings and ended up getting mugged. As a result, once we got to Rio, we were super cautious and never left the relatively safe confines of the touristy Copacabana area.

Today, we returned to Rio as our fourth Brazilian port of call. It was a beautiful, sunny 27 degrees when we disembarked the Lirica and walked the three kilometers towards Centro. Of course, we remembered the lessons of the past and left jewelry and cash on the ship, and kept all our cards and cell phones safely tucked away.

We took a three hour walking tour of the historic area of Rio that brought us to Confeitaria Colombo, a very ornate pastry shop that was founded in the late 1800s, the usual government buildings and the concert hall, which is even more beautiful than Teatro Colon in BA. Our guide assured us that Centro is quite safe on weekdays when there are a lot of people around, but it's wise to avoid on weekends when stores and offices are closed. She also gave us the history of the city, how it got its name, the origins of the flag, and recommended a few of her favorite dining and drinking spots.

We had noticed that the sidewalks here, like in Portugal, are covered in black and white paving stones, often set in many designs. I thought it was just a tradition brought over from the old country, but as it turns out, the stones were used as ballast on the ships that came from Portugal otherwise empty, and later returned to Portugal laden with an equal weight in gold that was mined in Brazil. Who got the better of that deal?

The last stop on the tour was Escadaria Selaron, a plain public staircase that was transformed into a work of art by a Chilean expat who made it his life's work to decorate it with ceramic tiles. Spectacular.

After the tour, Brenda and I went for a large cup of frozen acai, and I stopped at a street vendor's cart and bought a brigadero, a confection made of condensed milk and chocolate rolled into a ball and coated with chocolate sprinkles. Pass the insulin, please. According to our guide, brigaderos are eaten all over Rio, but especially when you're sad. Or happy. Pretty much whenever.

In the end, Brenda and I agreed it would be nice to come back to Rio and spend a little more time here.Read more