Rio (Goodbye South America 😢)

And so began our last day in Rio and South America!!
We went out in style by joining a city tour with members of the group that were still in Rio which started with a visit to the magnificent Christ Redeemer. Weighing over 600t and standing at 40m tall at 700m above sea level, the views from the top are incredible.
We took some photos with the ‘big dude’ (also the name of our tour! 😋) before making our way to the Santa Teresa area known for its artistry and street art/graffiti. We then continued to the Lapa Steps, a set of ceramic steps created by the Chilean artist, Selaron. When these steps were being built, artists all over the world donated and sent tiles to Selaron to assist with his creation - we even managed to find a few Aussie ones!
We then continued our tour to the metropolitan cathedral of San Sebastián, a very beautiful and very tall church in the middle of Rio. The stain glass windows were some of the largest we had ever seen and definitely one of the most unique churches we have visited!
Our next stop was a quick photo outside the Maracana stadium which Daniel had gone to a couple of days ago before making our last stop in the National Park.
We walked through the Tijuca National park, admiring the greenery and seeing some lovely waterfalls throughout the park.
We then made our way to the lunch spot where we said goodbye to the rest of our tour group before getting an Uber to the airport ready for our flight to London via Madrid!
We had our first and only Açai bowls of Brazil for a late lunch before boarding around 7pm.

We can’t believe that two months of our trip has flown past so quickly! We made some incredible friends on our tour and enjoyed the carefree nature of being on a tour and not having to worry about planning/booking etc. We learnt so much and loved the people, culture, landscapes and many varied experiences we had in South America!
Bring on Europe and summer!Read more