Obe and Penny are here! It’s brilliant to see them – nice to have familiar faces around!
Today we started our exploration of Rio. We’re staying in a lovely guest house in the Santa Teresa area, which is known for having great views of the city and lots of old run-down mansions, now populated by artists, writers and trendy bars.
We climbed up the hill and then took the tram down to ‘centro’, the central commercial area of the city. The tram was a bit mad – really old and noisy, and the rule is that if you don’t sit down, but just cling on to the side, then you get a free ride! Lots of people took this option – cheap but dangerous!
The commercial center was full of contrasts, modern office blocks next to familiar shopping streets, but peppered with beautiful churches and squares. It’s even home to a Royal Palace – the Portuguese Royal Family fled here in 1807, escaping Napoleon, and made it their base for several years, until they returned back to Lisbon - then one of the Princes made himself Emporer of Brazil. They had their own crown Jewels and everything and the monarchy lasted over 80 years!
We had lunch on the street where Carmen Miranda used to live and then visited the Mosteiro de San Bento, which has a famous baroque interior – very impressive!
We then took a cab back to Santa Teresa and visited the Parque das Ruinas – an old ruined mansion set in parkland with a stunning view over the city. You can climb to the top and see right over centro in one direction and over the bay to Sugar loaf Mountain in the other. You can also see the famous statue of ‘Christ the Redeemer’ which is on the highest point at the edge of the city. Unfortunately it’s currently under scaffolding – bummer!
In the evening we went for a meal at one of Santa Teresa’s most famous restaurants!
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