What can I say about Rio!
First, getting here, was out of this world. The coastline from Paraty, magnificent. When we could see over or through the roadside vegetation, I could see, in my minds eye, a freebooting, English or French pirate ship, lurking behind one of the islands, ready to pounce on a galleon of Portugal or Spain and relieve it of it’s booty.
It was a very comfortable night in the hotel, last night. Such a change from a hot, humid Poki.
The plan for today.
“We’ve got to get going early”, Jen exhorted. There is so much to see. So after a reasonable breakfast, bought to our room at 8am, we were down to the foyer and street to catch a cab to Urca mountain and Sugarloaf or Pao de Acucar, the destination. Purchasing a ticket to ride the twin gondola rides to the tops of twin rocks, Urca and Sugarloaf, which are 395 meters above sea level, taking about 10minutes to the first and less across to the other peak.
The view of the city and surrounds is breathtaking. So many bays, coves, white sandy beaches and the twin runways of the airport nearly completely surrounded by sea. It’s hot. 32 deg and the sun is fierce. Again I don’t bring the camera and rely on the phones to capture the scene as best we can.
The airstrips upper centre right.
No, we are not staying there, at around $1600NZ per night.
Copacabana Beach in the afternoon.
After getting back to he hotel around 2.30pm and having lunch in Poki, we took another cab to Copacabana beach and sat on towels, on the sand and took in the scenes. We both had our bathing suits on but decided not to get them wet, for the discomfort of spending the rest of the afternoon covered in sand and in wet gear. A little later, the surf was pretty dramatic too with big waves crashing only a short distance from the waters edge.
Want to buy a new bikini, or anything else, for that matter?
Beach volleyball is a BIG thing, here in Brasil. There are perhaps a dozen courts on the beach and every one with instructors teaching pupils, or a serious game being played, in a number of variations.
With the sun descending we decided to have a drink in one of the many beach fringe stalls. The drinks were fine but we also decided to try their specialist dish, Feijoada. It turns out it was amongst the same dish we had in Paraty, which was delicious, but this meal, while it looked ok, was not…:(
Another cab ride back to he hotel. It has been an interesting day and was dark by the time we arrived. As we have not seen all the main attractions we are going to spend another day here. Lets see what tomorrow brings?
Views: 31