Rio de Janeiro Day 2    

19th January 2018

An early start today as we are on a pre-booked P&O tour.

A few facts for you:

Brazil is 35 times larger than the UK.

It covers nearly 1/2 of South America.

55% of the country population is under 25years old.

Rio was the capitol of Brazil until 1960.

We are off to visit Rio’s two biggest tourist attractions, Sugar Loaf Mountain and Corcovado (Christ the Redeemer)

An early starts helps to beat the traffic of this bustling city

It also means we were amongst the first visitors of the day to reach the summit of Sugar Loaf. It takes two cablecars to get you to the top and thankfully this was done with the minimal of queuing.

The views from the top were stunning, on one side you could see the city centre…….

on other the beaches….

and right across the bay.

Mind you these fantastic vistas come at a price…….. it was bloody hot! (not much of a price I agree!)

An hour away on our air-conditioned coach, we arrived at the  station to catch our cog-wheel train to the top of Corcovado. There is a heavy police presence around every major tourist attraction as Rio has quite a high crime rate, especially pickpocketing in these places. That said I never felt intimidated and as long as you are sensible, no flashy jewellery, watches etc and didn’t go down any dark alleys you were fine.

The statue of Christ the Redeemer was finished in 1931 and has been keeping a watchful eye over Rio ever since. (The statue is the one at the back!)

I never ever thought I would be lucky enough to experience this truly magnificent sight.

The viewing platform was absolutely packed but we did manage to get this picture together.

There was a visiting Cardinal giving a blessing, this also added to the throng of people.

Rio is very expensive for most of the inhabitants to live in so a lot of people have to resort to living in favellas, which are fairly lawless areas of town which are totally out of bounds for tourists.

After a great day out it was time to leave this vibrant city.

It is definitely a place I would love to come back to. It was lovely to set sail as the sun was going down.

Although some people were more interested in sorting out their e-mails!

Maybe we should try a helicopter ride next time!

Our last view of this city was of Copocabana beach just as the street lights were switched on.

After our fun packed day, back to the harsh realities of life, the washing still needs to be done!

and this poor lady had been ironing for 3 hours!