Rio… I have been looking forward to this flight and layover for a while now. And it is made even more special because I am once more able to take my husband along.

Wednesday morning, 5 a.m. local time, and we finally land in Rio. By the time we get to the hotel, the sun is just rising, and after an admiring view of Copacabana Beach from our window, we close the curtains and get some sleep.

Copacabana

At 11 a.m., we head to a small café around the corner and fortify ourselves with a coffee and passion fruit juice. Afterwards, we walk close to the waterline along the entire beach. It is 4 km. Beach vendors offer caipirinhas and bikinis for sale, and umbrellas and loungers for rent. We enjoy the view of the islands, the skyscrapers, Sugarloaf Mountain… We are so happy to be here. At the other end of the beach, we have lunch at a beach bar.

Sunset is here at 5:30 p.m. From the rooftop terrace of our hotel, you cannot see the sunset; it is in the other direction. But the view of the sea and the beach is incredibly beautiful. Plus, the full moon and a caipirinha…

A Sight-Seeing Tour, That Has It All

On Thursday, we meet up with three other colleagues and our guide in the lobby at 7:40 a.m. Today we plan to spend the whole day sightseeing.

Our first stop is the train ride up Corcovado to the Christ the Redeemer statue. It is still a bit chilly up here, and the clouds are low, but the visibility is still good. The city, the beaches, Sugarloaf Mountain, the ocean… It looks beautiful. Even though we are up here very early, there is already a lot going on. It is expected to get even busier later: 10,000 visitors a day. The Cristo is impressive in itself. The small soapstone plaques can only be seen up close; from a little further away, it looks as if it were carved from stone.

We buy a coffee in the small bar below the Cristo. Luckily, we do not buy anything to eat, because a gang of coatis is stalking anyone with food in their hands. They climb onto the tables and try everything to get their hands on something edible.

We continue into the centre. Here we walk past the theatre and several government and former colonial buildings. The streets are lined with trees or even palm trees. Everything seems incredibly green.

The Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro is a modern, pyramid-shaped church that opened in 1979. Four colorful stained-glass windows facing each other bring light into the dark concrete building, which can accommodate up to 20,000 worshippers.

Our guide tells us many details, both historical and current. The tour is very entertaining. We keep walking and then meet up with our driver again.

The Lapa aqueduct is no longer used for water transport; instead, an old tram runs over it to the higher-lying Santa Tereza district. We walk up the famous Selarón mosaic staircase. The designer of the staircase is the Chilean artist José Selarón. His signature, a pregnant Black woman, is a common sight. He chose this symbol because he always said there was nothing harder than being a Black, pregnant woman. The staircase is decorated with numerous tiles from all over the world. We find Paris, Granada, German cities… It is busy here; we take some photos and slowly walk up the stairs.

Santa Tereza is an old neighborhood with beautiful houses and villas. There are cafés, restaurants, and many nice shops. We like that there are fewer made-in-China plastic goods and more local souvenirs. The old trams rattle along the streets. Between the houses, you can occasionally catch glimpses of the sea or favelas that climb the hillside.

Finally, we drive to Sugarloaf Mountain. The cable car valley station is in Urca. The sun is now fully out, and it is quite warm. In summer, when it gets up to 40 degrees Celsius, I would not want to be here at all. We find the 20-24 degrees Celsius very pleasant.

The first cable car takes us to the “back.” We walk a bit through the forest and see small, very cute monkeys. Then we take the second gondola up to the top. The view is fantastic. Copacabana Beach is right at our feet. On the other side, Botafogo Beach stretches all the way to the city centre and the domestic airport. What a view…

Surfing at Ipanema

On Friday, our alarm clock wakes us up early because we want to go surfing at Ipanema Beach. The sky still has a slight pink hue, but there are already a few surfers frolicking in the waves.

It takes a while for us to get back into the swing of things. After that, though, it is already going better than in Portugal. However, it is exhausting. We enjoy waiting outside in the group for the next wave, then feeling the push and getting up. Sometimes it works well; sometimes we quickly fall back into the water.

There are a few photographers on the beach who will later sell their photos. We find a few pictures of ourselves and buy them, partly because we do not have any photos from our first surfing trip in Portugal.

By nine o’clock we are exhausted and walk into Ipanema for breakfast. We have earned it. We are sore in our bones, but at the same time we feel full of energy.

Saturday is our departure day. However, we have time until noon, and since we usually wake up quite early in South America, we want to take advantage of it. So we walk a bit and stay in Copacabanda for breakfast. On the way back, we walk through the surf one last time. A few weeks ago, we swam on the other side of the Atlantic. That is so incredible to think about.

What a wonderful time we have had here. We both really enjoyed Rio de Janeiro and already talk about a future Brazilian holiday.