Category Archives: Brazil

Brazil

Rio de Janeiro

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Well this has been a long time coming and let me say right up front it was worth the wait. Rio de Janeiro couldn’t have been settled in a more beautiful landscape, nestled between the hills and the ocean. They made a definite point of saying that they were hills as they were not tall enough to classify as mountains.

The skyline is dominated by two main peaks that rise from Guanabara Bay. The first is sugarloaf mountain (not a mountain at 396 meters but hey) and the other is Corcovado (still not a mountain at 710 meters) which is the site of Christ the Redeemer.

Our day was mostly grey and overcast, but on occasion the sun peaked out from behind the clouds but then quickly disappeared again.

Getting around in Rio de Janeiro proved to be really simple. Our movement was dominated by our tour bus, but a clean and efficient metro system, cheap Ubers and yellow taxis make Rio pretty straightforward to navigate. During daylight hours the streets are safe to walk around on and the beaches have hire bikes that link in with a local mobile app (about $7 for 2 days).

Sugarloaf Mountain (known as Pao de Acucar) is one of the most iconic and sought-after landmarks and top attractions of Rio de Janeiro.

The peak is known worldwide for its cable car, the panoramic views of the city and the infamous Rio beaches (more about these later). It is a huge lump of granite and quartz rising straight out of the water and offers 360 degree views of Rio. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.

You have the option of hiking (yeah right) or taking the modern cable car all the way to the top. The hike takes you half way with another cable car taking you the rest of the way.

The obvious next place was to climb the Corcovado mountain to see the Christ the Redeemer statue.

This is possibly one of the most famous views on the planet. You’ve probably seen the picture million times – a giant white concrete statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The sight is impressive in photos, but the reality is even better. The statue was first conceived in 1920, after World War I, when representatives of the Brazilian republic felt that the country needed a symbol to strengthen their faith again.

To get here we got a bus to the foot of the hill, where you meet up with the funicular railway, which takes you by cog tram, through the forest to the foot of the statue. The tram/train leaves every 30 minutes, and the ride up takes 20 minutes.

The statue is 30 meters tall, standing on an 8 meter pedestal and weighs in at 635 tons and was finished in 1931. The arms of Christ the Redeemer stretch 28 meters wide and the surrounding area has been designated as the Tijuca Forest National Park.

Lets be serious here. You will be but one of thousands visiting here. At any time of day. The place is packed. If your photo editing skills are good or if your framing is perfect or you are super lucky, you may get a nice photo. Otherwise expect there to be a ton of other people. We gave up on the getting to the Sugarloaf lookout from the Corcovado as the number of people was just mind boggling.

Coming down the mountain (hill) we did the beach loop. Rio de Janeiro is home to some of the most famous beaches on the planet. The main ones are Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon (broken up only by Arpoador rock..

Copacabana is one of the most famous beaches in the world. The boulevard was designed by Brazilian architect Roberto Burle Marx and is depicted in postcards – mainly due to the beautiful wide beach and striking patterned pavement. As we were in town on New Year’s Eve, the beaches were more packed than usual and the local authorities were setting up for the New Year’s Celebration. The sheer volume of portaloos being set up was a sight to behold.

Ipanema beach is the next most famous of the Rio beaches popularised by the famous 1960’s bossa nova song the ‘Girl from Ipanema’. If you think that you can visit this beach without hearing this song in either English or Portuguese then you are kidding yourself. The song was written about a real person (Helô Pinheiro) who at the age of 17 inspired the songwriters (Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes) by simply walking to the beach.

Leblon Beach flows directly on from Ipanema Beach separated only by a canal and park known as Jardim de Alá or thew garden of Allah. The Canal links the lagoon to the Atlantic Ocean.

Barra da Tijuca is a bit more off the beaten path but is a suburban beach. It is more American in style with condo’s and shopping malls everywhere you look and was the site of many events during the 2016 Olympics.

Since the Portuguese colonised Brazil in the 16th century, it has been overwhelmingly Catholic. Today Brazil has more Roman Catholics than any other country in the world with an estimated 123 million of them. This translates to a ton of fairly impressive churches dotting the city.

The first and main one is the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian.

The church of São Francisco da Penitência was built in 1726 and is a Baroque colonial church in the center of the city.  

Rio also has four major football (soccer) teams and if you think you can go anywhere in town without somebody mentioning one or more of these then you are also kidding yourself. The teams are Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo and Vasco.

Rio is probably equally as famous for its Carnival. Usually in February, it begins on the Friday preceding lent and ends on Ash Wednesday, but the Winners’ Parade happens on the Saturday after carnival ends. Up until the mid 1980s, the Samba Parades of Rio Carnival were held along the main street of Avenida Presidente Vargas.

But 1984 saw the building of the permanent structure and stands that have come to be known as the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí. This is a purpose-built stadium, designed specifically to host the annual parade and able to accommodate about 75,000 people.

The focus of Carnival is for the local Samba Schools to compete. The blurb says that the parades are an amalgamation of dance, fashion, music, narrative, spectacle, and competition in which thousands of performers process in the early morning hours through the Sambadrome.

Coming through in December we got to see the Sambadrome but obviously missed out on the February celebrations. The other thing that has tended to become a thing of ours is the taking in of local street art.

Due to the fact that it was New Year’s Eve and it was a cruise ship full of older people, the decision was made that the night would be more safely spent on the ship, rather than on the beaches of Brazil. So we all got ourselves back to the ship before dark and moved around to park in front of Copacabana Beach where we waited for the midnight fireworks show.

Everywhere we went in Brazil we constantly read about the safety situation. Even the Australian smart traveller website suggests that you exercise a high degree of caution in Brazil due to the threat of violent crime. This has not been our experience, everywhere we have been has been friendly and welcoming and has felt safe (granted we were not out and about in the evenings).

Brazil has been fun, friendly, incredibly well priced and will absolutely be somewhere that we will return to.

Brazil

Recife, Brazil

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Recife (The Reef) is a major (just under 2 million) Brazilian city on the Atlantic coast, at the estuary of three rivers (Capibaribe, Beberibe and Jordão). Due to the abundance of waterways in the area, it has become known as the Venice of Brazil (Veneza Brasileira). Having been to both, I think that the Venice reference is a bit of a stretch.

Brazil has a terrible reputation when it comes to violent crime. The US Department of State claims that violent crimes, such as murder, armed robbery, and carjacking, are common in urban areas, day and night. Gang activity and organised crime is widespread. Assaults, including with sedatives and drugs placed in drinks, are common.

Our experience after the first two cities has been quite different. It must be noted however that the military and police presence on every street corner has been extreme. Whether they put on a blitz when a boat arrives or if it is standard is unclear. But we have walked around freely and un-harassed and at no point even felt insecure or uneasy.

We do tend to be alert and aware travellers, we watch our surroundings and do not take unnecessary risks. But so far there has been no point where we have felt threatened or uncomfortable. For those who have been reading along the feeling that we got in the Canary Islands was much more troubling than anything in Brazil so far.

But Recife is a major city. It is famous for its beaches, history, Carnival, arts, the cuisine and of course the cheeky bikinis.

Boa Viagem is by far the most famous of the beaches, stretching for 8 kilometers it is the longest urbanised seafront in Brazil. The nearby coastal reef calms the waves and helps keep the water at 25 °C.

While the beach is amazing, since the mid 1990’s it has been plagued by bull and tiger shark attacks. This started after the building of a new port facility (about 50kms away) that changed the sharks pattern. Between 1992 and 2021, there were 62 shark attacks with 25 fatalities. Some were attacked while swimming in water barely up to their waist. Boa Viagem is so dangerous that lifeguards no longer train on the beach itself.

National Geographic photographer Daniel Botelho managed to get a split-level image that showed the shark beneath the surface and the nearby skyline above the surface.

The photo was taken only 50 meters from the shore.

Having read all of this, we chose not to swim. So instead we wandered the streets of town and took in the colonial architecture that was on offer. There were police and military everywhere you looked but at no point was it uncomfortable.

We wandered along the waterfront and broke right, to take in some of the waterways and parks near the ports. We found bridges, statues and a massively cheap way of living. All of the restaurants that we passed had menus showing that the major price was about 22 Brazilian real (about $7).

Not really sure why, but we kept coming across a bunch of 3 meter tall chickens.

Our wander about was possibly not reflective of the others on the boat. We told a group from the boat where we had been and what we had seen and when they tried to replicate, they were turned around and sent back by the police who told them that it was unsafe. My ability to look like a local almost everywhere I go coupled with my size allows me to walk virtually anywhere I want without being approached. Jill just kind of tags along and is also left alone.

Our meanderings saw us running into the Basílica e Convento de Nossa Senhora do Carmo. This is a church and a convent.

The Basilica started in 1580 by Carmelite friars and in 1654 the Our Lady of Mount Carmel nuns arrived.

The Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue doesn’t look like much from the outside but is OK once you pop your head in.

It is the oldest Synagogue in South America (established in 1636).

We found the local markets and got to experience life in real neighbourhoods. There were large American Style shopping malls that others on the ship had gone to, but ours was more like the local neighbourhood shops and even included a wet market.

While we never felt threatened or in peril, there was a great deal of overt poverty all through the place. There were lots of people sleeping on the streets, bathing in fountains and using the local parks as their own private laundries.

Recife had a really nice feel to it and we look forward to coming back when time is not so much a factor.

Brazil

Fortaleza, Brazil

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Fortaleza (or fortress) is Brazil’s 4th largest city (with about 4 million people) that sits in the Northeast of the country. The main claim to fame of Fortaleza is as a major domestic tourist destination hub. At this stage, it does not draw large numbers of international tourists but is a Mecca for the locals.

Hopping off the boat we got sick of the idea of haggling with the overpriced taxis that infested the port. The taxis were trying to charge $20-30USD (96-144 Brazilian real) to get a lift to town. So we did our usual and walked out of the port area to get an Uber.

Jill’s map showed that there was a lighthouse just outside the gate so we aimed for that.

At this point, we were met with a police blockade telling us that the nearby neighbourhood was too dangerous to walk through and that they would only let us leave in a vehicle.

We met another couple who wanted to walk along the nearby beach but they were also discouraged due to the perceived danger. We also met a Canadian couple who were equally as eager to explore but equally oblivious as to where to go.

So we perched on the side of the road and ordered our Uber. Having no idea where to go we aimed for the Cathedral, figuring it would be pretty central and we could roam about from there. So a 37 real ($7.70) Uber ride and we were delivered direct to St. Joseph’s Cathedral.

This is the main Cathedral in town and can fit up to 5000 inside. The main towers reach 75 meters. Perched on the top of the hill it is a mere block or so from the circular Fortaleza Central Market (Mercado Central de Fortaleza). Originally a meat and fish market, it has now been converted to a crafts market with about 500 shops.

The streets around the markets were full of pop-up market stalls with virtually anything you could imagine on offer.

But the main thing about Fortaleza is the foreshore. To the north of the city is a long, scenic and highly accessible Atlantic Ocean. Leaving the Central market I led the way and marched down the road, around the corner and through some pretty dodgy areas until we eventually turned left and found ourselves at the suspect end of the Avenida Beira Mar.

The Avenida Beira Mar is a wide beachfront promenade that runs along the oceanfront. Our entry point was closest to town which was pretty sketchy at best. While the beaches offer emerald green seas, the neighbourhoods were not quite as salubrious. Not quite favelas , but certainly not very tourist friendly.

But the more we walked, the nicer it got. The dodginess eased and the tourist staples started to appear. The Avenida Beira-Mar sidewalk kicked in revealing the expected cafe’s, restaurants, Japanese garden, beach volleyball courts and the rest of the tourist elements. In fact, the range of shoreline activities are almost unending.

We (including the Canadian couple that we met) found ourselves at a funky little beachside cafe that offered good (if tough to understand and communicate with) and cheap service. Really nice, cold, big beers, by the beach and surrounded by cheeky bikinis made for a tough afternoon. Even more so when the bill came back at under $10 for 4 really large beers. Add to this the random lobster and prawn salesman who was offering 3 for $10.

Futuro Beach is one of the most famous beaches in Fortaleza. Stretching for 8km along the city foreshore it is a great beach and the local touts offer fresh lobster, shrimp, crab and fish.

As we walked away from town the beach kept getting better and better. They were obviously setting up for the upcoming New Year’s celebrations and stages, generators and makeshift toilets were all finding their way to the foreshore. We were due back to the boat before 5pm which sadly saw us having to leave the area early.

I got the sense that the area that we were in would be absolutely amazing for sundowner drinks and into the early evening. I would probably stick more to the tourist end rather than the town end but the beach promenade would certainly be the place to be.

The Uber back to the ship was even cheaper and we ended up getting transport in both directions and 4 big beers for less than the cab drivers were charging for a one way fare.