Category: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Arrived back at around 1500, after an uneventful morning flight from Buenos Aires, at the Windsor Califórnia Hotel on Copacabana. A low grey cloud base shrouded Rio, silhouetting the frigate birds swooping in the sky as we drove in from the airport. I kept my thin jumper on as it was definitely chilly at 19C.

Settled into our room and decided on a treat restaurant tonight, Michelin star, but of the three chosen, all were closed tonight, Monday 😦 . Hotel has recommended Iraja Gastro, a Brazilian Mediterranean restaurant as a substitute. An excellent recommendation as it turned out, small portions with amazing flavours. My favourite was the starter of beef carpaccio over fois gras, with an anchovy cream sauce, served with a salad, the only picture that came out was the salad! I then had slipper lobster for main course. David had the Burrata with thinly sliced tomatoes followed by a gourmet burger which looked and tasted superb. Again we were very restrained and had just a glass each of Brazilian Merlot with a mango and passion fruit sorbet for dessert. A wonderful evening to end a magical holiday.

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A good nights sleep, awoke to a better day than expected weather wise, still grey but no rain. Paid to extend the room until 7pm as flight back to London not until 22.00.

Visited a local upscale shopping centre Rio du Sul. Bought some Havana’s, but otherwise nothing much else that we can’t buy at better prices in London. Weather improved in the afternoon so took a stroll along the beach, before last preparations for the long haul back to London tonight and onwards to Singapore on Sunday. Stopped for some drinks and snacks and people watched on the beach. A couple of chancers passed by tapping a drum and attempting to sing, people were paying them to move on, they were that bad, it was more like a comedy act! Sadly the sea is quite polluted at most of the beaches or have dangerous currents, so whilst you can sit on the beach and enjoy the Breeze, swimming is not advisable.

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It’s been an amazing adventure and we have seen and experienced many things. Especially gratifying is having organised the entire trip ourselves, allowing room to add on various extras as the mood took us. Nothing untoward happened, nothing threatening, although I am a great believer at all times to look confident and walk with purpose, which I think helps. However it also tends to encourage people, especially in travel zones, airports and the like, to stop you to ask directions, questions etc. as you look like you should know, happens to me all the time.

Looking forward to home cooked meals, getting back to regular exercise classes and of course a wonderful family Christmas. We have our son, Jonathan, daughter, Charlotte plus boyfriend, my mother and some really close family friends for Christmas Day lunch. January we have David’s youngest sister Lesley and husband staying for a few days en route to Australia. No peace for the wicked 🤣. Starting to plan another big trip for 2021 now. We only get back to Singapore on December 9th, so apologies, suspect skipping Christmas cards, but will get better organised next year!

Writing the blog has also meant we are able to look back and reflect on our travels and hopefully help others considering a similar journey. Any questions please get in touch.

Sunday and the sun is shining and the sky a blanket of blue. After a power breakfast, grabbed a yellow cab to Sugar Loaf cable cars. A helpful young man enquired if Hesk might be over 60 (thankfully didn’t ask me) – half price £10 (but must show proof) instead of £20 at the current rate of exchange for the cable car- some advantages to age! Blessed with the fab weather we were in awe of the views from the first station and indeed the higher second station (pics below) – unreal – visions that have to be seen to truly understand the awesome panoramic vista of a truly incredible city, that and the soaring 30 plus Condors and 3 or 4 Frigets gliding on the thermals surrounding Sugar Loaf. Had to look up what the birds were – beginning to get why a couple of my friends are twitchers.

The airport for domestic flights also entertains with aircraft constantly performing downwind procedures over the vastly populated hillside before turning on their base leg with a sharp left for finals – we stood and watched the real birds and aircraft mesmerised for longer than we meant too! If you do nothing else in Rio, this really is a must do destination.

Heading back to the cable car and in a short queue, I was checking my pictures on my phone when something large literally dropped on my head! Have to say was a bit shocked and a little bruised – turned out a very small child had upended a post thing with a notice in a metal bracket, that flew into the air and landed on my head. Needless to say a lot of concerned people gave me a seat and having assessed that I would live and wasn’t too damaged – more shaken than anything let me be! 10 mins later we all boarded the cable car and the little chap who caused the commotion was pushed forward to check on me – poor little fellow think he was a bit puzzled as to what he had done, Anyway we sat at the mid station for half an hour to check for any ill effects with some water before heading down to base and then to Ipanema beach.

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We stopped and sampled a beer and a caipirinha and admired the huge throng of colour and people on the beaches. A hive of activity and bodies of all shapes and sizes. A people watching paradise. By night the beaches are just beaches, by day a colourful spread of squat sunshades and low folding chairs. Walking towards Copacabana beach and our hotel, stopped for a civilised lunch- weirdly Italian as it turned out, with a couple of glasses of vino. Pit stopping at the hotel before hitting the beach for a spot of late afternoon chilling on the sandy Copacabana beach! Later perhaps Lapa for it’s Bohemian bars, live music, open air samba jive and night clubs but somehow I doubt we will be late as the body clock still woke me at 5am this morning but David at 7am.

Arrived from London at 8pm local after an 11 hour flight. Body clock, certainly for me totally out of sync, though David coping better. Windsor Califórnia hotel exceeded expectations, I crashed out and David hit the roof bar (nothing new there) overlooking Copacabana beach. Had to be up to watch the Rugby World Cup final at 6am – less said about that the better! After devouring a huge breakfast – we met our guide Daniel, for a whirl wind tour of Rio! Up to view Christ the Redeemer statue, which initially was shrouded in mist but due to a prevailing wind we got occasional panoramic views of this stunning city. Onto a local market and then various sightseeing points including Rio’s main modern cathedral- not great from the outside but definitely wow factor internally. Then to the amazing carnival parade centre that holds 70,000! Learnt a bit about the Favelas (or shanty towns as we might call them) – over 2 million of Rio’s 7 million population live in these areas. Admired street art in an area called escadaria selaron made famous for it’s steps covered in various tiles from around the world. Visited the older parts of the city viewing the Portuguese colonial influences. Lunchtime, we ate in a buzzing fun eating area in the financial district, a local fish stew, washed down with a Bohemia beer or two and a caipirinha. An excellent after lunch coffee was then enjoyed at a famous coffee house “Colombo” dating back to late 1800’s that perked us up. Then onto cinematalia, an area originally full of cinemas that included the beautifully restored Opera house, a stunning French architectural building, the National Art Gallery and others sympathetic to French designs and built during the Belle Epoque era. Somewhat exhausted back to the hotel for a rest!

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