Our next stop is an overnight two day porting. Of course like with many of our stops we get some history regarding the area several days to possibly a week ahead of time. If you are a wing it kind of traveler this information might help you determine where you want to explore and what you want to see. For me I’m a planner. Half the fun of traveling for me is delving into investigating the city or country far in advance so I can look at all my options and decide what’s important to me, what I’m capable of doing, and of course what might be something I couldn’t do anywhere else! The Oi Brasil team shares that this city has wonderful energy, stunning vistas and mountains along with inviting beaches in several locations. It is a very blessed location full of nature and natural wonders.
In July 1494 after the travels of the Columbus fleet they wanted to explore more of the North East tip of Brazil. Through this exploration and mapping of the area the Treaty of Tordesillas was developed and signed. The Catholic Church chose a longitudinal point to divide the area thinking they were giving half to Portugal east of the longitudinal line 46 degrees and the other have to Spain going west of the line.
When explorers got to the western side of the land division they arrived January 1st and assumed they entered a river. So they named it the River of January or Rio De Janeiro. We don’t know a lot about their travels or accounts but the area was well inhabited. There was always plenty of rain and good soil with mountains all around to protect it . Instead of a river it was a huge bay and they named the bay Guanabara. It is the largest bay in Brazil with many unique fish species. They discovered there were villages where about 1000 people were living in communal and fortified groups. There were many different ethnic groups, probably a total of 18,000 people in all spread out around the bay.
Tupinamba say they were the first people here while the Karioka were the first to be seen and now are called Carioca or the people from Rio.
Mundos Novus, an explorer wrote that the people were naked and like savages. The Portuguese traded with them for a long time like for trees. The Tribes wanted steel, armaments and spices.
The Portuguese realized they could plant sugar cane but this caused problems because it was a labor intensive production and they didn’t have the work force. Europe wanted sugar so in order to get it they enslaved the local population.
Then the French in 1555 wanted a base to colonize and trade. So they built a fort in the middle of the bay. Today it is buried under the airport which they filled in to expand the runway area.
The French formed an alliance with the natives but not the Portuguese. The French attacked the Portuguese ships. The Government sent a fleet of war ships to Rio from Portugal and took siege of the French and rid them from the area.
The Portuguese had a base near Santos and also
built a fort by Sugarloaf Mountain as a base with their resources. In 1567 after two years of war the Portuguese finished the French for good.
In 1565 the birth of the city took place. They celebrated their 450 year anniversary in 2015.
Sugar was booming so the this prompted the horrific Atlantic slave trade. In 1750 the area rose again to 25,000 people. Brazil was totally dependent on slaves. Most slaves only lived 7 years because of the poor living conditions, hard work and terrible treatment. Indigenous slaves only lived 3 years.
In 1831 slavery was banned but it took a long time for that to totally happen. Cemeteries were discovered of the African blacks after a couple renovating their home found this with over 30,000 bones of those who died coming over from the continent.
Eventually sugar died out but then gold was discovered and miners brought it to Rio and transferred much of their capital to Rio. The royal family from Portugal came here to escape Napoleon. Rio felt huge growing pains from all that was transpiring and all the immigrants that fled to Brazil. In 1821 when the finally Portuguese left to return to Portugal they had built many grand institutions and mansions that they left behind.
They filled in more land out from the bay to expand it into ver the time they were there.
They replanted the whole forest in 1840 due to the deforestation that had taken place over the years and it was enormous. In 1860 power, gas streets lights and an influx of huge immigration took place.
1 million people were living in the area in the 19th century. With such a large and growing population they started to replace the area with wider streets and better transportation. Rio has expanded so much in all directions; south, north and west.
Early Cococabana photo is shown here but now it is densely populated .
Early Ipanema Beach is shown here but it too now is densely populated.
Christ the Redeemer was built in 1930 with 635 tons of rock! It Still has issues with getting to the statue and maintaining it but it remains beautiful and an iconic symbol of Rio de Janeiro.
We joined a third party two day tour here with the same guide and driver for both days. Now there are
13 million people living in Rio now with 27 districts in all of Brazil. It is a Democratic nation. The ruler is liked by many and always involved in what is happening. The people say he is committed to the city. The capital of Brazil is Brasilia and has changed several times.
Most people here work 44 hours per week with weekends off. Graffiti is a problem as with so many places and we see it everywhere. The old Aqueduct was built in the 17th century but now it is used by a tram and water comes from the national park.
We visited the Selaron steps. At the time long ago a man chose to make a stairway to please his landlords so he slowly built the steps. He used old tiles and then new tiles when he could get them. Soon people from other countries started bringing tiles from their local areas to have them added. It took the man 20 years to finish. The orange tiles were where he wrote messages to his friends which makes the steps even more interesting. You could spend days here reading all the tiles and messages. He died 10 years ago after such a unique labor of love. The City now takes care of it and everyone wants their photo taken on the steps!!
One tower on a building would be a church but two towers would be something else.
The last red light district had old town clubs and bars. The middle area of the bay was where they dumped sewage. It was awful and very unsanitary and smelly. Now the city has filled it in and it’s a lovely park. In 1920 lots of murals were painted showing different messages by the artists. The
wealthy people lived on hills to be away from the nasty lake and sewer lagoon.
Now music halls have once a week free concerts for the community so all people have a chance to take in the culture.
Many celebrities came to Rio over the years. The gay gentleman in the fur was a famous fighter and well respected in his time.
The Cathedral and towers are from the 20th and 21st century. Rio also has a subway that is expansive and well laid out; easy to use and inexpensive.
Cinelandia library theaters culture
At night here after 10 there is no one here. People only come to these areas here to work or shop. There are no suits and ties worn in the city as it is very casual. Our guide says you can wear your Speedo to the bakery and no one cares!!
From 1908 to 1910 the new president built more modern infrastructure. With more people they needed less traffic and wider streets etc.
We had lunch at El Senador a very busy place but a typical Brazilian lunch.
Christ Redeemer Monument was our next stop.
In 1960 the capital which was Rio was moved more inland to Brasilia.
Corcovado Mountain or hill was named this because its hump is like a camel. It is 2400 ft high.
It took five years to finish Christ the Redeemer. In
1884-1910 they had steam powered trams to take you to the top but in 1910 an electric tram replaced
Those and in 2018 the tram was last renovated.
Statue is made of concrete then the hands and head of Christ were built in pieces and then covered with soap stone which was easy to carve.
Once exposed to the elements it becomes hard as marble. They pasted fabric on the soapstone monument with their wishes written on the fabric to further protect it. There is a small chapel there at the top too.
There are many wetlands in the Tijueca National Forest which is 33 sq kilometers and a rain forest.
The city was having water supply issues because all water was going to agriculture so they had to remove the agricultural areas out of the city.
There are six wonders of the world and Christ the Redeemer is one of them being fairly new.
Pyramids
Maya ruins
Petra
Great Wall of China
Christ the redeemer
Machu pichcu
The City has many tunnels used to go from sea side to sea side.
The Christ the Redeemer statue has undergone many improvements over the years.
Our tickets to ride the Cordova up to the top. Our guide has already purchased and we get to go the fast track
We see the huge Jack Fruit that monkeys love to eat all along the track up the mountain. The cars stop a few times along the way to let off folks who live off the sides of the mountain.
And Taylor Swift was here so we see her t shirts everywhere!!!! People were telling us how far they came to see the show. One night they had to cancel one of her shows due to the heat!!!
We have proof that we made it on a hot humid day with hundreds of people. It was foggy on the way up and the clouds were quickly passing over the statue.
120 ft high 90 wide
1148 tons it weighs
One finger got cut by lightening and now spikes are in his head and arms.
We didn’t see this monkey but a lady shared her photo with me!!! He was right on the rail of the steps walking down from the statue.
I bet he gets lots of attention too. And he probably is looking for a snack!!
From one point you can’t even see the statue.
Then we went to a Buffett lunch that was huge and very crowded. But we stuck mostly to cooked food. It was part of our tour package.
Lots of different foods both hot and cold
All over the city we see beautiful murals of which many are tiled.
We had two large groups here.
This was what we chose. It was very good.
Look how many plates the waiters could carry at one time!!
A view looking toward Sugarloaf Mountain on the opposite side from Christ the Redeemer showing the huge bay
The famous man who wrote The Girl From Ipanema who was a real girl and just recently passed away.
Shared by another as a great photo!!
The author of the Girl from Ipanema.
By the beach!!!
Trying for a lovely sunset. All the walking areas have this kind of tile like a river.
The next day is Sugarloaf Mountain and we take a much shorter ride to the top in cable cars.
Here is the depot. Our guide has already prepurchased our tickets so again we go to the fast lane.
People were actually rock climbing on this wall when we went up. You have to get a permit to be able to do it.
The next day we drive to Sugarloaf Mountain.
Puerto seguro means safe harbor and that was what the harbor in Rio was.
Indigenous people walked around naked here when first explorers saw them because it was too hot. They painted their bodies rather than wear clothes.
Brasil wood is where the name Brasil comes from. Portuguese took many of the trees to export and destroyed much of the forest in the city and around it. Imported sugarcane was coming from India and
sugar was worth more than gold!! Winners in battles turn losers into slaves and so over 1 million Africans were brought here to work in the sugar cane fields. Everyone was greedy and took advantage of other humans to make their fortunes.
In 1808 Napoleon was ready to attack Portugal.
The king of Portugal escaped with his family and came to Brasil where he set up stakes and once again began to accumulate wealth.
When napoleon got there to his Portugal palace no royals were there so he could not conquer them.
At this time Portugal was huge and Brasil was the best part. There were huge crops and land mass with fields of sugar, tobacco, and cotton. It was
later they found gold and precious stones.
The king of Portugal stayed till 1821. Napoleon was defeated and the Portuguese claimed their king back.
His son prince Peter stayed here and was only 6! He was very adventurous. Peter made himself emperor and got their from freedom from Portugal eventually. He wrote the first constitution and made the first flag. His wife was Austrian and so the yellow was the color for f Austria. Green was for Brasil. From 1884-1889 his son was then emperor and they still had slavery. The second emperor abolished slavery. The farmers were very angry and in 1889 they took the power and the old emperor left in two days to Portugal.
Last dictatorship was 1964-1984 and then a new democracy took place.
Rio was an easy location to build a fortress at the entrance to bay.
Today they have a solid banking and postal system.
In the past it was elegant to speak with a French accent because in 1565 Rio was conquered by the French but that is not the case now.
Sugarloaf used to be the gate to the city and navigators knew this important monolith which is
10 million years old and solid volcanic and granite rock.
Sugarloaf Mountain is a private enterprise owned by one family. The cable car uses Italian technology. It took two years to build the first station inaugurated in 1912. Then the next year the next station was built. Workers stayed in shifts of two months to make faster progress. The first car held 22 passengers. Then the bubble car came along in 1972 and the next car in 2018 held 65 people and took three minutes to ride up to the top and see the spectacular view overlooking the city. The slum areas also are evident in the tight valleys. These are called Favelas. Rio continues to try and modernize these areas and make them safer with water, sewer and electricity.
The Copacabana Palace which for many years was owned by the same family.
Beautiful statues and cultural icons are all along the boardwalk
Ipanema Brach
Wide walking area along the boardwalk lined by condos on the other side and lots of little bars and restaurants
Even this guy has an ingenious business with his coconut drink cart!
This was a salad at our second day lunch buffett!
The second day we also went to the Santa Teresa area which is more bohemic and artistic up high on the hill with little parking but wonderful unique bars and rests that overlook the city
Art expressions are everywhere
This smiling cute girl let me take her photo showing how they made lights out of used wine bottles!!! I bet at night it is magical!
This trolley runs all through the upper area.
These beauties are in the windows beckoning you to come and imbibe at the bar with the wine bottle lights. I liked them!
A view of some of the favelas in the valleys overlooking the city from the top
Pretty tight housing with little privacy for sure.
This is the stadium area where they have Carnival and every float and performing entry passes through here!!!
The fight to gain freedom.
The story of the Selaron Steps and the man that made them
If you could only see all the tiles on the steps and along the sides
Very different and unique
It would take days to read them all and appreciate the beauty and cultures that are represented
I liked this one!!!
“Travel is not reward for working, it’s education for living.” Unknown author
1 comment:
Love the story of the Selaron steps! I bet it was magical in person. Definitely on my bucket list!
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