Sugarloaf Mountain

Today, we had an optional tour to Sugarloaf Mountain. We took a cable car from the Praia Vermelha at ground level to the lower of the two mountains, Urca, in the photo. Then,  from Urca Mountain, we took a second cable car to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain.

The Portuguese named the mountain Sugarloaf as its shape resembled the clay molds that were used to ship sugar.

Two movies follow: of the cable ride up to Urca Mountain and the cable ride up to Sugarloaf Mountain. The movies have no sound as all you would hear are many people talking at once.

Cable Ride Up to Urca Mountain–MOVIE

First of our cable rides.

Cable Ride Up to Sugarloaf Mountain–MOVIE

The second of our cable rides.

Views of Rio

The views of Rio from the top of Sugarloaf Mountain were incredible. Copacabana Beach is in the back middle of the photo.

View of Rio

A view to the right.

I have put my photos of our tour on a slideshow. Go to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/rio–sugarloaf–mountain/

(Slide Shows, South America, Brazil, “Rio: Sugarloaf Mountain”).

Two movies follow: one on the cable car down from Sugarloaf Mountain and one down from Urca Mountain.

I think this is a must tour of Rio: really great views and exciting cable car rides.

Cable Ride Down to Urca Mountain–MOVIE

The third of our cable car rides.

Cable Ride Down from Urca Mountain–MOVIE

The last of our cable car rides.

Rock Climbers

There was a huge rock hill, Babilona Hill, behind the cable car station at Praia Vermelha. People were climbing up the rock. Another sport in Rio.

Rock Climbers

The rock climbers.

Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin greeted us when we got down from the mountains.

Charlie Chaplin

He was very cute.

Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin.

Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin.

Charlie Chaplin

The kiss was being blown to me as I donated some money to his welfare.

A movie of him performing follows.

Charlie Chaplin–MOVIE

Charlie Chaplin putting on a performance.

The Sambodromo

After our Sugarloaf Mountain tour, we had a city tour. We could take photos of the Sambodromo from the bus. It is where the annual parade of the Samba Schools is held during Rio’s Carnival. It is 1/2 mile long and is called Parading Avenue.

Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rio. It is based on the Mayan architecture of their pyramids and was built between 1964 and 1979. It has 5,000 seats and a standing room of 20,000.

Teatro Municipal

We are in Cinelandia Square where I was twice before. This is the Teatro Municipal which opened in 1909.

Teatro Municipal

This time I had a chance to go inside it. You can take a tour of the Teatro Municipal. Some of my tour mates stayed to take the tour.

Cinelandia Square

These officers were at the square. Today was protest day and they were here as a precaution in case the protesters came there. I think they were all at Copacabana Beach. The protest was against corruption in the government and the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff. (Interesting that the presidents of all three of the South America countries that I visited on this trip all have women presidents.)

I have put my photos of our City Tour on a slide show. Go to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/rio–city–tour/

(Slide Shows, South America, Brazil, “Rio: City Tour”).

Ipanema Hippie Fair

We had an option of being let off our bus at the Feira Hippie de Ipanema (the Hippie Fair of Ipanema).  The fair was begun by a group of hippies in 1968 and has been held since on every Sunday. The items for sale vary from one–of–a–kind handicrafts to manufactured items and there are over 700 stalls.

Many dolls for sale.

Ipanema Hippie Fair

Many bikinis are sold here.

Ipanema Hippie Fair

Odd items such as these handbags.

Ipanema Hippie Fair

And a lot of artwork.

I have put my photos of the Ipanema Hippie Fair on a slideshow. Go to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/rio–ipanema–hippie–fair/

(Slide Shows, South America, Brazil, “Ipanema Hippie Fair”).

I had lunch across the street from the fair. It took about 45 minutes to be served a simple ham and cheese sandwich. A warning about food service in Ipanema. This was the second time for a very long wait. Maybe it is just the way things are done in Ipanema.

I took a taxi back to our hotel with two tour mates. We flagged it down on the street. I had warnings about taking taxis this way, rather than from a hotel, before I came to Rio. One person told me the taxi drivers will sometimes kidnap their passengers, rob them, and leave them in the forest. A women who lives in Rio who I met on a tour told me it is very dangerous to take taxis that are just driving around. I told this to other tour mates who were going to take a taxi from a place in Rio. They did take one they flagged down and they did come back to the hotel without being kidnapped. So I figured we would have luck taking one also. The only problem we had that it took a long time to get back to our hotel as many streets were blocked off because of the protests. But I think you have to watch out which taxis you get into––take the yellow ones.

Botanical Garden

I took another optional tour today to the Jardim Botanico (Rio’s Botanical Garden) and to the Tijuca National Park. This was my least favorite tour. I have been to so many botanical gardens that this one didn’t seem unusual enough to be of great interest. Also, the seasons are the opposite of ours in the U.S., so now it was fall in Rio and that is not a great time for flowering plants. Moreover, I think I was too tired from earlier in the day activities to want to do more walking. The gardens do get a very good review on internet sites. Photo of the cactus garden.

Vista Chinesa

After the Botanical Garden, we drove up to the Vista Chinesa in the Tijuca National Park. The forest drive wasn’t that interesting, and as we were traveling a large jeep of the kind that I took on my favela tour which is hard to take photos from, I couldn’t take many photos of the places of interest.

Photo of the gazebo at Vista Chinesa which was erected in 1903 to honor Rio’s Chinese immigrants.

I have put my photos of the Botanical Garden and the views from Vista Chinesa on a slideshow. Go to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/rio–botanic–gardentijuca–natl–park/

(Slide Shows, South America, Brazil, “Botanical Garden and Tijuca National Park”).

A movie of the view from Vista Chinesa follows. When we got back to the hotel, the protests were already over.

View from Vista Chinesa–MOVIE

The view of Rio from Vista Chinesa.