In December, I spent a few days in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and met up with some Yale graduate and medical students. After my time there, it easily jumped to the most beautiful city I’ve visited and probably ever will. The fact that such a gigantic city can be so seemlessly integrated into nature with the surrounding mountains, rainforest, beaches, and islands make it a really unique and interesting destination. Not only is the city beautiful, but also the people are equally as stunning and friendly.
We stayed outside the tourist areas for a bit in Recreio dos Bandeirantes, but our time was probably most fun closer to the center, where we stayed in Flamenco and Copacabana. In Flamenco, we walked to the Museum of Modern Art and also to El Centro to see the Rio de Janeiro Cathedral and Lapas Arches. While the arches were a bit underwhelming, the cathedral was very unique and impressive. From the outside it looks like a bumpy pyramid, while the inside was lined with 4 long stretches of stained glass windows that almost met at the top. In the center, hung a large wooden figure of a crucified Jesus Christ:
We stayed outside the tourist areas for a bit in Recreio dos Bandeirantes, but our time was probably most fun closer to the center, where we stayed in Flamenco and Copacabana. In Flamenco, we walked to the Museum of Modern Art and also to El Centro to see the Rio de Janeiro Cathedral and Lapas Arches. While the arches were a bit underwhelming, the cathedral was very unique and impressive. From the outside it looks like a bumpy pyramid, while the inside was lined with 4 long stretches of stained glass windows that almost met at the top. In the center, hung a large wooden figure of a crucified Jesus Christ:
We were able to really appreciate the views of the city from Sugarloaf Mountain, where you must take a cable car to get to the top. The views from Corcovado were equally if not more impressive. Corcovado is also the location of Christ the Redeemer, a wonder that is impressive by itself:
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| View from Sugarloaf Mountain |
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| View from Corcovado |
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| View from Corcovado |
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| Christ the Redeemer |
The weather was often unpredictable, but we were able to catch some great weather and spend the time on the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. The most impressive part was sunset on the arpoador or rock formation at the end of Ipanema beach. It was pretty much a perfect view of the sunset, beach, mountains, and islands:
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| Copacabana Beach at Sunset |
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| Ipanema Beach at Sunset on the arpoador |
The food in Brazil is also amazing. Of course there is the Brazilian churrascaria, with the never-ending slabs of meat carved straight from the rack onto your plate. We went to Carretão by the General Osório metro stop, which was a great, affordable choice. They also had a huge salad bar and some cheese empanadas and fried mozarrella to go along with the selection of meats. Seafood is also very delicious – I had a full lobster and great service at the restaurant Shirley, despite its hole-in-the-wall apperance. We also went to a Spanish Tapas place in Leblon, called ¡Venga!, which also had great food.
Before arriving, I heard that there was a significant Asian population (particularly Japanese) in Brazil, but apparently it is most evident in Sao Paulo, where they claim to have the largest population of Japanese outside of Japan. Looks like I’ll have to make another trip to Brazil to check it out. Anyone else want to join me? :P
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