DAY 2, April 10, 2012
Christ the Redeemer Statue:
Rio's weather is
cloudy and rainy and sightseeing depends on luck..Tourists turn back
without a glimpse of the famous Christ statue or the lovely Sugar Loaf mountain even after a week's stay. We were visiting in the
official rainy period after summer, but were incredibly lucky.
Located
right in the middle of Rio, is a huge mountain range, which includes
the Corcovado Mountain in the middle of Tijuca forest national park.
On top of the 2300 foot mountain of Corcovado, Christ stands, and can
be seen from nearly everywhere in Rio De Janeiro, day and night, as
the statue is lit at night.
The day dawned
bright. We had our breakfast at the hotel... everything fresh and delish.
Fruits are totally awesome. This fruit Kaki looks like tomato and has a great taste.
We took bus 584 from our hotel to Cosme Velho station
Bought the ticket
for the cogwheel train to Corcovado......
Waited 20 minutes for
the cogtrain as train plies only on the hour and half past the hour.
Tickets cost R$45.
We sat on the right hand side of the train for the
best views of the Tijuca forest through which the train rides; while
this might not seem a good idea as we were facing backwards, we had
great views Chugging thru Tijuca forest
Reached the
monument and quickly went up the elevator...
Christ the
Redeemer greeted us with open arms...
Christo's face was
covered by a cloud when we saw the first glimpse from the elevator
but thankfully the clouds lifted at once.
Here we are On top
of Corcovado: this is the 20 foot pedestal of CHRISTO REDENTOR
(Christ the Redeemer).
The photographer
should lie down for a photo covering the whole statue
Kind and
benevolent looking CHRISTO towers 100 ft tall, wingspan 90 feet.
The statue
was built between 1926 and 1931, has a height of 38 meters and a
weight of 1145 tonnes.
It was originally
intended to mark the 100th anniversary of Brazilian independence in
1922,
but due to
lack of money it was inaugurated only ten years later, on the day of
Our Lady of Aparecida, 12 Oct 1931.
The statue is made
of 700 tons of reinforced concrete covered with pale green mosaic
tiles.
Christo's pedestal
has a chapel which can hold 150 people,.. entrance from the back
Capela de Nossa
Senora da Aparecida... capela= chapel, de/da=of, nossa =our
senora=lady,
Aparecida=apparition
This is the view from the top of the chapel
In October 2006,
on the statue's 75th anniversary, Archbishop of Rio consecrated this
chapel (named after the patron saint of Brazil—Nossa Senhora
Aparecida, or "Our Lady of the Apparition,") under the
statue.
They allow
Catholics to hold baptisms and weddings here... . pics allowed only
outside the chapel
At the peak, there are magnificent views of the many mountain ranges, all the beaches, including Ipanema, Copacabana, and Flemingo beaches, Maracana, Cathedral, Botafogo bay, Sugar Loaf. awesome view throughout...jockey club below
It was a clear day
with blue skies and white clouds--so we had perfect views. ..This
signboard labels what we are viewing...
If the statue is
behind you,
on your left side
you would see the soccer stadium Maracana,
straight ahead
would be the island of Niteroi with the snaky bridge and Sugar Loaf
Mountain,
on your right side
would be the lovely beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema way out there
(as well as the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas).
Here are solar
panels.The statue is beautifully lit up with floodlights at the foot
of Cristo Redentor
Helicopters
circled around. 20 min heli ride costs 500 reals (pronounced hay-ice)
per person if there are 4 persons on the ride
.PAO DE ACUCAR
(ACUCAR =sugar; PAO= loaf) behind--from one landmark, we can see the
other....
After an hour at
Christo, we went down the steps instead of the elevator, enjoyed nice
views from other angles.
Reached
train station, thankfully had the tickets to show them to take the
return journey to Cosme Velho station below
Took the elevator
down from here and then took the stairs instead of the lift...
souvenir shop here...
Parque Lage:
We took bus no 584
and got down at 414, rua jardim botanico. Parque Lage is located not
far from Jardim Botânico on R. Jardim Botânico 414 .
Had our packed
lunch at Parque Lage: broccoli spice rice.
We had bought
provisions at Supermercado Zona Sul just opp our hotel, cooked
food and packed them up for the day
Parque Lage is a
big park, once a private mansion, where now a school of fine arts
works.
It is located on
the northern side of Lagoa.
It was a private
house of a rich Portuguese nobleman in 1600s but is now open to the
public
It is free to the
public and has a beautiful 400-yr old building, that resembles an old
Roman villa.
Imagine living in
these surroundings
This is a natural
cave with lovely aquariums inside
The park is the beginning of a hiking trail to Corcovado, through sub-tropical rain forest.
In the background
is the old viewing tower
Jaca fruits
hanging directly from the trunk... never got tired of spotting these...
Tree branches
forming arches/swings..
We started on a
trek, thinking we'll do the easiest of the three treks---we wanted go
to the pool and water fall where locals picnic
Here we are not
knowing our mistake enjoying the sights....nice natural swing
Jaca fruits ripen
and fall to the ground. Quite tempted to take it home and try the
ripe fruit... wonder why natives don't come in and share this
nature's bounty?
After climbing
on and on for almost 2000 ft... here's the sight of buildings
heard the sound of water, took a very treacherous slope and reached this falls after a very strenuous trek. Cool spring water
after the hard trek
On the way back,
we saw the sign where we had taken the wrong turn....
The sign points
both ways, we went up the Corcovado to the Christo trail instead of
following the 2 arrows to the falls
This is the trail
we should have taken... we went on the bigger trail... can't blame us for ignoring this trail...
The internet gave
this info (we can definitely understand this better after our
trek).....
The trek is
fairly demanding and steep, and takes about 1h30/2h to complete, but
yet very popular among locals -it's normal to see whole families
doing it, as well as foreigners. Look for signs
that say "Trilha" to get to the start of the trail, just
behind the ruins of an old house.
From there you
have two paths: going straight ahead leads to a waterfall that is
usually full of families on the weekends (it's a good spot to stop on
your way back if you go back the same way),
and left leads
straight to the main path of the trek.
Along the way
there are 3 waterfalls (just one you can actually bath in, though)
and a small path where you have to hang on to a chain to pass through
some rocks.Until this point
you will be going up, but always surrounded by forest.The first views of
the city will start after the chain (about 1h/1h30 in)...
Anyway we were
happy we had had a very scenic trek albeit very strenuous.
From Parque Lage,
took Bus 511 to Pao de Acucar: The Sugar Loaf mountains (one taller,
the other shorter), Brazil's top landmark.
This is a circular
bus and I asked son to enquire from the driver where to get down for
Pao de acucar. Son edited the question and asked the driver where to
get down for Urca (which is the locality of the mountain) and told me
we are to get down here. I had not heard the exchange happening in
the front of the bus and so got down. It was just a lovely wharf but
the mountain was far away. We began to trudge on and asked a local
lady for directions. We had basic Portuguese vocabulary but her
directions were complicated. Also I was worried she was directing us
to the trekking path for the mountain, We wanted to take the gondola
up. The kind lady told us to follow her and walked us all the way to
the gondola station.
It had been a very
long walk and with our previous trek and my stupid shoes, my feet
were killing me.
We reached the
destination, thanked our kind helper profusely and got the tickets.
Pao de Acucar: The Sugar Loaf mountains
From its location
at the entrance to the Guanabara Bay the Sugar Loaf Mountain offers 360 degree
views of Rio. It is a great place to watch the sunset.
On the gondola to Pao de acucar...
It has a two-stage aerial tramway to the top. 53R$ per person 8am—7.30 pm to buy tickets. Closes 8.30pm. The first cable car takes passengers to Morro da Urca-- Urca Hill which is 215 meters high and from where one can have a beautiful view from the Guanabara Bay and its islands, the Rio-Niterói bridge and Corcovado hill.
Got down at the first stop...On Morro da Urca-- Urca Hill ...enjoyed the views
(Morro da Urca is the first hump leading to Sugar loaf and where the cable car makes its first stop and we took this pic)
The name means
Hill of Urca, Urca being the name of the neighborhood in which
Sugar loaf is located
We can clearly see
why the hill is named so--brown sugar was put in similar looking
moulds before being shipped to Europe in olden days, So they
named this hill PAO DE ACUCAR--SUGAR LOAF
From this stage, a
second cable car takes us to the top with 395 meters to find a
splendid view from Copacabana beach, the Santa Cruz fortress and some
beaches of Niterói.
Got onto the
gondola once again
We spent the whole
evening till 7.30 mesmerised by the beauty ...as the sun set over he beautiful city, first lights flickered on followed by the whole city becoming lit up...
Watched planes landing in the island airport and barges floating in the ocean...
It was MAGIC!
The white light is
from Cristo Redentor on Corcovado hill... He appeared to be hanging from Heavens...
Clouds were
passing right through us making us shiver.
We decided to go
back after having our fill, now the problem was to find the bus stop.
When we had walked here we had not noticed any bus stop nearby... the
google map had been a total failure in this respect when we did our
research, it had shown some other place.
We picked a random
couple and ran behind them. They walked quite a bit and crossed the
road. We were having our doubts by now but persisted. Thankfully now
the bus stop came in view. We heaved a sigh of relief.
Caught the bus and
we went back to the hotel without any other issues.
Google map had
been very helpful to know where to alight for our hotel on our way in
from the airport... we got ready as soon as the bus started swinging
into the beach road and got down at the first stop when it swung in.
Same way we knew the bus stops for the circular buses, to the 2 top
sights.
We were very happy
we had had such lovely weather and covered both the top sights of Rio
on our 1st full day in the country along with the lovely Parque Lage all on our own using public transport!
(I'll add videos after the report is over in the relevant places)
End of day 2 in
lovely Rio....
Next post covers the magnificent churches in Rio... the hidden gems...
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2017/01/brazil-trip-report-day-3-rio-de-janeiro.html
Next post covers the magnificent churches in Rio... the hidden gems...
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2017/01/brazil-trip-report-day-3-rio-de-janeiro.html
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