Date: Jan. 22, 2007
Location: Rio de Janeiro
Next Port: Jamestown, St. Helena, Jan 28
Quick Summary: A great, but foggy and wet, day in Rio de Janeiro. Enhanced by spending it with a beautiful professional guide and expert driver. Ending with a quiet dinner with good new friends.
Report: We had a very nice early morning sail-in to the spectacular Guanabara Bay of Rio de Janeiro. Though it was misty and cloudy, we were able to view the famous beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana as well as Sugar Loaf Mountain. We only had a quick clear view of the towering, iconic “Christ the Redeemer” (Corcovado) statue, as it was shrouded in clouds and fog.
We had signed up with H. Stern, the authorized Brazilian jeweler onboard, for access to a private car with driver and interpreter. We were aware that it would involve a visit to their large facility in Ipanema. The sale of gemstones and jewelry is a big business in Brazil. Stern had a courtesy table onboard and signed up many people for these free tours. We understand that they do the same thing from all the tourist hotels and deliver up to 3,000 people a day to their factory and salesroom.
At 10 a.m., we departed the ship and soon after met Luisa, our guide for the day. She found our driver, Mesquita, and then we were off for our private tour of Rio in a nice black Fiat. We shared with Luisa some of the sights we were interested in, and she quickly mapped out an itinerary for the day.
Our first stop was the very modern Metropolitan Cathedral in the Lapa district. Built in the 1960s, it is in the form of a truncated cone and is capable of holding 20,000 people. The four magnificent, rectangular, stained-glass windows reach from almost the top (which must be 20 stories tall) to the ground. A large carved crucifix and beautiful modern white sculptures dominate the center of the space.
We next visited the Park of November 15 and the Paco Imperial Palace, built in 1743. Though closed on Mondays, this palace was first used as the home of the Viceroys of Brazil and eventually became the home of the Brazilian Empire. Across the plaza is the entrance to the home where Carmen Miranda lived.
We drove through the center of town and saw quite a few interesting buildings from the colonial and republic eras…the Teatro Municipal, the Museum de Bela Artes (Fine Arts), the Arcos (Aqueduct) de Lapa, the old Stock Exchange, and the Library.
We headed past the Domestic Airport, which juts into the bay, to the beach boulevard fronting the Flamengo and Botafogo area beaches, and then passed by the base of Sugar Loaf. Then we drove the full length of the famed Copacabana Beach. This very broad sandy beach is fronted by a pedestrian walkway and bicycle roadway. On the other side, there are lines of hotels, discotheques, restaurants, etc. We stopped by the famed Copacabana Hotel, which has hosted royalty and many movie stars.
Next up was Ipanema Beach…which had a good surf running though not many people were in the water. Again, it was broad and lined with kiosks selling all sort of drinks, offering opportunities to sit and relax with friends. There also seemed to be more stores than hotels in this area.
Next, we visited H. Stern’s factory and show rooms. Housed in a large 8-story building, it was quite an operation. After a welcoming beverage, we took an elevator toan upper floor for an audio-guided tour of the workshops. The 15-min. tour was quite interesting as we saw how the artisans design and fashion this beautiful jewelry. Of course we had the opportunity to sit down at a desk with a saleswoman who wanted to show us various gemstones. We were not interested in the jewelry, but did ask to see the striking dark blue sapphire gemstone watches. We had inquired about them from the Stern rep on the ship so we were not blown away by the prices. We declined to purchase one…and there was not really any high pressure sales pitch. It truly is a classy operation.
We then took Luisa to a nearby outdoor café, Alessandro & Frederico, for sandwiches and Diet Cokes. Mesquita, our driver, declined our invitation.
Then it was off for the ride up to Corcovado (“Christ the Redeemer”) through the Tijuca National Park. We caught the 3:00 tram, an electric cog railway of two cars, for the ride to the top. The fee is 36 Real per person…or about $36 for the two of us at the 2.05 to 1 conversion rate. Unfortunately, it began to rain during our ascension. By the time we reached the top at 710 meters, the rain had mostly let up, but we were totally fog-enshrouded. We couldn’t see down to the city and harbor; however, the “Christ the Redeemer” statute (30 meters high) loomed out above us. Though we were disappointed with the weather and views, we wouldn’t have missed it.
On the way back to the ship, we passed by the large World War II monument and made a stop at the Sāo Bento Monastery. We arrived just in time for a few photos before they turned the lights out on us. The rather small sanctuary is almost completely filled with gold leaf wood carvings. It is spectacular. Luisa told us that the monastery is also the home of the last remaining all-boys school in Rio and that it’s an excellent school.
Speaking of education, Luisa explained that the best high schools in Rio are private, but the best universities in Brazil (and the most competitive to get in to) are the public ones. And, the public ones are free!
When we left Luisa at the port, we felt we had made a lovely new friend in just a few short hours. She is an amazing 24-year old young woman, focused and with a great head start on life. In high school, she was an exchange student for a year in Michigan with a rural farm family and is still very close to her “host sister.” Skype technology (voice of internet telephone) allows them to stay in touch and share their lives with each other.
Luisa, who speaks several languages, has earned a degree in geography, is taking more research courses in this field and is working on another degree in Philosophy. She plans to complete some of these studies at a university in Paris. She is already doing some teaching and hopes to pursue this as a career. We are certain that with her intelligence, drive and engaging personality, she will be a success in whatever she does.
(And because of her interests in geography, Luisa plans to follow our future adventures on the Voyager via this blog. We hope she does!)
This evening we decided to stay on the ship…and there weren’t many of us who did. Several large tour agency groups and a ship’s tour went into Rio for dinners and Samba shows. We had planned to go to Ipanema and walk the beach and find a place for dinner, but the rain discouraged us.
Instead, we had drinks in the Observation Lounge with Ken (our co-Chicago Bears fan) from Toronto and Claude from Paris. Then the four of us enjoyed an Italian dinner together in La Veranda.
We are looking forward to our second day in Rio and hopefully some better weather. We will have an early start because we need to be back on the ship by 12:30 for a 1:00 sailing to Jamestown, St. Helena.
Karen and Larry
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