Rio de Janeiro
The ‘Marvelous City’ is one of the many names Rio is known for, and as we came into Guanabara Bay, where Rio is located, we all understood why. Its narrow entrance is guarded by two historic forts, Santa Cruz at the eastern bank and Sao Joao on the western, just underneath the Sugar Loaf. After picking up the pilots at 0700h the MS Endeavour inched its way to our dock way inside the 147-sq. mile bay and we were all excited to begin our exploration of Rio de Janeiro (River of January).
One can only wonder why Rio got it’s name and it all has to do with a Portuguese exploratory voyage that arrived at the bay in January of 1502 and thought they were at the mouth of a river, hence the name River of January.
Rio’s glorious history portraits a multitude of turns and switches. It was a French colony for over 5years and then became the economic center of Brazil when gold was found in the neighboring province of Minas Gerais in the end of the 17th century. A road was built between the gold fields and the port of Rio from where all the precious metal was shipped to Portugal. Rio was then the colony’s leading city and in 1793 became the capital of Brazil. When the Portuguese family fled from Napoleon’s army in 1808, Rio became the capital of the Portuguese Empire. It remained the capital of Brazil until 1960 when Brasilia was built 600 miles inland.
The statue of the Christ Redeemer is a trademark of Rio; the gigantic statue of Christ is made of reinforced concrete and covered with small soapstone triangles and took 5 years to build. Some of us took the tram up to the mountain and had to climb many steps until we reached the statue. The effort was well worth it as we were rewarded with magnificent views of the “Marvelous City”.
Tijuca National Park, created in 1967, is the world’s largest urban forest, and was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1991. The forest there was almost completely devastated at the end of the last century to make way to coffee plantations, and was then replanted with native and introduced species. Some of us drove to the park in World War II jeeps, admiring the flora and fauna along the way. After lunch at a lovely restaurant in the park we took to the trail to have a better look at the wonders of the forest.
Back on board we dressed up for our dinner at a typical churrascaria, a meat extravaganza. Before dinner we were amazed by a Samba show complete with loud drums and beautiful Brazilian women.
The ‘Marvelous City’ is one of the many names Rio is known for, and as we came into Guanabara Bay, where Rio is located, we all understood why. Its narrow entrance is guarded by two historic forts, Santa Cruz at the eastern bank and Sao Joao on the western, just underneath the Sugar Loaf. After picking up the pilots at 0700h the MS Endeavour inched its way to our dock way inside the 147-sq. mile bay and we were all excited to begin our exploration of Rio de Janeiro (River of January).
One can only wonder why Rio got it’s name and it all has to do with a Portuguese exploratory voyage that arrived at the bay in January of 1502 and thought they were at the mouth of a river, hence the name River of January.
Rio’s glorious history portraits a multitude of turns and switches. It was a French colony for over 5years and then became the economic center of Brazil when gold was found in the neighboring province of Minas Gerais in the end of the 17th century. A road was built between the gold fields and the port of Rio from where all the precious metal was shipped to Portugal. Rio was then the colony’s leading city and in 1793 became the capital of Brazil. When the Portuguese family fled from Napoleon’s army in 1808, Rio became the capital of the Portuguese Empire. It remained the capital of Brazil until 1960 when Brasilia was built 600 miles inland.
The statue of the Christ Redeemer is a trademark of Rio; the gigantic statue of Christ is made of reinforced concrete and covered with small soapstone triangles and took 5 years to build. Some of us took the tram up to the mountain and had to climb many steps until we reached the statue. The effort was well worth it as we were rewarded with magnificent views of the “Marvelous City”.
Tijuca National Park, created in 1967, is the world’s largest urban forest, and was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1991. The forest there was almost completely devastated at the end of the last century to make way to coffee plantations, and was then replanted with native and introduced species. Some of us drove to the park in World War II jeeps, admiring the flora and fauna along the way. After lunch at a lovely restaurant in the park we took to the trail to have a better look at the wonders of the forest.
Back on board we dressed up for our dinner at a typical churrascaria, a meat extravaganza. Before dinner we were amazed by a Samba show complete with loud drums and beautiful Brazilian women.
