Fri Jan 24, 2025
Hi Again All! We made it back home safely and even caught an earlier flight from Miami so we got home Sat around 10 AM. So thanks for all the prayers!
Our final day in Rio was a whirlwind. We did a Regent tour from 8 AM to 2 PM starting off visiting the Christ the Redeemer statue. We took the train/funicular up thru the rain forest to the statue. It was pretty crowded and while warm there was a nice breeze at the top. That statue is really huge when you stand right beneath it! There’s also a cute little chapel at the base of the statue.
We then toured thru the downtown as well as seeing the two most iconic beaches in Rio, Copacabana and Ipanema. They both had famous songs written about them. Barry Manilow wrote “Copacabana” and a man named Tom Jobim wrote “The Girl from Ipanema”. They actually had a statue of him walking on Ipanema Beach. (Pic included!).
We then got back to the port and hopped in the car with our private guide Alan. We found him thru Tours By Locals and he was really knowledgeable. He first took us to the Sao Bento Monastery which had a beautiful church with most of the inside painted in gold leaf. On the opposite extreme he drove by a “Favela” which is like a slum or very impoverished part of town. So sad.
We then went to the Selaron Steps which were done by a man named Jorge Selaron. In 1990, Selarón began renovating dilapidated steps that ran along the front of his house. He manually set over 2,000 tiles along the 215 steps with the flag of Brazil in tile at the top. Many of the tiles on the steps were donated by people around the world depicting their home city. That place was packed with people!
We then went to two different viewpoints around the city. One was called Ruins Park which is an old house of Rio socialite that died alone and her house went into ruin but the city turned it into a park/viewpoint where they occasionally have concerts.
The other viewpoint was called Donna Marta and had the most amazing views of Sugar Loaf Mountain as well as Christ the Redeemer. The nice thing was hardly any tourists were there so Alan found a nice off the beaten path location!
We then got back to the ship and showered, had dinner and took off for the airport. It was a fast and furious day in Rio but worth every second! I’ll do a final trip update later.
The Wandering Italian 