Rio De Janeiro

RIO DE JANEIRO

Rio De Janeiro, “Cidade Maravilhosa” (Marvellous City) is probably the city most people first think about when you mention Brasil. The City itself was founded by the Portuguese Knight, Estácio de Sá, who named it São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro 20. The Baia Guanabara, in which Rio is situated, was first discovered on 20th January 1502 by the Portuguese explorer Gaspar De Lemos. When Estácio de Sá named his city he was naming it both in honour of De Lemos’ discovery, and also as this was traditionally held to be the date of the death of São Sebastião.

The City itself is best known today for the annual Carnival which takes place each year in February & March. It’s also know for the world famous Christ the Redeemer statue perched high on the Corcovado Mountain overlooking the city, the beautiful Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain), the world Famous Maracanã Football Stadium (The home of the “Beautiful Game”), and the beaches are world famous too. Few people will have not heard of the Copacabana & Ipanema Beaches.

It is a huge, sprawling city which is spread out over the countless coastal hills and mountains in the area. Of course people will be familiar with movies such as Cidade De Deus (City of God), and sadly will have formed the opinion because of this that the former Portuguese Colonial Capital is not a safe place to visit for tourists. This in itself is not really fair. Rio is no more dangerous than any other comparably sized city in the world. If the correct precautions are taken then you can enjoy this breathtaking city without any fear.

RIO DE JANEIRO – THE MARVELLOUS CITY

It didn’t take long for Rio to gain in importance. In the 16th Century the Portuguese Crown had already recognised the importance of the city as a strategic base to unload their ships from Europe & their African colonies. A large part of the trade from the African Colonies was slaves. Later when the mining of precious minerals & gold began to take off in a large way, the cargo was transferred from Minas Gerais all the way to Rio De Janeiro. The Portuguese had many enemies at the time though, especially the French & the Dutch, not to mention Piracy on a huge scale, so the route was soon changed to go via São Paulo to Paraty, as this was considered safer.

The administration of the Brasilian colonies was moved to Rio De Janeiro in 1763 from Salvador in Bahia State, and it remained the Colonial capital until 1808, when the Portuguese Royal Family, fleeing the advances of Napoleon, moved their court from Lisboa to Rio De Janeiro. Rio was now the Capital of the Portuguese empire.

Rio De Janeiro remained the capital of Brazil after independence was declared from Portugal on September 7th 1822 by Dom Pedro I, the first Emperor of Brazil. His son, also Pedro, was the last emperor & was forced to abdicate on November 15th 1889. Rio remained the capital of Brazil until the 1950’s, when the then President, Juscelino Kubitschek, initiated his “50 anos em 5” policy. This policy was meant to push forward 50 years of progress in the country in just 5 years. Kubitschek came up with the idea of founding a new city which would hold all the trappings of the State Government, and so it was that Brasilia was built, and the capital of Brasil moved from Rio and has remained in Brasilia ever since.

GETTING AROUND

The best way to travel around Rio is by Taxi, but there are certain precautions that must always be taken if you wish to be safe and not left out of pocket. The first tip I can offer you is NEVER hire a Taxi directly outside the airport or the train/bus stations. This is not because it isn’t safe, but the taxi drivers tend to charge more if you do that. You can hail a taxi on the street & probably end up paying a cheaper fare. Most drivers’ don’t speak English, but most know a bit of Spanish, so if you know a bit of Spanish & not Portuguese then you ought to be OK.

Another option is to travel by bus, but confusingly enough in Rio there are two different types of coaches you can take. There are the normal ones which are cheaper & then there are the air conditioned ones that tend to be more expensive. One tip we received from a friend of ours called Tiago was to pretend you didn’t have change, for example when paying the driver say that you only have a $R20 note. Often by doing this you can travel for free if they don’t have change, though it means sitting at the front of the bus near the driver, and if they get change before you get off at your stop you have to pay. The only thing to mention about buses is that you have to be sure of the bus you are taking. Some pass through the Favela’s (Shanty Towns) and are more dangerous for tourists, and indeed other Brasilians! There is a Metro system in operation in the City & they have a train station with regular trains to São Paulo & a few other places.

The main airport in Rio De Janeiro is Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport (named after the singer), though there are five airports. Many European airlines travel to Brazil, but flights to Rio are operated mainly by Air France, British Airways and TAP (the national airline of Brasil).

SIGHT SEEING

When I visited Rio De Janeiro I only had a few days to look around, so of course used that time to take in the most impressive and “must see” sights in the City. The first place you cannot miss is Pão de Açúcar. Sugarloaf Mountain, as it is called in English. It is however believed that the name was misheard by the first Portuguese settlers on contact with the indigenous people who called it Pau-nh-acuqua (High Hill) in their native Tupi language. The Cable Car ride from near Praia Vermelha (Red Beach) makes two stops, the first at Morro Da Urca, where concerts & other events are often held. From here it is a short ride to the summit of the Sugarloaf itself. From ground level it doesn’t seem like it could be very big up there, but there is loads of space, and you can also take a walk in part of the Atlantic Forest & see Marmoset monkeys there, as well as other wildlife. It’s quite expensive to take the cable car to the top, and the people that operate it know that, but in a way they have the tourist over a barrel as they know the location is somewhere nobody will want to miss.

Another thing you cannot fail to see is the World Famous “Cristo Redentor” (Christ the Redeemer) Statue which stands as a guardian looking down on the City. You can take a funicular railway to the top, drive in a tiny mini bus in a custom made tour (like we did) or if you are brave, walk. A word of warning on the latter option however, the road runs close to many quite “dodgy” areas & if you are unsure of your route you could easily stray into one of them.

Panoramic views can be had from the summit of the Corcovado across the Baia Guanabara. It is amazing to see that you can actually look down on the Pão de Açúcar as the Corcovado is a much higher elevation than it is. In the other direction you can look around & see the Tijuana National Forest. This is a large section of the Atlantic Rainforest which exists right inside the City limits.

One of the most poignant places you can visit is the Igreja Candelaria (Candelaria Church). A death squad hired by local businessmen & including some off duty policemen carried out a massacre of street children here in the early 1990’s. A landmark is the clock which signifies Rio’s Central railway Station, made famous in the movie “Central do Brasil”.

SAFETY ISSUES

The most important thing to remember in Rio is that you shouldn’t believe the horror stories you hear. Sure, it can be a violent city, but most of the violence takes place far from the areas you will probably travel to as a tourist. Obviously it is quite important not to stand out from the crowd. Whilst in Rio dress as the locals do, don’t dress up with lots of jewels & expensive watches as these will attract the attention of the thieves straight away. Keep all cameras in your bag (plastic carrier bag doesn’t attract much attention) & only take out to use when you have too, though at the major tourist sites like Corcovado etc it is a little bit safer. Never leave anything unattended on the beach as it will probably grow legs.

The chances of getting attacked are small, but in the event you are robbed, do not argue with the robbers, just hand over what they ask for, if you do not do this then they could do anything, and remember that most of these robbers in Brasil carry guns. If you can go around with a guide then it is perhaps better that you do this. I was fine as my wife is Brasilian. Having said that though I never once had a problem there, nor did I feel unsafe, even when I was on the Copacabana Beach.

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