20080106 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Early January 6th we sailed into Rio de Janeiro. I got up early to see the city as we came in. It was beautiful but there were not many lights. Sailing in through islands is a beautiful way to meet the city. I love these south american cities - there is great exuberance but also great poverty. That day we took a tour of the city and rode the cable car up to the top of Sugarloaf. From Sugarloaf you get amazing views of the city and the surrounding area. The tour also took us to the Cathedral of Saint Sebastion. The Cathedral is a beautiful modern structure with amazing stained glass windows (see photos at the end). Unfortunately, that evening I was too tired to stay up late to see us leave. I forgot that city lights are better at night. I was thinking that since there were not many lights in the morning there would not be many lights at night. I understand I was wrong. We will have to visit again. Once again I had close to 500 photos to edit. I hope these are not too many.




As we were sailing in we could see Christ the Redeemer in the distance. It was sort of foggy. Later in the day it only occasionally peeked out as it was a cloudy rainy day there.



Botafogo Bay is a small bay behind Sugarloaf with many small boats.



Guanabara Bay is Rio’s large bay.



Busses waiting for us (and other cruise ships) to arrive. There were a lot of passengers on the three cruise ships that docked that day.







City of Rio. It's beautiful city in a lovely setting





These are some of the many Favelas (Shantytowns/Slums). Some have great views on the hills overlooking the beach areas, in fact, some of the best views of the city are from the Favelas. For many years they did not have any services now the city is trying to bring them in to the tax base by offering services beginning with water and electricity. Many are run by Drug lords and most middle class Brazilians avoid them. Some foreigners, however find them exciting. No services includes no roads just winding stairs and paths.


Sugarloaf from several vantage points




The cable cars on the way up to the top of Sugarloaf.


The views from Sugarloaf


Ipenema Beach from Sugarloaf


Copacaban Beach I think, (after all I am directionally challenged).


I love these dolls especially their curly metal hair.

Following are photos of the Cathedral. It is an awesome structure.

This the exterior view of the Cathedral. Certainly different.





These are the four amazing stained glass windows.


This is the top of the stained glass. It is open to allow the hot air to escape and the building to remain cool.




These are pictures of other areas of the Cathedral to give you some idea of the scale of the building and some of the other design elements.