Our home in Brazil for the first three days of our South American trip was the very beautiful, five-star Grand Hyatt Rio de Janeiro Hotel on Avenue Lucio Costa. The property is just steps away from Brazil’s famous Barra Beach which happens to be the longest beach in the city, stretching for more than 10 miles. The area is also the youngest neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro with many luxury condominiums and large office complexes. The Grand Hyatt fits right into its surroundings. Their stylish 436 rooms and suites are all non-smoking with large, private balconies overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the nearby Marapendi Lagoon. Turning in award points for our accommodations was easy and I secured the boys a 452 square-foot room with two double beds, a work desk and a wide bathroom with separate bathtub and shower facilities. I was right next door in a 753 square-foot ocean-front suite with a walk-in closet. We enjoyed 48” LCD TVs with cable channels, blackout curtains with remote controls and bath amenities from Brazilian brand Granado, along with complimentary Wi-fi, slippers, bathrobes and in-room safes large enough to store laptop computers. To add to our enjoyment, we were granted access to the Grand Club with exclusive benefits and services. Club guests were then entitled to a full buffet breakfast in the hotel’s Tano Restaurant served each day from 7:00 AM until 10:30 in the morning and evening cocktails with appetizers were offered from 5:30 in the afternoon until 7:00 PM.
After settling in on that Sunday morning, we decided to visit one of the city’s most famous attractions, Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer), the colossal statue erected at the summit of Mount Corcovado which towers over the city at 2,310 feet above sea level. It was the perfect spot. The massive figure took five years to construct and stands 98 feet tall, its horizontally outstretched arms spanning 92 feet - nearly the height of the statue itself! The sculpture is made of reinforced concrete and clad in a mosaic of thousands of triangular soapstone tiles. It sits on a square stone pedestal base about 26 feet high, which itself is situated on a deck atop the mountain’s summit. The foundation stone of the base was ceremonially laid on April 4, 1922, commemorating the centennial date of Brazil’s independence from Portugal. That same year a competition was held to find a designer, and the Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa was selected. Brazilian artist Carlos Oswald has been credited with the idea for the figure’s standing pose with arms spread wide and the French sculptor Paul Landowski has been credited as the primary designer of the figure’s head and hands. It is colossal in scope and a beautiful sculpture, seemingly protecting and keeping watch over the city’s inhabitants far below.
The overnight plane ride and the journey to Corcovado took their toll and so we decided to dine in the hotel on our first night in town. After drinks in the lobby bar, we had dinner in the Cantô Gastrô Restaurant. This locale opens towards the swimming pool and hotel gardens and the menu reflects the casual and relaxed ambience associated with a true Carioca neighborhood experience. Cantô Gastrô is primarily a seafood restaurant, although they also offer steaks, chops and a number of pasta dishes. Our entrées were plated for sharing, very tasty and beautifully presented. The wait staff were friendly and attentive and the evening’s live music enhanced our dining experience and capped off a great first day.
With a good night’s rest behind us, we headed out on our second morning to check out Copacabana, undoubtedly one of the most famous beaches in the world. We found this striking, two and a half mile stretch of sand to be a whirlwind of movement with beach vendors strolling up and down selling their goods, bronzed bodies soaking up the sun and tourists drinking coconuts amid countless games of football and volleyball. Copacabana Beach came to life in the 1970s when a large landfill increased the beach’s area. While this was done for sewer extension and to prevent the ocean from reaching beachfront buildings during storms, it actually created the aesthetics that Copacabana is known for today. As part of the reconstruction, the beachfront boulevard was redesigned by Roberto Burle Marx, the world famous Brazilian landscape architect. One of the most historical and symbolic monuments of Copacabana Beach is Copacabana Palace, an extravagant and magnificent building that has hosted icons such as Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana. Built as a casino before gambling was outlawed in Brazil in 1923, it became one of Rio’s most luxurious hotels. It was thrust into stardom in 1933 when it became the “location” for the movie Flying Down to Rio, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Interestingly enough, the movie was actually filmed in the US and not in Brazil.
That afternoon we visited the Metropolitan Cathedral. Built between 1963 and 1979, it’s dedicated to Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of Rio de Janeiro. With architecture inspired by the Mayan pyramids of Mexico, the cathedral’s conical shape is believed to give it greater closeness to God. The church actually looks somewhat like a modern-day office building, soaring some 246 feet into the sky. And it’s huge inside as well, with seats for 5,000 and an unbelievable standing-room only capacity of 20,000 people. The main door is composed of 48 bronze plaques with bas-reliefs that cover topics related to Christian faith. The cathedral’s breathtaking beauty lies in its interior. Four vivid rectangular-shaped stained glass windows rise to a height of 210 ft from floor to ceiling. This forces the projected sunlight to take on the different, stunning colors of the glass which bathes the church in beautiful natural light and gives it a mystical atmosphere. The basement of this Roman Catholic Church houses a Sacred Art Museum, a collection of sculptures, murals, artwork and fonts which were used to baptize the Princes of the Portuguese Royal Family. This is one of the top places to visit in Rio and was well worth our time.
The Grand Hyatt concierge recommended Restaurant Gero for dinner and we were not disappointed. Owned by the Italian Fasano chain, this award-winning and very well appointed restaurant is frequently cited as the best Italian dining in Rio, although quality like this comes at a cost. The menu contained wonderful pastas and risottos, as well as excellent fish and meat dishes. It was one of my best Italian meals in then-recent memory. The excellent service was complimented by its enjoyable ambiance and very impressive wine list with any number of South American vintages. Gero is part of the Fasano group, a luxury services group from São Paulo. It is one of a chain of very good (and expensive) Italian restaurants. Their original home is São Paulo but since the group started their activities in Rio, they’ve opened several branches in the city, meaning locals and visitors alike have come to appreciate their offerings.The Gero Restaurant in Barra da Tijuca was no different and our dinner there was one of the highlights of our time in Rio.
On Tuesday morning we went up Sugarloaf Mountain, a peak that rises nearly 1,300 feet high, with a two-stage, cable car ascent to the summit. The initial ride took us from the base station in the Red Beach area to the top of Urca Hill at a height of nearly 722 feet above sea level. The half-mile ride gave us our first aerial view of Copacabana and the Cristo Redentor statue from afar. There are some gift shops, restaurants and a small theatre with informative videos available at this half-way point. But most of us were having fun just watching the antics of the long-tailed common marmosets that live in the nearby running trails beneath Sugarloaf. The second cable car took us from Urca to the top of Sugarloaf with an amazing 360-degree view of the region. We followed the trail around the top of the hill and understood why more than a million people visit the mountaintop each year as we enjoyed some jaw-dropping view of the surrounding beaches, mountains, forests and the city spread out beneath us.
Back down in the city, we took a look at the famous Escadaria Selarón, known in English as the Selarón Steps. Jorge Selarón, a painter and sculptor originally from Chile, arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1983. He began renovating the dilapidated steps outside of his home on a whim but it quickly became an obsession and he would sell his paintings in order to fund the mosaic work. The steps themselves are covered in over 2,000 tiles collected from over 60 countries around the world. Since they were completed in the early 2000s, the steps have garnered international attention from publications such as National Geographic and Time, and have become a major tourist attraction. For years, Selarón could often be found hanging around the steps in his trademark red clothes and hats, treating visitors to colorful anecdotes and unfazed by his worldwide popularity. Tragically, he was found dead on his namesake steps under mysterious circumstances in 2013 at the age of 65, but his colorful and beloved legacy remains.
We finished our final afternoon with a stroll down Ipanema Beach, considered one of the city’s crown jewels. Popularized by the song "The Girl from Ipanema," this world-famous beach gave us a sense of life in Rio in this expensive section of the city with its chic boutiques and eateries and luxurious apartment buildings. Sadly, we said goodbye to this lovely city the next day with an abundance of wonderful family memories. Our next stop was Santiago, Chile and I’ll tell you all about our visit there in a future post.
Until next time…safe travels.
Fascinating insight into some of the joys of visiting Brazil!