#4 Preolympic and Touristic Rio de Janeiro

On 30th of July in the evening I finally arrived at main destination of my trip - to olympic Rio de Janeiro. Plan was to visit all tourist attractions before opening ceremony (before 5th of August). And I can say that I was successful - Copacabana beach, Ipanema beach, Christ the redeemer, Sugarloaf mountain, Lapa arcs, Lagoa lake, Selaron staircases, Cidade de Samba, Rio downtown and renewed Olympic boulevard in Rio port.
But first from beginning - I arrive to Rio renewed International Airport (GIG) and then I had to drive 40km to my apartment in Barra region. Yeah, Rio is so big, that 30-40km are normal distances and with public transport it takes you more than one hour to travel that way, it depends what kind of transport you use. Because of Olympic games situation apparently improved - they built new metro line (Linha 4), all over the city, there is BRT (Bus Rapid Transport), which has its own road, no cars there. At port they built also VLT - tram system.

New metro station at line 4

Rio is also known for security problems with pickpockets and robbing, but now here is a lot of police on every main road, place, attraction, station or stadium, so you feel mostly safe, but still they tell you somewhere to leave your phone in pocket. Personally I did not have any problems so far, so I was enjoying the city as much as possible.

Amazing view from Sugarloaf

If you think about Rio - first two things that comes to your mind are Copacabana and Christ the Redeemer. Christ you can imagine from pictures, how it should be up there - big statue, amazing view of Rio and a lot of people there - and so it is, but Copacabana is something different. You expect a lot of sand and people, but that there are so many beachvolley courts, beachfootball courts or footvolley courts, there is no doubt, why Brazil is so good in football and in volleyball. From the Atlantic avenue to the Atlantic ocean, half of the sand area is for sport and half for pleasure. And Brazilians know how to enjoy the time there.

Christ the Redeemer

View from Christ (710m above sea) to Maracana stadium

Pleasure side of Copacabana

Sport side of Copacabana

But for me Ipanema beach and view from Sugarloaf are better. Ipanema is less crowded and on Sugarloaf you are just 396m directly above the sea, so you can have a good view to the city, beaches and also sea. 

Gondola to Sugarloaf

Other must see things are Selaron staircase, made from tiles - very very artistic and it is an entrance to favela. Other things are also Lapa arcs, new Olympic boulevard and walk at Lagoa lake. 

Seleron staircases

Lapa arcs

Art at Olympic boulevard

New olympic museum at Olympic boulevard

Lagoa lake

Rio also offers some hiking options, botanic garden and a lot of other beautiful but not as known and as crowded beaches (Barra, Sao Condrado). And also magnificent amazing football stadium Maracana - hosting 4 Rio de Janeiro football teams, and olympic ceremonies. 

Yes, I intentionaly wrote this blog just before Olympic opening ceremony - now my dreams will become reality - Olympic games will start and I am here, in Rio Olympic city, working as a volunteer and wondering from stadium to stadium because I simply love sports. Next stories will sure be olympic. 

Olympic games are here, best regards from Rio,
Simon

#3 One of seven world wonders

Second stop on my trip was Foz do Iguacu, the city near the place, where rivers Parana and Rio Iguacu split Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. The city itself is nothing special, but in close distance there are some amazing stuff.
I spend there 4 beautiful days - three of them, I was visiting world wonders - so there will be more photos than text, because photos can tell much more.

Day 1 - Parque das Aves (Bird park) and Brazilian side of falls

Bird park has the largest collection of birds in whole Latin America - you can see almost all tropic birds including my favourite Flamingos!

Entrance to Birdpark

Flamingos

You can see many different species there

Tucan

After amazing birdpark, you just cross the road and you are at entrance to the one of the 7 world wonders - Iguassu falls - amazing views, beautiful nature - pictures can tell more than words.... 

At entrance

First glimpse at falls

panoramic view

near devils throat,rainbows

Day 2 - Argentinian side of falls

Next day was chosen to visit Argentina and argentinian side of falls. They are not so modern with credit cards as in Brazil, so you have to change the money to argentinian pesos, but still you can see these natural wonder from totally different perspective - pictures.

Waterdrops from the biggest of all falls - Garganta del Diablo

Day 3 - Itaipu lake and powerplant

This is the biggest water powerplant on the world. Building it - they spent iron for 380 Eiffel towers, concrete for 174 Maracana stadiums and waterflow is 40times bigger than on Iguassu falls. It gives electric energy for 80% of Paraguay and 15% of Brazil. The whole thing is on border between those two countries and it is like another country - own university, managers from both countries. Itaipu binacional also got UNESCO award for the project of saving atlantic forest. 

The whole world in Foz do Igaussu rotates around those natural wonders, it is totally worth of visiting, there are some breathtaking views, at some points you can stand there and watch that for whole day, three days are enough to see everything from all possible angles. If you are travelling to Brazil, Argentina or Paraguay - this is on MUST SEE list. 

Next blog coming soon from olympic Rio!

Simon