Thursday – September 22, 2016
The sky continued to clear giving us a pleasant spring morning in Rio de Janeiro. It was a perfect day to visit the enormous statue of Christ the Redeemer located on top of Corcovado Mountain.
Access to the summit is via a delightful cog railway ride through the Parque Nacional da Tijuca. The forest is one of the world’s largest urban tropical rainforests.
It took 20 minutes to climb to the 2,300 foot granite peak of Corcovado, which means “hunchback” in Portuguese, for magnificent views of the city of Rio.
As several parakites soared above the statue, Linda and I marveled at the impressive concrete Cristo Redentor along with hundreds of other tourists.
Finished in 1931, the statue stands 98 feet tall on top of a 26 ft. pedestal. It was created by French sculptor, Paul Landowski and built by Brazilian engineer, Heitor da Silva Costa. Many tourists tired to take selfies with the statue!
We ate lunch on the terrace under brilliant sunshine with a fabulous view of the city.
After a while, we rode the electric Corcovado railway back down the mountain through the tropical rainforest.
We took a taxi to the center of the city to see Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Candelaria.
Construction of the Baroque-style Candelaria Church began in 1775. In 1877 it was the tallest building in Rio, but today the church is surrounded by tall modern office buildings which comprise the financial district, Centro.
We walked toward the area which was the ‘2016 Olympic Village’ last month, then we explored the outdoor exhibits of the Naval and Oceanographic Museum.
We discovered the former bank building, the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil which is now a museum and cultural center.
We enjoyed a free exhibit, ‘The Triumph of Color,’ which included several paintings on loan from the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. What fun to see Van Gogh, Matisse, and Gauguin in Rio de Janeiro!
We walked through the financial Centro district with narrow streets and tall buildings which reminded me of the Wall Street neighborhood in lower Manhattan.
We passed the famous Confeitaria Colombo. There were two long lines of people waiting to get in. The Belle Epoque pastry shop was opened in 1894 and is the oldest restaurant in Rio still located in its original building.
