The unadvertised face of Rio

Despite a bit tired, I forced myself to go to the hotel gym for a light workout before a small breakfast at McDonald’s nearby.

We had a free walking tour of the historic centre and Lapa.  Three Spanish-speaking people turned up and the both of us were the only English-speaking ones.  So, our English-speaking guide took us for a private tour.

Rio isn’t the kind of city one thinks of as historic, so the tour today is kinda exploring the unadvertised side of the city.

We started at the beautiful Municipal Theatre and council buildings.  We walked towards the business district.  In a row of tall modern building, one can sometimes find colonial buildings tucked between and adjoining the them.

We were taken to a delightful cake shop called Confeitaria Colombo but we weren’t hungry.  Moving right along, we visited the church that was used by the Portuguese royal family when they shifted here escaping Napoleon.  That’s the Church of Our Lady of the Old Cathedral Carmo.

Nearby was the Imperial Palace Cultural Centre where the royal family lived during their say.  We continued to the commercial area where imported goods were traded.  It is now popular for street restaurants.

Leaving Centro, we moved to Lapa.  We were able to used the Selina hotel and hostel’s rooftop to appreciate the view of the area including the aqueduct.  The aqueduct was used to bring water into the town but now a tram runs along the top of it to Santa Teresa.

We finished at Selaron steps.  This was an unsafe area but a Chilean traveller who settled in the area started tiling the steps.  He kept renewing the tiles with new ones from his collection, keeping it interesting.  People kept streaming in to appreciate his work and the area became arty and touristy.  Nowadays, some very good street art decorate the walls in the area.

I think we often underestimate the power of a single person doing the right thing, or the power of art in transforming communities.

We found a per-kilo restaurant called Tic-Tac between the steps and the hotel.  They were running a promo and their prices were about half of the nearby comparable places (or 20% cheaper than in other towns).  The selection was really good too with lots of vegetables!

After a quick rest, we went to Copacabana for a swim.  It was only BRL5 for a chair (as opposed to BRL8 when we had enquired at a different place yesterday).  It was nice to park ourselves there for a couple of hours and have some drinks.  We had a couple of dips each in the strong surf.  Contrary to what we had been told, the water was actually warm enough.

We couldn’t help ourselves and returned to Tic-Tac for an early dinner.  As a treat after a fairly light and healthy buffet, we shared an acai with banana for dessert and also took away a cake topped with banana for supper.