Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Shane and Sarah's Adventures
Well here we are on the world?s most famous beach, Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro. An amazing beach situated in an amazing city. Rio along with Cape Town have to be the two most stunningly located cities we have visited. Copacabana is a beach some 4,5kms long which winds it way around a point and becomes the equally stunning Ipanema beach. We have rented an apartment in Copacabana for the week, about three blocks back from the beach. There are lots of warnings from travellers and guide books about the safety in Copacabana though we have exeperienced no problems and have been walking around at night time without any concerns. The waterfront areas are, as usual, where the more wealthy reside and they all seem to come out on a Sunday when the beachfront roads are closed off to traffic. We can?t believe how healthy everyone appears from young to old. Everyone seems to be an expert with a soccer ball and beach volleyball. Rio itself seems like one of those already familiar cities. Perhaps that is due to imprinted images of the Christ statue gazing over the city and prior knowledge of the famous beaches. It feels a little like a New York crossed with Paris. It certainly beats Salvador which neither of us were all that impressed with. Salavador has many beautiful colonial buildings but it is cursed with the usual blights of tourism (people hassling with restaurnat menus, gift shops etc etc) and it feels a little like a police state where you can only wander within certain areas which have a police presence. We?ve loved our stay here but it is time to move on so we are off tomorrow to Porto Alegre, a 2 hour flight down the coast from Rio. Will stop there for a night or two before crosing the border into Uruguay. Until next time Shane and Sarah
- comments