Rio De Janeiro

Yesterday  we flew from Manaus to  Sao Paolo  and then on to Rio.  We got in late last night. Our hotel is directly  on the beachfront  at Copacabana.  

We had a full day tour that included  a trip to the statue of Christ the Redeemer and some other sites like the cathedral and  football  stadium in the morning,  then lunch at a churrescaria, and ending with a trip up sugar loaf in the  afternoon. 

I don't think  I've ever been  to  a city  with such amazing  views. We took the tram up to the top of Corcovado  and then climbed  the steps to the pedestal of the Cristos statue.

We also visited the Cathedral, which was built in 1960 and is one of those awful 60s modernist concrete constructions.   Although it looked a lot nicer inside.

We had lunch at a churescaria - lots of meat.  The afternoon was a trip up Sugar Loaf.  This is a 2 stage cable car trip.   The first stage goes to the top of a nearby rock, then you cross to another cable car that takes you from there to the top of Sugar Loaf - which is over  2000ft up.  

I don't like heights,  but I really wanted to see the views from the top.  Fortunately, it was a fine day without much wind,  so the cable car wasn't swinging very much.   I just closed my eyes while in the car.   The views at the top were worth the effort..

It had been a long and tiring day, so we spent the evening in the hotel bar.   Rio has been the highlight of our trip so far.