|
  Rio de
Janeiro is a must see when visiting Brazil. This bustling city is
famous for its yearly Carnival, the Christ, Ipanema Beach,
Corcovado, Maracana soccer stadium, its outstanding food and
entertainment establishments and its people. Rio de Janeiro is one
of the entry points for international flights. A few days in this
city will surely give you something to talk about once back at the
office.
 Tucked between the mountains and
the sea, Rio de Janeiro is an unusual city, closely linked with the
Sugarloaf and Corcovado Mountains, soccer, samba and the attractive
tanned and vivacious people. It is certainly the part of Brazil that
is best-known world-wide. At the very mention of the country even
those with only the slightest knowledge of Brazil, automatically
associate it with the "fabulous city". The capital of Rio de Janeiro
is endowed with a natural beauty that ranges from the beaches that
indent the coastline, such as
Arpoador, Ipanema and Copacabana, to the peaks that punctuate its
landscape, such as the Corcovado and Sugarloaf Mountains. Rio contains the largest
urban forest in the world, the Tijuca Forest, which was completely
replanted during the second half of the nineteenth century. The city
is still one of the main sources of national culture and is the
cradle of three types of Brazilian music - the choro, the samba and
the bossa nova.
Rio de Janeiro is also the capital of the state of
the same name - an exuberant state with captivating natural beauty,
shaped by its unusual geography and by the effervescence of its
inhabitants who manage to combine the art of working and playing to
the absolute maximum.
For almost two and a half
centuries, from 1716 to 1960, the city of Rio de Janeiro has been
the capital of the Colony, the Empire and the Brazilian Republic.
Like a prima Donna it has reigned over politics, the economy,
culture and as the centre of the country's financial and social
scene. With the transfer of the capital to Brasília in 1960, Rio
lost its political status but not its charm or the title of
"fabulous city". It has retained its integrity as a centre of
culture and tourism and has continued to be the main gateway for
incoming foreign visitors.
Many areas of the state are just as attractive as its capital. The
coastline is one of the most beautiful in Brazil with bays, inlets
and beaches of all kinds to suit all tastes. The beaches stretch
from the Costa do Sol, north of Rio, to the Costa Verde, south of
the capital. Inland, amid the exuberance of the forests is the
mountain region with towns such as Teresópolis, Nova Friburgo and
Petropolis, one of Brazil's most important historical towns where
the Brazilian Imperial family came to take their ease during the
nineteenth century. Also inland is the Itatiaia region where the
country's first national park was created in 1937 and the location
of the highest point of the state, Pico das Agulhas Negras, rising
2,787 meters high.
Many attribute the exuberant and infectious happiness of Rio's
citizens to the city's pulsating night-life, just as they attribute
the poetry that springs from its corners and the flourishing of the
arts to Rio de Janeiro's privileged geography. Side by side with
this picture postcard city is another one set on the hillsides - the
land of the overcrowded favelas and poverty but also the birthplace
of Brazil's most popular festival, the annual carnival, known as
Carnaval, drawing together rich and poor and all races to enjoy
themselves in the clubs and on the streets with the added attraction
of the world's largest samba parade that takes place in the
Sambódromo, built in 1982 and designed by the Brazilian architect,
Oscar Niemeyer.
Forty percent of the state's population is concentrated in the
capital and spread over more than one hundred and fifty districts.
Some of these are of the traditional kind such as Santa Teresa which
is reached by crossing an ancient aqueduct known as Arcos da Lapa.
Other neighborhoods are modern urban centers such as Barra da Tijuca
on the waterfront. In addition, Rio de Janeiro has some of the most
prestigious universities in Brazil with more than sixty
post-graduate research centers covering different areas of learning.
In the downtown area, the monuments and public buildings dating back
to the time when Rio was the capital of the Colony, the Empire and
the Republic of Brazil are amongst the country's finest cultural
inheritances. The golden age of the city of Rio de Janeiro has left
a legacy in the form of numerous major works of art and public
buildings, such as the former headquarters of the Bank of Brazil,
nowadays a dynamic cultural centre, the Municipal Theatre, the
National Museum of Fine Art, the Itamaraty Palace, once seat of the
republican government as well as the Foreign Office, the National
Museum at Quinta da Boa Vista (former imperial residence), the
National History Museum and the National Library, as well as
monuments and beautiful examples of religious architecture, such as
the Candelária and the São Bento Monastery. |
