Rio de Janeiro - The End
For this year I am based in Sao Paulo. Flights from SAO to RIO can be quite expensive at time, as it is a heavy business route and also a route airlines need a lot for connectors. Nonetheless lots of time you can get great fares, as there is a ton of capacity on the route, A flight about every 15 minutes! So airlines always have tons of seats to sell. My flight was a little over $100 US for a round-trip on GOL air. GOL flies with an all 737 fleet, the planes I was on were in very good condition.
My departing flight was from CGH (Sao Paulo Downtown) airport. The airport handles most of the closer flights, especially flights to Rio. There were plenty of empty seats on our flight to GIG that morning. Water and Coffee were served complimentary onboard the quick 35 minute flight. The views from the flight were amazing, as we flew right over the high-rise buildings from CGH and over the Brazilian coastline to Rio. GIG airport is currently undergoing major construction in preparation for the upcoming world cup. It looks like a huge warehouse now, as they dismantled walls and ceilings to build newer ones.
The airport has very good air-conditioned coach shuttle buses, that run from the airport to all parts of the city. It was R$13 (about $6 US) to go from the airport to Leblon where we was staying.
Tijuca Forest is not too far away from Leblon, so we decided to walk along the ocean to the outskirts of the forest area. We passed by the Sheraton Rio, didn't look that good actually, maybe they are doing construction too now.. We hiked a bit in the forest, passing by some grand views of the city and the coast.
We spent lots of time at the Copacabana area. At night and day there are lots of street performers in the area, really nice sand castles along the beach, fun area to be around. There are lots of vendors all over, selling things from beach towels to swimsuits, coconuts to beer, everything is sold at the beach, and at reasonable and negotiable prices. We got coconuts, a must to try it in Brazil, nothing like we have up north, for just about 2 us a coconut. Between Copacabana and Ipanema beaches there is a large mountain that we climbed to the top. Supposedly it's the best place to watch sunset from here, as it one of the only parts of the coastline that face slightly to the west. Though we weren't there then so can't vouch for it. On Sunday when we were there the entire beach from Lame to Leblon was packed with thousands of people, try to go midweek if you can, or go to other beaches if you would like a little space for yourself.
At the advice of our host, we decided to climb Mount Urca instead of Sugarloaf. By doing this we avoided the crowds of tourists that all go to the only mountain on their guidebook. Mount Urca is located on the coastline, right beside Sugarloaf mountain. They do charge about 2 us to go in, as it is a military facility and it is heavily guarded. At the end of the 30 minutes climb, there are great views of Rio, the coast and the Sugarloaf mountain. Along the trail up we spotted several baby monkeys nestled in the trees, they were really cute.
We ate at the Sunday only restaurant called Barilan. It is located inside the Barilan college cafeteria, so Sunday they could use it as the school is not in session. The restaurant works in a buffet style, where you choose whatever you want on your plate, options included Schnitzel, nuggets, potato skins, dumplings, salad bar, sushi bar, asst fish etc.. You then take your plate to be weighed at the cashier, you could fill up again and have it weighed again, and when you are done, you hand the weight receipt over to the receptionist at the door and pay. Food was good, but nothing stood out as amazing. - 6/10.
Our last morning there we headed to the beach early, to watch perhaps one of the nicest Sunrise's in the world. The beach was empty at the hour, and nature was truly beautiful to see.
The flight back to Sao Paulo wasn't scheduled until late that day, though being that the SDU-CGH route is a major competitive business route, airlines go all out in accommodating costumers. Without much hassle my flight was switched to one leaving 45 minutes later in the early afternoon. Flight back they passed around drinks and snacks complimentary, this is the only route where they do it, again for the competing factor. All in all was very pleased with GOL's service.
