Day 17 – Wednesday
Our final day in Rio. Our final day of a long vacation. And another overcast day in Rio de Janeiro. We had a guide pick us up at the hotel at about 10am. Traffic in Rio is always awful, though with the Olympic games upcoming it was fun passing the volleyball stadium, the bay, the newly paved roads for cycling competitions, - seeing where the events are being held.
Our first stop was the Vista Chinesa, a Chinese looking pagoda in the heart of the Tijuca forest which offers great views of Rio. Maybe because it was such an overcast day, or perhaps because we had just been to Sugerloaf the day before, we didn’t get much out of this. It is a huge schlepp to get to the lookout (free though). The forest is very pretty to go through, as I mentioned previously, it is something special to have mountains and a protected national forest smack in the middle of a huge metropolis. We came out of the forest on the Barra side (where the main Olympic village and events are held – though we didn’t visit the actual site) and drove past the unfinished bike paths and train tracks which were finished literally the week before the Olympics began.
We then drove through the Santa Teresa hill. With winding roads, beautiful old mansions, artsy graffiti/street art, an active historic tram, quaint shops, it is an enjoyable visit for those who want a break from the “party” Rio vibe and enjoy the bohemian atmosphere. We enjoyed walking around the area, especially descending down the Selaron Steps, a staircase with unique artwork. The highlight for us on Santa Teresa Hill was Parque das Ruínas, which is the remaining structure of an old mansion which has been preserved in a very interesting way, with really amazing views of the bay area in Rio.
Subsequently, we parked in the city center and walked around Cinelândia, a sort of center square surrounded by European architecture which looks totally misplaced in the middle of Rio. There are many train stations nearby for the new light rail, which we took (travel is free on the light rail for now, they plan on starting to charge) to the Pier Maua area, which has a futuristic looking new museum called the Museum of Tomorrow (the architect is Santiago Calatrava, architect of the new Path Terminal at the World Trade Center & the “Gesher Hametarim” in Israel, among other famous works). This area is going through a revival, though unless one wants to wait several hours on line to go into the museum there ain’t much else there to see.
Finally, we headed to GIG (with insane traffic, of course). The newly constructed terminal is very impressive, but there is a ton of walking to get from security, to check-in, to the gate. Besides for the enormous Duty Free section immediately after security, no retailers have moved in yet, which makes for a very barren looking terminal and gate area. We took American Airlines direct from GIG to JFK, 25k points each ticket for economy class. It was a new plane and very comfortable flight – with live TV to catch Ted Cruz’s non - endorsement speech at the Republican National Convention. There was literally an audible gasp from the fellow sitting behind me when he said the “vote your conscious” bit. Oh, and took Uber from JFK – must’ve saved at least $40 instead of taking a yellow cab.
And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my DFF report and just fade away, a DDFer who tried to do his duty as G-d gave him the light to see that duty.
Good Bye.
Vista Chinesa
Tijuca forest
Santa Teresa
Selaron Steps
Parque das Ruínas
Pier Maua area & the Museum of Tomorrow