Friday, 29 February 2008
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Rio
Our friends, Malcolm and Doreen, inspired us to explore Rio with them
Rio revealed many new sights: this is the elaborately presented chapel for naval officers.
... and here is an example of the mosaic pavement patterns that are a characteristic of Rio and Niteroi.
We went up to Santa Teresa on the tram which dates back to 1896! Called the "bonde" as it was financed by the issue of bonds.
Interesting buildings from early 20th century (the yellow cafe in 'Cinelandia')...
... and the late 20th century Petrobras building.
Some streets hark back to the 19th century...
... and here is how they look when you can see one century peeping out through an earlier one.
We all ate together in a favourite restaurant
... and here we are still looking well!
Rio revealed many new sights: this is the elaborately presented chapel for naval officers.
... and here is an example of the mosaic pavement patterns that are a characteristic of Rio and Niteroi.
We went up to Santa Teresa on the tram which dates back to 1896! Called the "bonde" as it was financed by the issue of bonds.
Interesting buildings from early 20th century (the yellow cafe in 'Cinelandia')...
... and the late 20th century Petrobras building.
Some streets hark back to the 19th century...
... and here is how they look when you can see one century peeping out through an earlier one.
We all ate together in a favourite restaurant
... and here we are still looking well!
For the past fortnight, our friends from the UK, Malcolm and Doreen, have been staying with us. Malcolm said that he found our balcony the best observation point to see and photograph birds he could imagine - we think he took over 200 photos of the bird life here! They brought tea bags from England as this is a scarce commodity in Brazil!
We spent 3 days in one of our very favourite places, Paraty. We stayed in a beautiful pousada where all the chalets faced out to sea. Although every day was sunny, our first hour's experience saw a downpour with our friend's balacony going under water - so they were moved to another chalet. We all went out onto the water in Toninho's boat where idyllic swimming, pleasant relaxed eating, sunbathing, seeing unusual sealife and visiting strange caves were the highlights. As blogger will not let us download the Paraty photos at the moment, we'll publish them separately later.
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
VITORIA
The Casa de Pedra
Pat & Maristela
Pat being taken for a ride
Carnival
A week in Vitoria saw us escaping Rio rain and enjoying some sunshine. We managed some trips out of the city to see some places of interest in Espirito Santo. Perhaps the most interesting artist/architect/sculptor lived in own ‘Casa de Pedra’. Inside were a huge variety of his sculpted works, all created from dead wood. The house itself was made of stone, wood, clay, glass bottles and formed around a live tree.
On another day we visited a beautiful area beside an Indian reserve. We swam where the river met the ocean and the whole family drank copious amounts of liquid beneath the shade of coconut trees. Paula’s cousin took Pat for a ride on his motor bike before returned to Vitoria by car.
The next day we travelled to a coastal village where a traditional carnival was taking place. People dress in weird and wonderful costumes, men clothe themselves as women and floats depicting various stories are wheeled through the town. The floats we saw caricatured the corrupt lifestyle thought to be enjoyed by politicians in Brasilia.
Carnival
A week in Vitoria saw us escaping Rio rain and enjoying some sunshine. We managed some trips out of the city to see some places of interest in Espirito Santo. Perhaps the most interesting artist/architect/sculptor lived in own ‘Casa de Pedra’. Inside were a huge variety of his sculpted works, all created from dead wood. The house itself was made of stone, wood, clay, glass bottles and formed around a live tree.On another day we visited a beautiful area beside an Indian reserve. We swam where the river met the ocean and the whole family drank copious amounts of liquid beneath the shade of coconut trees. Paula’s cousin took Pat for a ride on his motor bike before returned to Vitoria by car.
The next day we travelled to a coastal village where a traditional carnival was taking place. People dress in weird and wonderful costumes, men clothe themselves as women and floats depicting various stories are wheeled through the town. The floats we saw caricatured the corrupt lifestyle thought to be enjoyed by politicians in Brasilia.
Saturday, 2 February 2008
Santa Teresa
Sitting on a terrace in Santa Teresa
Italianate houses in Santa Teresa
Pat's brilliant snapshot of the tram as it whizzed past
The local samba band?Video showing Rio from Santa Teresa
Well! What a week we’ve had! In fact, it’s been 10 days since we last saw the sun. We can honestly testify that Rio rain is wet.
Ducking out of the rain one day, we ventured to the museum designed by Oscar Niemeyer that is shaped like a teacup. Pat celebrated the break in the rain with a photo of Ray in front of the teacup. Inside was an exhibition of Niemeyer’s architectural achievements. He is now 101 years old and has 5 projects on the go around the world. Another man who doesn’t seem to want to retire!
Although it was raining in Niteroi, we took advantage of a break in the rain over in Rio and drove to Santa Teresa – a picturesque, hillside area made notorious when Ronny Biggs decided to live there. It is served by old trams and affords spectacular views over the city (video and other photos above). We found an excellent restaurant and were entertained by a samba band outside.
We are off to Vitoria for a week in search of better weather and arrived yesterday … to sunshine!!
And we are staying in a hotel … so neither of us are doing any housework.
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