Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Rio de Janeiro city
Sitting on the southern shore of the magnificent Guanabara Bay,
RIO DE JANEIRO
has,
without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most stunning settings in the world. Extending
for 20km along an alluvial strip, between an azure sea and forest-clad mountains, the
city's streets and buildings have been moulded around the foothills of the mountain
range that provides its backdrop, while out in the bay there are many rocky islands
fringed with white sand. The aerial views over Rio are breathtaking, and even the
concrete skyscrapers that dominate the city's skyline add to the attraction. As the former
capital of Brazil and now its second-largest city, Rio has a remarkable architectural
heritage, some of the country's best museums and galleries, superb restaurants and a
vibrant nightlife - in addition to its legendary beaches. With so much to see and do, Rio
can easily occupy a week and you may well find it hard to drag yourself away.
Many people visiting Rio simply scramble their way to Copacabana or Ipanema and
go no further, except on an occasional foray by guided tour. The beaches, though, are
only one facet of Rio, and there is plenty more to see. The city is divided into three
parts - the centre (Centro), north (Norte) and south (Sul).
Centro
is the commercial
and historic centre of Rio, whose elegant colonial and neoclassical architecture has
become overshadowed by towering o
ce buildings, although it has by no means yet
been swamped. To its northwest, the sprawling
Zona Norte
contains the city's industrial
areas - large expanses of
favelas
and other working-class residential
bairros
with little in
the way of historic interest or natural beauty, but some sights still worth seeking out.
he
Zona Sul
, in principle covering everything south of the city centre, most
particularly means the
bairros
shouldering the coastline, including of course Rio's
famous sandy
beaches
- some 90km of them.
1
Brief history
Over five hundred years, Rio has transformed from a fortified outpost on the rim of an
unknown continent into one of the world's great cities. Its recorded past is tied exclusively
to the legacy of the colonialism on which it was founded. No vestige survives of the
civilization of the
Tamoios
people, who inhabited the land before the Europeans arrived,
and the city's history effectively begins on January 1, 1502, when a
Portuguese
captain,
André Gonçalves, steered his craft into Guanabara Bay, thinking he was heading into the
mouth of a great river (Rio de Janeiro means the “River of January”). In 1555, the French,
keen to stake a claim on the New World, established a garrison near Sugar Loaf mountain.
Not until 1567 were they expelled by the Portuguese, who soon after gave the settlement
around the Morro do Castelo - in front of where Santos Dumont airport now stands - its
o
cial name, São Sebastião de Rio de Janeiro, after the infant king of Portugal.
STAYING SAFE
Although it sometimes seems that one half of Rio is constantly being robbed by the other, don't
let paranoia ruin your stay. It's true that there is quite a lot of
petty theft
in Rio - pockets are
picked and bags and cameras swiped - but use a little common sense and you're unlikely to
encounter problems. Most of the real violence affecting Rio is drug related and concentrated in
the
favelas
, but one or two other areas should also be avoided. In
Centro
, contrary to popular
belief, Sunday is not the best time to stroll around - the streets are usually empty, which means
you can be more easily identified, stalked and robbed. The area around
Praça Mauá
, just to the
north of Centro, should be avoided after nightfall, and even during the day care should be
taken. In the Zona Sul's
Parque do Flamengo
it's also inadvisable to wander unaccompanied
after nightfall. Similarly, tourists who choose to walk between
Cosme Velho
and the
Corcovado
have been subject to robbery and assault - a danger that can be avoided by taking
the train.
Copacabana
's record has improved since the authorities started to floodlight the
beach at night, but it's still not a good idea to remain on the sand after sunset.
