We were able to sleep in a little later on Christmas Day. It was our last day in Rio – but our flight didn’t fly out until later in the evening. We had called to see if we could get a late check out – and it was not possible. It was a real bummer – because after going to the beach we wanted to be able to shower.
Just a couple of beach bums on Christmas Day
We adjusted our plans and hit the beach first. Finally – the world famous Copacabana beach! We had been walking by it – but hadn’t gotten a chance to go into the water.
Our hotel provided a free umbrella, beach chairs, and towels for hotel guests. There were plenty of other stands though, if you weren’t staying at the Hilton and wanted to rent them.
The beach was littered with a lot of different stands that sold different drinks – so we ordered two and sat back and relaxed. It was a great beach for people watching – and the water was really warm.
Probably the tastiest caipirinha of the trip!The sand got really hot – so you would have to run from the water to shade in order to spare your feet from being burned!
One of the fun things was watching the vendors walk around with these large fixtures to sell bikinis and sarongs – I ended up buying a few colorful sarongs to take back as souvenirs. I think you technicallycan bargain – but I’m not very good at that!
Vendors would walk the beach with this fixtures to sell bikinis and sarongs to tourists.
After our time at the beach, we made our way back to the hotel room to freshen up and finish packing. We still had Christmas brunch at the hotel – so we left our bags at the front desk and went to enjoy our meal.
It was an impressive spread – similar to the Christmas Eve dinner. Once we were full, we decided to make our way to the airport. There was a hotel attached to the airport that was really affordable – we wanted to be able to get some rest before our long flight sitting up right. It was basically the same price as an airport lounge, but there was a bed.
After taking a nap, we made our way to security and made our way home. We loved Brazil and definitely would want to go back at some point!
We woke up feeling refreshed on Christmas Eve Day – I had made entrance reservations at Parque Lage first thing in the morning. I had read a lot about how their brunch is a great value – so we high tailed it there with empty stomachs. There’s something you should know about this place…
First of all, it’s a gorgeous old mansion. Secondly, this makes it an Instagram magnet. After we put down our names for the restaurant, we hopped in another line… to have our picture taken. 😅 Because we were early we didn’t have to wait too long and once we were done getting our picture taken it was only a few more minutes before we were seated.
It was so beautiful there
I’m an impatient person, particularly when I’m hungry. And when we finally got seated, it was worth the wait. There are two tables right by the pool – on the edge. It was one of the best tables there!
We ordered the breakfast special – came with an omelette, salad, fresh fruit, meat and cheese – and a basket of different breads. We decided to order a bottle of bubbly to have with our brunch. At this point, our table was covered in beverages and food and they had to bring over an extra side table. It was glorious!
You can see the Instagram line forming in the backgroundStill laughing that they had to extend our table to fit all of our food and drink
The mansion has two stories – if you want to access the second floor (where you can have unobstructed views of Christ the Redeemer) you have to purchase something in the gift shop. It was a low amount (I think like $5-10) and the money went back to a school.
View from the second floor
We got up there – and it was pretty cool because you really are at the base of the Corcovado (hill where Christ the Redeemer sits) and it wasn’t very busy. We heard a lot of cheering and we peeked over the edge to see the line below to get the famous picture by the pool – and a couple had just gotten engaged. So cute!
View as we were leaving
We wrapped up there – and got in an Uber to the Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. Uber was easy to access there – and significantly cheaper than what we were used to paying in the US. I think the most we paid was around $18 – and that was the ride from the airport.
The Botanical Garden was gorgeous – you could easily spend a few hours there. We didn’t do everything because honestly I wasn’t wearing the best footwear. The pictures are stunning and we had a great time.
Great shoes, but not great for walking on uneven groundEverything was so lush and green!Christ the Redeemer photobombing in most pictures
Once we were done there, we made our way back to the hotel. Our hotel was hosting a special Christmas Eve dinner buffet. It was later in the evening, so we decided to go to our rooftop for happy hour and a small bite to eat.
We had a table tucked away in a corner – it was great!
The buffet at the hotel was really great – and it was a fun way to spend Christmas Eve!
Up Next: -Beach -Christmas Day Brunch -Return flight home
Initially, we were going to go to the Botanical Garden and Parque Lage on Friday, but I woke up not feeling well. We decided to stay in bed and rest for a bit. Once we finally got up – we walked along Copacabana Beach and found a place that had the most amazing empanadas.
We just got cheese ones to start off withShrimp bites
Before we had left for Rio, we had booked a sunset sailing tour for Friday afternoon. We were looking forward to being out on the water looking back at the city. After our leisure morning, we made our way to the marina. I think it’s important to know that both taxis and Ubers are reputable in Rio de Janeiro. We alternated back and forth between using them depending on the cost. I wouldn’t say we had one preference over the other, but it was convenient to not have to tell a driver where we were going and just direct them through the app. (Food for thought!)
While we were waiting to get on our sail boat, we met a lovely couple from Delaware. They had their Peru trip get disrupted – and they had to wing their South America trip last minute too. Misery does love company!
The sailing tour didn’t actually make it until sunset, but we were fine with that. It was cool to get to see different forts that had been created to protect the city and other beaches. We even got to see a man barbecuing off the back of his boat – I can’t say I’ve seen that before!
Military beach
After swinging past the military beach area, we ventured over towards another city called Icaraí. This was home to the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum. To me, it looks like a spaceship! We only saw it from the water though.
It looked really cool from the water
After our sailing tour had ended, we got a taxi back to our hotel. Our hotel really had a prime location, so it was never hard to find a restaurant for dinner. We went to a nearby restaurant, called Mab’s. There was a Samba band performing while we were there, which is always really fun to watch! I always really like it when other people passing by or eating at the restaurant stop to dance with the band.
Up Next: -Parque Lage (former mansion at the base of Christ the Redeemer) -Botanical Garden -Christmas Eve dinner at the Hilton
Prior to leaving for Rio – we had picked out a few different tours. Our first tour was a Rio de Janeiro city tour. We were really looking forward to this tour because it would start off with Christ the Redeemer and would later head to Sugar Loaf.
We were scheduled to be picked up at 9:00 am from our hotel lobby. When the van pulled up we quickly realized that we were some of the last people to join the tour. However, the rest were all Spanish speakers. *gulp* Our poor tour guide would have to translate Portuguese twice – Spanish and then English. He seemed to do it flawlessly, but we just had to pay close attention as he started speaking to what landmarks we were by that he was describing.
The rest of the group was very friendly – and they were from all over! Nicaragua, Paraguay, Chile, Colombia, and probably others that we can’t remember!
We were on our way to Christ the Redeemer – it sits on top of Corcovado mountain in Tijuca National Park looking down on Rio de Janeiro. The statue itself was stunning, and it wasn’t as busy as I thought it was going to be. However, it still was challenging to try to get a picture with 50 other people in the background.
For scale
The next few stops were all technically “external” stops – where we could look at a famous Rio landmark. The first stop was their famous Maracana stadium – that had previously hosted two World Cup final matches: 1950 and 2014. For those of you Olympic fans, it also hosted the 2016 Olympics opening and closing ceremonies.
Outside the stadium
From there, we made another quick stop at the Sambadrome. This is where the Carnaval parade takes place- different Samba schools strut their stuff down this alleyway. It was specifically designed for this purpose. I only wish we could have seen a parade while we were there!
Next, we went to a cathedral. Definitely not something that we’ve seen before! The Catedral Metropolitana de San Sebastiao looks rather unusual. I think it looks more like a Mayan temple than it does a Catholic Church. It is stunning both inside and out with beautiful stained glass framing four different walls and a skylight in the shape of a cross. We also were visiting in time to see their nativity scene – it was beautiful!
We had a good laugh at the look on the lambs’ faces
We had one more stop before lunch, and that was at the Selaron steps. You may remember them from the Snoop Dogg / Pharrell Williams music video – Beautiful. Bright and colorful made from beautiful mosaic tiles. This project started in the 1990s by a Chilean painter – no sooner was one section finished – he started working on another. Initially the tiles were only in Brazil’s colors – but he started to incorporate beautiful tiles from many countries around the world.
A little more backstory
We had lunch at a Brazilian buffet before heading over to Sugar Loaf. Sugar Loaf Mountain has a beautiful view of all of Rio de Janeiro. You take a series of two different cable cars to the top. It’s quite the adventure getting to the top – and being able to see the stunning landscape of Rio. We LOVED our time there!
From the first platform – heading to the top!From the topNot too shabby!
There was a lot of construction while we were there – I think they are building a zip line. Something to look into in the future if you’re heading to Rio!
On our way down we saw a bunch of little monkeys – they were so cute! It’s fun to be in a city that has a rainforest in the middle of it – and the wildlife that follows.
The tour concluded after Sugar Loaf – and once we got dropped off we went to eat at a traditional Brazilian restaurant – called Galeto Sal’s. I think we were the only non-locals there – and the food was incredible!
Back in April, we had found a promotion with Gate 1 Travel for a weeklong trip to Peru over Christmas. We hopped at the chance to see Machu Picchu! Fast forward a few months, and we were ready to go. Two weeks before we were set to depart we got an email from Gate 1 informing us that there was political unrest. The Peruvian president had tried to dissolve the constitution – and had been arrested. People had started to protest. Fast forward until 4 days before our trip was set to depart. Their defense department had shut down inter-country travel, basically, they were trying to make it impossible for their citizens to be able to get around the country for protests. Gate 1 made the decision to cancel our trip, rightfully so.
We had a bit of a heads up that this could happen – so we had thought of a few backups. In case you’re new here, we have a few different bucket lists running. We are trying to get to all of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World and all of the different continents. So we immediately started looking at South American trips. We couldn’t find anything with Gate 1 – but they had put in a refund request for us once the government shut down travel. So we decided to use that money to buy airfare to… Rio de Janeiro!
Rio checked two boxes off of our list – new continent and housed a wonder of the world – Christ the Redeemer. We booked this trip on Friday, 12/16 and our flight departed on Tuesday, 12/20. It was the most chaotic time frame for us. We had mentally prepared for months for our Peru trip. We knew very little about Brazil. Except we knew our first barrier would be the language. Neither of us know any Portuguese – but we both had taken Spanish classes so we can understand it well enough.
The first day of our trip involved flying to Houston – where we had a few hours connection before flying straight to Rio, which was a 10.5 hour flight! Our travel was seamless, but of course, any long-haul flight is never fun. Neither of us slept well – we arrived in Rio around 9:30 am in the morning on Wednesday 12/21.
The airport sign welcoming us to our first South American country!
We made it through customs pretty quickly – but we had two obstacles to figure out pretty quickly. 1) I had read ahead of time that a lot of the bank ATMs in Rio did not accept US debit cards – other bloggers recommended getting cash at the airport. 2) Figuring out where Ubers pick up at the airport. I have a gal on my team who is from Brazil and had sent a ton of advice and recommendations ahead of time and warned us that Ubers were cheaper, but harder to get to.
Our quest to find an ATM basically led us directly to where the Ubers pick us up. The first ATM declined my transaction, but the second one worked! Phew! We were on our way!
Rio welcomed us with a very rainy day. We got to our hotel (Hilton Rio de Janeiro Copacabana) and weren’t able to check in right away. So we went to the hotel restaurant to hang out for a little bit while they prepared our room. After we got checked in we took a quick power nap and freshened up.
View from the pool deck (our hotel has a rooftop pool and a second one on the fourth floor)
The rain was supposed to let up – but it hadn’t yet so we took a cab to a restaurant. We got a taste of our first Caipirinha – which is made with a sugarcane liquor and lime. Super tasty – and I think I found my new favorite drink!
A very cute tapas restaurantNew favorite drink
The rain cleared up and we walked our way back to the hotel because it had slowed to a sprinkle. Our hotel had a great location – close to the beach and lots of fun restaurants nearby.
Not sure that it means the same Skol that us Vikings fan recognize!
We were exhausted and turned in for the night.
Up Next: Rio de Janeiro city tour -Christ the Redeemer -Sugar Loaf
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