South America, Day 165 - Stage 33: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Selfie at Christ the Redeemer

Day 165 Monday 

A rude awakening at 03.55, downstairs for 04.30 and the driver was there, waiting. Off to Copacabana to collect 4 more, and the guide. One more stop, to pick up breakfast and we were off. To Dona Marta viewpoint for sunrise. We weren't alone. We looked out over Christ the Redeemer in one direction and Sugarloaf Mountain in the other, where the sun was going to rise. The sky was lightening slightly, and there coming into the harbour, with all it's lights on, a cruise ship. Must be ours, it's only ours in port today.

Dawn beginning at Dona Marta viewpoint. The iconic view of Rio with Sugarloaf mountain guarding the port entrance. There's an extra object in this photo and its our cruise ship for the next 18 days sailing into port. Do you see it all lit up at the foot of Sugarloaf mountain?

As the sky got lighter the prima Donna's came out, all these beautifully dressed, fully made up women appeared to be photographed, not once, but over and over. The guides had big torches to light the people in the foreground, it was crazy. Not as bad as the woman we had to wait for when we came to leave who was doing a whole photoshoot of a couple with Christ in the background, they were walking to and from holding hands, turning and kissing, ridiculous! Take a snap and be done!

It was absolutely worth getting up early to get this view of dawn breaking at one of the most recognisable viewpoints on earth. I think this photo is simply stunning and I might try and get this blown up and framed when we get home

It was a good viewpoint, as the pictures will show.

It was too early to go and queue for Christ the Redeemer, though many were going straight there, we were such a small group (which is why we booked it) that we had time to nip to the Selaron Steps. It was good to see them without people, and without rain.

Looking further round into the bay and our cruise  ship is making progress towards its berth. Can you see it?

Back into the van and up the very steep roadway to the base of the Statue, where we arrived bang on 07.30 to no queues at all as they had just gone. The statue was impressive, but the whole experience was hideous. All these people wanting their photo shoots, getting really grumpy if you dared to walk past, or try to squeeze through the absolute crush. What it's like at other times I dread to imagine.

Looking in the other direction there's Christ the Redeemer glowing up there on the hill

Stop number 4 was Park Lage Palace. A relatively new build, 1940's and built for love, like the Taj Mahal. As we walked towards the lines he asked if we wanted to be Brazilian? This involved Brian showing his ID as over 60, the other girl pretending to be pregnant (which I'm not sure she found very flattering) and we went in down the priority line! In theory it's one with a priority, but somehow all 7 of us got in.

The area had been cleared for photos and our guide insisted we have a photo too, so here it is

That's it, except for the drive along Copacabana beach front which we weren't bothered about. We were more bothered about getting back to the hotel at the promised 10.30 to check out and get to the cruise terminal for our 11.00 check-in. Traffic was rubbish, I was fretting when suddenly the guide pulled over and rushed us to the Uber he'd ordered to get us to the hotel. We arrived at 10.40, dropped the last of our breakfast at the feet of a sleeping homeless guy, who woke up and waved with a huge grin. Brian tried to pay while I went up to the 13th floor to collect 2 cases and 2 backpacks, not easy I can say. Only to come down to find that the receptionist wouldn't send housekeeping to check the minibar till I'd come down. Another Uber which dropped us off where we asked, which was sadly a fast 10 minute walk from where we actually wanted to be.

Just keeping an eye on our cruise ship. We can see it's berthed at the harbour now. It's there until 17:00 this afternoon, but our check in time is 11:00 to 12:00. Plenty of time, it's only about 06:30!

A lovely MSC lady scanned our boarding pass and took us in, to wait, and wait as she vanished.

She eventually reappeared with half a dozen more new arrivals and we were all brought aboard. Keycards issued, passports collected, safety briefing done and we are on. So much easier being able to take our own cases to the cabin, lunch and pop ashore to post this before unpacking for the next 18 days.

We've been here before, the Selaron Steps, the third most visited site in Rio. We came here in the rain on Saturday during our walking tour, but then it was wet and full of people, this morning it's dry and almost no people! Created by Jorge Selaron between 1990 and his death in 2013, he used tiles sent to him from all over the world to create his masterpiece that is now a protected monument. Many countries of the world are represented here. At the top is a representation of the Brazilian flag, but almost every country you can think of has something there. Our fellow guests were from Hawaii and our guide was able to point out an Hawaii section

Here's a British section and, on the right you might be able to make out Princess Di

He was an accomplished artist and this represents Rio with Sugarloaf mountain on the left anf Christ the Redeemer on the right

On up to Christ the Redeemer and we were driven all the way. Unbelievably there's a road all the way up there. We got so far and were dropped off from our minivan (he had to go and come back later as there's almost no parking there - if ever you go and you have your own hire car, don't use it, get a cab, you cannot park!), we then had to pay to go in (ours was included in our tour) and then queue for a minivan to take us to the top. Very little queue when we got there (but a huge queue when we got down as the MSC shore excursion had got there by then!) and got on the second minibus. That took us to an elevator and after that two escalators that took us right to the top - no effort whatsoever!

Se here it is with all the crowds. It's actually a sacred site with a small chapel inside. Only the devoted can go in so we didn't. We were also told that the stature is completely hollow and there is a stairway inside that allows you to ascend up to shoulder height. Our guide told us that only people invited by the catholic church can go up, so obviously that didn't include us (nor anyone else that we noticed that day either). Just to get to this spot took a lot of effort due to people posing and wanting as much space as possible for the Instagram photo!

Just so you know, this is from the statue looking down. There's a few people! You really need to get down there too as that's where the view is. It's glared out by the sun in this photo but that's the harbour and Sugarloaf mountain down there

A pity the sun's straight into the camera, but I think you can see Sugarloaf and, to the right Cocacabana beach (and then someone's camera!)

Further round to the right and the beach beyond the lagoon is Ipanema beach. Left is Cocacabana beach

I think I'm a bit out of order here, I took this one at the Dona Marta viewpoint. I remember I was being instructed to get out of the way as someone was posing! Not before I've taken this photo! You can see Sugarloaf on the left, Cocacobana in the middle, Ipanema on the right and Christ the Redeemer on the peak far right

So there we are, another view before we went down and left the posers to it!

Down at the Parque Lage Palace which is set in very beautiful grounds  with a view of Christ the Redeemer as a backdrop. You could have a meal here if you really wanted, but for us just a photo from the side. The centre was reserved for a queue of people who wanted to pose

Once again our guide insisted we have a photo, but still at the side notice, the centre is occupied!

And there's the man himself zoomed in from the palace

There's the palace from outside in the grounds. It's a very nice place and we were quite surprised it was only built in 1940, it looks much older. By now it was getting on towards 10:00am and Jackie's getting twitchy, particularly as we re-entered Rio slow moving rush hour traffic with about 10km from our hotel and another 5km from there to the harbour with the additional delay of having to check out and pay our bill (which always takes so long when you're in a hurry!). We made it and we've now got on our ship, which seems OK. We're just treating it as an easy journey home, if it's better than that so much the better but I, in particular, have low expectations! We're sitting in the harbour where free wifi is provided with many other people from onboard. Next stop for us Ilheus, further up the Brazilian coast with a day of being at sea in between. If you want to track our journey google 'where is MSC Poesia', which Jackie did and up popped a little map