Rio de Janeiro :the beaches are the scenery of beauty

Rio de Janeiro's beaches are very famous around the world for their beauty and diversity.

In Rio, you can find numerous beautiful beaches for a wonderful swimming,picnicking,camping  and surfing.

Before you decide which  beach you want to visit,make sure you check the beach status beforehand.There are some beaches that are polluted and you should not swim there.

Here is a list  of all the beaches in Rio:

• Abrico
• Amores
• Arpoador
• Barra da Tijuca
• Barra de Guaratiba
• Bandeira
• Bica
• Brisa
• Botafogo
• Canto
• Conchas
• Copacabana
• Dentro
• Diabo
• Engenhoca
• Fora
• Flamengo
• Funda
• Galeão
• Glória
• Grumari
• Guanabara
• Ipanema
• Inferno
• Joatinga
• Leblon
• Leme
• Macumba
• Marambaia
• Meio
• Parque
• Prainha
• Pitangueiras
• Perigoso
• Pepê
• Pepino
• Pontal
• Ramos
• Reserva
• Recônvaco
• Recreio
• São Conrado
• Sepetiba
• Urca
• Vermelha
• Vidigal

Leblon Beach

Viewpoint of Leblon
Mirante do Leblon

Arpoador Beach

Arpoador beach is located between the Devil beaches and Ipanema beach.It is a small beach, about 500 meters(0.310 miles) long.
The Arpoador beach is known as a surfers' beach, as it has many big waves.

Ipanema,one of the city's most famous beaches, loses in popularity only to the Copacabana beach, where New Year's Eve in celebrated every year in  the city.







Ipanema is a traditional meeting place for locals and tourists.The beach is used for the practice of various sports. Among the favorite activities are the ski board surfing, racquetball, volleyball, football, futevolei.

Copacabana, one of the world's most famous beaches, is affectionately nicknamed as "The little Princess of the Sea".

Rio de Janeiro: the culture explains the attitude

Capoeira

Capoeira was brought to Brazil from people  descended from Africa who struggled for survival. Capoeira was marginalized a long time, but now has been  accepted by society. 

Capoeira has two styles: Capoeira Angola and Capoeira Regional.

 The instruments used in capoeira are:

• Berimbau
• Caxixi
• Pandeiro
• Reco-reco
• Agogo
• Conga

Capoeira

Futevolei

Small bathing suit

Ride a bike at Floresta da Tijuca

Cariocas love to eat.

Breakfast:

• Orange juice
• Bread,white fresh Brazilian rolls.It is very similar as a Portuguese roll.
• Butter or margarine,
• Requeijao,which is similar to cream cheese,but it is much more creamy.
• Pao de queijo,which is the Brazilian's favorite bread in the morning from Minas Gerais state.
• Cafe com leite,which is half of strong coffee mix with half of milk

        Caipirinha,the most famous drink in Rio

Cariocas love refreshing juice.
In almost of each corner of Rio de Janeiro city,you can find a small juice place,where it sell all kind of NATURAL juices:

• Passion Fruit
• Caju
• Honey Dew
• Watermelon

Caipirinha is made with cachaca (similar to tequila).Cachaca comes from the sugar cane.

Caipirinha  is made with cachaca,lemon,ice and sugar.

Cariocas loooove beer. It can be any type as long as it is  super cold.

Feijoada

Cariocas favorite food for lunch are:
Feijoada is the most popular dish in Brazil,not only in Rio de Janeiro.
In Rio, Cariocas like to eat Feijoada on Saturdays.

Barbecue is the favorite dish in Rio.
Cariocas like to eat barbecue every Sunday.

Churrasco (barbecue)

Cariocas love to introduce the favelas to the tourists.Even President Barack Obama visited Rio's Cidade de Deus (City of God)  in the favela Community Center.

Rio de Janeiro:the city I grew up

The Sugarloaf Cable Car
 Bondinho do Pão de Açúcar

The Sugarloaf Cable Car:
The Sugarloaf Cable Car moves between Praia Vermelha and the Sugarloaf  Mountain.It stops at Morro da Urca  at 722 feet on its way up and down, and reaches  the highest point of the hill  at 1,299 feet.
The price ranges between$ 15 - $30.

Tijuca National Park
Floresta da Tijuca

 The Tijuca National Park is one of the largest urban green area in Brazil and  the largest urban forest in the world.
 The preservation of the Tijuca National Park is essential to the city for keeping the city's quality of life.
The Tijuca Forest is an important recreational area with trails and spaces for sports, cycling, running and mountaineering. It has numerous  spaces with children's toys, places for barbecues and  family gatherings

Candelaria Church
Igreja da Candelaria

Candelaria Church

Jardim Botanico

Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas

Lapa

Arcos da Lapa

Aterro do Flamengo

Enseada de Botafogo Botafogo Bay

Favela da Rocinha
Rocinha Slum

The favelas,according to Wikipedia,"favela (Portuguese pronunciation: [faˈvɛlɐ]) is the term for a slum in Brazil, most often within urban areas."
Rocinha  is the largest hill favela in Rio de Janeiro.

Rio de Janeiro: Carnival in Rio

To understand what Carnival means to Cariocas you need to understand its history.

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is a world famous cultural event and  very popular celebration. It is considered one of  the best known folk festivals in the world.

Carnival is  an attraction that draws attention for all the different types of manifestation such as, samba school parades, carnival balls, street carnival, bands and street blocks.

Today,the  three forms and manifestations of carnival in Rio de Janeiro are divided into: Samba School parades, Carnival Street and Bailes.

Rio has famous bands and blocks:

In Copacabana: Banda do Leme, Banda da Santa Clara, Banda da Sá Ferreira

In Rio downtown: Cordão do Bola Preta

In Ipanema: Simpatia é quase amor e Banda de Ipanema

In Jardim Botanico: Suvaco do Cristo.

The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro and Brazil is held annually just before Lent begins and is considered the biggest party in the world. Officially Carnival in Rio de Janeiro lasts five days, from the Friday to Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent. The festival usually takes place in February or March.

Samba Schools emerged around of 1930 and started to become increasingly prominent over the parade of Ranchos. 

Parades of samba schools:

Throughout the year, schools are preparing for the annual parade that is also a competition.
This fantastic show now takes place at the Sambodromo,  designed by Oscar Niemeyer,  a famous architect in Brazil and around the world.

In the past, the parade was held in the same place, on  Marques de Sapucai Street.

During the parade, each samba school has its storytelling  history samba and it is sung by thousands of voices that join the puller samba school singing in speaker and battery.

Niteroi: the city where I was born

Niteroi is located at 8 miles from the Rio de Janeiro city.It is popularly known as the Smile City.A very famous joke from the Cariocas  say that  the best thing about Niteroi  is the view of the  Rio de Janeiro city,and when Niteroi residents smile is because they look at the city of RIo.

Niteroi changed  from been a sleepy city to an independent city from Rio.These days,a lot of Cariocas are  moving to Niteroi because is a quieter and has a  higher quality of life compared to Rio. 

Map of Guanabara Bay

Cariocas make joke about Niteroi because is across the Guanabara Bay from  Rio de Janeiro.
This city is linked to Rio de Janeiro  by a bridge popularly known as Rio - Niteroi Bridge.

Bridge Rio-Niteroi

The easiest way to get in Niteroi from Rio is driving  through the bridge. if is not in the rush hour, it takes 25 minutes; otherwise, you can take three hours to cross the bridge.
Two other options to get to Niteroi from Rio are by: 

• Ferry boat 
• Catamaran 

By ferry boat or catamaran,it can takes from 10 to 15 minutes commute to cross Guanabara Bay.

Rio de Janeiro view from Icarai

Icarai is one of the most sophisticated neighborhood in Niteroi.Icarai is "o point."It is where everything happens.It is so funny because you know what is trending by walking in the Moreira Cesar street.There, is where  people launch the season trend for the city.Moreira Cesar can be compared to a small street in Soho, NY.

Here is the city where locals go to the beach every day.
On weekends,locals wake up in the morning and change your bathing suit to go to the beach knowing that they  would not be back home till night.
In Niteroi,most of the people go to the same beach,eat in the same restaurant, get dress almost the same way.

Parque da Cidade

This city offers numerous sport activities,but the most unique ones are  hang gliding and paragliding.Practitioners come from many different places,and they drive up to the 

Parque da Cidade, which is a Park with an amazing view to the city.

Once they are in the air they  fly over the city for hours.

At Parque da Cidade,people also like to just  sit at the ramp, appreciate the beautiful view and stay till sunset.

Practitioner of  hang gliding loves Niteroi

Hang gliding and paragliding start here
in the Parque da Cidade ramp

MAC-Museu de Arte Contemporanea
Contemporary Art Museum

Boa Viagem

Icarai Beach

 In the afternoon,the best place to go is to walk in  Icarai.

 Icarai can be compare to South Beach.On Saturday mornings,this is where most of the  people get together in the hair salon or the bar  to drink some beer with friends,socialize  celebrate  the day.

Sao Francisco Beach

Charitas Beach

At night, Noi Restaurant in Sao Francisco is the best option to have a nice dinner.I suggest the palmito pasta with  shrimp.The pasta is made with pelled palmitos in thin slices in a delicious shrimp white sauce.

In Niteroi some people maybe do not have much money to live, but they spend a lot of money to get  dressed up  and look good. Everything is about how do you look.Residents know how to take care of their bodies very well.Everything in Niteroi runs around the beach.

To live in Niteroi you must look good to go anywhere.

This is the city's culture.