Thursday, July 27, 2023
We enjoyed our final breakfast at the Windsor California Hotel before packing up to go to our bed and breakfast, Casa Geranio. The hotel let us check out late, so we just hung around, packed, and planned the rest of our day. We took an uber to downtown Rio to our bed and breakfast. The road got a little rough as we drove over cobblestones and old train tracks from a street car that's no longer in service. Once we got to the gate, we had to climb up several flights of stairs just to get to the main area of the Casa Geranio. Luckily, they had a guy carry our suitcases all the way up the stairs and put them outside our rooms. The bed and breakfast must have been a small neighborhood before because all of the "rooms" were spread far apart like little houses, each one with its own staircase and walkway.
We had a small, private swimming pool outside of our room overlooking downtown Rio. The Ventura Tower on the left has a space in the middle in the shape of a cross. The pyramid-looking building is the Metropolitan Cathedral.
Looking up at the windows of our room from the main swimming pool.
We had just enough time left in the afternoon to visit Sugarloaf Mountain. An uber took us to the ticket booth, and we decided to buy the fastpass since we wanted to be off the mountain before dark. The tickets are good for riding the two gondolas between the base and Urca Hill and between Urca Hill and Sugarloaf Mountain. That's a total of 4 gondola rides with a line for each ride. The fastpass cost a little extra, but it was worth it to skip all those lines. We spent some time on top of Urca Hill enjoying the views. I bought myself a sterling silver heart pendant necklace with the Brazilian flag on it. We were also able to find some coxinhas for R$13, which was much more expensive than the R$2 Erik paid back in 2003.
Riding the first gondola up to the Morro de Urca.
Views of Christ Redeemer from Urca Hill.
We found some overpriced coxinhas on top of Urca Hill.
Left to right: Christ Redeemer, Botafogo Bay, Santos Dumont Airport, Rio-Niteroi Bridge
Getting ready to catch the next gondola to Pão de Aҫucar.
Next, we skipped the line, and walked onto the gondola up to Sugarloaf Mountain. After taking some pictures we wandered around the shops, which were the most expensive of any shops we visited in Brazil. We bought a pressed penny for Gabe and a bag of candy-coated nuts. Lots of little monkeys were scurrying around looking for a treat. Erik said he never saw any monkeys on his mission except as pets. We eventually made our way back down off the mountains to a nice sunset view of Christ Redeemer.
Riding up to Sugarloaf Mountain
Flattening a copper coin souvenir for Gabe (no pressed pennies in Brazil).
Pointing out our hotel on Copacabana Beach
These guys were smaller than we expected.
Riding back down to the ticket office.
We caught an Uber to take us to dinner at the Churrascaria Palace. Erik thought it was inside the Copacabana Palace, so we walked around that hotel for a while. After asking a few people, we discovered that the restaurant was not inside the hotel but across the street. It was an interesting Brazilian Barbeque complete with sushi, oysters, and cheeses that we haven't had at other churrascarias. Surprisingly, they didn't have grilled pineapple.
Erik suggested we try pudim for dessert, which is like a Brazilian flan.
After dinner, we wandered around outside the Copacabana Palace. It has been around for about 100 years and has hosted many celebrities and politicians. Erik almost booked us a room there but decided to go with the other places because they were cheaper and newer.
We took another Uber back to our bed and breakfast. Erik was ready to go for an evening swim in our private pool, but the water was pretty chilly. I was too full from dinner to go swimming anyway.
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