Despite having been to a number of new countries on this trip I had not yet done a ‘free walking tour’. These are a great way to get introduced to a new city, learn about the history, learn from a local and get advice on what to do, or maybe not what to do as you navigate your way in a new place. I thought Free Walker Tours did an excellent job in all these aspects. They do daily tours in different languages around downtown and the Lapa district. I enjoyed the and learned a lot as I ventured around Rio with other tourists from Italy, Austria and USA.

The Maracana soccer stadium is probably one of the most famous in the whole world. It’s home to Serie A games in the Brazilian league, but also the national team play here too. There are four changing rooms, so plenty of space to keep rival teams apart!
It was opened in 1950 and hosted many huge events here.

For work, for many, many years I have asked a World Cup question on soccer camp “Who or What is Sugar Loaf”. Sugarloaf of course is in Rio and is a mountain. There are two peaks, Morro de Urca and then Sugar Loaf. You need two cable cars to ride to the top, and it is a “long, long way up there’. It’s 1299 feet high and is made up there in the 65 person cable car that takes you up in two stages. The views from the top are magnificent.

My hotel had me based in Copacabana and I made the long walk along the Copacabana Orla, and then continued on to Ipanema Beach and beyond. On a sunny Saturday it was fun to just walk, see all the many people milling around on or to the beach, to the market or just hanging out for a beer at a favorite stop off point. It’s a glorious walk.

On my final day I had a few more things to do and see, and managed a great 23-mile wander around lots of new areas, seeing many cool places and a few scary moments, when I wasn’t so sure about my safety, but gotta wander.

I headed out at 8am to go to Christ the Redeemer, which is an art deco statue of Jesus Christ that is iconic in Rio de Janeiro. It’s a religious symbol, a cultural symbol and a symbol of Brazil, and an imposing 98 feet high. There are lots of different ways to get there, but I chose the one that goes by metro to Lago de Machado station, followed by a 40-minute walk and then taking the funicular tram from Cosme Velho. The views from Sugarloaf yesterday were amazing, but the perspective is just a little different from here. It is crazy busy, even early in the morning, and visitors are squeezed into a tight space to view the statue that overlooks Rio and can be seen from anywhere within the city. It’s pretty darn impressive.

I found my way to the Boulevard Olimpico for a view down by the Port.

In all I walked over 50 miles whilst in Rio and took a real sense of the city, saw the main attractions that can for sure be classed in the ‘must see’ category, and I was able to see a flavor on life in Rio with the street or beach side bars, the beach life that comes alive when the sun comes out and the areas of Botofogo, Flamengo, Gloria and Lapa and more that give different looks at the city.

Safety was a constant concern here, there are stories of it being a little less safe than many cities, and of course that is heightened because I am travelling alone and like to wander, but it turned out alright, as it usually does. It was fun! Time to move on.