The following day we continued exploring the city of Rio de Janeiro but this time we did it entirely on our own. If you are joining us for the first time or just missed the last post, you can find it
here. Today we set our foot to see yet another world-famous site of Rio de Janeiro,
Escadaria Selaron, also know as
Selaron Steps and while in the area, see if something else would tickle our interest.
We also considered, based on my daughter's suggestion, a visit to
Parque de Ruinas, a small public park and an art gallery nest around an old ruined mansion that provided the best views over the city;the other suggestion was to catch an old fashioned Santa Teresa tram which runs from the city deep into the neighbourhood and you can get on it and wander off at any time to explore whenever something interesting catches your eye.
That was the plan but once we shared it with the hotel's concierge and asked him for directions, it become obvious that our plan had a couple of flaws . With a grim expression he explained that due to the dangerous situation inside the one of the
favelas (Portugese word for a slum) situated in the area of one of our points of interest
(Santa Teresa), the hotel strongly recommends its guests to avoid it. On top of that, turned out that there was not a quick and direct way to get there, the nearest train station was within 20 minutes by car.
Our enthusiasm not much dampened by these unexpected obstacles, we decided that we will not adhere to our original plan but will approach it with caution. And with that resolution in mind, we hailed a cab.
The ride in the subway was uneventful and soon we emerged from the underground and into the hot steamy streets of
Santa Teresa and walked to the
Steps admiring the graffiti on the neighbouring walls.
They are the work of Chilean born artist
Jeorge Selaron who claimed them "as his tribute to the Brazilian people". At the beginning,
Selaron just wanted to repair the broken tiles of the steps that ran in front of his house by replacing the damaged parts with fragments of blue, green and yellow tiles (the colours of the Brazilian national flag).
But what started as a side-project gradually become his obsession. He was constantly out of money and had to sell his paintings to fund his work.
Finally after more then 20 years in the making, the Steps, his labour of love as he called them, were completed. Not soon after, he was found dead, lying on the famous steps.
We spent quite some time walking up and down the Steps, looking closely on the patterns of the tiles, apparently over 2000, that covered them. Their motifs as wide ranging as the artist's imagination.
On the way back, we spotted an old viaduct with a old-fashioned open yellow tram running on top of it. After asking around, we found a ticket office and boarded it. It rattled along the old train racks, climbing up deeper into the neighbourhood.
We were very tempted to jump off and take a stroll along the foreign streets but with the warming form the concierge resonating in our ears, we rejected the temptation.
"THE STEPS WERE HIS CONTRIBUTION
TO THE BRAZILIAN PEOPLE"
While we were on the train, a very unusual architectural structure in a conical shape caught our attention, so as soon as we disembarked, we headed towards it.
Its shape vaguely reminded me of the shape of the Egyptian pyramids but when we, still puzzled came closer to it and saw cross, we realised we inadvertently found what we were looking for, a world renowned
Metropolitan Cathedral of San Sebastian, the patron saint of the city,
better known as
Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro.
Neither my husband nor I have ever seen a religious edifice build in such an unorthodox fashion and inside it looked as extraordinary.
While the conical shape symbolises the closeness of people in relation to God, the light that spreads down from the four arms of the cross symbolises God descending and coming against man.
The sun was almost touching the horizon, when we, totally exhausted, left the Cathedral. Luckily for us, a vacant cab was parked nearby. Without hesitation we jumped into it and asked the driver to take us back to the hotel. That was more than enough for one day.
And of course, you can't stay in Rio and not go to the beach, at least once. Even if your hotel comes with the private stretch of sand, you should venture outside the ropes and mingle with the locals and we planned to spend the first half of our last day in Rio doing just that.
As for the afternoon, we wanted to do a bit of shopping followed by a nice quiet dinner but where not sure where to go and asked the concierge. He suggested that we should go Leblon, an upscale area of the city known for its trendy beach, hip restaurants and bars and a vast array of small designer boutiques as well as a big and modern shopping mall. Actually, we were not really interested in a big shopping mall since they all look almost identical no matter where you are but I did however, come across a small boutique where I bought a couple of pieces of clothing which I will model for you at some time in the future. After a delicious dinner at a French bistro and a stroll around the block, we took a taxi back to the hotel. It was a perfect day to end our stay in this exciting city!!!
Early the next morning, we were on the plane to Buenos Aires.
