Small Group Santa Teresa Tour

This morning I went on a small group tour to Santa Teresa, a neighborhood of Rio high up in the hills. Our small group consisted of two women originally from Poland who now live in the United States, our young male tour guide, and me. We met at a hotel around the corner from mine and walked, took the subway, and then a small bus up the hill to Santa Teresa. Photo: a colorful Metro station with changing colors.

Lapa Neighborhood

We walked from a Metro stop to the Lapa neighborhood of Rio. It is known for its nightlife and also for its many restored colonial buildings. The photo was taken from the small bus that we were on that would take us up the hill to Santa Teresa.

Santa Teresa

Those are tram tracks in the photo. The tram is being fixed after a bad accident in 2011. The tram was built in 1896. It is due to start running soon. The bus ride up to the top of Santa Teresa was very long.

Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa was an upper–class neighborhood in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but then became neglected. Many of the mansions and villas have now been restored and are quite beautiful.

Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa has also become an artist hotspot and there are many galleries and workshops here. There are also numerous murals.

Santa Teresa

Even telephone poles have been decorated.

Santa Teresa

Some of the views of Rio, such as this one of Sugarloaf Mountain, are spectacular here.

Selaron’s Staircase

We walked down the hill from Santa Teresa to Selaron’s Staircase, a masterpiece of over 2,000 tiles from over 60 countries. We spent extra time here as the Polish women were trying to find a tile from Poland. They were not successful.

I have put my photos of Selaron’s Staircase on a slide show. Go directly to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/rio–selaron–steps/

(Slide Shows, South America, Brazil, “Rio: Selaron’s Staircase”).

Cinelandia Neighborhood

From Selaron’s Staircase, we walked to the Cinelandia neighborhood in Rio’s central city. On the Praca Marechal Floriano, there are the Theatro Municipal which opened in 1909 and inspired by the Paris Opera of Charles Garnier (Photo) and the Town Hall and nearby are the National Library and the National Fine Arts Museum.

From here, we took the Metro and then walked back to Copacabana Beach. A fun and very interesting tour.

I have put my photos of our Santa Teresa tour on two slide shows. Go to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/rio–santa–teresa–1/

and

http://www.peggysphotos.com/rio–santa–teresa–2/

(Slide Shows, South America, Brazil, “Rio: Santa Teresa–1 and –2”).

Gate 1 Tour Group

Our Gate 1 tour group orientation meeting was this evening. We would have a tour manager, Silvina (on the right in the photo––she was from Argentina) and a local guide for Rio, Celina (on the left). The photo was taken another day. We had 30 people on our tour, all from the U.S. except for a man from Australia. In fact, there was even a couple from the city in which I live. It turned out to be a very good tour group.

That morning, I received an email from the U.S. Embassy in Brasila, Brazil, that alerted me to protests occurring in a few days in Rio and that we should avoid them in case they turned violent. There was a similar protest in Rio about two weeks ago which was peaceful. After being near protests in Thailand and Egypt where there was violence, I was somewhat concerned about it as the protest would probably be near our hotel. At the least, some of our sightseeing could be interrupted. However, I was away from our hotel almost all day of the protest and the protest was over by the time I returned, but it did make our taxi drive back to the hotel an extra long one as many streets were closed.

I registered with the U.S. State Department for my visit to Brazil as I was there two days early and on my own for those days. Probably a wise thing for travelers to do.

Dinner

We had a welcome dinner at a Brazilian barbecue restaurant with a buffet and all you can stuff in yourself of barbecued meat. All very good.

Dinner

I like this photo. What is he going to do with that knife?