I was wondering if Sunday in Rio would be notably quieter than Friday or Saturday, bur as I figured out fairly soon it is most certainly not. Much like my favorite Cape Town, Monday seems to be a bit of a "everything is closed" day, but Sunday is definitely not this way. Now, some of the late night spots that would've otherwise been open to 1am - 2am maybe close earlier (as we'll get to), but the Boteco's and street bars serving Chopp (draft beer) that are generally open until 3-4am and still open to that time on Sunday as well.
After that long preamble, let's get to the actual events of the day. It started with a trip in nature, in theory doing so before the height of the heat but as I'm quickly learning, it is inescapable here. Not that I'm complaining - I knew what I was getting into coming to Rio in the middle of their summer. Anyway, the first stop was the Jardim Botanico (Botanical Garden) of Rio - a tight 15x15 type area tucked into another new neighborhood called Gavea, which I would return to much later.
Actually I was dropped a ways away from the actual garden entrance, as right now on one side of the road sits the gardens adn the other side is the Jockey Club, which converts into a tennis area during the Rio Open, which of course is starting today. So it made what was already going to be a heavy walking tourist stop into more of one, but the street was well lined with trees - as of course is the gardens themselves.
The garden itself is quite beautiful. It's not as audacious as say Kirstenbosch, but also is far closer to the actual city - it's always nice when places carve out a big area that otherwise could be prime real estate for this. Inside the gardens were a number of areas that all had their own style - from overly foresty, to one area featuring Amazonic ferns and flora, to more open areas with flower beds, statues and fountains. The middle two intersecting lanes are lined with giant, truly giant palm trees, and the view of the montain with Christ the Redeemer sitting on top on one end. It's a stunning main event within the gardens.
The gardens are a great time waste of about 60-90 minutes (I was on the shorter end, given the heat), and is probably the easiest way to get in touch with flora within Rio - the other two being Parque Lage (which i plan to go to tomorrow) and Tijuca National Forest, which sits outside the city and will be high on my list for a subsequent trip (that and the Maracana are basically the two things I didn't check off my list this time).
From there it was time to head to lunch, this meal also inspired by Somebody Feel Phil, as I took a trip to Aconchego Carioca, which serves dishes taken from the streets. In a way, all my lunches have been similar so far, but this was the place with street food most at its heart. Now, in Brazil that means a whole lot of fried stuff, and cheese and what-not, but damn if some of taht still isn't just really good. First off, their version of a standard Gin & Tonic is always execllent, and doubly so here with a nice touch of juniper berries directly in the glass, slightly cracked to infuse even more flavor.
For food, I started with two sets of three bolinhos - one a croquette filled with minced pork belly (excellent, if a bit dry), and manoic balls that come with a gorgeous yellow shrimp sauce that you put on top. Those were otustanding. My main was nearly as good - a guava sauce slathered pork rib set with "angu de pastel" meaning fried bread stuffed with cheese and with a dusting of sugar powder outside. Yes, this was super decadent. I was planning a good amount of walking and dinner wouldn't be until 9pm or so, and I admittedly didn't finish all of it. Not due to taste - Aconchego Carioca was fantastic, with my only quibble a lack of AC (they had fans, though not the most effective).
From there, I checked off the last two art museums, and probably last two new neighborhoods, off my list. First was the Museum of Modern Art (stylized as MAM) which sits in the Flamengo neighborhood, right up agaisnt the water and basically opposite the Santos Dumont airport (the road leading to it is the same). The museum is built in this modern industrial building, is free - and probably rightfully so as there isn't a ton of exhibits. What there is of there, though, is quite good - mainly now was an exhibition called "shapes of water" with various modern art pieces inspired by water, and then a side exhibit of "History of Brazilian Art" which focused on like the 1900-1980 period, with various Brazilian luminaries artwork being exposed. It was quick, but super effective.
As was the nice walk along the water next to it as well. The Flamengo area being notable for having a small beach but a wider strip of park area with running lanes and the like alongside the coast. A different vibe than Copacabana or Ipanema to be sure.
The last stop was a ways away and flatly probably not worth the time it took to go and get back. It is the Museum of Contemporary Art Niteroi which is in Niteroi, a separate city on the other side of the bay. It took about 20 minutes to reach, a good amount on a giant bridge that connects Rio with Niteroi. The view from the bridge is stunning, and Niteroi itself seems to be quite an upmarket area - something similar in my memory to Vina del Mar in Chile. There were some beautiful seaside buildings that almost immediately start risiing up the cliff face.
The museum itself is notable first for its design - craeted by famous Brazilian architect (at least famous in architecture circles) Oscar Niemayer, the swirling design right on the cliff face is truly beautiful. Inside is anotehr smallish museum with three exhibits in this case, though again each one is curated well. The main one was featuring the art of Carlos Coelho, who seems to be something of a luminary himself. Then there was a series of modern sculpture from 1980-2017, which was a fun walk through forty years of design. Lastly was what might be to a Brazilian the least interesting, but to me the most - a circular walk through of costume designs used in last year's Carnaval. There was some theme from last year that I couldn't really discern, but the grandoise nature of the costumes, adn a collection of photos showing the size of the Carnaval on each side, was illuminating. It truly does look like such the scene, and one I'm probably fine missing this time but would like to experience at some point.
From Niteroi, I took the reverse route back over the Rio and back to Santa Teresa - the main stop being a handicraft store named La Vereda, but also to do a bit of walking around central Santa Teresa. It's small alleyways humming with life around 5pm - botecos filled to the brim, quite a few of tehm with live bands playing samba or bossa nova. There's just a constant sense of life in places like this. Even teh stores themselves were great - many selling clothes, which I'm not really into, but La Vereda did turn our amazing - just what a wanted, a place with a ton of everything all made in Brazil. If you want simple coasters, they have that. If you want prints, they have those. If you want stone work, they have that. If you want giant, good artwork, they have that. I did want the first three things - not the last.
From there, I went to a brewery called Three Monkeys, which I'm pretty sure is a name used by craft beer providers across the world - for instance I'm pretty sure that there was a Three Monkeys brewery or bar in both Palermo and Victoria Falls. Anyway, this one has the fairly novel setup where you pour taps yourself, pay by mL which is really nice allowing you to try out a bunch. They had a really amazing stout which sadly they did not have in bottle form for sale. Beer is key in Brazil, though I will say their craft options do seem maybe more limited than other recent countries I've been to.
After a session of R&R at the AirBNB, and packing up, I headed over to Gavea to go to Braserie de Gavea, a famed local steak spot that churns through tables and giant cuts of steak at good pace and quality. The place was packed - as was the nearby botecos and other bars, most open in this little enclave of Rio to 1am on a Sunday (as was the steakhouse). After about a 10 minute wait I was seated and given a menu with just pictures and portugeuse. I soon learned they come around with freshly smoked sausage that you can buy per link, served in churrascaria style. Then you can order a series of steak options but all cut to feed 2-3. They didn't really have single size portions of any of the interesting stuff. So I of coursed order a picanha with sides of farofa and rice mixed with a ton of veggies and pork (of course!). It was of course way too much food, but was so damn good. Even the fried rice was excellent - the steak was sublime, with me finishing about half of it and taking the rest to go (though as a spoiler, I had maybe two more slices late night). Overall Braserie de Gavea is popular for a reason.
I decided to go back to Leblon, another area that seemingly has more open late night on Sunday options than other areas. First I went back to Liz Cocktail, which closes at 12:30, but was once again excellent. I tried all new ones this time, including a few which is their spin on old classics (like their version of a paper plane), and all were just really well crafted and easy to drink (if anything, too easy). To end the night, and the nightlife portion of my time in Rio, I walked down the road to Jobi, a old school boteco type place that is open till 4am daily, with white shirt and tie waiters that sold ice cold chopp (draft beer - basic choice), and a series of late night sandwhiches in the like. I didn't have space for the sandwhich options, but juding by how others looked, I imagine they were excellent. It was a great place to thrown down a couple chopps (as always served in small portions - Brazil is crazy about ensuring a beer is never drank room temperature), and called it a night in this marvelous city.
