There's a risk in front-loading a vacation. To be honest I'm not sure what the best way to order a trip is, especially when all the places are generally new so even if you have a preconceived notion of which is the best, you may be wrong. But that said, I came into this knowing there was a really high chance I would love Rio, and of course I did, and now I run the risk of the back half of the trip being relatively disappointing. Granted, that's part of the reason I threw Santiago onto the last couple days (a place that much like a Cape Town, or HCMC, I know well and know I will like). But what's really giving me anxiety is having left Rio where I had five basically cloud-free and literally rain free days, with what's becoming a pretty harrowing forecast for Iguazu Falls.
Well, after that long preamble, if we get to the day, it featured maybe the most notable tourism aspect of Rio, one that I intentionally left for a last - a trip to the Christ the Redeemer statue. I will say, I do wish the landing area at the summit was bigger - a la the midpoint stop up towards Pao do Acucar, but in reality maybe it was quite big but just way more crowded.
You can either buy tickets in advance or buy day of in line - but seemingly buying in line, despite Monday being a relatively quiet day, seems at least a 90min proposition in searing heat. The tram that takes you up takes a while, and sadly most of it is going through dense forest, but at a couple points there's a clearing and some spectacular views. Granted, these are teh same views you get even better at the top.
Once you do reach the top (the tram takes about 15-20 minutes) there's either a series of stairs or an elevator, of which I took the elevator up and stairs down (probably for the best). After the elevator, another series of stairs with this time the alternative being an escalator, which very weirdly was hardly being used (many did use the elevator). Anyway, I zoomed past the stairs people on the escalator and got finally to the summit. I do like that when you reach the top you are initially placed at the rear of the statue - truly saving the best for last.
In a couple worlds the setting is phenomenal. The statue itself is regal and beautiful and a testament to old inventiveness, to have this statue lording (pun intended) over Rio de Janeiro. I will say, I always assumed it was bigger than it is, but having seen it from the ground level many times now I wasn't surprised today. Separate to the statue is the amazing views of Rio below you. I truly believe this gives better views than from the top of Pao do Acucar, by quite some distance. You can see the city so clearly below you - the crazy curvature, the giant lake near Copacabana (i.e. not the ocean side), and many details that I hadn't really seen before. Rio laid out like this is amazing.
After a fairly harmless trek down, I took off for Parque Lage, my last bit of tourism in Rio. This is a large park at the base of the mountain that the Christ the Redeemer sits on, and also at a corner of the Tijuca National Park (of which you can access the rest of through a trail out of the park). The main site in Parque Lage is the Palacio that sits towards the front, with a clear view of the mountain and Christ the Redeemer behind it. It really is a glorious view. Less glorious was the diabolically slow moving line to get in the palace (and the grounds of it, which take up the back two-thirds of the park). I gave up after 20 or so minutes with it seeming like the line was advancing 5 people per 15 minutes (I was about 30th in line). Overall, the view is great, but I'm notreally sure why it is so slow moving.
I left partially because I needed to grab a final steak in Rio before leaving (not planning to eat steak in Sao Paulo). The last spot was Majorica, which is an upscaled version of Braserie de Gavea from last night. Not really upscale in cost, but was mostly indoors, white tablecloths, more classy. In Brazil, this doesn't really mean better - it was about the same in being still fantastic. They have the same starting link of sausage, and then I ordered a heart of palm salad which was outstanding. For the steak, I got a top sirloin, which I wanted medium rare but it seemed they heard it through my accent as medium well.
I've never given back a steak in my life (though admittedly never really had reason to....), but kind of had to do so here. We joked about the lost in translation nature and they kindly refired another, which was bigger and if anything they went a bit too far the other way and gave it more rare. Was still excellent however. Brazil steak is for me right up there with its more famous neighbor in Argentina.
From there I had to head to the airport - this one being Santos Dumont, which is a story in itself. It is like London City airport, basically right in downtown, and the flight path when taking off takes you right over Pao do Acucar. Lukcily I had booked a window seat in the direction facing Rio, because I have to now admit two lies from earlier in teh piece. First, Parque Lage was not the last bit of tourism, and the best view of Rio is not from the Christ the Redeemer - because my God was that view from teh plane just magical. It was dusk when we took off, and you can literally see Rio just perfectly splayed out in front of you. We literally flew basically over Pao do Acucar - so early on you get the northern part of Rio (Centro, Santa Teresa, Botofago, etc.) and then the plane banks perfectly over to where you get a perfect view of Copacana and Ipanema, glistening with theri lights now on. Sure the view would have been even better during the day, but this was still a perfect way to say goodbye to Rio.
Landing in Sao Paulo and getting to my AirBNB was a breeze, the AirBNB in a super modern building - though the space itself is a small one bedreem, but with every amenity. It takes two seconds to realize in a way what Sao Paulo is about - this is the financial hub of the country and therefore is richer, more well built up, with fancier shops, restaurants, bars, etc., but ones that are far more similar to those in NYC than the uniqueness of Rio. Completely understand anyone's view that Rio is the better place to visit, but if you want / need to live in Brazil, Sao Paulo is a better go.
Dinner was at A Casa do Porco, the super highly rated pork-focused spot. More on that in a minute, but first was drinks at Fel, a really beautiful cocktail spot - large stone columns inside, calssy decor. The drinks were good, if not amazing, but again you get a level of precision (driven by wealth) in Sao Paulo. Anyway, to the meal, which was unreal. It is pork in every way. It is also $45 - the owners making a commitment to serving tweezery, 15-course meals (technically 8, but with a slew of small bites bundled into separate courses) at an affordable price point. All the plaudits to them - even getting the wine pairing gets you to $80.
The meal was great, as is that they have a routine 10pm seating window which allowed me to eat here despite landing at 7:30pm. It did leave me with few options for postt dinner, as Monday truly is a quiet night, but after a bit of googling (after my initial spot was closed for a private event) I ended up at a scene. The spot was Riveira Club, which is open 24/7 - like literally so. It is a mob of people late at night, but is also super secure and has the same pay by hotel room key card type thing that D-Edge had. There were people from all walks of life. The weirdest part is while it isn't really a cocktail bar (most were ordering beer) their cocktails were amazing. I spent way more time there than expected, and of course was able to end the night at a shawarma spot two blocks from the AirBNB. You can run from Shawarma, but can't escape it.
