Rio de Janeiro is a huge
seaside city in Brazil, famed for its Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, 38m
Christ the Redeemer statue atop Mount Corcovado and for Sugarloaf Mountain, a
granite peak with cable cars to its summit. The city is also known for its sprawling
favelas (shanty towns). Its raucous Carnaval festival, featuring parade floats,
flamboyant costumes and samba dancers, is considered the world’s largest. The city
is about 1,255 km² and founded in March 1565. This is how Google described Rio.
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| Near Boulevard Olímpico |
I would like to add few things
here. People of Rio de Janeiro are called “Cariocas”. Although Carioca means
anything related to the City of Rio de Janeiro. Most of the people of Rio are amazingly
nice. They love partying, listening music with Bar-B-Que and alcohol.
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| Museum of Tomorrow |
Although to some outsiders Rio
is one of the most dangerous cities in the world and it has some bad
reputation. Especially the slums are very dangerous. I happened to live very
close to a slum and saw people (even very young age) carrying guns.
Surprisingly I was not scared and fortunately never had to experience anything
bad.
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| Fort Copacabana |
There are so many places that
you can visit while you are in Rio. Although most tourists know few places.
People who consider themselves travelers, they always try and go beyond what
others do.
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| Pizza Hut, Rio with WhatsApp Group. Cutest daughter of Paula |
Before moving to Rio we formed
a WatsApp Group and we (members of that group who were available) decided to
catch-up near Ipanema Beach. We decided to meet at Pizza Hut on 24
th
August 2016 in the evening. Razan Bhai was not a member of that group however I
invited him to join us and he agreed.
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| Fort Copacabana |
As the catch up party was
scheduled in the evening we decided to utilize the whole day but we did not
wanna go too far. Fort Copacabana was on my long list of places that I wanted
to visit. We decided to pay a visit to the fort as it was closed to the Pizza Restaurant.
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| Fort Copacabana |
Fort Copacabana (Portuguese:
Forte de Copacabana, IPA: is a military base at the south end of the beach that
defines the district of Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro. The base is open to the
public and contains the Museu Histórico do Exército (Army Historical Museum)
and a coastal defense fort that is the actual Fort Copacabana. This is such a fascinating
place where you can spend the whole day.
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| Fort Copacabana |
The fort is built on a
headland that originally contained a small chapel holding a replica of the
Virgen de Copacabana, the patron saint of Bolivia. In 1908 the Brazilian army
started to build a modern coastal defense fort on the headland to protect both
the beach of Copacabana and the entrance to the harbor of Rio de Janeiro. The
fort, completed in 1914, consists of two armoured cupolas, one holding a pair
of 305 mm (12 in) Krupp cannons, and the other a pair of 190 mm (7 1⁄2 in)
Krupp cannons. - “WIKI”
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| Fort Copacabana |
The hours for the Museum are
10 am to 6 pm and the fort are 10 am to 8 pm, Tuesday to Sunday and holidays.
Admission for adults is R$6 per adult; there are discounts and free tours for
the elderly and children. I paid half as I used student card however Razan Bhai
had to pay the full price and he was not happy about that. At the entrance to
the base there is a guard in the uniform that was current when the fort was
opened in 1914.
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| Pizza Hut, Rio with WhatsApp Group |
We sent almost the entire day
at the Fort. Pizza Hut was about 15 minutes walking distance from the Fort. My lovely
friend from Turkey Pelin knocked me on WhatsApp. She said he is on her way and
should arrive at the restaurant by 6 PM. Me and Razan Bhai decided to go and
join them.
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| Pizza Hut, Rio with WhatsApp Group |
We were super excited as we were about to meet with people from
different countries with whom we chatted years in WhatsApp. By 7PM almost
everyone came in and the non-stop eating and conversation begun. We were about
20 people and stayed there till around 10 PM. This is where I met Lu (the admin
of the Group) from Brazil, Pelin from Turkey, Sharan from India, Matheus from
Rio, Paula from Rio with he mother and 2 beautiful daughters, Laurent from France, Anne from France, Michelly from Rio
and some other lovely people. A day well spent.
< To Be Continued >
