After two sea days we entered the bay in Rio at 6:00 am on Monday, December 15. It is a spectacular arrival and everyone was on deck with countless photos being taken. The entire process of sailing in and docking took 2 hours and we watched the entire process with David supervising the Captain.
Around 9 am we joined a tour of Downtown Rio. The first place visited was a Monastery but we entered the lobby of a standard office building which confused us. It turns out it was just a short cut up the high hill.
The Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat(Portuguese: Abadia de Nossa Senhora do Monserrate), more commonly known as the Mosteiro de São Bento (Monastery of St. Benedict), is a Benedictine abbey located on the Morro de São Bento (St. Benedict Hill) in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Mannerist style church is a primary example of Portuguese colonial architecture in Rio and the country.
The abbey was founded by Benedictine monks who came from the state of Bahiain 1590. It is still operational today, along with the Colégio de São Bento (St. Benedict College) nearby. The college, established in 1858, is one of the most important traditional educational establishments in Brazil and claims many famous alumni. The abbey includes the Faculdade de São Bento (St. Benedict Seminary), with courses in theology and philosophy that are recognized by the Ministry of Education. Theological studies at the monastery are also affiliated with the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm in Rome.
The Monastery is very well maintained, and it was very peaceful inside. One unique feature is that there is a screen as you enter which causes your eyes to focus directly on the alter. Very interesting to see. There were wood carvings on the wall, carved to look like drapes being pulled back. These were well done however the angels holding them back were done in a crude form.
We then went behind the church to see the Museum of Tomorrow from the top of the hill. We were able to see the museum from the water as we sailed in as well.
The Museum of Tomorrow is a science museum. It was designed by Spanish neo futuristic architect Santiago Calatrava and built next to the waterfront at Pier Maua. The architecture is magnificent.
We then drove to through the downtown and stopped at a square to admire the beautiful opera house done to resemble the opera house in Paris. Then went to Escadaria Selarón, locally known as the 'Lapa Steps' for being situated at the "Lapa" neighbourhood, which is a set of world-famous exterior staircases. They are the work of Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón who claimed it as "my tribute to the Brazilian people". It started slowly but as it became more famous he received tiles from countries from all over the world. It’s a hodge podge but it feels like a place of unity where everyone can come and recognize our commonalities.
Then we went to Confeiteria Colombo, which is a very famous coffee shop with a beautiful interior. Our group was on the second floor, and there were no visible stairs, only 1 lift working, and the lift had an operator so no more than 5 people could enter at once. We were so glad that we weren’t there in a fire. The place was attractive but our experience was very disorganized, and they gave us some little meat balls instead of the sweets we anticipated, and the coffee was extremely bitter.
We then went by the Olympic cauldron which was designed by Anthony Howe. He wanted his work to “replicate the sun, using movement to mimic its pulsing energy and reflection of light." It is really intriguing to watch it move and I even videotaped it.
We walked across the street to the old Cathedral, Church of Our Lady of Candelaria. This has been replaced by a larger modern cathedral in 1979 that holds 20,000 people called the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian, better known as the Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro. The cathedral was designed by Edgar de Oliveira da Fonseca in a modern style based on Mayan architectural style of pyramids. We drove by it several times and it is quite unusual to see. Back at the old cathedral we found that they were holding a mass, so I just peaked in through the open front doors. It is very beautiful and I suspect I would find it more interesting than if I had visited the new cathedral.
We were glad to have a different perspective on the city as we had been to Christ Redeemer (both of us) and Sugarloaf (just me) on our last visit earlier this year.
In the morning we walked over to the Museum of Tomorrow for a nose around (we just walked around the facilities and admired the architecture) and the Modern Art Museum (which wasn’t yet open). After lunch, we took an Uber to the JW Marriott Hotel Rio on Copacabana Beach. The day prior had been sunny and warm with a nice breeze but today was somewhat overcast. So the beach was lightly populated. While we waited for our room to be ready we enjoyed the roof top pool under the umbrellas for a couple of hours.
In the morning we had our breakfast and then took a walk on the beach and touched he chilly waters of the Atlantic. Today it was completely overcast with ominous clouds suggesting impending rain. We then sat down on the empty beach and watched the waves aggressively hitting the shore. Of course, several vendors came by, mostly selling Globo cookies which can apparently only be found in Rio. And of course, we declined (actually we had ventured out only with our key cards and no phones or wallets). It was very nice just watching the waves with Sugarloaf Mountain in sight.
After a shower and check out we walked down to the Belmond Palace. Now this is a beautiful classic hotel but then again I believe the rate starts at 1000 USD per night.
We had lunch at the restaurant near the pool with Jean Sung & Peter Krismer. They are our good friends from Hong Kong, and they had just disembarked the Splendour that morning. So we jumped at the chance to get together, have some very nice Brazilian stew and have a very engaging political conversation. It’s always fun with Jean & Peter.
After the production cast show of Motown, the ship left the dock at 10:00 pm. We stood outside on our balcony watching the sites of Rio disappear into the night.