It’s the first time I use capital letters on a title of a post but all I really want to say if you are going to Rio for just 3 days better not go… Indeed, that was my experience there. It’s just frustration that I felt when leaving this city. Rio de Janeiro has so many attractions and activities to offer to its visitors so it needs time to immerse into the culture and see everything.
I know, I started this post by announcing my sad departure back to Morocco via São Paulo but to read what I’ve done during the 3 days in Rio, click “Continue Reading”.
After some days in the gigantic city of São Paulo, I took a coach to Rio on a Tuesday around 10am to arrive after 5 hours and a 30 minute stop to get a snack. The countryside of the two regions of SP and RJ are amazing but when arriving to Rio it felt just like when I travel from Casablanca to Marrakech… Hot as hell, a not-so-organised bus station and taxis shouting to get tourists attention. I took a taxi to Botafogo where I stayed the whole time. Botafogo is a nice area, safe, residential and very close to everything that matters in Rio and Zona Sul, the heart of entertainment of the city.
I started my exploration of Rio by a Free Walking Tour that took me and a dozen of tourists around the streets of the Central Area of Rio, we started at Carioca and ended up near Lapa stairs. At first, we waited for several minutes to get the whole group together while I was chatting to some other travellers coming from Sweden, Colombia, Australia, France and from every corner of the planet. The guide then started the tour by explaining what Carioca means… hard to guess but it’s the demonym to refer to inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro. After this first interesting information, we started our walk towards the first church of Rio and later some classical places such as Carmen Miranda’s house and The King’s Palace. The last stop was Lapa stairs which are simply amazing with all the colours.
The day has been very hot so I stayed at my hostel the whole afternoon to get some rest. Around 7pm, I decided to get to Copacabana Beach to witness the beautiful sunset. I cached just a glimpse of it but it was still amazing… Children kept playing their favourite sports in the beach, football and volleyball. I took a walk around despite the hot temperatures lasting till night!
The next day, I got back to the beach. This time I went to Ipanema Beach that I did enjoy very much, it was just like I imagined it and just like I saw it on TV. I took a very cold and fresh Maracuja and Pineapple juice. I was there at 9 and already very hot and I stupidly did not use sun protection, I counted my time there it was exactly 2 hours, later, I was so red I still suffer from this sun burn up till now one week later!
At noon, I had to check out from the hostel but I was quite sad to do it… I just added an extra night in Rio risking me missing my flight back to Morocco from São Paulo but I did manage to organise my time. On the afternoon, I visited the Pão de Azucar from where I had a gorgeous view of Rio and all it’s landmarks. That point was simply great to look over the city, see its natural beauty and face The Christ. Later at night, I joined the Couch Surfing meeting alongside people from my hostel in Copacabana where I met lot of locals and had a great time.
Sadly, 4am was the time I had to leave… I left my heart in this place miles away from home. I love Rio de Janeiro very much and I just added to my bucket list: live at least one month in Rio. I’ll release my videos from the trip very soon, so stay tuned! 🙂
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