Day 16: we left Ilha Grande in the morning at 9am, on a smaller boat this time rather than a big ferry, to the small port of Mangaratiba then had a, supposedly, two hour bus journey to Rio. The traffic was so busy though in Rio it took us over an hour to get across the city. We arrived about 2:30pm, we were aiming to arrive for 1pm as we were all booked on a Rio city tour for the afternoon. We checked into our hotel just one block from the beautiful Copacabana beach then immediately left for the 'city tour'. Our first stop was the impressive 'Christ the Redeemer' statue on top of Corcovado, (hunchback) a 710m high peak. At 38 metres high the statue was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007 with fantastic views of the whole of Rio from the top. Afterwards we drove through the Santa Maria area set on a hillside it's an area renowned for its artists, bohemians and its tram car. The tram streetcar however was not running any more following a fatal derailment involving a few people in 2011 but is shortly to reopen. Next we visited the Lapa area and the outside of a weird conical shaped cathedral building. Then on to 'Escadaria Selaron', Rios most famous staircase. The legacy of an eccentric Chilean artist, Selaron, who since 1990 covered 215 steps with over 2000 ceramic tiles from 120 countries in a mosaic pattern, changing them regularly. Fantastic artwork, sadly Selaron was found dead on the stairs in 2012 under mysterious circumstances. Finally we headed for the cable car up to Sugar Loaf Mountain for more fantastic views of the city, Christ the Redeemer statue in the distance and a great sunset.
We didn't get back to our hotel until 8:15pm so it was gone nine by the time everyone had got showered and changed ready for our last group meal out. We went to a BBQ/buffet style restaurant, great food once again and did our secret friend pressy swops.
Day 17: our trip officially finished at breakfast this morning. Our hotel, its restaurant on the 14th floor, had fantastic views over Copacabana beach. A few of us were hoping to go on a 'Favela' tour in the morning but were too late back last night to book it. Instead Nigel and I had a wander along Copacabana beach front, Copacabana beach is a beautiful curved beach 4.5km long. No sunbathing though, we were still a bit sunburnt from our Lopes Mendes beach day. We then wandered further to Ipanema beach. We had a very relaxing day enjoying the beach views, hot weather though breezy by the sea, drinks by the beach and lunch in town. Nigel was hoping to find some cheap left over World Cup merchandise, nothing. The only reference to the world cup actually taking place in Rio we saw was a small mural/graffitti on a wall.
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