BRASIL DAY 3

So the weatherman is correct. A beautiful day in Rio.I decided to to find another hostel in another suburb of Rio called St Theresa, which is the older side of town and from what I gathered,a lively neighbourhood called Lapa, a walking distant away.Checked out and took a taxi and checked into Rio Hostel around 11.30 am. Noticed a tour on their notice board and at 12.30 pm, I was picked up by the tour operator.
Yeah!! I am starting to enjoy Rio.
Itinerary started with Christ, The Redeemer,then to Macarana ( at one stage the worlds largest soccer stadium with seating for 200,000. A collapse of one part of the stadium, killing 24 people, resulted in seating being redesigned to distribute seating weight and now only seats about 90 000), a city tour pointing out some historical buildings, a visit to a modern cathedral, the Sambadrome where the Rio Carnival schools compete with each other during the carnival and then lastly Sugarloaf Mountain.

Below Christ, the Redeemer. Maintenance was taking place, so it was not possible to see base.

Below picture of cathedral. It is stunning inside, but my pictures taken inside,were a bit of a flop.So I used a picture from the internet to give you an idea of the inside.

Then we were off to theMacarana stadium but were not allowed into the stadium. We were only shown the footprints of all the famous Brazilian soccer players.Here is Ronaldo's

Then we were off to the Sambadrome. Not much to see really, but you get an idea. Spectators sit on left and right and floats and dancers pass in front of them. There are about 60 Samba schools competing every year with each entering up to 4 000 participants.

Off to Sugarloaf to get the sunset view. This was the highlight for me. The view from here can only be described as wow. Hope the pictures can convey that.

Back at the hostel at about 7.30, I got myself a beer and admired the view from my balcony.

It has been a great day.