Rich in history, brimming with beauty, Rio is Brazil’s slice of paradise.
 
Fabulous Rio! Magic Rio! The very name evokes a warm feeling of celebratory joy. “When my baby smiles at me I go to Rio,” says a popular song, and everyone knows without being told that it’s talking about a heavenly place. And Rio de Janeiro up close does not disappoint. It comes through on its promise with great fanfare.
 
It’s the land of Carnival, the most spectacular, colorful party in the world. It’s the home of Carmen Miranda, whose fruit-stacked headdress symbolized the flair and joie de vivre. Its latitude is near that of the Tropic of Capricorn, (comparable to the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere, which runs about half way between Miami and Cancun). The climate is perfect for human habitation, comfort and pleasure. The land is lush and fertile. The warm air smells of the sea. Rio is a city of beaches, with the legendary Ipanema, Copacabana and Leblon beaches, and many lesser known beaches, forming a rim around a city that extends far into the ocean.
 
The harbor is one of the most spectacular in the world, instantly recognizable with the mountains that jut ruggedly into the sky right up to the water’s edge in many cases. One of the most distinctive is the unmistakable Sugar Loaf Mountain, a giant monolith of granite and quartz that juts up from a promontory and extends far into the Guanacasta Bay. It was named by the Portuguese traders because of its resemblance to the lumps of sugar that were shipped from the cane fields of Brazil to the markets of Europe; and it’s one of the features that gives the harbor its unique identity.
 
Even more unmistakable and spectacular is Corcovado (Portuguese for hunchback) Mountain, towering high over the city and harbor, with its 130-foot statue of Christ the Redeemer perched on the very top of the 2,296-foot-high peak, arms spread wide, as if in a gesture of welcome. The 700-ton statue made headlines last February when it was struck by a spectacular bolt of lightning which parted the clouds and produced some amazing photographs that shot around the world via the Internet. The statue was unfazed.
 
For many, Rio is best known for its music, from its lively, festive Samba to its cool, jazzy Bossanova. The sultry “Girl from Ipanema,” written by composer Antonio Carlos Jobim (or “Tom” as this favorite son of Rio is called) has been many people’s first experience of Rio. Rio’s international airport is named after Jobim.
 
It doesn’t take a lot of guidance to have a great time in Rio, though a professional guide will reveal the layers that elude the uninformed eye. A hotel room on Avenida Atlantica, which runs along Copacabana Beach, is all you need to enjoy paradise. The city unfolds there before your eyes. The beach itself is worth as many hours as can be spent there. Both Corcovado and Sugar Loaf are visible from the beach, leaving no doubt as to where you are. There are enough outdoor cafes along the beach drive to keep you busy for months just trying different menus and ambiences. Even with the current weakness of the dollar, the price of a meal in Rio is remarkably painless. You’ll find yourself looking closely at the check to see if the price is as low as it looks.
 
Taking the cable car to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain is as close to a must-do as there is in a place where the beach is almost too good to leave. To get to it, you first ride a cable car from Urca Beach (where Carmen Miranda was discovered performing in a beachfront casino by an American film producer), to Urca Hill, a little brother to Sugar Loaf. That ride is in itself a thrill and takes you to a high vantage point with great panoramic views of the city and the bay. It’s an experience to be savored before going on to the second leg of the trip, a second cable car ride that goes all the way to the peak of Sugar Loaf Mountain. The observation deck is a very pleasant place to spend some time, with tables and chairs, and a concession stand where you can buy drinks and food, and enjoy them while looking out over one of the most exhilarating panoramas in the world.
 
Another obligatory item on any first-time itinerary to Rio is a trip up Corcovado, to take in the 360-degree view of the city and its environs. The trip can be taken by car or by a historic rack and pinion train that travels through the Tijuca National Park to the top of the mountain. There you can ride one of three panoramic elevators or two escalators to the observation deck on the upper platform. On the same trip you can visit the Tijuca Forest and the Museum of Naïve Art. For those who are particularly ambitious for adventure and feeling flush, Corcovado can also be reached by helicopter.
 
Other ways to experience Rio include taking a boat ride on Guanbara Bay, visiting the Botannical Gardens, walking in Flamengo Park near Flamengo Beach, or biking or pedal boating around the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon. And then there is culture. Rio’s culture dates back more than five centuries. At a time when the Pilgrims were just staking their claim at Plymouth Rock, Rio already had a rich history dating back more than a century. It was discovered in 1502 by a Portuguese fleet led by Goncalo Coelho. Coelho’s chief pilot, the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci thought the bay was the mouth of a river, and since it was Jan. 1, he named it Rio de Janeiro, or River of January. Although it was later discovered that that the water was not a river after all, Vespucci’s names had a way of sticking.
 
By the time the Portuguese arrived in Rio, the indigenous Tupinambás had already inhabited the area for a millennium. Though they were naked, had cannibalistic rituals, no written laws and no private property, their cultural influence on subsequent historical developments should not be underestimated. When Vespucci wrote a letter describing them to Lorenzo de Medici back in Florence, the letter was widely disseminated throughout Europe. It created a discussion that led to such writings as “In Praise of Folly” by Erasmus; “Utopia” by Thomas More; “On the Cannibals” by Montaigne; and influenced Montesquieu, Diderot and Voltaire; finally culminating in Rousseau’s concept of the “noble savage.” Considering that those writers’ paved the ground for the French Revolution, the Tupinambás left quite a mark on the world.
 
In fact Rio was a French settlement before it was Portuguese. After the Portuguese discovered it, they ignored it, preoccupied with Salvador, Bahia, which they had established in 1500. So when the French Norman and Breton pirates pulled into the bay in 1504, and there was no one to tell them to leave, they made themselves at home. They got on well with the Tupinambás and even interbred with them, creating a French-Tupinambá hybrid culture.
 
In 1554 the French naval officer Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon convinced France’s King Henri II to allow him to start an Antarctic France colony in Rio, which he did the next year, bringing a fleet of two ships and 600 soldiers, and building a fort on the island of Serigipe. With the help of the Tupinambás he began to build the city of Henriville on what is now Flamengo Beach. Villegagnon’s biggest problem was his men defecting to go off with the Tupinambá women, which they did in great numbers, even at the risk of capital punishment. In 1560 the Portuguese came to reclaim Rio and destroyed the fort, but withdrew. Five years later in 1565 the Portuguese came in earnest, burned Henriville to the ground and officially established their own city.
 
Rio was the capital of Brazil for 320 years, until the founding of Brasilia in 1960. It was capital of Portugal from 1808 when the emperor of Portugal went there fleeing Napoleon, until 1889 when Brazil became an independent republic. The rich layers of history can still be seen and felt, especially in the downtown city center, in areas such as Castelo and Praça Quinze, which were the first sections of the city to be inhabited. 

David Cogswell
Executive Editor