Rio de Janeiro

[Gileno Machado]

I just came across this website and wanted to share. These photos are not the best ones I've seen of Rio but it is interesting to take a complete panoramic 360° view of the most touristic spots. I hope you enjoy, especially the beach scenes in Copacabana and Ipanema.

Rio de Janeiro 360° photos

[Bennz]

Thanks Gileno, I found this very interesting. Showing my bias, I was surprised at the relative absence of mature Cocos on the beaches, possibly my bias as I have only expereinced tropical beaches in the South Pacific Islands, Australia and Indonesia, where a beach without very old Cocos are hard to find. All the palms I saw on there looked to be comparatively young.

I would love to visit Brazil, Everytime I see pictures of Rio it appears to be one of the most beautifully situated cities there is. I love all those hills and forest areas.

Ah well, at least the Queen palms look familiar!

Ben

[SubTropicRay]

This was quite fascinating Gileno, thank you.

[MattyB]

What a cool website.  I feel like I was there.

[Gileno Machado]

Glad you appreciated...

Rio de Janeiro is a very special town for me and these pictures don't do it justice in any way. When I was 18 I spent a whole summer vacation at a cousin's apartment in Av. Atlântica, seafront Copacabana and those were some of the best holidays in my life. People in Rio have a very relaxed atitude and friendly approach...life goes on slowly, the city never sleeps and every minute is meant to be enjoyed there. Totally different from the other big cities in this country, like São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, etc. It is a pitty that Rio became so much more violent than in the old days...the drug mafias control the favelas (poor neighborhoods) in the hills and I wouldn't walk alone at midnight in Ipanema beach now as I used to do in the 80's. Still, this is the cultural and touristic capital of South America, and IMO the most beautiful town on earth.

Sugar Loaf mountain at the Guanabara bay and the old downtown centre. Copacabana beach on the right, view from uphill Morro Santa Marta:

[Gileno Machado]

One for Bo Göran and his aviation love:

Old domestic terminal at Santos Dumont Airport. Notice the Rio-Niterói bridge in the background, across the bay (14.5 km long).

[Gileno Machado]

Now this is still the place to find the most beautiful girls in this Country:

That strip of land between the lake (Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas) and the Atlantic ocean called Ipanema. The beachfront apartments cost the highest per square meter in Brazil and the avenue was immortalized by the songs of Tom Jobim, sung by Frank Sinatra in the 70's.

The Jockey Club is on the right side of the photo.

[Kom Thai Palm]

Gileno, Very beautiful and great city one I've seen.

[Nigel]

(Gileno Machado @ May 03 2007,20:38)

QUOTE

Now this is still the place to find the most beautiful girls in this Country:

Gileno, is this true ?

Then I have been deceived, I was told the place for the most beautiful girls was Florianopolis !

I would like to visit Rio, but the reports about violence do put me off.

[Gileno Machado]

(Nigel @ May 06 2007,03:26)

QUOTE

I was told the place for the most beautiful girls was Florianopolis !

I would like to visit Rio, but the reports about violence do put me off.

Nigel:

I thought you had actually visited Rio during your last trip to BR.

If you like the type of girls with total European look (German+Italian) then Florianopolis is really hard to beat. You may even run into several Gisele Bündchens in the sands of Camboriú. Rio is the mixing pot of Brazil and the Avant Garde of fashion and culture too.

As to the violence, the beach neighborhoods are usually safe during the day. Rio de Janeiro will soon host the Pan-American games and the police has been much reinforced lately. My mom, who is 79, has just recently travelled to Rio and stayed in Copacabana with a friend for a week. She went to several theatres, malls and Cinema, took cabs to go out for dinner at night and said it was safe as it used to be 30 years ago. Anyway, if you walk alone at night, look like a wealthy European tourist and open a  thick wallet full of green ones in public, I wouldn't move far away from the hotels and their security...I've never been robbed in Rio, anytime, but in Paris...Uh la la  

[Gileno Machado]

Ipanema

[Gileno Machado]

Copa

[Gileno Machado]

Map

[Gileno Machado]

Christ in Corcovado

[Gileno Machado]

sunset at Guanabara bay

[Gileno Machado]

Jardim Botânico (1808)

[Gileno Machado]

Ipanema, view from the glider launching ramp

[Gileno Machado]

Ipanema

[Gileno Machado]

Ciclovia

[Gileno Machado]

Bay, seen from Niterói

[Gileno Machado]

One more

[bgl]

Gileno,

An incredible place and incredible photos!! And a special thank you for the Santos Dumont shot! Very interesting. I believe Santos Dumont has the shortest runway of any major airport in the world.

I've never been to Rio (or Brazil for that matter) but we might have an IPS Biennial there one of these years, and if so, I'll be there!

Bo-Göran

[amazondk]

Thanks for the pictures Gileno.  Over the years I have spent a lot of time in Rio and it is a special city for me.  It is a very beautiful place, maybe the most beautiful major city in the world.  I lived there in 1987.  From 1989 to 1993 while I lived in Sao Paulo I frequently went to Rio.  When our company had a branch office there I would be there weekly sometimes.  During this period I got to know the city very well.  I was only a victim of violence one time, I had my car stolen at gun point in 1987.  I still have some friends there and plan on going back to visit one of these days.  It is a city of history, beautiful points of interest and has a dynamic culture.  

But, unfortunately today it is a war zone that has gotten to the point that there is no easy solution.  This problem really does not impact tourists much, but for those that live there it is a real problelm.  Every day on the news another event pops up.  The problems there are not unique to Rio by any means, but are found to one degree or another in all major Brazilian cities.  When it get to the point that the military is called in because the police can not maintain order something is very wrong.  It has been at least a month now since the governor of Rio, Sergio Cabral requested assistance from the Federal government.  But, this has yet to really be put into effect.  It is complicated to inject the military into a city like Rio.  One of his body guards was shot and killed and this in part prompted his reaction.  The criminal element is very well armed and controls many areas of the city.  The favelas, slums, due to their very nature of narrow streets, high population density, and poor accessility by vehicles make them excellent places for urban warfare.  And, this is exactly what the situation is.  The criminals even have high power military equipement including bazukas.  At least people are not stupid enough to become suicide bombers.  This situation has taken years to develop and I can see no quick solution.  There was a demonstration in Ipanema yesterday to legalize marijuana, maybe that is a start.  Since drugs are the main profit center for the criminal factions taking profits out of it would be a step in the right direction.  The vast majority of the population is concerned with making an honest living and want to live in peace.  It appears that there is movement among the government agencies to do what they can to make this happen.  I sure hope so.  I do not believe that guns are the problem per se, it is a cultural problem that needs to be treated at the roots not the symptoms.

I heard a news program on the National News Station CBN last week discussing this problem.  They had on an analyst in violence and were discussing the measures needed to get things going the right direction.  When the analyst was asked about guns his answer was - "The problem is not the guns, they are a symptom.  It is like when a man comes home and finds his wife having sex on the sofa in the living room.  He did not like what he saw so to solve the problem he got rid of the sofa."  

One of the problems of Rio goes back to when the national capital was transfered to Brasilia.  This left a void that never was replaced.  I do not think it is a matter of financial resources.  The state of Rio de Janeiro gets a lot of royalty money from the oil fields, which are the major source of petroleum in Brazil.  And, the tourist sector is still strong, in spite of the violence problems.

I hope that Rio will become an example and find a way to work through this situation and help Brazil as a nation solve this problem.  I am here in Brazil because I want to be, it is a great country and it's people deserve better from their elected officials.

In spite of all of this I am sure that sitting at a table on Avenida Atlantica in Copacabana drinking a cold brew and watching the world walk by is as great as it always has been.

The other side of daily life in Rio.  I hope that someday it will not be.  The Cidade Maravilhosa deserves better.

[Brian]

Santos Dumont is a scary place to land. We landed so hard and fast that the seat trays popped out of the seats.

[Gileno Machado]

(bgl @ May 07 2007,03:58)

QUOTE

Gileno,

An incredible place and incredible photos!! And a special thank you for the Santos Dumont shot! Very interesting. I believe Santos Dumont has the shortest runway of any major airport in the world.

I've never been to Rio (or Brazil for that matter) but we might have an IPS Biennial there one of these years, and if so, I'll be there!

Bo-Göran

Thanks Bo for your comments. I hope we can meet in Rio someday, I bet you will not be disappointed.

By the way, Santos Dumont is not a major Airport in Rio at all. It is in fact just a small terminal right downtown. I guess they only operate the air bridge Rio-São Paulo there now, with a special short version of Boeing 737 and also executive small private jets. It is a very busy route though, with flights every 15 minutes or so. All the other international and domestic flights go to Tom Jobim International (formerly Galeão) a nice big and modern terminal located in the island called Ilha do Governador. I haven't landed in Santos Dumont since the propeller era... It was a thrilling experience for sure, but usually I was so marveled with the scenary outside that I wouldn't pay attention to the end of the track... :cool:

Don: We need to get together in Ipanema for a beer in the afternoon, watching the palms and the girls pass by...But please don't dare to wear your magnetic Ray Ban glasses then...

[bgl]

Gileno,

When I said "major airport", I simply meant for the amount of traffic they've had over the last 40-50 years, even though I know there's less traffic now than in the past. The special 737 version you're probably referring to is actually the second largest 737 version in production: the 737-800. GOL made Boeing develop a special "short landing" version, but the aircraft is the same size as any other 737-800 (it can seat up to 189 passengers).

Bo-Göran

[amazondk]

Gileno,

That sound like a good idea to me.  I gave up using sun glasses.

Bo,

During much of the time that I did the regular air bridge trips from Sao Paul to Rio it was still in the age of the Electra.  This was a great plane for the route.  Both Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo and Santos Dumont were under used airports at the time.  This was in 1989 to 1991.  I would normally leave CGN on the one of the first flights of the day and take one of the last back from Santos Dumont around 10 PM.  I think they retired the Electra around 1992 if I remember right. Things changed radically as TAM started to build their hub in Congonhas airport of Sao Paulo.  This airport I believe now has the highest air traffic, landings and departures in South America. This spilled over to Santos Dumont which also started to service TAMS hubs in Brasilia and Sao Paulo.  Actually I believe that Santos Dumont has more traffic now than in the past  When the airport was used almost exclusively for the RIO to SAO air bridge it was limited pretty much to hourly flights.  

I did find any more recent numbers but this the ranking of passenger traffic at major Brazilian airports in 2004.  The moviment in 2005 was higher I am sure.  But, the ratios should still be similar.

2004

1º - Congonhas – 13.611.227  Sao Paulo downtown airport

2º - Guarulhos – 12.940.193  Sao Paulo International Airport

3º - Brasília – 9.955.287

4º - Galeão – 6.024.930 Rio de Janeiro International Aiport

5º - Santos-Dumont – 4.887.306 Rio de Janeiro downtown airport

6º - Salvador – 4.145.371

7º - Porto Alegre – 3.215.545

8º - Pampulha – 3.194.715  Belo Horizonte downtown airport

9º - Recife – 3.173.672

10º - Curitiba – 2.840.349

*passageiros: embarque mais desembarque

Source INFRAERO - Federal airport operating company

[amazondk]

I was curious to see what the present service is to SDU, Santos Dumont airport in Rio.  Both Tam and Gol have a flight every half hour during the day to Sao Paulo Congonhas airport.  This airport is the major hub for both carriers.  Tam uses Airus 319 equipment and Gol Boeing 737, since they only operate the 737 700 and 737 800 the flights are one or the other.  Varig is still in that market, and has recently been purchased by Gol.  The companies are operated seperately though.  As the fith largest airport in passenger movement in Brazil I would consider Santos Dumont to be a major airport by Brazilian standards.

dk