Day 17 – A Carnaval Experience! (sorta)

Rio Day 2

Here are some maps that give you the orientation for the spots I have mentioned in my Rio posts

DO BRAZIL RIGHT

Our Do Brazil Right tour continued on our second day in Rio de Janeiro.  We met our guide outside the Cruise Terminal exit.  Once our group had all arrived, we walked into the adjacent warehouse parking garage, boarded our bus and were on our way.  

We are never sure of the protocol for maintaining your seat on multi day bus tours.  Is each day a new seating free for all?  We know that on some multiday bus tours in Europe and the USA they have a system where people are assigned seats and they are rotated around every day.  In our case, we had a different bus, with a different seating arrangement, but we didn’t notice if people tried to sit in the same place as the day before. 

People with mobility issues were appropriately assigned the first-row seats so they don’t have to fight their way down a tight aisle.  On the other side of that coin, when getting off the bus at stops, some tour companies have the mobility limited guests wait until last so they don’t hold up the entire bus while they slowly make their way off the buss.  We have seen this both ways over the years. 

Let me know your thoughts in the comments on tour bus seating! 

SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN

Sugarloaf Mountain ( more info HERE ) was our first stop, about a 30 minute drive from the ship. 

Sugarloaf Mountain rises 1300 feet over the harbor, providing spectacular views from the summit which are accessed via two cable cars.  The first cable car ends halfway up the mountain to a mid-station.  In the evening, this area is transformed into a night club.  The second cable car continues the rest of the way to the top.  Each cable car ride was about 5 minutes.  The mountain earned its name due to its resemblance to the traditional shape of the concentrated ‘loafs’ of sugar that were shipped Europe. 

NOTE:  Tickets to the summit can be purchased online for about $25 ($R 104).  Backstage tours, historical tours and other special interest tours of the cable car system and Sugarloaf Mountain are available.  Check out their website HERE for all the details.    You could easily spend a half day here going to the top and back while taking advantage of the many special tours.  This would be a nice way to spend a half day for future cruisers.  Getting to Sugarloaf Mountain is an easy Taxi or Uber ride.  The Cable Car station is UBER friendly with large signs directing you to the UBER pick up point as you leave. 

As we were walking into the station, we spotted a few people climbing the face of the mountain using ropes and other equipment.  

Once inside the terminal, there is an opportunity to have your picture taken by a staff photographer.  These photos can be available to purchase as you leave. 

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There were large signs advertising Free WiFi, but it didn’t work very well.  I could never get a connection, it may work for you, but I wouldn’t come here planning to use it.  Both the summit and midpoint station have gift shops and snack bars.  You can spend as long as you like at either station.  The Mid Station also has a few exhibits about Sugarloaf Mountain. 

The views from the top are spectacular and well worth the time and money to getting to the summit.  There is a nice view spot of Sugarloaf Mountain from the mid- station. 

Our group spent 90 minutes here, including the time to go up to the top including the 15 minutes we spent enjoying the view before returning to the cable car. 

SELARÓN STEPS

Escadaria Selarón, better known as the Selarón Steps, is a colorful, outdoor stairway that leads from the corner of Rua Joaquim Silva and Rua Teotonio Regadas rising 215 steps over 150 yards to the Santa Teresa Convent above.  Jorge Selarón, a local artist, started by covering these steps, that were near where he lived, with colorful tile.  Over time, and with many donated tiles, he continued working on the steps until his death in 2013.  It was very crowded during our visit so if you want a picture without any people in the shot – come very early.  More information HERE. 

The Selarón Steps are 2 miles from the cruise terminal and near public transportation lines.  It’s possible to walk here from the ship and then continue on to the Santa Teresa area, less than a mile away.  Look at yesterday’s post for a little more about the Santa Teresa area.  Plan on 15-30 minutes for this stop. 

 

Our final stop was a behind the scenes tour of one of the warehouses located in the Cidade do Samba, or Samba City.  More HERE  

Samba City is a collection of warehouses used by the 14 major Samba Schools in Rio de Janeiro.  Our tour, called the “Carnaval Experience”, is also offered to the general public as a stand-alone tour.  More information HERE 

Samba City is less than a mile from the ship, near the waterfront, and very walkable.  If you don’t want to go on the tour, you can wander around the center of Samba City for free and see some of the colorful Carnaval Floats on display and some on their way to the scrap heap. 

The annual Rio de Janeiro Carnaval culminates in a 2-day event, 12 hours each day, running from 9pm to 9am, where 14 of the major Samba Schools display their floats, dancing and costumes, all following a general theme and making specific points on various issues.  For example, one School designed a costume to combat drunk driving. 

While the Samba Schools are called “schools” – they are not “schools” in the USA meaning of the word.  More HERE

They are more a combination of civic and social clubs with a lot of dancing, marching, and drumming and exist to present and preserve their local culture – A “school” of culture as one person told me.  A single school may have 3,500 members and the 14 Rio schools operate in 14 different areas of the cities.  People grow up loyal to a school based on where they live and these allegiances can be as fierce as any sports rivalry elsewhere. 

Samba City is the area where the schools share warehouse space and craftsmen who build the various floats and costumes.  The schools are sponsored by television companies and other groups large and small.  We would be visiting the warehouse that hosts the Grande Rio Samba School.  More HERE

The Carnaval Experience costs about $20 if you book it separately and takes about 90 minutes.  You will see the area where they build some of the floats before heading to a room to see a video about “Carnaval” and have a chance to ask questions, try on some costumes and see a Carnaval dancer perform. 

The last stop was a chance to sample a Caipirinha drink, which is the Brazil’s national cocktail, made with cachaça, sugar, and lime. There was also a small gift shop for some souvenirs.  Fun tour!  Well worth your time and money. 

WE MISSED THE SHIP!

I couldn’t resist a click bait headline, but we missed the ship on purpose as we stayed behind to start our independently arranged overland tour to Iguazu Falls. 

We stayed at the Linx Hotel near the airport this evening.  Early tomorrow morning we will fly to IGR (Iguazu’s airport on the Brazil side). 

After today’s tour, we had about 2 hours to get organized before leaving the ship.  We had pretty much packed before we left on tour this morning, so all we needed to do was pack a few last-minute items and go! 

When I arranged this tour, I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to get a taxi to the airport so I reserved a driver thru a service called “Blacklane”.  I have used them before, but they are expensive.  They use Mercedes/BMW level cars and have incredible service.  I knew that they would be able to figure out where I was and pick me up.  They were going to charge $89 USD.  The good news is that you can cancel up to 1 hour ahead with no charge. 

Our tour guide said a metered cab would cost about $R 50 to $R 60 ($12 to $14).  The drivers in the terminal were asking $30 USD.  Uber was quoting $R23 for UberX ($6 USD) or $R 39 for a luxury uber ($9 USD).  Earlier in the day I noticed a few cabs and cars dropping off passengers at a corner near the exit of the Cruise Terminal.  This would make an excellent Uber pickup point.  One challenge with Uber at Airports and Cruise Terminals is sometimes it’s not clear where you need to meet your driver as some places have restrictions on ride sharing services. 

I canceled Blacklane and chose the luxury Uber option since it was possible I would get a better Uber car and driver for the higher Uber price.  

As we left the ship, security checked us off a list of authorized overland guests and we were on our way.  Shoreside security routed us thru an immigration and customs checkpoint, but it was unmanned so we continued outside onto the street. 

A few taxi drivers wanted to negotiate but they wouldn’t budge off $R60 so I stuck with Uber.  Our driver, with over 4,000 trips (always a good sign) appeared in a few minutes. 

Twenty-five minutes later, we arrived at the Linx Airport Hotel. 

NOTE:   I can’t emphasis enough the value of having UBER on your phone overseas.  Even if you prefer to use taxis, the UBER app will give you a quick price estimate you can use for negotiating with the taxi driver.  Taxis will usually cost more, but if you multiply the UBER fare by 1.5 you will usually get a decent estimate for a local taxi. 

Using UBER is easy, but it takes a little getting used to, so download it and use it a few times at home to get the feel of things before trying it in a different country. 

We set our Wakeup alarms for 4:30 AM as we wanted to be on the 6:10 AM shuttle to catch our 8:15 am domestic flight to IGR, the Iguazu Airport on the Brazil side. 

This entry was posted in 2020 Grand World Voyage, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro,, South America