4-6 January
Our trusty driver then took us to Santa Teresa for yet another fabulous view of the city and a little wander through the bohemian area of Rio. We didn’t do a trip on the yellow tram, which is apparently a must – maybe next time! We DID have lunch at ‘Espirito Santo,’ which had some amazingly inventive and exotic Brazilian food (the sweet curried plantain was a particular highlight). Thoroughly enjoyable! We wandered to the Largo do Guimarães, the central “square” of Santa Teresa, and did much window shopping at the various artesan stores along the way. Our driver, unlike our experience in Quito, refused to join us for lunch, and instead had a snooze in the car (we were a tad jealous), and was all refreshed after our meal to take us on the next leg of our journey. We went to Parque das Ruinas – an attractive public garden containing the ruins of a mansion that once belonged to a Brazilian heiress, and which now occasionally houses art exhibitions. Yet ANOTHER superb view of Rio! This was linked by a cute little bridge to the property next door – the Museu Chácara do Céu. This was once the home to a French aristocrat who was responsible for the reforestation of the National Park. He loved art, and designed this very impressive, if modest, mansion (1957), that now houses much of the art he loved. Quite an impressive collection, even minus the 4 paintings that were stolen in broad daylight during Carnival 2006 (Matisse, Picasso, Dali & Monet). What was most impressive, however, was the architecture of the building. We could SO easily live there (and it really wasn’t too oppressively grand!).