Rio de Janeiro, the place to enjoy.
Contributed by Jens Hoffmann
A stay in this surprising Brazilian city might include oktoberfest,
carneval,caipirinhas on the beach, music, food and history everywhere.
Best to checkin is the Copacabana Palace (Belmond Hotel, 5star) like Lady Diana, Mick Jagger, Ave Gardner, Nelson Mandela and others.
To come to this sprawling, dynamic Brazilian city without preconceptions, whether they’re about bikinis or politcs, is just about impossible.
But Rio constantly finds ways to surprise — whether it’s a friendly resident walking to a shop you just can’t find; sobering evidence of the city’s slave trade; or the discovery that food tastes best standing on a sidewalk surrounded by the lyrical sound of Portuguese and accompanied by a beer so cold it’ll make your fillings hurt.
From beach to museum, church to market, Rio is a city constantly defying its own myths and encourages visitors to join in with unbridled food and drink enthusiasm.
Brazilian cuisine leans heavily on meat and seafood, so it’s a pleasure to find vegetarian food that’s neither fried nor boring. Naturalie resto is open only for lunch, and its menu makes good use of local produce like manioc and coconut.
Salads come with a bright pink beet dressing; there’s a rich stew known as feijoada that replaces meat with tofu; and fresh juices are crammed with passion fruit, hibiscus and goji berries, and — unlike their lunch-counterparts — they aren’t full of added sugar.
It’s carefully considered, unfussy dining that just happens to be vegetarian.
The South Zone of Rio is home to the tony neighborhoods of Ipanema and Copacabana, which also have the best beaches: stretches of pristine sand bordering gentle waves.
Pick up a bathing suit at Blue Man, a decades-old Brazilian brand of swimwear that produces eye-catching bikinis, one-pieces and briefs in colorful parrot and pineapple patterns.
Especially when you believ in tradition.
Swing by Osklen, another well-known Brazilian brand, which sells elegant T-shirts in linen and silk. They recently developed a line of clothing printed with images from the work of the pioneering Brazilian artist Tarsila do Amaral (an exhibition of her work was at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City).
At Monica Pondé, just around the corner, pick up brushed silver necklaces with geometric flair (Ms. Mondé, the designer, studied architecture), and grab a petit noir coffee from the adjacent cafe: the beans are collected from the droppings of the jacu, a native bird that ingests only the very ripest beans, and the resulting coffee is rich and full-bodied.
Make a final stop at Toca do Vinicius, a shop for music lovers, where all the vintage records are bossa nova and samba.
Samba time
Bip-bip is that kind of local bar that seems to be actively discouraging new customers.
The only seats are occupied by the musicians and regulars, and the beer — a selection of mediocre Brazilian brands and cans of Heineken — is in a refrigerator in the back from which you have to help yourself.
The music, though, is worth twice as much hassle: Expect to find a group of eight or so playing and singing samba and bossa nova with passion.
That passion is shared by the onlookers, who dance, sing along (quietly) and snap their fingers in applause.
The longtime owner died but the music plays on.
The Santiago Calatrava-designed Museum of Tomorrow is joy.
Inside, the exhibits are mostly virtual — hundreds of towering screens, some with interactive games, and an IMAX-style film — but the content itself focuses more on the nature of community, sustainability and disaster-forecasting than on futuristic imaginings.
The exterior and the grounds of the museum are, perhaps, even more impressive. Stroll around the water features, admire the audacious architecture (it’s been compared to everything from a spaceship to a crocodile), and then head to the Museu de Arte do Rio across the plaza.
This dynamic museum has a frequently changing collection of work by mostly Brazilian artists. Make sure to visit the roof, from which you can see, across the way, a portrait blasted in stone on the side of a neighboring building by the Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto, known as Vhils.
Afro-Brazilian history and the slave trade in particular is an integral yet understudied part of the country’s heritage. Spend a few hours exploring its legacy, starting with lunch at Angu do Gomes. This restaurant first opened in 1955, serving angu, a hearty polenta and meat stew with African roots (lunch for two, around 150 reais). From here, walk to Valongo Wharf, a Unesco Heritage Site, which was the arrival point for almost a million slaves, most from West and Central Africa. The wharf itself had been covered over and was only rediscovered amid preparations for the 2016 Olympics. Not far from here is Praça XV. There’s not much to be seen now in this huge space except a boat-ticketing office and some skateboarders, but it was once the site of massive slave auctions. The Instituto de Pesquisa e Memória Pretos Novos is a small but sobering museum about the slave trade built atop a cemetery — you can still see bones exposed in the ground.
Rather than join the crowds lining up to board the cable cars to the top of Pão de Açúcar, head to the mountain’s base instead.
The Claudio Coutinho trail is bordered with steep slopes and trees populated with families of capuchin monkeys on one side, and waves crashing against enormous rocks on the other.
After you’ve broken a sweat, stroll in the other direction around the peninsula (or take a short taxi ride) to Bar Urca, a longtime neighborhood landmark dishing out crispy pastries stuffed with meat, bobó de camarão (a creamy shrimp dish), icy beers and fried balls of bacalao (snacks and beer for two, around 130 reais).
Take your goodies and join the locals perching on the sea wall across the street, with the water susurrating beneath you and small boats floating nearby.
Stick around Botafogo for the night, strolling from bar to bar. Start with a sidewalk table at WineHouse, a small spot with many local wines on the menu, including a few by the glass (try some Brazilian sparkling wine, which is having a moment).
Then head to CoLAB, a hip spot that’s part bar, part cafe and part venue. Expect craft A.P.A.s and wheat beers on draft, live music, and a youthful, talkative crowd at the communal tables. Nearby, Comuna has sandwiches, drinks and chilled-out electronic music perfect for whiling away the wee hours.
Each Sunday at 10 a.m., the 17th-century Mosteiro de São Bento welcomes a full house for its mass, which includes impressive Gregorian chanting.
Inside, the spectacular church is filled with gold; a series of arches leads to an elevated platform where the monks sing and preach in turn. You can follow along with the Portuguese using the pamphlet which lays out the program.
It’s strange that even in a city with such a racially diverse population, all the statues in the church have light-skinned faces.
Halfway between the port area and the South Zone, the funky, Philippe Starck-designed Yoo2 a prime location for city exploration.
The small rooftop pool has great views of the Christ the Redeemer statue in one direction and Botafogo beach in the other.
We love that view.
And slep well in the Copacabana Palace Hotel.
