Scanning Rio de Janeiro From Corcovado

Also known as Rio, Rio de Janeiro literally means “River of January”. One of South America’s most popular cruise ship destinations, I’ve been to Rio de Janeiro quite a few times before – onboard these two Fred. Olsen wonderful ships, Black Watch (now scrapped), and Balmoral. Then recently, I was back in Rio once again. I thought I would just take a walk and aimlessly scan the city from the streets, the same way I did from previous ports, it turned out I was in Corcovado and scanning Rio from the top! Towering at 2329 feet (710 meters) above sea level, I had a picturesque overlooking view of Rio.

Corcovado is a mountain located in the Tijuca Forest and on its peak is where the 125 – feet statue of Jesus Christ called Christ the Redeemer statue stands. An iconic structure of Brazil, the Christ the Redeemer statue was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

From Corcovado, I can see both South America and the world’s most famous beaches, the white beaches in Copacabana and Ipanema as well as the 1299 feet Sugarloaf Mountain. If you are a James Bond film enthusiast, you should have seen Moonraker. In that film, Sugarloaf was featured in a fight scene between Roger Moore and the villain inside the cable car. Sugarloaf also appeared in a 2016 Jason Statham movie, Mechanic: Resurrection. In the scene at the beginning of the film, Arthur Bishop (Statham) is attacked at a restaurant on Morro da Urca and escapes on the roof of a cable car.

I should not be going out anymore in Rio as I’ve already seen its main attractions before. But there’s something about this Brazilian city that keeps telling me to go, wander and explore.

Two more ports to visit in Brazil – Salvador and Recife – and off we’ll head back to Europe.