Greetings to the Wonderful
The Brazilian coastal city is host to the World Cup finals in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016. A love letter to the "most beautiful city in the world."
Location: The statue of Christ on Corcovado majestically watches over Rio de Janeiro - and the Sugar Loaf, the hill between the beaches (back right).
Photo by Keystone
Lawsuits, corruption, Cost trap
There are many reasons to fall in love with Rio. For example, because of the great beaches such as Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon. Or the beautiful people. The splendid weather. The excellent restaurants. The refreshing fruit juice bars. Because of the world's unique location between hills and forests, sand and water. Because of fantastic bars, discos class, great music. Due to wonderful shopping. Or because of interesting museums, entertaining football games, enchanting tourism attractions. And because of the vibrant atmosphere.
And tomorrow there are ten other reasons to lose his heart to the most beautiful city in the world.
Cheerful, spontaneous, stressful
The locals call Rio de Janeiro lovingly "a cidade maravilhosa." Ideally, one approaches the "miraculous" about the small domestic airport Santos Dumont, who is close to the world famous beaches. He is, of course, completely overloaded. Rio is so uniquely beautiful, but Rio is also: loud, dirty, stressful. The traffic collapses ever, teeming with taxis and small buses giant crawling on hundreds of lines somehow through the streets. "I've lived 25 years in New York," says the real estate dealer in Puerto Anamaria. "Compared to Rio, New York is an oasis of tranquility." That may be a slight exaggeration, because if you will, and most want that one sees in Rio especially the lightness of being. Day after day. Night after night. Beach to beach. The business magazine "Forbes" declared the Rio happiest city in the world. And in Brazil, it is said that people living in São Paulo to work - and they work in Rio, to live.
The beauty of the city is incomprehensible, sometimes you look with big eyes and open mouth, the picturesque, as of created things an artist scene. Hours long. Rio is one big open-air theater, not only at the beach, where people like to play sports. The Cariocas - as Rio, the inhabitants call - are spontaneous, direct, hungry for life, they present themselves, in a bikini or mini trunks, disco or in a juice bar. This is where people meet for a chat, swap gossip and choose from many incredible fruits of her drink.
It smells of passion fruit, orange, banana, mango, really fine and specially-mixed juices with the typical Brazilian fruits such as acerola cherry or calorie acai. Anyway: While paying homage to the cult of the body is, but with the economic progress of the food habits of many Brazilians have radically changed. And thus also their shape. The countless wonderful meat restaurants featuring cuisine on rotating spits rotation. Also fairly well-nourished women wear on the beach but hardly more than a thong, men's ultra-tight swimming trunks.
On the beach are all equal
Therefore it does not necessarily have to be that one in Rio looks nicer people than in Bern. But definitely contact more joyful. And the beach has no limits, here are all the same, the millionaire football star and the destitute Samba dancer from the favelas. Maybe they drink together a delicious caipirinha in one of the small local beach, stand for miles in every 100 meters.
These bars are perfect to document the development of the beautiful city. A few years ago there was even at the spots in Copacabana or Ipanema and Leblon merely simple kiosks with a few plastic chairs. Now is also built on the beach anywhere, renovated, replaced, Rio dressing up and throws a huge layer of make-up on the rough surface city. And as soon almost exclusively noble lounges, expensive bars and chic restaurants on the beaches will be. This is the passage of time, which is fired in Rio by the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the final will be played here, as well as the Summer Olympic Games, which take place two years later in Rio. The city is clean, safe, quiet, are also western, tailored to the needs of wealthy visitors. For the original hawkers there is no more space, they are sold. And numerous slums pacified with enormous brutality. But of course, exists in many areas of the city still considerable crime. If you do not get lost there as a tourist, where you should not run as a tourist, but you get out of gang wars, drugs with little misery and youth unemployment.
Tudo bem? Tudo bem!
And on the beach with no one takes the Rolex, the iPhone, designer shirt. Meet Minimalist clothing, towel, flip-flops. Tourists can be seen at much longer shorts as well as newspapers and books. Cariocas do not read at the beach. You're talking about. They act. You drink, eat, live.
Rio shines, shines Rio, Rio is booming. And Rio has become extremely expensive, in an exclusive beach near you pay more in restaurants than in Zurich or London. The value of charming apartments in Ipanema, Leblon or in the suburb of Barra has quintupled in a short time. Here live models, footballers and actors from telenovelas, this TV series that captivate the country.
Rio you have to take your time. Two or three days are not enough to feel the character of the "miraculous". And it satisfy two words ("Tudo bem.") - With or without a question mark - to feel the Rio flair. Logically, this means: "All clear." It is, however, often associated with the thumbs up, much more. It is a way of life. Everything is clear to all, of course, sure, and if not, but, somehow. Everything is "rem". Even if the woman is just burned out with the best friend. It is the philosophy of minimalism, as one finds in Rio, there is happiness in the great disaster, there is capacity for suffering, joy, sadness. Pure fatalism, boundless optimism, irrepressible love of life. Living here has no right to complain.
Rio! Is! The! Pure! Good luck! Tudo bem? Tudo bem!
Corcovado and Sugar Loaf
Attractions, there are almost a dime a dozen, the Corcovado rocks about with the huge statue of Christ, who watches over the city. The view is fabulous, as well as from the Sugar Loaf, the hill in the middle of the beaches. The bustling center opened in 1894 with the, magnificent coffee Colombo or the charming Santa Teresa neighborhood, a hippies, artists and dropouts reinvigorated, are also interesting. From the center of the last old Rio tram and glide back up to Santa Teresa. The journey is an experience.
Words barely sufficient to describe perfection, attractiveness and uniqueness Rios. Writer Stefan Zweig wrote: "Here nature has a unique mood of waste of the elements of the natural beauty all pushed together into a narrow space, what else sparingly distributed over entire countries and isolated. There are - who they once seen, will not contradict me - no more beautiful city on earth. "
