Rio de Janeiro 2023 November

An 8-day trip to Rio de Janeiro 2023 November, departing from Fortaleza, to meet friends, and sightseeing.

Rio de Janeiro 2023 November - Christ at Corcovado.

This time the hotel put me with this wonderful vision of the Christ.

Rio de Janeiro 2023 November – Goals

My goals for this trip were:

meet friends in Rio de Janeiro;
sightseeing;
try to keep my study and exercise routine.

Overview

Every year, since 2015, my friends in São Paulo make a high school friends reunion.

To make the best, I usually travel around too, like I did in Rio de Janeiro 2022 November.

This year, I came to Rio directly from Fortaleza, where I live nowadays.

And this time, like one year ago, I stayed in Copacabana and also in the Downtown.

Airport transfer

I haven’t arrived in Rio through Galeão since before the pandemics.

And I discovered that the transfer bus that connects Galeão to many neighborhoods stopped to work during the pandemics, and never returned.

Then, I took a cab to my hotel in Copacabana.

Best friends and nice places

As I mentioned before, I am going to São Paulo for a high school friends reunion.

But one of these friends lives in Rio, and we arranged to meet each other.

We’ve been separated for a long time due to the pandemics, so it was really nice to see him and talk about our lives.

He presented me to places I didn’t know, bars in Botafogo (there are located close to Botafogo subway station).

And we also went to a restaurant in Lapa, close to Escadaria Selarón.

Copacabana Rooftop visit

The weather in this Southeast part of Brazil is really crazy nowadays.

Fortunately, it was almost stable during the days I spent there.

Some abnormal cold days in the beginning, but then, the sun showed up at the end.

I visited a rooftop located in Copacabana, a restaurant called Skylab, on top of Rio Othon Palace, and took some nice photos.

This one shows Ipanema and Leblon, on one side.

Rio de Janeiro - Ipanema and Leblon

The other side is Copacabana, followed by Leme.

Rio de Janeiro - Copacabana and Leme

Notice that we can see the Corcovado too, it is possible to see the Christ from many parts of Rio de Janeiro.

Study and exercise routine

Study was OK, as I took my tablet and some texts in work field to read.

About the exercise routine, since 2023 August, I enrolled in a gym franchise, called Smart Fit, that has units in many Latin American countries.

In the Rio case, I went to one in Copacabana and another one in the downtown.

Downtown

This photo was taken by a friend of mine from her building, showing Rio Downtown.

Rio de Janeiro Downtown

Rio de Janeiro 2023 November – Problems

I guess the only problem I’ve had is that I was concerned about the violence in the streets of Rio.

There were many episodes this year (Brazilian news):

a great violence episode occurred in the West part of the city one month before I arrived;
a Taylor Swift fan murdered on the Copacabana Beach, very close to my hotel, days before I arrived;
this old man attacked and robbed was in the downtown, also very close to the gym academy, weeks before I arrived;
people doing justice by themselves – this started a few days after I left.

Fortunately, nothing serious happened to me, but we feel very unsecure walking in the streets.

Conclusion

Goals conclusion:

meet friends in Rio de Janeiro – OK. I can say I doubled my goal, as I met my friend twice, instead of just once;
sightseeing – OK – as I have known Rio since I was a child, there are not many tourist places I’ve never gone to Rooftop, and that was something new;
try to keep my study and exercise routine – OK.

Rio de Janeiro - Santos Dumont Airport

Heading from Rio to São Paulo (Ponte Aérea, connecting Santos Dumont and Congonhas airports), here is an airport picture.