UNUSUAL RIO DE JANEIRO (Center: Santa Teresa) - ART

Santa Teresa quarter is famous for its winding and narrow streets, its colonial buildings and art deco villas and the BONDINHO (the old tram that connect the city center with Santa Teresa, currently out of use until the 2013) and it’s the favorite quarter of the artists.

ARTE DE PORTAS ABIERTAS, held over a few days in July of each year, when Santa Teresa's artists open their studios to the public

www.chavemestra.com.br

PARQUE DAS RUINAS– a bold architectural project bringing together contemporary materials /as glass and iron) and the ruins of the mansion that belonged to Brazilian heiress Laurinda Santos Lobo. Her house was a meeting point for Rio’s artists and intellectuals for many years until her death in 1946. The real reason to come here is for the excellent view from up top. There’s a small outdoor café and open-air concerts and artistic events are held here

Rua Murtinho Nobre 169 – Santa Teresa

PICTURE UPLOADED TO THE INTERNET

UNUSUAL RIO DE JANEIRO (everywhere!) - LANDSCAPES

CRISTO REDENTOR by night - among the “new” seven Winders of the World, the best way to see Cristo Redentor is to take the Corcovado train around 4:30 PM to be up there for the sunset and to see an incredible Rio by night

http://www.corcovado.com.br/

WORD: HIEROPHANY

THE SENSE OF PRESENCE OR MANIFESTATION OF SOMETHING SACRED

PEDALINHOS: the most amazing way to visit the Lagoa

HANG GLIDING – scary but so exciting! Don’t miss the opportunity to fly over the largest urban forest in the world in a hang glider tandem flight and land on the white beach of Sao Conrado http://www.skycenter.com.br/ingles/home.asp

PAINTING FAVELA -In 2006, the Dutch artist duo Haas&Hanh started developing the idea of creating community-driven art interventions in Brazil. Their efforts yielded two murals, which were painted in Vila Cruzeiro, Rio's most notorious slum, in collaboration with local youth.

Their second large painting in Vila Cruzeiro was finished in 2008, It was situated on a massive concrete structure, built to protect the hill from mudslides during the rainy season.

The initial idea of the Favela Painting project has always been to paint an entire hillside favela in the center of Rio, visible to all inhabitants and visitors. As the portuguese translation for 'the hill'; 'o morro' is also used as a synonym for slum or favela, they choose to use this name for the third stage of the Favela Painting project. 'O Morro'  
In order to realize this dream, the Firmeza Foundation has chosen to initiate a funding mechanism that compliments the large scale, community oriented nature of this project. Rather than seeking a lump sum from established art institutions or wealthy patrons, the 'O Morro' project will be sponsored by a community of supporters, who will finance the infrastructure, materials, and workforce needed to complete the work.

People are asked to join this community and become an active participant in a dream making a donation of any size but by donating 1.000euro or more to the Firmeza Foundation it’s possible to become a co-founders of the 'O Morro' project

http://www.favelapainting.com

UNUSUAL RIO DE JANEIRO (North:Saude, Gamboa and in the air!) - SAMBA

CIDADE DO SAMBA - where Rio's main samba schools manufacture the floats used

during the Carnival. If you visit in the daytime, you can tour the Samba Factory and see where the floats and costumes are made and, at night, go to the weekly Carnival show , on during part of the year (schedules vary). The ticket includes a buffet dinner and participation in a Carnival parade at Cidade do Samba

Rua Rivadavia Correia 60 - Gamboa -http://cidadedosambarj.globo.com/

CASA TURUNA- multicolor fabrics, tons of accessories, all types of feathers and sequins: all you need to make your Samba costume by yourself …

Rua Senhor dos Passos, 77 - Saara -http://www.casaturuna.com.br/

PEDRA DO SAL - is an historical and religious site in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Saúde. Every Monday and Friday evening a Samba party takes place: the atmosphere is casual and reflects the Carioca spirit. You don´t have to pay anything, just come with a beer and find a little space to join the samba.

Largo João da Baiana – Saude

TRAPICHE GAMBOA - is the place to come if you want to hear excellent live samba (voted the best in Rio by local press) in unpretentious - but really cool - surroundings

Rua Sacadura Cabral 155 – Saude -http://www.trapichegamboa.com/

 

MUSEU CARMEN MIRANDA- Carmen Miranda (1909 - 1955) was the most popular Samba’s singer in the last century and her life is represented in this small, stirring museum

Avenida Rui Barbosa, 560 - Flamengo -http://carmen.miranda.nom.br/gal_museu.htm

 

WORD: IDIOSYNCRASY

A DISTINCTIVE OR PECULIAR FEATURE OR 

CHARACTERISTIC OF A PLACE OR THING

UNUSUAL RIO DE JANEIRO - COLONIAL, ART DECO’, BELLE EPOQUE, BAROQUE

COLONIAL, ART DECO’, BELLE EPOQUE, BAROQUE buildings and churches. Most visitors to Rio stay and remain where the beaches or the most important monuments/restaurants/clubs are located and rarely venture to other areas

Not only LAPA (well known for nightclubs as the amazing Rio Scenarium http://www.rioscenarium.com.br/)

but also CENTRO (modern skyscrapers mix with colonial and imperial architecture in the business district of Rio). Get lost walking from Mosteiro de Sao Bento, the golden monastery on the hill, to the narrow cobblestone street Travessa do comercio with bars, restaurants, art galleries and a Cultural Center.

CHAMELEON in RUA DA CARIOCA

Leaving the elegant Bar Luiz (one of the oldest bars operating for over 120 years 

http://www.barluiz.com.br/)  you’ll hit on an extraordinary Art-Nouveau theatre - that has been turned into cinema for an audience with particularly “taste” even if every weekend night it turns again into a party place devoted to rock, alternative, electronic, and indie music.

Walk through the SAARA shopping district with the nose in the air, looking at the colonial buildings above the amusing confusion and take a pause at CHARUTARIA (tobacco shop) SYRIA where you can taste a very special walnut cake.

Rua Sr dos Passos, 180

Last but not least: SAUDE neighborhood that preserves its original architecture, albeit left to decay but allows the visitor to imagine what Rio must have been like before modernity took over

RUA SAO FRANCISCO

UNSUSUAL RIO DE JANEIRO - SAVE THE DATE(S)

Rio de Janeiro will host the FIFA WORLD CUP in 2014 and the OLYMPICS GAMES in 2016 and, in June 2012, hosted the RIO+20 CONFERENCE: world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, came together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is being organized in pursuance of General Assembly Resolution 64/236 and took place in Rio on 20-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

The Conference will focus on two themes: (a) a green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication and (b) the institutional framewor for sustainable development.

http://www.uncsd2012.org/

As part of the Rio+20 some spectacular events took place on Botafogo beach:

an enormous outdoor installation of fish was constructed using discarded plastic bottles, a flash mob with 1.000 people (most of all Brazilian Indio’s who designed an Indio with a raised arm reaching for the sun) and the WWF balloon with the advice GET SE-RIO-US addressed to  world leaders