DAY 46 Feb 27 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This will be our first visit to Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil. It is the largest country and the only Portuguese-speaking country in South America with a population of over 190 million people. It is the fifth most populated country in the world. In 2008 Brazil was the world's eighth largest economy by GDP and the ninth largest by purchasing power parity.

Brazil was a Portuguese colony from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until 1815 when it became an united kingdom with Portugal. The country became later independent as the Brazilian Empire in 1822, but has been a republic since 1889. Its current constitution defines Brazil as a Federal Republic. The Federation is formed by the "indissoluble union of the States and Municipalities and the Federal District".

Rio de Janeiro ("River of January") is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil and the third largest metropolitan area and conurbation in South America. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, 1763 to 1822, during the Portuguese colonial era and from 1822 to 1960 as an independent nation. It is also the former capital of the Portuguese Empire (1808–1821). Commonly known as just Rio, the city is also nicknamed A Cidade Maravilhosa, or "The Marvelous City."

Rio de Janeiro is famous for its natural settings, its carnival celebrations, samba and other music, and hotel-lined tourist beaches, such as Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon, along with its favela slums. Some of the most famous landmarks in addition to the beaches include the giant statue of Christ known as Christ the Redeemer ('Cristo Redentor') atop Corcovado mountain, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Sugarloaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar) with its cable car. The Sambódromo, a giant permanent parade stand used during Carnival and Maracanã stadium, one of the world's largest football stadiums. Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Summer Olympics, and will be the first South American city to host the event and the second in Latin America 48 years after Mexico City hosted in 1968.

The city also boasts the largest and second largest urban forests in the world: Floresta da Tijuca and (almost connected to the first) the forest in Parque Estadual da Pedra Branca. The Galeão-Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport, commonly known simply as Galeão connects Rio de Janeiro with many Brazilian cities and also operates several international flights.

The population of the City of Rio de Janeiro is about 6.5 million occupying an area of 456.5 sq miles. The greater metropolitan area is estimated at 12-13.5 million. It was Brazil's capital until 1960, when Brasília took its place. Residents of the city are known as Cariocas.

The official song of Rio is "Cidade Maravilhosa" (translated as "Marvelous City").However, despite its charm and beauty, Rio is reputed to be one of the most violent cities in the world.

We have booked Rafael Torres as our tour guide for the day. We conducted all our business on the net and will pay him once we have had our tours. He is picking us up with his van at the port immediately after the ship docks.

Rafa comes with the highest recommendations from a wide range of nationalities. His enthusiasm is infectious and we are greatly looking forward to a full day's sightseeing with him. He has already indicated his thoughts in the numerous e-mails we have exchanged, on one of which he said " A very intense day that it will be impossible for anyone to explore on their own and as a result you will be able to tell people that we have really been to Rio". The photo above was one of many he has sent us of places a little off the beaten track that we can visit.

I was up at 5.30 am as the ship had slowed down and was approa-ching Rio.

It was quite gloomy but warm. Sun- up was not until 7.00.

It stayed overcast as we tied up in the dock at about 7.20.

There was already one cruise ship there and two other passenger ships followed us into the cruise port docking area.

Neither Maria not myself were in the least hungry after our huge meal in the Pinnacle Grill last night.

However we both made the effort and had a small breakfast snack before heading down to the gangway to meet friends Gerry and Gary who were joining us on the trip today.

The price for the four of us was just $250 and it was an all day tour with Rafael.

He was waiting for us as we left the exit of the new port cruise terminal. Soon after introductions we were off into the City.

Our first stop was at an old part of the town that had certainly seen better days but contained wonderfully old architecture in bad need of maintenance.

The striking part of this neighbourhood was the long flight of steps that had been covered in tiles from all over the world. The sides to the walkway were similarly decorated in this same blaze of colour. Escadaria Selarón, as it is known, is a set of world-famous stairs. They are the work of Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón who claims it as "my tribute to the Brazilian people".

The artist has been at this labour of love for many years and is still looking for people from around the world to supply him with appropriate tiles so he can continue his work.

The City's fathers have licensed him to continue this innovative and rewarding work on the Selaron Stairs.

The stairway straddles both the Lapa and Santa Teresa neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro. There are 250 stairs measuring 125 metres long which are covered in over 2000 tiles collected from over 60 countries around the world.

Here on the steps is pictured Gerry, Gary, myself and Maria posing for Rafa to take a picture.

It was now on to Copa-cabana, one of Rio's most famous beaches.

Unfort-unately it was not teeming with bronson young Brazilian ladies as it was quite overcast and still relatively early in the morning.

Additionally of course the 'beautiful people' had probably been partying the night before, as it was a Friday, and were therefore most likely still in their beds!

Maria and myself, pictured here, were the only two 'beautiful people' in sight when this photo was taken by Rafa with the wide sweep of this lovely beach behind us.

We did pass one famous local artist who nowadays posed for photographs dressed and coloured as if a statue.

I'm not quite sure who he is supposed to be but he was quite striking. Many of the people walking the promenade posed for pictures with the artist.

The skyline along the beach was wonderful with luxury hotels and up scale condominium buildings on one side and across the water the famous Sugar Loaf Mountain.

The beach itself is nearly 3 miles long with a golden sand that is cleaned every morning to keep it in a pristine condition.

It was good to see quite mature men playing volleyball on the beach, a means that obviously kept them very fit. Although no ladies were spotted pursuing this sport the odd one was seen relaxing on the beach. Beach jogging is very popular with mostly local middle aged and older people participating.

At the end of the beach is an army barracks housed in an old fort that has been consid-erably modernised over the years. We understand that over 1000 young male conscripts are housed here.

It's in an idyllic position over looking Sugar Loaf and the statue of Christ the Redeemer and can't be too bad a posting for these young men.

The barracks are partly open to the public and has a café and restaurant. We stopped and had coffee before moving on to look at fortif-ications that were put in during world war II. It was quite impressive as it over looked the entrance to the bay that surrounds Rio.

It was certainly exciting then driving the length of Ipanema, all of us singing (or at least trying to sing) that great song from the 60's, 'The Girl from Ipanema' that characterised this iconic beach area. Somehow it seemed less commercial and a bit classier that Copacabana.

We then headed into a private gated community where Rafa had special permission to enter, to look at a spectacular area where sometimes the waves come crashing in on the rocks. There was plenty of security in this residential area.

In addition he pointed out a home that the famous Brazilian footballer Kaka, had bought for his mother. It seems that in Brazil looking after ones mother is a national trait.

Kaka now plays football in Spain for Real Madrid and is probably amongst the top three football players in the world.

Rio has a big area of wetlands situated in an area called Marapendi. Here we boarded a small boat which took us down through the wetlands passing interesting wild life and houses on route. The area has seven islands that are all inhabited but where no motorised vehicles are allowed. However, there is a 24/7 boat service available to the inhabitants.

Some propel themselves across the water from the islands while others must use the transport we were now enjoying.

We even saw a fisherman patiently net fishing. What he was catching we were not sure but he was busy throwing his net into the waters at frequent intervals and then quickly retrieving it in search of his catch.

At one of the islands we jumped off the boat and walked through a lovely little residential area that had formed here. Rafa stopped at one of the homes and we bought the best ever home made ice cream from one of the locals. Really yummy.

In the centre of Rio is a National Park that is lush green and more like a tropical forest. In addition to fantastic views of the city there is also a spectacular waterfall that was an ideal photo opportunity for us all.

Pictured above is Gerry, Maria and myself with our lovely guide Rafa. In the picture oposite is yours truly.

Stretching up the hillsides round Rio are the 'Favela', ghettos that have traditionally bred gangs and much crime. It is possible to visit the area but to do so normally means paying security money to the various gang leaders which are then used as drug money, we were told.

We didn't visit a 'Favela' district but they were very visible as they looked down on the city from their vantage points on the hillsides.

We left Rio and headed across the 8 mile long bridge that links up with the City of Niteroi. Here we gained a different perspective of the area with fine views of the mountains around Rio and the very interesting skyline of the city. It also of course has some great sandy beaches of its own.

The famous Brazilian artist Oscar Niemeyer, the project director for the formation of Brasilia many years ago, has the MAC building, his Modern Art Museum, here. From the outside it looks more like a flying saucer.

As it was now about 4 o'clock and we still had not had lunch, so we moved on to a unique restaurant that is far from the tourist trail. Rafa said that we would be the only non-Brazilians there.

Well this was a buffet restaurant with a wonderful selection of local foods. All kinds of meats and vegetables as well as special dishes were on offer. A dedicated meat grill counter existed where one could order a steak or some other meat that would be specially prepared to the customer's satisfaction.

The food really was so varied and interesting and very enjoyable too.

It would appear that the restaurant was a kind of celebrity dining establishment as there were many photos on the wall of glamorous VIPs seen eating here over the years.

As it was so late in the day most people had already had their lunch and it was too early for dinner, we had the place nearly to ourselves. We drunk local beers with the meal and when the bill arrived we were amazed to find that it was less than $85 (equivalent) for the five of us. A real find this place. Thanks Rafa.

Rafael had now saved the best bit to last. We drove for a while and entered a park, known locally as the City Park. We climbed a considerable way up a very steep road until we arrived at a large parking area.

The views that greeted us here were just unimag-inable.

Absolutely breath-taking panoramic views of Rio and its surrounding mountains from our perch way over here across the bay. We so enjoyed taking in this most incredible of sights.

It was just such a pity that it was so gloomy as a sun setting over the City and its backdrop really would have put the icing on the cake.

It was now time to head back across the bay to Rio once again. We passed the US Navy's Aircraft Carrier, The Ronald Reagan, anchored in the bay. We understand it was visiting to conduct annual training with the Brazilian Navy.

Rafa dropped us back at the ship just on 6.00. It had been a long and interesting day. There was no way we could have seen and enjoyed ourselves quite as much if we had just booked one of the normal tours on offer from the Ship or our travel agent.

We all agreed we had done wonderfully well today and that Rafa was a real treasure and we had been exceptionally fortunate in finding him.

No dinner was required tonight so it was just a drink at the bar before retiring to the cabin to get on with today's blog.

Tomorrow we have arranged to meet up with Rafa for half a day's tour and this should begin at the slightly later time of 9.00 am.