Brazilians call Rio the “cidade maravilhosa” and for anyone who has spent time there, its hard to disagree. Pound for pound, the city of 12 million people packs in more than anywhere else on earth: its charms are almost without end. Like a beautiful woman who also happens to be a brain surgeon, Rio often gets dismissed on its looks. People come here looking for beaches and samba and nightlife, and leave satisfied, for it has all those things; but it is also a complex Third World metropolis with a host more to offer: bustling street markets, landmark modern architecture, a royal palace, a lively alternative scene, street art and grafitti and a rich, surprising history.
Rio was the capital of the Portuguese Empire, and after that the capital of Brazil for 300 years. It is a city that invented samba, bossa nova and baile funk (not to mention Carnival!), and was home to a host of the most important Brazilian cultural figures: architects like Niemeyer and Burl Marx, slaves and emperors, classical composer Hector Villa-Lobos and blonde TV hostess Xuxa, Hollywood pin-up girl Carmen Miranda, and a whole rich stew of urban folklore; heroes and villains, ghosts, spirits and gangsters.
Clearly, this is a city worth getting to know and over the next week or so I’ll be posting on my (re)explorations of this marvellous city.
[...] The Marvellous City [...]