Words actually fall short to describe Rio de Janeiro. But I will do my best to give you an impression about this spectacular city. Of course Rio de Janeiro is famous for it´s carnival and the tiny bikinis at the Copacabana beach, but Rio the Janeiro has so much more to offer than just that.

For one thing, the city itself is beautiful, it is built in between the mountains and this makes an amazing skyline. On one side you have the Sugarloaf Mountain and on the other side there´s Cristo Redentor, a huge statue of Jesus Christ on the hill watching over the richly colored sunny city. A cab driver told me that there´s this competition between people from Sao Paolo (Paulistanos) and the people from Rio the Janeiro (Cariocas), where the Paulistanos say the Cariocas are really lazy and never work and the day the Cariocas start working, Cristo Redentor will clap his hands.

When you walk around in Rio de Janeiro it seems like everybody is smiling and dancing the samba, looking so healthy and happy and when you talk to the people everything they say sounds relaxed and friendly, because Portuguese is so beautiful. Maybe it´s because of the sunny weather and the fresh fruits and vegetables they eat. Because they really like their food to be fresh, they mistrust everything that comes out of a package. Although ´Brazilian Cuisine´ doesn´t really exists, the food is amazing!

The only thing about Rio that´s not so great is that it is quite expensive. Lula, the current president, invested a lot of money in the production of biological fuel made out off sugarcane and Brazil is exporting it a lot. The economy is doing well mainly because of this. So the Real (Brazilian money) has a very steady currency, which makes everything pretty expensive.  Also criminality rates are high in Rio de Janeiro, you shouldn´t go wandering around in de Favelas (the slums) by yourself.

There are so many things you can do in Rio, here are few highlights.  First: you should definitely spend at least a few hours on one of the beautiful beaches. From what I´ve heard, the Copacabana beach isn´t really ´hot´ anymore, but Ipanema and Leblon beach definitely are! Buy a freshly squeezed juice at one of the many juice bars at every corner of the street. I recommend Açai con granola. This is not really a juice actually, but more a berry paste with cereal, it´s delicious! Then there is this indescribably beautiful restaurant in Santa Teresa, it´s called Aprazivel. The trip up to Santa Teresa takes a while, because it’s pretty high, but it’s a lot of fun too because you can enjoy the view of the city and of Santa Teresa as well (it reminded me of Lisbon). The restaurant is pretty hidden, but once you set one food trough the door, you will find a breathtaking view; amazing food and a garden setting that will make you feel like you´re in a fairytale. Besides all the food, every Sunday there´s a hippy market in Ipanama, which is a lot of fun and besides all the souvenirs you can buy beautiful stuff here.  And there are many more attractions in Rio, like the soccer stadium, giant cathedral, cableway to sugarloaf and lots of museums. The time I´ve spend in Rio was way too short, four days are not enough. So I´ll just have to come back next year!