Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s capital of samba and Carnival, is a city forever defined in people’s imagination by its miles of golden beach that on weekends draw millions of sun-worshippers.
But there is much more to Brazil’s second city, which is gradually shaking off a reputation for crime and decadence as it surfs an economic boom and prepares to host the World Cup and the Olympic Games in the next six years.
Here are some tips on how to get the most out of a stay in Brazil’s former capital, which was also once the capital of the Portuguese empire.
Friday
5pm Walk the promenade along Ipanema beach and admire the sunset as Cariocas, as residents of Rio de Janeiro are known, wind up another day of sunbathing, beach volleyball and beer-drinking on one of the world’s most spectacular city beaches. Quench your thirst with a fresh coconut or a caipirinha from a stall on the walkway or from one of the vendors on the beach.
10pm Take a taxi or bus to nightlife district Lapa and get a table at Nova Capela, a Rio institution founded in 1923 whose white-jacketed waiters will serve you some of the best bolinhos de bacalhao (cod balls), javali (wild boar) and cabrito (goat) in the city.
Midnight Soak up the buzz around Lapa’s famous white arches as revelers gather to drink cheap beer at outside stalls and people-watch to the beat of samba.
1am Head to one of Lapa’s atmospheric samba clubs to try your hand at the dance that defines Rio’s spirit or just watch Cariocas of all ages come together to dance and sing along with the lyrics of old favorites. Some great clubs in Lapa include the eclectically furnished Rio Scenarium (www.rioscenarium.com.br), Democraticus, and Carioca da Gema (www.barcariocadagema.com.br/bar.htm).
A taxi ride away are Centro Cultural Carioca (www.centroculturalcarioca.com.br/home.php) and Trapiche Gamboa (www.trapichegamboa.com.br) both in beautifully restored old buildings.
Saturday
10am After breakfast, shake off your hangover by ordering a fresh fruit juice from one of the juice bars that can be found on virtually every street corner. Remember to ask for sem acucar (without sugar) or pouco acucar (a little sugar) unless you have a sweet tooth. The Amazonian berry acai (pronounced ah-sah-EE) is a favorite of body-conscious Cariocas.
11am If the weather is clear, make the pilgrimage up to the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue on top of Corcovado mountain either by taxi or the train that leaves from the base of the mountain, in the Cosme Velho neighborhood.
On the first Saturday of each month, a great way to spend a few hours is wandering along Rua do Lavradio in Lapa where live music and an outdoor market accompany the street’s furniture and antique stores.
1pm Try Bar Lagoa (www.barlagoa.com.br) for lunch beside the picturesque lake that sits between the Ipanema area and Corcovado mountain and which will be the venue for rowing events at the 2016 Olympics.
2pm Hit the beach! Order chairs and sun umbrella from one of the vendors. It’s not cool to sit on a towel.
8pm to 9pm Get a taxi or the tram up to the cobbled streets of Santa Teresa and have dinner at restaurant Aprazivel (www.aprazivel.com.br/aprazivelIE6.htm), which commands sweeping views over the city and Guanabara Bay and has excellent Brazilian food and caipirinhas. Make an early reservation to get the best views.
Wander down to Largo dos Guimaraes, a square, and join the crowds drinking choppes (draft beers) at one of Santa Teresa’s many botecos, or bars.
Sunday
10am Check out Ipanema’s Hippie Market for some local arts and crafts and sample some acaraje, a treat deep-fried in palm oil from the northeast that is sold by Afro-Brazilian women from Bahia decked out in all-white dresses.
11am Consider taking a tour of one of the hundreds of slums, or favelas, that dominate Rio’s hillsides. While they have a reputation for drugs and violence, the slums are also vibrant centers of culture, the cradle of samba, and many are perfectly safe to visit with guides. Some people have a moral problem with such tours, calling them voyeurism. But many of the big slums in Rio, such as Rocinha, are increasingly joining Brazil’s middle class as the economy surges ahead, boasting banks, supermarkets and pet stores.
2pm Try one of Rio’s churrascaria barbecue restaurants, where waiters will serve you a huge variety of meat cuts until you drop. Porcao (“Big Pig”) in Flamengo on the banks of Guanabara Bay is a stalwart and has an excellent buffet that may appease vegetarians.
4pm Take the cable car up from Urca to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain overlooking Guanabara Bay with views over the city and its beaches as the sun sets.
8pm Samba out your last hours in Rio at Casa Rosa (www.casarosa.com.br), a former brothel in Laranjeiras that draws lively crowds for singing performances and dancing at the end of the weekend. You can buy a ticket that includes a helping of feijoada, the hearty Brazilian dish of black beans, pork, jerked beef and sausage.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist