Monday evening in the centre of Rio de Janeiro. The world seems to be for a small Moment in the very best order. Under a palm tree at the Pedra do Sal, a small square near the port, has set up – like every Monday – a Band and old and newer alley on Hauer from the rich Samba-Songbook.

the Roda de Samba of the occasion, takes up the accommodation in the hardware is called. And it's not long before the audience joins in the songs. A few Hundred people of all social classes crowding up to the rock, which closes off the space. There is no frenetic out reigns Jinks. The people bow down quietly in front of the music and of the Afro-Brazilian culture. Here is the rods far away from the foreign chariot are junk commercial crushing Show of the carnival, the 26. February takes.

So much for President Jair Bolsonaro trying to poison the country with his extreme right-wing politics, here there is no to.

The Pedra do Sal – the salt rock is for the Afro-Brazilian population, a place full of history. Here was traded to the abolition of slavery in 1888, with people. More than two million slaves were deported to the colonies of Portugal, will be arrived in the port of Rio. The small square was later the meeting place of their descendants. Here we exchanged ideas, played music and danced and organized the first Rodas de Samba. In the darkness of the Background may be, there is no prayer to the Lord in bitterness. It is a Celebration of singing, to the Black, White, tourist, the Rich and the poor together, to dance and reminisce.

So, President Jair Bolsonaro trying to split the country and poisoned with his extreme right-wing politics, here there is no to. You can think of on this sultry evening, no better and tranquil place where you want to be.

Barren hills and curving bays

to sum up The beauty of Rio de Janeiro, in words, many have tried. The writer Stefan Zweig, who fled from the Nazis to Brazil, wrote: "Here, nature has moved in a unique mood of a waste of the elements of the scenic beauty all in a confined space together, what you otherwise sparingly to entire countries."

And in fact, it is the beauty of Rios, which overwhelmed every traveler. It is this curved bays, sometimes green, sometimes barren hills which flank the city, the lakes, the strewn everywhere, Art Deco architecture, the Botanical garden, the green sea, or the Golden beaches, their names sound like music: Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon.

But it would be ignorant to claim that behind all this beauty, no chasms gape. Roughly speaking, there are two versions of this town. Only rarely do these two worlds to touch. On the one hand, there is the worry-free Rio of tourists who can afford the safe Taxis to move around. You reside beaches in the wonderful Hotels of the city and enjoy in the nightlife district of Lapa, the nightlife. On the other hand, there is the Rio of the Locals, who live far away from the postcards-Subjects in the periphery in the West and North of the city.

The four-kilometre-long beach of Copacabana, is flanked by luxury hotels and is very popular among tourists. Photo: iStock

Here, the security situation is precarious. For the stomach ache, the many inhabitants of plagues, there are two reasons for this: It could have come from inadequately treated water or from the worry of how to survive the next month.

Already some decades, Beco has survived the Garrafas just a cross the road from Copacabana beach. This is a short cul-de-SAC. In the early fifties was celebrated in the Clubs there so rampant that the neighborhood has tried to hit the visitors with a bottle of throws in the escape. The Name of the road: the bottle alley comes. However, all bottle casts were in vain. To celebrate, there was in fact nothing less than the birth of a new music: the slightly resilient and hard-of-melancholy Bossa Nova.

in Front of the Club, named after the alley, we meet the owner, Sergio de Martino. He quickly revels exuberantly in memories. The history of this place is in the mind's eye to life. Martino Treasurer was once here. His eyes Shine when he talks about how João Gilberto, Tom Jobim or Jorge Ben Jor gave their first concerts. In the audience, celebrities such as Quincy Jones, Ella Fitzgerald or Liza Minelli and a couple of. They all wanted to have in this music revolution.

The restaurant is not much bigger than a living room. 50 people listening this evening to a exquisite Bossa-Nova-Jazz-Quartet. Between the pieces, the Band, chatting with the audience or making jokes about the political Situation in the country. And even if the Beco is fighting the Garrafas today with financial problems, is attempted here in a most sympathetic way to preserve an important cultural property of Rios before the crash into the Museum.

Former hippie village with beautiful beaches

But Rio is not just as a cultural destination, an event. The city is also an ideal base for excursions to the no less splendid surroundings. For example, to Paraty, a pretty colonial town with a checkered past. As at the end of the 17th century. Century were discovered in the interior of Gold and precious stones, was created the so-called Goldweg (Caminho do Ouro), and the value of the full findings to be shipped to Paraty were brought. The fact that this town was once one of the busiest hubs of Brazil, reminded today, however, little.

The city of Paraty is surrounded by a lush forest backdrop. Photo: iStock

Paraty is a place of recreation. Since the city is under monument protection, is like you with your gorgeous white-washed colonial houses and the preserved cobblestone streets (a challenge for Flip-Flop wearers) a giant open-air Museum. Paraty is surrounded by beaches of 55 small Islands and 100. Who goes in the Morning to the port, can be either an individual ship's tour or by Bus to Vila de Trindade go, where a former hippie village with beautiful beaches beckons.

Great beaches, there are also 160 kilometers North-East of Rio nearby Búzios. Paraty is considered the favorite city of Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, can Búzios include the actress Brigitte Bardot to their admiration of the interior. In her honor was erected a Statue. Not heard, however, of the outstanding beauties of this relaxed town.

many beaches in the vicinity of Búzios discover. Photo: iStock

On the palm-fringed waterfront, a seafood restaurant joins to the next, and also in the city centre was busy. There are 25 small to medium sized coves. The best means Ferradurinha. It is flanked by rugged cliffs and green hills.

And if it is so, a Caipirinha sipping and the low sun sends its last rays over the Bay, then you'd be set to sign the the world Explorer Amerigo Vespucci wrote in his diary, when he arrived in 1502, in the Bay of Rio: "If an earthly Paradise exists, then it can't be far away from here." All the earthly problems in Spite of.

The trip was supported by Edelweiss. www.flyedelweiss.com

Created: 20.02.2020, 16:53 PM