Day 3: Christ the Redeemer and Coffee at Confeitaria Colombo
After breakfast, the Corcovado private tour to the Christ the Redeemer statue. The journey begins at the station, where an open train on the Christ the Redeemer helicopter tour route climbs the narrow railway through the dense slopes of Tijuca National Park, one of the largest urban forests in the world. The carriage passes slowly through thick greenery: vines, tall trees, humid air, and rare glimpses through which the city is already visible below. In under twenty minutes you are at 710 meters, at the foot of the nearly hundred-year-old Christ the Redeemer statue, built in 1931. From the platform the complex topography of the city is visible, carved into the mountains. The neighborhoods climb the slopes, roads wind between green masses, and below, the business districts, the port, and residential quarters converge. The city literally grows out of rock and forest.
Evening recommendation: dinner at Marius Degustare restaurant (seafood) on Copacabana. The restaurant is designed like a sunken ship: ropes, anchors, old chests, and subdued light. On the table: shrimp, oysters, fish, one course following another. The sound of the ocean outside, the half-dark hall, and intense flavors create the feeling of dining somewhere on the border between city and sea.
