DAY SIX
thursday, October 2, 2025
highlights OF ‘The marvelous city’
Today we had a full day to explore some of the main sights of Rio, nicknamed ‘the marvelous city.’ And it was a pretty big three: Christ the Redeemer, the Selarón Steps, and Sugarloaf Mountain.
We started out with a visit to Christ the Redeemer, a massive statue on top of Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca National Park, named one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. It’s (understandably!) a destination for so many Christians around the world, and probably Rio’s most popular tourist site.
You get to the statue by a tram that takes you up and down the mountain, so we gathered as a group at the base and waited in a pretty organized line before getting on for our trip up to the top.
Passed by a few jackfruit trees!
Getting to the top, it was a short walk to the base of Christ the Redeemer. And the scale of it really hits you when you’re standing under it – I understand why it would be a pilgrimage.
Christ the Redeemer was built….
While I thought it was majestic for sure, as a non-Christian I don’t know that it had the same emotional impact that it would have for a believer. But it was fun to watch people trying to take their picture with such a tall angle.
It was a little chilly and windy, so a few of us went down to the little cafe to grab a coffee and hot chocolate.
All in all.
Our next stop wasn’t on our official itinerary, so it was just a nice extra: the Selarón Steps in the ____ district. These were built….
There are tiles that depict all sorts of things, but travel is very well represented and Lucas challenged us each to find a tile with our hometown/country on it which I think we all had no trouble doing! Celeste on our trip is from the tiny Isle of Man in the UK and even found a tile for herself!
Yes I was traipsing around Rio in essentially flip flops because all of my other shoes were still wet from Iguazu Falls 😅
The artist himself
Leaving the steps, we headed back to the hotel to have lunch and relax on our own for a bit before heading out to our late afternoon excursion to the iconic Sugarloaf Mountain.
To get to the mountain, you take two different cable cars, the first one from Praia Vermelha to Morro da Urca, which is the smaller mountain in front of Sugarloaf, and the second that takes you from Morro da Urca to the Sugarloaf peak.
Lucas smartly knew that the crowds would start to get crazy at the entrance to the second cable car, since everyone wants to be on Sugarloaf for sunset (as did we), so after the first ride we didn’t waste any time and immediately got in line for the second.