By: Joshua & Riccardo
In the first morning no one thought it could be that easy to wake up at 7 o’clock after a trip of 22 hours, yet the jetlag has strike again! After a brief breakfast we reached the research center CRESESB by taxi, surfing in the wild traffic of Rio. As we stepped in CRESESBwe instantly sensed the Brazilian hospitality by dr. Ricardo Dutra engineer for development of sustainable energy. During his presentation Ricardo provided a lot of information about Brazilian’s energy management and future plans for increase its sustainability (40% of Brazilian consumptions are already provided by green sources!!) and stability of the energy grid. After a short and “quiet” taxi drive we arrived at Catedral San Sebastian Metropolitana in the city centre of Rio the Janeiro. An imposing building located in between the district of Santa Teresa and large office buildings. The day has proceeded with a quick lunch with Brazilian meat and continued around the city centre passing by the Theatro Municipal and Museo de Modern Art with a local market and a church in between. The whole group met at the Museum of modern art located in the bay in front of the beautiful Sugarloaf mountain, which provided a view of Christ the Redeemer. The walk continued through the coloured streets of Rio and leading to the marvelous Escalada Selaron, a staircase covered by colorful tile from all over the world. Our destination, the district of Santa Teresa, began on top of the escalada with its typical houses hosting intellectuals and wealthy people of Rio. The streets ran up on the hill where we arrived at the Parque das Ruinas which provided a magnificent view over the city. Giving us a real postcard exoerience. After everybody enjoyed the view from the tower, even a couple concurred their fear of heights, we continued our way up the streets of Santa Teresa. The tour through this marvelous district ended to a cozy bar with a ‘Brazilian borrel’ based on tasty tapas and ice cold local beer.