Our Editor cum Director of COMPACT TRAVELS recently went to Brazil to attend the seventh edition of BRITE 2006. BRITE is the acronym for Brazil International Tourism Exchange and was held on May 29th and May 30th 2006 at the Ribalta Convention Centre located in one of the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro . South African Airways offers the shortest and most convenient connection to the country which is famous for its beauty, beaches, football and the world famous Carnival which is held in February or March every year and who can forget the extravagant celebrations of New Year.

...Exciting City of Rio De Janeiro
We all know from the Bible that God created the world in 6 days starting with the heaven and the earth, the day and night, the sky and water, the earth and the sea and so on. However, many believe that God created the world in 7 days- 6 days he took to create the whole world and the 7th day to create Rio de Janeiro and during my trip I did discover why Rio de Janeiro is one of the most exciting cities in the world and what makes the citizens of this country soak in so much of sun, sand and Carnival along with beautiful beaches and Christ

After a transit stop, we boarded the flight leaving at 1020 hours to arrive at Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil. We arrived around 1600 hours after a 10 hr 40 minutes flight across the South Atlantic. I was travelling in elite company of Nalini Gupta- the Regional Head of South African Airways for Indian Subcontinent and South East Asia and the exuberant Navneet Jaggi, the North India Sales Manager of South African Airways.

After a couple of hours, we boarded the VARIG flight to reach Rio de Janeiro in less than 60 minutes from Sao Paulo. It was late in the evening by the time we arrived. At Rio the first glance of Copacabana Beach and the gorgeous Copacabana Palace Hotel took our tiredness away. The Copacabana Palace Hotel overlooks the beach and is not only the best hotel of Rio de Janeiro but one of the finest hotels in entire South America. It belongs to the Orient Express Hotels group which is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World.

Whether you are going for the Carnival in Rio or for a honeymoon or want to spoil yourself in ultimate luxury, the Copacabana Palace Hotel is the one for the discerning traveller. The hotel has been a legendary meeting place for Rio's high society and has hosted royalties, Hollywood stars, eminent personalities from the field of music and sports as well as politicians and global leaders have enjoyed the high level of sophistication of this property.

After having checked in at the hotel, we walked across the road to enjoy some light snacks at the beach side café sipping Caipirinha - a cocktail which characterizes the true flavour of Brazilian spirit comprising of cachaça or a Brazilian vodka, lime, sugar and ice. The refreshing drink with the pleasant breeze blowing along the beach compelled me to forget the 36 hour long flight (inclusive of transit times) that took me to arrive in Rio de Janeiro. No wonder the sweeteness and tangy feeling of Caipirinha makes it in the list of one of the 50 greatest drinks of all time and is popular across continents.

In fact, Rio de Janeiro was the capital of Brazil until 1960 and it has some fine architecture representing several epochs of history such as the Municipal Theatre, the Imperial Courtyard, the Arches of Lapa and the National Library. The city is dominated by the giant statue of Jesus known as Christ the Redeemer atop the Corcovado mountain on one side and the Sugar loaf mountain on the other side. This imposing statue was designed by French-Polish architect Paul Landowsky and the structure was built on reinforced concrete and coated with soapstone to withstand weather changes and it took all of 5 years to transport these pieces atop on the Trem do Corcovado which is the train that runs up to the Corcovado Peak.

There are two ways to get to the statue- either drive up the Corcovado Mountain and then walk up or take the train. Christ the Redeemer is one of the most famous icons of Rio de Janeiro and not surprisingly one of the most photographed places in the world. The statue is 125 feet tall atop the Corvocado Peak which stands at 2330 feet on the Corcovado Mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park and overlooks the city. We were not only fortunate to visit the place both during the day as well as in the night but also we took a panoramic 7 minutes helicopter ride on a clear day around the Christ Statue.

I would strongly recommend any visitor to Rio to take the helicopter ride to get a bird's eye view of the statue as well as the magnificent view of the city including the beautiful beaches that adorn the coastline of Rio de Janeiro. During our stay we also visited the Pão de Açúcar or the Sugar Loaf Mountain which is as popular and another important icon of the city of the Rio de Janeiro. The mountain was named Pão de Açúcar by the Portuguese during the height of the sugarcane era in Brazil during the 16th Century. Liquid sugar was placed to set in conical clay moulds, whose shape resembled that of the now famous Sugar Loaf Mountain. From the top of the mountain you get a spectacular view of Guanabara Bay and it surrounds including the old forts that guard the bay. To reach to the top of the Sugarloaf mountain, you need to take two cable cars. The cable car has a capacity of 75 people and departs daily every 30 minutes from 8 am to 10 pm. The first cable car takes you to a height of 220 metres atop the “Morro da Urca” or Urca Hill and eventually the second one takes you to 750 metres. From the Urca Hill to Sugar Loaf it is a trip of 3 minutes duration covering 850 metres and the cable car goes at an altitude of 10 metres for every second.

One of the other exciting activities that we ventured was to do a high speed boat ride around the Ipanema Islands and the two hour ride was indeed worth every minute of it especially besides taking a trip through the rich biodiversity of the local sea fauna including different breed of birds, we were lucky to see a school of dolphins as well. The high speed boat cruises at a speed of 50 miles/hour and it can accommodate 28 passengers and should be a part of your itinerary when you tour the city of Rio de Janeiro as it gives you one of the finest views of the two prime beaches - the Copacabana and the Ipanema as well as striking landscapes of the Corcovado, the Sugar Loaf and the forts around Rio.

RIO DE JANEIRO as a city as well as the state of Rio de Janeiro has so much to offer that when you travel across continents especially from India, you need to spend atleast one week in Rio. There are several other exciting excursions you could take from Rio such as a tour of the Tropical Island's paradise or a visit to the Petropolis where you can see the Imperial Museum, the Santos Dumont House, Crystal Palace and the Cathedral. It takes one entire day to visit Petropolis. Then you can also visit the Blue Coast of Buzios crossing the Rio-Niterio Bridge that connects the city of Rio with the city of Niterio.

The bridge is around 14 kilometres long and around 9000 metres over water - and is referred to as "the national pride of engineering", as it has the highest central span in the world. With a height of 72 metres, the bridge allows passage to hundreds of ships that enter and leave the bay every month. Buzios is famous for its wonderful beaches and the locals love to spend their weekends in Buzios. Another day trip which is equally interesting is a visit to Angra dos Reis where you have some of the finest resorts including the Blue Tree Park which is one of the most luxurious tourism projects in the region with an area of 169 thousand sq metre area dedicated to leisure infrastructure.

Within Rio, especially if there is a football match on and you love football, what better than go to see football game at the Maracana stadium - one of the biggest stadiums in the world and home to the local football team of Flamengo. You may be lucky to see the Ronaldinhos and Ronaldos perform live in the one of the finest stadiums in the world where you could be lucky to see some of your favourite players dribbling the ball or scoring a goal.

Night life in Rio is bustling with activity and the night begins only after 12 am and goes on till the early part of the morning. You could be sharing a drink with local Brazilians or even go for a lovely barbecue dinner in one of the fine restaurants and at the same time enjoy the Brazilian Samba in one of the famous night clubs of Rio de Janeiro. Rio is good for shopping too especially for gemstones and Rio has quite a few malls you can visit. During our visit, it was football fever around and at the Rio Plaza Shopping Mall, we could see most of the shops selling the yellow and blue jerseys as well as other football memorabilia and for a moment we felt like asking someone whether the FIFA World Cup had been advanced by a couple of weeks.

Before visiting Rio, like any traveller I too felt that Carnival is the best time to visit Rio, however, all of us felt like staying more than our 4 days that we had in Rio and all I can say that I am already looking forward to packing my bags to head to Brazil again and also sending many Indian travellers to this wonderful city - vibrant with life, entertainment, culture, history, events and surrounded by beauty of beaches, mountains, people and all that you would ask when you plan one of your finest holidays.