We packed up our backpacks ready for moving onto Salvador tomorrow, I went to the gym which was on the top floor over looking Copacabana & sugarloaf quite a view for a morning work out! We went for a walk up to our favourite beach bar & a bite to eat then we went back to the hotel & up to the roof terrace bar for the England game. It was just a friendly against Costa Rica before the World Cup started, we had a few Caipirinha which have turned into my ...

We booked the city tour online & we got picked up from the hotel at 10am after breakfast thankfully the weather had brightened up, Filippo was our guide he was from Rio but spoke Portuguese Spanish & english easily! The first part of the tour was to visit a popular hang gliding spot near Barra Tijuca this is an up & coming part of Rio where all the new hotels are being built, it has lots of smart exclusive cocktail bars. We passed through the largest ...

The storm had passed it still felt warm but quite cloudy so we decided to go to the Maracana stadium to do the tour, it is one of the most iconic football stadiums in the world! The stadium opened in 1950 to host the FIFA World Cup, in which Brazil was beaten 2–1 by Uruguay in the deciding game, in front of 199,854 spectators. The stadium has seen plenty of crowds of more than 100,000 until the terraced sections have been replaced with seats over time, its orig...

The thunderstorm was lingering again most of the day but we decided to chance it & walk to Ipanema beach again & visit the area behind towards the big lagoon, the beach was so quite compared to the hustle & bustle of the locals at the weekend! Obviously the weather made a huge difference too. We found a lovely Italian style cafe in Leblon so we stopped for a few beers & a bite to eat! It was the best pasta I’ve ever had! We had a look around the...

We were woken by lots of cheering & loud music from the beach! It was the Rio marathon & part of the course ran along Copacabana beach, we had breakfast then went out to watch the runners & listen to the djs on the beach! It was packed with spectators chanting for the runners & encouraging them along! We walked down the beach & watched some beach football games! The weather was really muggy & starting to change the forecast said a storm wa...