Sunday, May 5, 2013

Rio de Janeiro: Christ the Redeemer Statue, Selaron Stairs, and Cathedral of Saint Sebastian

On the morning of May 4 we set out to tour Rio, and our first stop was the Christ the Redeemer statue, on top of the Corcovado hill. The statue is amazing, and was recently chosen as one of the 7 wonders of the world. It is 30 metres high, 710m above sea level.

The statue is a very prominent piece in Rio, and it can be seen from almost everywhere in Rio.

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We went up to the top of the mountain to get a better look:

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From the top of the mountain you can see awesome views of the whole city of Rio.

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From there we went to see the Selaron Stairs, made by the artist Jorge Selaron. He started putting tiles outside of his house to decorate the steps, and his project eventually grew to cover all the steps. There are 250 steps, and they are covered in 2000 tiles.

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I was able to climb up the side:

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As the steps grew and became more popular, tiles were donated from countries and cities all over the world. There are over 60 countries represented in the tiles.

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Even Toronto is represented!

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From there we went to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian. I would have never guessed it was a cathedral by looking at it from the outside! It looks like a rounded pyramid. It was built in the late 1960s and 1970s. Inside the cathedral are beautiful stained glass windows.

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I really enjoyed the cathedral. It was unlike any cathedral I had ever been to. From there we said goodbye to Rio and hopped on a 3 hour bus to Buzios!

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