A quick one before we head to the airport and get caught up in the next stage of our trip – Santiago. Another lovely day yesterday, so we headed across the harbour to Niteroi. We caught a ferry over, then a bus back. Really pleased we did both trips as they gave us great views of the enormous harbour and all the ships both in dock and just waiting in the water. There were also 3 huge cruise ships docked, so the queues at the popular sights would have been enormous!

Most shops are closed on Sundays, apart from a few supermarkets and souvenir shops near the ferry, but the bus trip back to Rio took us through some interesting side streets and then across the very long, very impressive Rio-Niteroi Bridge with great views over Rio. We saw some Carnaval preparations – workers erecting stadium seating along one of the main roads in Rio. Canaval starts on Feb 5th, ends on Feb 10th.

We caught a second bus back to Copacabana, rather than the train, so we could see more of the city, then a stroll down to the beach in the evening for another cocktail. We found a band playing in the street with a big crowd around them, dancing or just tapping their feet to the music. Hordes of people on the Promenade, great atmosphere.

Thanks Rio, it’s been a heap of fun and we’ll be back someday, I’m sure.