Aventura en America del Sur, part 1

This guest post is by Dave Tindell.

Wisconsin to Brazil

Friday-Saturday, December 12-13, 2014

   

    A year had gone by already since our trip to Tahiti in December 2013. We had so much fun below the equator then that we decided to go south again, even further south this time. So it was that we left cold and snowy Wisconsin and flew out of Minneapolis to Atlanta and from there to a continent we'd not yet visited, South America.
    Our Delta flights were trouble-free and we arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the morning of the 13th. Now on Daylight Saving Time, Brazil is four hours ahead of US Central Time, so their Saturday was well underway by the time we touched down. Fortunately we'd slept a bit on the Atlanta-to-Rio leg, and the sunny skies and warm temperatures that greeted us were indeed refreshing.
    For this trip we would be cruising aboard the Azamara Journey, our first voyage aboard a ship from Azamara Club Cruises. Built in 2000, the Journey is nearly 600 feet long and can house up to 694 passengers, served by a crew of 403. Azamara has a reputation for exemplary service and dining and has won many awards from reputable publications like Cruise Critic. We were eager to see if Azamara would live up to its reputation and we would certainly not be disappointed.

Newly arrived in Brazil, Sue checks the documents as we wait for our car. 

    Azamara had a driver waiting for us at Galaeo-Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport, and our drive to the port was pleasant. Rio was founded by the Portuguese in 1565; Europeans first set eyes on its site on New Year's Day 1502. Aboard that Portuguese ship was the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, whose maps of the newly-discovered Western Hemisphere would lead Europeans to refer to these lands as "the Americas."
    Portugal ruled Brazil until 1822 with Rio as the capital. The newly independent nation kept Rio as the seat of government until the construction of Brasilia in 1960. Today, Rio is a modern city of some 6.5 million, with another 5.5 million in the surrounding suburbs. As large as it is, Rio is the second-largest city in the country, behind Sao Paulo. Host to the World Cup of soccer this past summer (their winter), Rio will once again be in the world's spotlight in August 2016 when the Summer Olympics are held here, the first visit to South America by the quadrennial athletic extravaganza. Brazilians are hoping their athletes do better in that event; in the World Cup, Brazil finished a disappointing 4th, a run that included a 7-1 drubbing at the hands of eventual champion Germany in the semifinals. 

Brazilians were not eager to talk about the World Cup.

    We arrived at the port terminal and joined dozens of our fellow passengers in the check-in process. Things got a bit cramped, but we were informed that the port area is being remodeled and when it's all done, the process will be much smoother. Eventually we got our ship ID cards and headed outside to board the Journey.

The Azamara Journey, our home for the next 9 nights. 

    Our ship would not set sail until the following evening, so we used the rest of our Saturday to get settled in our comfortable deck-6 cabin, which included a balcony. Having sailed on previous ships with everything from a balcony to a window to an inside cabin with no windows at all, we can safely say the balcony version is much preferable. 

As on most ships, the pool deck on the Journey would prove very popular.

    We had our first meal aboard in the well-appointed Windows Cafe and later in the evening our first dinner in the ship's main dining salon, Discoveries Restaurant. At 9:30 the ship's captain, an Englishman named Jason Ikiadis, and his officers were introduced at a reception in the Cabaret Lounge. Like all crews on cruise liners, the Journey's crew was an international team from all over the world. Next to the captain one of the most important officers, and certainly the most visible, is the cruise director, and we met ours, Eric DeGray, a multi-talented Canadian. We've had a number of fine cruise directors on our trips but Eric would prove to be one of the best. 
    After the reception we stuck around for the show. Almost all cruise lines provide nightly entertainment for their guests, and we'd heard Azamara was near the top in its presentations of talent. We would not be disappointed, that's for sure. Tonight's featured vocalist was Teacake, a native of Houston who is also a model. She put on a terrific show with a mix of Motown and soul, showcasing her great voice with two Whitney Houston songs to wrap the show. 

    Even though it was still only about 6pm back home, it had been a long day for us so we retired to our cabin, looking forward to the next day when we would see some of the sights of Rio before setting sail. 

***

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Sunday, December 14th

    Rio! The very name is exotic, and the city would prove to be just that. Azamara provided us with a wide variety of shore excursions for this cruise, and today after a fine breakfast in the Windows Cafe we departed for Corcovado, perhaps the most famous of Rio's many sights. 
    At 2329 feet above sea level, Corcovado towers above Rio and rises in the midst of the Tijuca Forest, a national park within the city limits. Over 300,000 people visit this peak every year, most of them riding to the top aboard the electric trams, which were first installed in 1884. The main attraction on the granite peak is the 125-foot statue, Christ the Redeemer.
    We bused to the base of the mountain and boarded our tram, taking advantage of the station's WiFi hotspot to post our first photos of the trip on our Facebook pages. With the ship's onboard WiFi somewhat expensive, we took advantage of all hotspots we could find ashore. 

Breakfast on the open deck outside Windows Cafe. 

At the tram station, we waited in line but things moved smoothly.

On the way up we enjoyed the flora of Tijuca, a man-made rain forest covering 12.5 square miles.

At the peak, Christ the Redeemer, built by French, Romanian and Brazilian sculptors and engineers. Finished in 1931, its arms stretch 92 feet wide and it weighs 635 tons. On the night of its unveiling, the floodlights were turned on by a switch thrown by radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi from 5,700 miles away in Rome. 

Views from the peak are, as you might expect, spectacular.

Selfie time!

The plant species in Tijuca include the jackfruit (top), whose fruit can weigh up to 80 pounds.

    After traipsing the 223 steps from the peak down to the tram's terminus, we had a short wait for the next available car and then headed back down to the station 20 minutes away. From there we boarded our bus and headed out through the city, passing by two of the city's famous beaches, the Copacabana and Ipanema. There were no stops for us to get out and take pictures, but this image from Rio's official website shows the Copacabana at its best, with the 1,300-foot Sugarloaf Mountain in the background. 

The Copacabana Beach is about 2.5 miles long and fronted by more than 60 hotels.

     Back to the ship after a fine tour, we took advantage of the once-again gorgeous weather to relax for the rest of the day, dining once again in the Discoveries but looking forward to the next night, which would see us visit the Aqualina, one of the two prime dining establishments on board. 

    There was one other major event, though, and back ashore we went for a special showing of the Carnaval, Rio's world-famous festival. Held every year before Lent, Carnaval draws some 2 million people a night to the streets of Rio for 6 nights. It is a major event for the several Rio schools that teach the samba, Brazil's native dance. We had heard tales of the Carnaval and now we would see one in miniature, but it was still a heckuva show. 

    As martial artists, Sue and I were especially excited to see an authentic exhibition of capoeira, Brazil's native martial art.

   It had been a fine day but we were glad to be setting sail after returning from our Carnaval show. We would be heading up the Brazilian coast for our first stop: the village known as the "St. Tropez of Brazil."

***

Buzios, Brazil

Monday, December 15th

    The village of Buzios is on a peninsula jutting into the Atlantic and sports twenty beautiful beaches. It was a haven for smugglers and pirates in the 16th and 17th centuries, but since then it might have very well remained a sleepy town if not for the arrival in 1964 of the French actress Brigitte Bardot. Anxious to escape the paparazzi of Rio, Bardot and her Brazilian boyfriend drove two hours north to Buzios. Bardot stayed here for several months even though the village at that time had no electricity. Word got around and Buzios became a getaway for celebrities. 

Bardot and her boyfriend, Bob Zagury, walk the beaches of Buzios in '64.

Her visit is commemorated today by a statue.

    The Journey anchored in the bay and we tendered ashore. The ship has two of its own tenders and they are very efficient, running guests to and from every half-hour like clockwork. This morning we strolled through the village and did a little shopping.

    We returned to the ship for lunch and then came ashore again for our afternoon excursion, a visit to some of Buzios' famous beaches by schooner. Although the water was a little too chilly for us, a few brave souls aboard took the plunge. We were content to enjoy the day high and dry and visit with our fellow passengers. 

    Back aboard, we had had our first dining experience in one of the Journey's two specialty restaurants, Aqualina, and it was special indeed. Our show this evening was also special. Beverley Davidson , an English violinist and comedienne, showcased her extraordinary musicianship and dry wit. Self-described as the "Diva" of the violin, she is a protege and student of the great violinist Yehudi Menuhin. If you ever get a chance to see this lady's show, jump at it.    

    All in all it had been a great day. We retired to our cabin after the show, looking forward to the next. The Journey pulled anchor and headed back down the coast, past Rio to our next port of call, the unique village of Paraty. 

Exploring the Land where East meets West, part 2

Friday, April 4 --

    We rose in Istanbul this morning with a full day on the agenda. After breakfast, we headed to one of the most exotic shopping areas in the world, the Grand Bazaar.
     One of the world's oldest and largest covered markets, the bazaar covers some 61 streets with over 3,000 shops. These photos are from Wikipedia; I was too busy shopping to take any of my own.

One of more than a dozen entrances to the Grand Bazaar.

In this photo from erasmusu.com, some of the bazaar's wonderful artwork is displayed.

The variety of goods for sale really can't be described adequately.

 

 

    The bazaar was started in the mid-15th century, and by 200 years later it was the hub of travel and commerce for Europe, Asia and Africa, thanks to the wide reach of the Ottoman Empire. Over the years the bazaar was hit by fires and earthquakes, and after the great quake of 1894 it began to take its modern appearance.
    The good news was that we knew we could find almost anything in the bazaar. The bad news was that we only had 90 minutes to shop. (Some of us would go back the next day.) Our next stop awaited us: the Suleymanyi Mosque.

    The mosque was built in the mid-16th century during the reign of the sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, under whose rule the Ottoman Empire reached its zenith, extending deep into Europe all the way to modern-Day Austria, through the Middle East and into North Africa as far as Algeria.

Suleyman I (1494-1566), ruled his empire for almost 46 years.

 

     The mosque is actually a complex of several buildings covering about 18 acres, and like its builder, it is magnificent.

The tomb of  Suleyman I.

Islamic tradition requires women to be covered inside the mosque, so we covered as stylishly as we could.

 

     After lunch on our own, we visited the third and final stop of our day tour, the Pierre Loti overlook. Named after a French naval officer and novelist who was a strong supporter of the modern Turkish state that threw out the Ottomans after World War I, it provides a spectacular view of Istanbul.

 

 

 

    It had been a full day, but more was to come. Our evening reception was at Hotel Les Ottomans, a beautiful boutique hotel in Istanbul.

        It had been a wonderful day, but we were a weary bunch as we repaired to the Shangri-La for the night. Tomorrow we would have our first business meeting of the trip, and then more to see in this fascinating city.


Saturday, April 5 -- 

     Our morning was spent in the business meeting, but the time flew by and we hit the road for another day of exploring Istanbul, starting with lunch at the Karakol restaurant.

  
     After a delicious lunch, our next stop was the Hagia Sophia Museum. This building was built in 537 AD as a Greek Orthodox church, became a mosque in 1453 and a museum in 1935. Much restoration work has been done in the last two decades, led by the World Monument Fund. It is regarded as one of the great surviving examples of Byzantine architecture.

 

    
         It was a short walk to the Blue Mosque, formally known as the Sultan Ahmed mosque.

   

      Built in the early 17th century, the mosque has one main dome, six minarets and eight secondary domes. It is still used as a mosque today. When we entered, some of us were told that our attire was not conservative enough, so this is how Laurie and I wound up:

     Outside were beautiful flowers in several gardens.

     Leaving the mosque, we went underground to see the Basilica Cistern. The largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that are beneath Istanbul, this one dates back to the 6th century. According to ancient texts, about 7,000 slaves worked on its construction.

       The cistern is enormous, about 105,000 square feet of space that could hold 2.8 million cubic feet of water weighing 100,000 tons. Supporting the ceiling are 336 columns, each 30 feet high. The water came via aqueducts from the Belgrade Forest, about 19 miles north of the city. Today, the cistern is almost empty except for a few feet of water that is home to many fish. The 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love has scenes filmed here.

     We went to another cistern, the Nakkas Cistern, for a presentation by Meander Travel, featuring wine and cheese served along with classical music. We capped our evening with dinner in the Kumkapi quarter of the Fatih district, traditionally home to Istanbul's Armenian population. After a fine meal we returned to the Shangri-La to prepare for our final day in Turkey.


Sunday, April 6 --
 
     Our last day in Istanbul was a full day indeed. At 9am we departed the hotel for a visit to the Topkapi Palace, the primary residence of the Ottoman sultans from the mid-15th to mid-19th century. As many as 4,000 people resided here during the palace's peak years.

Enjoying the gardens together.

     The Archeological Museum is actually the largest of three museums in the complex, known as the Istanbul Archeology Museum. Dedicated in 1891, the complex also includes the Museum of the Ancient Orient and the Museum of Islamic Art. Among its famous artifacts: the Alexander Sarcophagus, dating to the 4th century BC and believed to have been made for a governor of Babylon; the Kadesh Peace Treaty, signed by the Egyptians and Hittites in 1258 BC, considered the oldest peace treaty in world history; and an exhibit featuring artifacts from the ancient city of Troy.

    
     After lunch, we visited the Spice Bazaar, dating to 1660 and featuring nearly a hundred shops selling spices. Here's a great photo from fxcuisine.com:

     From the Spice Bazaar, some of our group continued shopping at a remarkable leather factory, but I joined others in returning to the Shangri-La to prepare for the evening's gala dinner, which was held at the Adile Sultan Palace.
    The palace was originally built in the early 19th century for the princess whose name it still bears, has 55 rooms and a spectacular view of the Bosporus. It was truly an evening of elegance, the perfect way to finish our visit to this spectacular country.

    

     To say that a fine time was had by all would be an understatement. Late in the evening we went back to the Shangri-La for the final time. We were a tired but satisfied bunch, looking forward to getting home. Thinking about the long flight home would wait till morning.


Monday, April 7 --

     Our journey back to the States began mid-morning when we departed Istanbul for Amsterdam. By mid-afternoon US Central time, we were back at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.
     Turkey had shown us a land of contrasts, a very tolerant place with hospitable people. Truly a place where East meets West, and the Turks seem to be searching for the best of both worlds. I'll certainly plan to visit again.