RIO IS SIMPLE AND FUN WHEN YOU GO DEEP INTO HISTORY - FUNNY HISTORICAL DAY IN OUR CITY OF JOY

Dear Reader, when you finally visited the Glamorous and Democratic Copacabana and get all involved with the Charming and Sensual Ipanema, it is time to see more of Rio, it is time to learn about the interesting and funny Brazilian History that had most of its chapters in Rio from the Portuguese Colonization to the crazy times of our early Republic System. It is time to visit beautiful barroc, colonial and neo classic buildings and super local places in our downtown. 

Starting at Cinelandia Area when Rio believed to be french...all the incredible sites of the 20S Belle Epoque are there like the Teatro Municipal, the National Library, the Fine Art Museum where we can meet the main brazilian and south american artists and check out the Empire"s Art Collection.

The Folks who already got to know me, they will not find strange to have a formal treatment and they will soon realized that I will become also a visitor, all those pictures were taken by my own guests when we decide to explore Rio using our own legs; but do not worry, if you cannot walk that much I will make it easy just for you, we will walk less but if you are in the mood to explore every corner of Rio's downtown searching for interesting picture...well, I am your man!!! :)

I try to make history never a boring thing, we will see how fascinating our Brazilian Culture is...we will use a lot of public transportation, metro and buses and maybe even a ferry boat (this is not a promise...it will depend how our time will flow and how the city will behave).

This will be a tour for very flexible people, according to our interest we will take different ways, but the whole day will be full of information and fun. 

Public Transportation will be the soul of our day...we will understand closely how our people manage to go to work, or even going home after a whole day of striving hard for life; but we will avoid the pick hours and b y metro and train we will visit a lot of local neighborhoods, even going to the outskirts like the diverse market of Madureira and the amazing favela do Alemão.

We will use our day to visit local markets to experience the local gastronomy and to see what our Carioca people go to buy their own stuff; and we will also visit a poor community in our way...specially the famous Favela do Alemão if we start in the beguine of our day or in the end of our tour we can visit Tavares Bastos, in both places we can get amazing shots of our normal pace of life.

After visiting the Center of Rio where we have such a crazy and busy rhythm of the city to the normal pace of a real favela with a lot of social projects, nice people and great energy because they finally reached the peace and calm they dreamt for their life. Complexo do Alemão is a fantastic example of victory against crime, now this people finally can smile and can show us more of our culture, more about our own lives. I am always proud and honored to take my guests to places where we never think about going!!!

I always want to give you more...after all the journey through the soul of Rio, I will make you dream about coming to Rio for the second time...we will take the ferry and cross the other side of Guanabara Bay, If we are short of time we will walk to the MAC MUSEUM...it will be a pleasant walk from the Ferry boat station that we like to call it as Barcas.

 But if we still have some good time left, we will take a bus to go to the ocean side and we will reach the incredible and super magic beach of Itacoatiara to end this complete journey of Rio with great style!!!

Some important information about this day: ALWAYS BEAR IN MIND THAT WE WILL USE JUST PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, SO THE TIME WE WILL TAKE TO ACCOMPLISH ALL THE PLACES WILL DEPEND ON THE PACE OF THE CITY AND THIS TOUR CANNOT BE DONE ON FRIDAYS.

I am Rafael, my closest people, my friends and my guests call me RAFA...yes, it might not seem, but I am a tour guide...when I first see you, I will treat you like I know you for a long time, when I first see you, you will be my faraway relatives that I do not see for ages. Rio is informal and so I am...so when you come to Rio just to like we all do, open your heart and open the doors of your spirit for the new, for the unexpected, open your mind for good and pleasant surprises, then you will be a real expert of Rio, a great enthusiast of Brazil and my good friends!

Rafael Torres Lopes
Tour Guide and Travel Planner