Río de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro, the state capital, is an unusual city due to its geography. Known as the Wonderful City, it was built between the mountains, the sea and islet-dotted bays where the exuberance of nature contrasts with thousands of modern buildings and with a throbbing burg. Its inhabitants -called cariocas- make up roughly 40% of the state's population distributed in over 150 neighborhoods. Some of them are traditional boroughs like Santa Teresa, while others are modern urban centers like sea-bathed Barra da Tijuca. There are beaches like Ipanema and Copacabana, swarmed over by swimmers and athletes all the time and ranked as two of the world's finest. The surrounding hills like the Corcovado with the famous statue of the Redeeming Christ on top of it and the Pan de Azucar (The Sugar Loaf) mark this astonishing landscape and stand for the major attractions with jaw-dropping views of their own. The scenes are dotted by historic buildings like the Santa Cruz Fortress and the miniature palace on Fiscal Island. It likewise features the world's largest urban woods area, and the Tijuca Forest Reserve, replanted in the 19th century. The city is one of the standard-bearers of the national culture, cradle of three Brazilian musical genres: choro, samba and bossa nova, without downplaying the world's best-known carnival, a cultural event that marks both the roots and traditions of the Brazilian people. Streets in the downtown area are full of monuments and public buildings from the time when the city was the nation's capital during the colonial rule, the Empire and then the Republic, thus gathering one of the country's largest cultural legacies. Its current image recounts the history of its urban development in which the old and the new stand harmoniously side by side. Rio is a hub of art and fashion all by itself, featuring galleries, museums, churches, cultural centers, theaters, movie theaters, squares, and in short, an endless array of entertainment options. Moreover, tourists can enjoy a great variety of shopping malls to buy their items of choice, most of them outfitted with top-class restaurants, bars, plazas for theatrical performances and lots of other attractions.