Author: Tom Bell

 

When you think of Brazil, you’ll probably think of that buck-toothed footballing magician Ronaldinho, or maybe if you’re a little older you may think of arguably the greatest of all time in Pele.

When you think of Rio de Janeiro, you’ll probably picture the most drop-dead gorgeous, tanned brunette frolicking on the beach in her tiny swim wear, or perhaps you’ll think of arguably the most iconic statue in the world, Christ the Redeemer, which stands watch over the samba city – like the MANual, over your everyday goings.

Back in 2007, FIFA President Sepp Blatter stood in Zurich, Switzerland, envelope-in-hand and ready to announce to the world who would be hosting the World Cup in 2014. After what must have seemed an eternity, the ageing Swiss announced that football’s biggest prize would be returning to Brazil for the first time since 1950.

Then, just two years later, scenes in Copenhagen, Denmark marked the time of Brazil, when Rio de Janeiro were announced to have eliminated Tokyo and Chicago to be declared the host city of the twenty ninth Olympic games. Meaning Brazil would welcome not just one, but two of the major world events to its shores in just two years.

So, hands up, how many of you are planning to hop on a plane and make your way to Cidade Maravilhosa (that’s ‘Marvellous City’ to you and me) but have no idea about what to do, where to go or who to see when you get there? Don’t you worry; we have you covered, in our manual to travelling Rio de Janeiro:

First things first, you’ve spent a long time travelling to get there and when you do get there, what more do you want than an ice cold beer? Well, Brazilian beer maestros Brahma have you covered. You’ll see plenty of amigos swigging an ice cold Brahma on the shores of the ‘praia’ (that’s a beach) and it’s for good reason. Take it from us; this light lager is up there with the best. It’s almost a metaphor for the Brazilian way of life in the way that it’s so easy going. Think of it being the first sunny week of the year in April, you’re sat with your friends with a disposable barbecue and a cheap multipack of burgers or sausages (your choice, amigo) and this is the beer for that situation. It’s light, refreshing and bloody delicious.

Next, you’ll probably fancy a snack with your beer, not a problem. Brazilian street food is up there with the best. We recommend ‘Bolinhos de Bacalau’ first and foremost. You’re having a beer in the pub back home and you crave something salty, let’s face it. A packet of salt and vinegar crisps or maybe a bag of Mr Porky (XL might we add, we don’t muck about) go hand-in-hand with a beer. ‘Bolinhos de Bacalau’ translate to ‘balls of codfish’ – that’s right, handmade, hand-rolled balls of fish, just like your local chippy. Codfish, potato, egg, parsley and olive oil make up these delicious balls of deliciousness and we strongly recommend you grab a couple, washed down with a Brahma of course.

If you fancy a sit-down meal once you get there, why not jump in feet first and sample the Brazilian national dish? Sit down, place your order and prepare to be suitably impressed. ‘Feijoada’ is a black bean stew and can be cooked with any type of meat, although the choice meats tend to be pork or beef. Chuck in a little smoked bacon, smoked sausage and jerked beef and you’ve got yourself a hearty bowl of awesome. It goes perfectly with a little serving of rice and kale and of course, a nice, cold bottle of Brahma (We really, really like that beer, okay?)

Next up, let’s give you an itinerary. You’ve got ample choice to choose from when it comes to the beautiful game in arguably the most beautiful city. Botafogo, Vasco, Fluminense (That’s where Man United’s da Silva twins came from) and Flamengo (Former home of Ronaldinho, might we add) It would be hard to turn down catching a game in the ‘Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A’ if you’re a football fan and let’s face it, with four top teams in the city, you’ve no excuse. Failing that, if you can’t squeeze in a game (shame on you) you could always visit the Maracana.

Now, where do we start with the Maracana? One of the oldest and most fabled of all footballing churches. The World Cup is just around the corner and this church has had a revamp. Come next summer, seventy seven thousand people will be sat witnessing the World Cup final. The old stadium closed its doors for the last time in late 2010, but the newly decorated and renovated stadium opened just this week and will host a friendly against England in June (Howay the lads!)

To this day, the Maracana stands as one of the biggest tourist attractions in Brazil. It’s a premier hotspot for visitors to the city, history lovers and sports fans, many of which give the stadium precedent on their list of ‘things to do in Rio.’ Besides, who doesn’t want to see the home of Brazilian football?

You’ve had your drink and your food, visited the football and now it’s time to relax, don’t you think? Well, we recommend heading down to the beach. Which one we hear you say? Well, why don’t we give you a choice: surprisingly, the famous Copacabana isn’t our number one choice, we’d give it number three, but we’ll get to that later.

Our number one choice is actually a joint decision between Praia do Ipanema and Praia do Leblon, two of the most beautiful beaches in all of Rio. They’re the most popular for a reason and you’ll why when you visit; they’re the cleanest, the safest and pretty much the playground of Rio’s upper-middle class – so you might even bag yourself a tasty bit of rich Brazilian meat if you play your cards right. (What?! Brazilians love a barbecue. What else did you think we were referencing?) Sadly, the famous Copacabana only makes third priority in our beach list. The by-gone days of this famous sandy beach are, well, sadly by-gone. Although not too bad during the day, we recommend this beach as a bit of a no-go zone when the sun goes down.

However, if you do find yourself down there, make sure you sunbathe in front of the Copacabana Hotel, just so you can say you’ve done it when you’re back home. Furthermore, there’s a full selection of lively bars, cafes and restaurants scattered throughout the Copacabana and Leme neighbourhoods which sit on the beach, so you can make a full day out of Brazil’s most celebrated beach (and we guarantee it will be sunnier than Blackpool.)

What else to look out for, we hear you ask? Well, watching over your every move whilst you’re in the city will be ‘Cristo Redentor’ (‘Christ the Redeemer’) who stands atop of ‘Corcovado’, which is one of the mountains that overlook Rio. The statue was voted one of the Seven Wonders of the World and for good reason. Get yourself up there, pay him a visit and he’ll reward you with one of the most breathtakingly beautiful views you will ever see, double up the reward by taking a nice, cold Brahma up there and you’ve got yourself one hell of a Brazilian experience.

Without doubt, this is one of the most spectacular cities on the planet in one of the most spectacular countries onthe planet, in one of the most spectacularly beautiful continents on the planet.. The fact that we have both the World Cup and the Olympics coming to the city multiplies the excitement treble fold. This is the fourth fastest growing economy in the entire world and for very good reason. We haven’t even covered some of the other great Brazilian cities. We have the capital city – Brasilia, as well as plenty of other awesome cities across this vast, diverse country. The likes of Sao Paulo, Fortaleza, Belo Horizonte, Bahia and Minas Gerais could have entire features all of their own, in perfect honesty. But perhaps we’ll cover than in another issue of MANual.

One thing you will most definitely notice if you head to the samba state is the friendliness of the locals. We write this and we mean it, we’d like you to bear in mind. When it comes to travel writing, you’ll often find that this is somewhat of a cliche and is in every other travel guide. Take our word for it though, we genuinely mean it. The Brazilian people are amongst the kindest, friendliest and more interesting people you will ever come across. Films such as ‘City of God’ and ‘Tropa de Elite’ often paint Rio de Janeiro to be a violence loving, drug smuggling city of poverty.In truth, Rio de Janeiro is far from it. Violence and drugs make good films, yes, violence an drugs do exist in Rio de Janeiro, especially in the slums (or ‘favelas’ in Portuguese) but the city is more than safe for tourists to travel to and let’s face it, would Rio de Janeiro have been awarded arguably the two biggest international events in the world over the next three years?

The World Cup in Brazil is perhaps the most looked-forward-to in recent footballing memory and with the success of London 2012, the entire world will be looking forward to Rio hosting the Olympic Games in the summer of 2013. All in all, If you were to ask us what to do, this is what we’d say.: “Save up your pennies, book your flights, get yourself some Brazilian reals (that’s the currency), brush up on your Portuguese, have the ‘holiday-booked’ excitement burst and go and have the trip of a life time. When you come back and look back on it with the fondest of memories, don’t forget the MANual sent you.”

The Sheffield-born Palin has undoubtedly left his mark on the UK and forced his way into our Icon issue with his contributions to British TV since way back in the 1960s.

Palin studied history at Oxford following a private school education where from an early age he showed his flair for performance, leading in plays throughout his education. Whilst studying at Oxford he met a young man by the name of Robert Hewison, forming a creative team who churned out scripts and writing left, right and centre. Their first gig came at the University of Oxford’s Psychology Society’s Christmas time social. His show largely contained satirical gags and televisual parodies of shows popular at the time.

His writing led to an expansion of his team and inter-university opportunities, where he met John Cleese and Graham Chapman at Cambridge. Some say this was the birth of Monty Python.

Their writing continued and Palin and Hewison made their debut at the Edinburgh Festival all the way back in 1964. It was at that year’s Edinburgh Festival that Michael Palin first met a man by the name of Eric Idle (See where this is going?) Palin’s material was far more bizarre than what the Edinburgh Festival was used to and was a hit, picking up accolades and recognition for his work.

Following his graduation, he found himself with a job in TV, hosting a teen pop show by the name of NOW! However following encouragement from his friend and co-writer, Terry Jones, who had found himself on a BBC directing course; Palin started working in light-entertainment and comedy. The entire nation is glad he did. Meeting up with Idle, Cleese and Chapman, Palin and Jones were all installed as writers.

Then along came 1966 and Barry Took brought the aforementioned rag-tag, motley crew of writers and produced a series by the name of “Monty Python” and that was that. One of the most popular comedic series in UK broadcasting history had been born and it was a platform for Palin’s career to really kick off.

Palin’s first post-Python foray into TV was alongside Terry Jones in a series called ‘Ripping Yarns’ and from there he co-wrote and starred in plenty more televisual hits. He even went from the small screen to the big screen when he starred in “the missionary” His first role in travel came in 1980 when he contributed to the BBC documentary ‘great train journeys of the world’ where he travelled from Euston Station in London to the west of Scotland. The episode in which he contributed was by far the most popular of the series.

It was his popularity on the series that led him to be offered a role on ‘around the world in eighty days’ – a series where he had to circumnavigate the globe using means of transport available only during the days of Phineas Fogg.

Further success with eighty days led him to be offered a new series, ‘Pole to Pole’ in which he had, under the same conditions of eighty days; get from pole to pole travelling along the 39th parallel. From there he cemented his place as a traveller, taking on series such as the Hemmingway Adventure and Full Circle.

He also presented Sahara and Himalaya to great success. It’s his comical, yet gentlemanly style that makes him an icon. A true British treasure for his contributions to TV.