Day 10: Escadaria Selaron- Cultural & Carioca Aqueduct - Historical

      Today was a very busy day, with lots of walking and much needed history lessons. We started off the day with eating a wholesome breakfast from the hotel buffet. After having tons of Granola and fruits (especially bananas), we all dressed in our "casual tourist" clothes and went on our way. We got off into a quaint little street and walked to our first destination, where we were met with a very colorful sight.

Escadaria Selaron (Selaron Steps)

        We had just reached Escadaria Selaron, a stairway-mosaic consisting of over 2000 tiles representing over sixty different countries. The genius who designed this was, Jorge Selaron, and he decided that to make it represent the world as a whole, he would get visitors to donate tiles from their homeland to be apart of the master piece. Now as everyone comes and adores this stairway, he must really feel accomplished, for in a small way he has changed the world and the people.
        We took many pictures, as we tried to drink in the sight of every tile, while trying not to take hours going up the stairs. The steps seemed to go on forever as we tried to peer over them and see the entire creation as a whole. The entire stairway is made up of 250 steps, making the entire length somewhere around 125 meters.  We were all skeptical of actually stepping on the steps, as we did not want to ruin them for others, but nevertheless we went up them and enjoyed ourselves.

The restaurant we ate at.

       We walked to the train station, where we rode a train to our eating destination. We all sat by the window taking extra pictures of places we had already visited before, like Teatro Municipal, while talking animatedly with each other, as we thought back to all of the amazing places we had seen before.We got down and continued to walk for a little bit until we reached Verde Vicio, the restaurant we would be eating at. There was a banner right above the golden oak doors we entered, where we were hit with an exotic aroma, that filled the air. We slowly gazed around at the crowded restaurants, as we were seated and given our menus. We all ordered fish and salad, until we finally decided to leave and explore our other destination.
       We finally arrived at our second location of the day, the Carioca Aqueduct. The aqueduct was built in 1725 to bring fresh water from the Carioca river, to help solve the big issue of water that bombarded the people of Rio. The beautiful roman-style aqueduct has two stories of arches, with the whole aqueduct consisting of 42 arches in total. This magnificent structure spans 270 meters long and stands at nearly 18 meters high. After the need for an aqueduct was long gone, it was turned into a bridge for a popular tram, called the Santa Teresa bondinho. This tram is still very much in use and is quite likable for both the locals and the tourists, but sadly we did not have time to go on it, as we were close to being late for out train back to the hotel. We looked back at the ancient history displayed before us and walked away with heavy hearts.

Carioca Aqueduct

        The train ride took about a hour and a half, as we drove through the sunset. Fog crept up the rolling hills, as dew drops flew through the wind. The sun slowly inched down the sky, past the horizon and away from our eyes. The ride was too short, as we walked off and stared the orange sky down. Brazil is too beautiful to forget and with the beauty we have seen, we all know we will never forget this trip. Alas, the day has gone by and we all slept knowing that more beauty will meet us tomorrow. Goodnight all, for it has truly been a good day.