THE HIPPIE FAIR

EVERY SUNDAY IN IPANEMA

A group of hippies started a Sunday market in Ipanema in 1968 and the traditional fair continues with over 700 stalls set up at the Feira Hippie de Ipanema.

Occurring on Sundays only, it is a great place to find authentic Brazilian folk and contemporary art, jewelry, clothing and lots of food.

Plenty of tourists flock to the fair that is extremely popular today - don't miss out!

If you are looking for souvenirs then the fair is the best place to find a good bargain.

Ceramic figurines, embroidery, lace, gemstones – are just afew examples of the great folk arts and crafts you will find at the Ipanema Hippie Fair.

Come rain or sun shine, the fair must go on every Sunday from 9am to 5pm.

The Hippie Fair is held every Sunday at Praça General Osório, a square that takes up an entire city block that is bordered by Rua Prudente de Morais and Rua Visconde de Pirajá.

--Courtesy of Viator

GUANABARA BAY

 
BEAUTIFUL, PICTURESQUE AND POLLUTED

Ilha da Boa Viagem -- Island of Good Travel/Safe Voyage -- is much smaller than, but pound-for-pound almost as beautiful as the famed Sugar Loaf.

Home of both a battery that used to protect Guanabara Bay and the Capela de Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem, it is the stuff of dreams perched atop the blue waters.

A bridge links it to Niteroi on the mainland.

Though our Portuguese is pretty lousy, we understood a sign we saw in late January to say the buildings are being restored for visitors.

It is about a five minute walk downhill from the Museum of Contemporary Art -- the space ship designed by the late Brazilian modernist master Oscar Nieymeyer.

CEMITÉRIO DE SÃO JOÃO BATISTA

 (SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST'S CEMETERY)

This huge city of the dead in Botafogo is the final resting place of at least nine presidents of Brazil and a host of celebrities.

Carmen Miranda, the colorful singer and dancer rests here along with pioneering aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont and important mineral geologist Orville Adelbert Derby.

Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim, composer of the legendary "Girl from Ipanema" and his collaborator, Vinicius de Moraes, also a significant Brazilian poet and diplomat in addition to being a composer, also rest in peace here.

LARGO DO BOTICARIO

(APOTHECARY'S SQUARE)

During its "golden age", the Largo do Boticário became filled with huge houses owned by well-known figures in Brazilian society and foreigners attracted by the parties and social events held by the neighborhood's illustrious residents.

Currently, however, the once-decadent area has fallen into decay. Between 2006 and 2008, one of the houses was taken over by a group of homeless people.

The Largo do Boticário is one of the few places in the city from which one can see the Rio Carioca. 

Near the square, several other historic sites in the Cosme Velho neighborhood can be found, including the Solar de Abacaxis house and the Corcovado Railway.

In the 1970s, the square was featured in a scene in the movie Moonraker.

-- Courtesy, Wikipedia