CHAPTER XXXI
RIO DE JANEIRO—CONCLUDED
Too long, mayhap, have we lingered in the heart of the city, longer I fancy than any tourist will do, despite the attractions in the busy marts of trade, and the stately edifices devoted to governmental, artistic, and intellectual purposes. The great charm of the city, the feature which makes it incomparable among the capitals of the world, is the number of delightful excursions practicable to its enchanting suburbs. Some of these may be visited by electric car or automobile, as the length of one’s purse prescribes, others by boat, and one by cog railway.
Most persons will be tempted to improve the very first afternoon by a ride along the front of the bay, on the unrivaled Beira Mar, from the Monroe Palace on the Avenida to the foot of the Pão do Assucar, a ride without parallel, even on the shores of the Mediterranean. This magnificent boulevard invites also to a promenade, for a broad walk guarded by a handsome railing tops the massive sea wall, which rises 15 feet above the wave-sprinkled rocks below. Rarely, indeed, the waves rise higher. July 12th, 1911, a heavy wind blowing from the south not only dashed breakers high above the wall, but with these sent stones weighing a ton over upon the boulevard. Next to the promenade come two wide asphalt spaces, separated by a strip of grass and a row of trees, for automobiles going in opposite directions, thronged towards evening with swiftly moving machines. A garden strip of varying width follows, beautiful shrubbery, brilliant coleas, and other plants with leaves of varied hue, gorgeous red salvias, geraniums, and other showy flowers. Now comes the wide paved street with ample space for ordinary vehicles and for the double tracks of the electric cars.
A few minutes from the Monroe Palace, and almost in front of the Pensão Suissa is the Praça da Gloria where Cattete street branches from the Beira Mar. The very pretty Garden contains two notable monuments: one of these to Pedro Álvarez Cabral, discoverer of Brazil, by Rodolpho Bernadelli, Director of the School of Fine Arts. This monument inaugurated in 1900, the fourth centenary of the Discovery, represents with Cabral the chronicler, Pero Vaz Caminha, and the Franciscan, Henrique de Coimbra, who celebrated the first mass on the soil of South America. The other monument, dedicated in 1902, is a statue of Visconde do Rio Branco by the French sculptor, Charpentier. The ascent of the Gloria hill close by is worth while for the splendid panorama from the summit, if not for the little church above where on the 15th of August is a festival.
Beyond the Gloria hill are finer residences with pretty gardens, distracting attention from the view of the Sugar Loaf in front, the silvery waters on the left, the city of Nictheroy on the opposite side of the bay, and the curving inlets of both shores. On account of a projecting hill the car tracks leave the water’s edge for a space, passing back to the Largo do Machado, where the offices of the railway are situated, the place to go for lost articles. After passing the Hotel dos Estrangeiros, the boulevard is soon regained on the Botafogo Bay, a lovely geometrical curve. Again leaving the shore the car marked Ministro de Agricultura alone returns to the Praia de Saudade, on which the great Hospital for the Insane is passed, the Institute Benjamin Constant for the Blind, and the imposing building of the Ministry of Agriculture, the cars at length pausing in front of the Military School Building, which stands by the ocean shore; we have now passed beyond the splendid Sugar Loaf, so that in the rear of the School Building we should find the Praia Vermelha, a beach on the great ocean. An Aerial Railway now serves for a trip to the tip top of the pinnacle, Pão do Assucar, whence a delightful view is obtained of city, bay, and ocean. The same Praia Vermelha car passes the base station whence an electric basket cable car accommodating twenty persons goes, first to the Morro da Urca, return ticket 2$000, then on to the top of the Pão do Assucar, return ticket probably 4$000. The journey to the top is made in twelve minutes. The distance is nearly a mile.
Other rides partly along the front, or on Cattete street parallel to the Beira Mar, should be taken to the various suburban ocean beaches of Leme, Copacabana, Ipanema, and Gavea, backed by picturesque hills, through which a tunnel or two has been bored for more direct access. Some of the beaches, though rather dangerous for bathing, are more or less patronized. Many people wander along the shore, or in pavilions regale themselves with beer or coffee. Villas of the wealthy and a sprinkling of poorer houses, with several hotels and restaurants, show provision for all classes. Everywhere in the residential districts outside of the more crowded central portion, attention will be continually drawn to the charming homes, some of quite palatial dimensions and elegance, the majority more modest but generally with some pretty ornamentation, all apparently freshly painted in varied and delicate shades of color, pink, blue, green, lavender, pearl, buff, Alice blue, etc., embowered among vines, shrubbery, and palms: an unceasing source of pleasure.
On the way to the beaches by the rua Cattete, before reaching the Strangers’ Hotel, the President’s Palace may be observed on the left. The large garden extends through to the boulevard along the Praia de Flamengo, but the entrance is from Cattete. The exterior of the Palace, which was constructed by the Baron of Nova Friburgo and later purchased by the Government, is not noteworthy, but the interior has magnificent decorations; the garden would be a fitting accessory of a royal palace. Next to the Palace is the beautiful school building, Rodriguez Alves, a suitable monument to the great President of Brazil, in whose administration was inaugurated the tremendous undertaking by which the city has been transformed.
Not far from the Hotel Estrangeiros, a beautiful avenue lined with royal palms, half a mile long, leads to a fine mansion, which in 1911 was the residence of the President.
In a long afternoon of four or five hours the entire circuit of the city may be made by automobile along the Beira Mar on the shore of the bay, then past the ocean beaches to the mountains and by a splendid road along the mountain-side past Gavea and Tijuca, thence across to the waterfront, and by the docks returning to the Avenida Central; a circuit with varied panorama such as no other city of the world affords, to which an entire day might better be devoted.
