By Lakshmi:
Who? Anyone who is visiting Rio De Janeiro.
What? The statue of Christ The Redeemer, also known as Cristo Redentor in Portuguese has graced millions of visuals across every media. In fact, you can see the statue from most points in the city and on a clear day, it is surreal to watch the statue emerge amongst the clouds.
How? You can take a bus, train, taxi or tour to see one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The statue is open to visitors daily from 8:30 am to 7:00 pm. It costs 43 Reals for adults and is half price for kids. Once you get to the location, you stand in line to get the tickets, and then wait for a tram which will transport you to the site.
Why? Designed by a Brazilian engineer and sculpted by a French artist, the statue was inaugurated in October 1931. Since that time, the statue has embraced the city and its people with its open arms. We took a taxi from our hotel in Leblon to Corcovado. We were surprised to find a really long line of people waiting to get tickets. Once we got our tickets, it was about an hours wait to board the tram. Not knowing quite what to expect, we were surprised with the beauty of the Tijuca rainforest through which the tram ascended to plonk us at our final destination. Millions of words of prose have been dedicated to describing the beauty of the statue and I have to say that every poetic, eloquent description is absolutely true. First, one is completely caught off guard by the 130 feet tall statue. Second you realize it is impossible to take in the statue from a single vantage point. We walked in the front, to the side and then the back stopping to gaze in wonder. The area around the statue was packed with tourists, many laying down on the ground and pointing their camera upward to get the best shot of this incomparable sight.
Like other places of pilgrimage, the vision of this statue sitting majestically in the open among nature, does make you feel like someone up there is indeed watching over you. We stayed up there for a while, admiring how artists could dream up a vision so spectacular, looked across to see some pretty amazing sights of Rio and of course to almost add an element of fun, kept track of several monkeys jumping from tree to tree.
Since I am neither a poet nor a professional writer, my words cannot do justice to what we experienced. But, it is no exaggeration when I say that through our world travels, seeing Christ the Redeemer in Rio ranks up there as a truly magical moment.
To learn more about visiting Christ The Redeemer, click here:
a global affair 