Day 34 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Today we decided to go it alone instead of joining an organised tour, so this morning we disembarked the ship at 9 am and walked to the Saara Market, a huge local market, which was much more interesting than the various large indoor malls catering to tourists. After a good rummage about (Paul managed to find himself a pack of small screwdrivers!) 🙄 we summoned an Uber to take us to the Jardim Botanico. This vast tropical garden was somewhere we could apparently potentially see monkeys, marmosets and all manner of birds. Sadly the only wildlife we saw was a small bird and a few dragonflies. It was also oppressively hot, but it did afford plenty of shade and a welcome couple of hours’ respite from the feverish bustle of the city. We decided to have lunch at the venue’s restaurant and were so glad we did, as it was absolutely scrandacious!

Having walked 16,000 steps by now (almost 7 miles), and being ready to drop from the heat, we jumped in a cab back to our ship for a well deserved swim in the pool and a sit down! Sailing out of Rio at sunset was truly spectacular. Everybody was out in deck with their cameras and cocktails and it was the perfect way to end two unforgettable days in Rio.