Get set to enjoy the
famous icons of Rio de Janeiro…from
the water! Take in Rio’s most iconic
sites and stunning coastline as you cruise around Guanabara Bay, the second
largest bay in Brazil. From the bay you
will view Sugarloaf
Mountain, Christ
the Redeemer Statue, and the white sands of Copacabana
Beach.
Guanabara Bay |
From this unique
perspective, you will also view the beaches of Niteroi, fortified
walls of the seafront Santa
Cruz de Barra fortress built in 1555, and admire the hillside fortress
of São João.
The harbor of Rio de Janeiro, surrounded by majestic granite mountains, was named one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
The harbor of Rio de Janeiro, surrounded by majestic granite mountains, was named one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
The cities
of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de
Caxias are located on the western
shore of Guanabara Bay, while on its eastern shore lies the cities of Niterói and São
Gonçalo. Four other municipalities
also line its shores.
The bay is 19 miles long
and 17 miles wide at its maximum, and almost one mile wide at its mouth to the
Atlantic Ocean. The mouth is flanked on
its eastern tip by Parrot’s Peak and Santa Cruz fortress and its western tip by
Sugar Loaf and São João fortress. In the entrance is the island-fort of Laje,
temporary site of a Huguenot settlement
in 1555.
Guanabara Bay |
The Portuguese were the first
Europeans to arrive on its shores on 1 January 1502. According to some historians, the bay was
first called “Ria de Janeiro,” or January Sound. But it seems there was some confusion between
“ria,” meaning bay or sound, and “rio,” meaning river, as some thought the bay
was the mouth to a large river. In the
confusion, the name became Rio de Janeiro, and the city was named after the
bay.
The name Guanabara comes
from the Tupi language
and translates “bosom of the sea.”
More than 130 islands dot
the bay, which is crossed by the 8.26-mile
long Rio-NiteróiBridge. Numerous smaller bridges
connect the mainland to the two largest islands of Fundão and Governador.
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