Tour Rio 4 — Naïve Art Museum, Apothecary’s Square, Corcovado, Church Of Our Lady of Glory on the Knoll, São Bento Monastery. Duration: 8 hours

Museu de Art Naïve (need con­fir­ma­tion if open)

Museu de Art Naïve — Naif Art Inter­na­tional Museum — MIAN — Inter­na­tional Prim­i­tive Art Museum Rio is a colo­nial man­sion with the world’s largest and most com­plete col­lec­tion of prim­i­tive art. Just fifty meters from the mini-train sta­tion lead­ing to Christ the Redeemer in the Cosme Velho Dis­trict, 8,000 works by painters from Brazil and 130 other coun­tries give tes­ti­mony to this spon­ta­neous and very nonaca­d­e­mic type of artis­tic expres­sion, dat­ing back to the XV Century.

This museum also fea­tures the largest can­vas ever painted in this style, mea­sur­ing 7 x 4 meters, which por­trays the City of Rio de Janeiro in a strik­ingly orig­i­nal way. It also offers a dynamic cul­tural pro­gram that attracts a steady flow of inter­ested vis­i­tors. Don’t miss the two-wall panel por­tray­ing the country’s history.

Largo Do Boticário

Largo do Boticário — The name Boticário, that means apothe­cary, was given in honor of Joaquim Luiz da Silva Souto who owned a state in the square and was apothe­cary to the Brazil­ian Royal Family.

Over the years this square has hosted a wide vari­ety of artis­tic and cul­tural events that attract crowds of vis­i­tors to the Cosme Velho District.

Just seven col­or­ful houses form this delight­ful cor­ner of Rio de Janeiro — a small colo­nial haven in the mid­dle of town.

Largo do Boticário fea­tures colonial-style facades and roofs around a cob­ble stoned square shaded by ancient trees with the gen­tle mur­mur of the Car­i­oca stream near a lovely patch of Atlantic Rain Forest.

Cor­co­v­ado and Beaches

Cor­co­v­ado – The first offi­cial expe­di­tion to the Cor­co­v­ado Moun­tain was headed by Dom Pedro I, heir to the Brazil­ian throne at the time. The Art-Deco statue sit­u­ated at the top of the 710 meters high moun­tain was inau­gu­rated in Octo­ber 12, 1931 by Pres­i­dent Getúlio Vargas.

The “Cristo Reden­tor” Statue is cer­tainly the most vis­ited and admired mon­u­ment in Rio de Janeiro with its mag­nif­i­cent 360° panoramic view of the city. With the recently inau­gu­rated esca­la­tors and panoramic ele­va­tors the two hun­dred steps climb to the top can thank­fully be avoided.

The cog train ride through the Tijuca rain for­est takes about 30min each way dur­ing which vis­i­tors can appre­ci­ate the exu­ber­ance of the native flora. The tour ends with a relax­ing return drive to the Hotel along some of the beaches of the south­ern dis­trict of Rio de Janeiro.

Lunch — Chur­ras­caria Por­cão Rio’s — Located on a priv­i­leged site and with an impec­ca­ble ser­vice, the place offers the best meat in the city (bar­be­cue) as well as a large vari­ety of cold sal­ads, sea food and Japan­ese cui­sine. NOT INCLUDED.

Out­eiro Da Glória

Out­eiro da Glória — The Church of Our Lady of Glory of Out­eiro (Igreja da Nossa Sen­hora da Glória do Out­eiro), best known as “Out­eiro da Glória” is one of the old­est churches in Rio (1671–1739) and gives name to the sur­round­ing neigh­bor­hood of Glória.

Dom Pedro II, the last emperor of Brazil, was mar­ried at Out­eiro da Glória and his daugh­ter Princess Isabel was bap­tized there. Perched on top of a hill, the Out­eiro pro­vides a strik­ing view of the Gua­n­abara Bay and the Sugar Loaf.

The church itself is an inter­est­ing octag­o­nal struc­ture, done in a some­what ascetic ver­sion of baroque. It’s sur­pris­ingly small inside — the walls of the church being much thicker than one imag­ines — and the inte­rior dec­o­ra­tion is the same ascetic baroque, with the main fea­tures being the ornate Por­tuguese tiles and the altar carved by Mas­ter Valen­tim the most renowned sculp­tor and wood­carver of his time. Tues– Fri 9 to 11 a.m. and 2:30 to 6:00 p.m. Sat– Sun 9 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.

Mosteiro de São Bento

Mosteiro de São Bento (São Bento Monastery) — Founded in 1590 by monks from Bahia, the Bene­dic­tine Monastery of Rio de Janeiro emerged on the top of a hill with a panoramic view of the Gua­n­abara Bay.

The com­pound, with its monas­tic sim­plic­ity is one of the most beau­ti­ful archi­tec­tural com­plexes in Brazil. The har­mony amongst the var­i­ous parts built at dif­fer­ent stages in his­tory resulted from the rule of the Bene­dic­tine school, which by tra­di­tion only uses artists and builders belong­ing to the Order.

In 1880 the three full-arch arch­ways were closed with the cur­rent Ger­man cast-iron grat­ings. The aus­tere exte­rior pur­pose­fully con­trasts with the rich­ness of the inte­rior high­light­ing the gilded Baroque engrav­ings with plants motifs and the exu­ber­ant Rococo style in the engrav­ing on the high altar, cross vault­ing and Chapel of the Holly Sacrament.

The huge doors were beau­ti­fully sculp­tured in bronze by Teix­eira Lopes, cast in Bruzy, France, and exhib­ited at the Paris World Fair in 1889. The two prin­ci­pal activ­i­ties of the monastery are the daily cel­e­bra­tion of the Divine Office and the Sun­day Mass with Gre­go­rian chant. Church hours: daily from 8 to 11:00 a.m. and from 2:30 to 8:00 p.m.