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Sugar Loaf Mountain
Why the name, Sugar Loaf?
I'm sure many of you might have seen one of the above country-style, "candle holders." Maybe it wasn't painted a distressed grayish-white, but was the deep brown, unpainted wood, and maybe 2-? holes vs. this long one of 12 holders. I am only familiar with these via an antiquing background, not personal sugar history.
In centuries past, in the process of making sugar, and prior to granulated which began in the late 1800s, the substance that ultimately became sugar was "formed" into the above style of mold, & each hard "cone of sugar" was the shape of this rock formation in the Atlantic coastal water by Rio de Janeiro. Thus, it was called "Sugar Loaf" Mountain! And still today, I've seen these "sugar cones" & other hard-pressed blocks of brown sugar being sold in some ethnic grocery stores in the U. S.
You can do a lot more reading on this "sugar subject" in Wikipedia & other sources if interested,
but I'm here to tour this place :), so here we go!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugarloaf . . . . . . and . . . . . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Museum_(Berlin)
Going Up
The destination is the peak of Sugar Loaf (center).
The platform (above, halfway) after the 1st cable car. During the 2nd cable car ride we can see that the city area is already beginning to get a bit hazy. We can just barely still make out the Jesus Statue. --->
Just right of center you can see the squatters' housing area growing up into a mountain slope. Also, on the right & left edges you can see how the city has sprawled into all the possible open & connected valleys. --->
Below, below right, & the lower large photo show the long, connecting eastern Rio shoreline along the west side of the bay to the airport jutting out into the water.
It's from this closer "rock" that we began. The blessings of the "tour" is that the 10 of us in our group by-passed around 150 people in the ---> multi-zig-zagging line, & then went right into the entrance (a separate line for group tours) to the first of the two cable car lifts.
Various displays were In the entrance going into our 1st level cable car line. The birds were on a stone that is filled with a crystalline interior.
The other, above, is representative, I believe, of some of the mechanics of these cable car lifts.
<---Lapidary is both a noun & an adjective, & is the process of cutting and polishing stones.
The "tip" of the mountain had quite a bit of square footage, & 2 levels for several permanent storefronts, a half-dozen kiosk eatery stands, and a sufficient number of tables/chairs & benches for people to sit down, besides restrooms, and the walk-around-the-edge viewing areas for photo ops (some of the above).
An artist, Bruno Carneiro Mosciaro, better known as Bruno Big, painted 3 areas as part of Rio's program of artists to take art "to the people," & many times to where the less fortunate live, & not just have it in museums & galleries.
By the time we were driven back to our hotel, Sugar Loaf Mountain was covered in clouds, so all people up there at that time had no views, which was the reason a person would go there. It is a chancy thing at this time of the year, getting into the rainy season, but thankfully the way our day was planned, it worked out well.
After our drop-off point 2 blocks from the hotel, we took a walk to the local McDonalds for lunch. It was perfect! Then as the drizzle began, it was back to the hotel for an hour before we were off for 2 churches in the afternoon. It was round 2:00 by then, & it was Good Friday. I knew that in the Catholic churches there would be (should be!) 3:00 service, so at least I could go in & possibly stand in back or sit in the back pew & take some photos without anyone knowing, or disturbing anyone by being a "tourist" during that solemn mass! We're only here once, but being discreet is of utmost importance during a church service!
Going to "Visiting Brazil8" [Rio de Janeiro 2 of 3] - Page 1, GOOD FRIDAY>