Mirante da Paz

Well, who would have guessed that a great lookout tower would be constructed right in Ipanema.
Of course, I am a bit late with this information, after all, it was inaugurated in July of 2010, but I am sure that a lot of you don´t know anything about it yet.

The tower serves not only as a lookout (more about the views later) but also as an entrance to the subway (Estação General Osório), and as an access to the Comunidade do Pavão-Pavãozinho/Cantagalo, a pacified community. The whole is called Complexo Rubem Braga and is situated at the corner of Rua Barão da Torre and Rua Teixeira de Melo.

Taking the elevator to the top of the first tower you will find the Mirante da Paz, you go up some steps and will see a lovely view over the islands in front of Ipanema (Ilhas Cagarras), the Lagoa on the other side and a close view of the favela. There are also some nice paintings

And, if you are into a game called geocaching, here you will find something.

Mercado CADEG

This is just as much fun as it was when I first posted it, and the food at BARSA is just as delicious.
2-2015

The Mercado CADEG is the big distribution center for vegetables and flowers for the state of Rio. Early in the morning, around 2 am, trucks start arriving filled to the top with produce and flowers in a riot of color and confusion. The picture on the top is how the flowers are sold in the feira, the local markets, at at least, three times the price as in CADEG.



If you actually go at that ungodly hour make sure to be careful, these people are working and they are rushed. The market is open until 5pm so I would suggest a later visit.
However, then most of the flower and produce stalls will be already closed.

Of course there are not only produce and flowers, the huge indoor market has little shops selling anything imaginable, fish, meat, clothes, paperware etc. There are also a few restaurants, we only ate at one: BARSA. We really don't eat very much but what we had was delicious: one of their specialties - Bruschetta was the best I have ever had.

Rua Capitão Felix, 110, Benfica.