I should keep this one for myself! One of my favourite places in Rio is the Parque Lage in the grounds of a beautiful 1920s mansion between the Lagoa and the Botanic Gardens, at the base of the Corcovado, the mountain where the statue of Christ is, and only a few minutes away by taxi from Ipanema.
It is a very especial place and a great escape if you have had enough of the beach. The building is very especial, it is featured in the video of Snoop Dogg and Pharrell's song "Beautiful" and it is also the last building you see in the video for the Black Eyed Peas'song "Don't Lie", both filmed in Rio.
The building, that now houses a centre for young artist, is crying out to be turned into a fantastic museum, and the gardens are actually the beginning of a trail that goes through the rainforest all the way up to the Christ. The last time I was there we didnt go very far because we were warned there were "bandidos" (muggers), but we didn't have to walk long before we had some macaco monkeys throwing mangoes at us. Do a search in Google images and have a look.
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