Santa Teresa One of the areas which are actually being rediscovered in Rio de Janeiro is Santa Teresa, one of Rio's oldest neighborhoods. Once it used to be the most elite area of the city, high on a hill, just on top of the city center, with great views to the sea, the bay and the mountains. The neighborhood features many great mansions and castles with stunning, rich Portuguese, colonial and eclectic style. When in the 60's-70's, the upper class started moving to the (then) modern areas like Ipanema and Barra da Tijuca, Santa Teresa became a little rundown, although it stayed the favourite of the intellectual and artistic elite. Today, the area is being rediscovered; many homes are being restored; restaurants, galleries and antique shops are opening; and the area is starting to become part of the tourist route in Rio. There is no doubt that prices will go up considerably in the next few years. This effect will be even stronger as the neighboring parts of the town, as Downtown, Lapa, Castelo, and the old port area are being rediscovered, too ? after decades of expansion the city is now concentrating on it?s center and historic values for housing and offices due to the excellent infrastructure and little distances, quite different from Barra da Tijuca and other more modern quarters. The area is conveniently located 5 minutes from Rio's downtown/business district, and the old, wooden tramway (which is a tourist attraction by itself, featured in many tourism guides!) takes you up or down for 0.60 Real in 5 minutes; and the famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema are only 20 minutes away by car. Located high on a hill, surrounded by other hills like the one featuring the famous Christ's statue, bordering the biggest urban forest of the world, the area enjoys cooler, fresher air than most of Rio, and it offers an oasis of peace and quiet just inside Rio. The district of Santa Teresa started next to a convent on Morro do Desterro, Rio de Janeiro, in the 18th century. Set on a hillside in the center of the city, it seems to have stopped in time maintaining, as it has for decades, preserved features of Old Rio and a bit of history in each corner. Writers and artists have always been seduced by the district?s call to internal life and to its architectural and cultural treasures, visible to the eye and cherished by the heart. A symbol of counterculture and of the art shown in its many studios and ateliers, any artistic expression finds its home in Santa, as its admirers prefer to call it. Everything that exists in Santa Teresa and that is known about it is also part of the history of Rio. To the visitor, however, it seems like a place apart with its own characteristics. The narrow and winding streets with the old tramcars, the last to be found in the whole of Brazil, are one more singular attraction. The charming vehicles, which date from the 19th century, were moved by animal traction at first and later by electricity. Survivors of romantic times, they are now protected as historical heritage and still go along perfectly preserved tracks taking visitors to a re-reading of the past.

Share