Baden as Brigitte Bardot.

Hiking on smugglers paths, relax in the Pirate's Cove: The suburbs of Rio de Janeiro has adventures beyond samba, carnival and Sugarloaf. Even before the tourists came, filmmakers discovered the region - and Brigitte Bardot was here for their favorite beach.

 

Rio de Janeiro - from orchids, ferns and lichens overgrown jungle giants along the old path in the middle of the rainforest. Only a few hours' drive south of
Rio de Janeiro, the National Park Serra da Bocaina - but it feels like the deepest Amazon. The air is humid tropical, with the wet moss-covered stones every step will probably be thoughtful.

Hard to imagine how this 250 years ago, smugglers with gold, silver, diamonds and coffee loaded horses to the Atlantic coast to Parati could penetrate. Even more incredible is how thousands of slaves to the stony Schmugglerweg through the thicket of the rainforest could ever create. But it was the only way to the customs posts of the Portuguese colonial masters and to circumvent the goods to smuggle out of the country. Today the old Schmugglerweg one of the most attractive trails in the national park.

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Luciano Freire suddenly stops at. "Listen you will, we are the same since," says the trekking guide. First, the noise in the roar of monkeys in Macaco, the high in the treetops Unfug drive. Then the dark noise of the waterfalls Veados clearly be heard. The soil is moist, the thunder of falling water growing ever louder, until they finally can be seen: Spectacular falls the water from 100 meters height in the depth. The drizzle is after eight hours walking a wonderful refreshment, even the sight of the waterfalls are among the finest in the country.

Overnight in the vicinity in a simple hut. The next morning is very early on. The daily stage is 18 kilometers. Again and again have small mountain streams to cross, often is the path disappeared, and the hiking boots sinking deep in mud. The chirping of parrots and toucans accompanied the walkers at every step. Even monkeys, tapirs, giant anteaters and sloths bears are here in the National Park on the border between the states of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo home.

Backdrop for colonial era films

The Serra da Bocaina stretches to Parati from. The town lies in a fjord-like bay. "Oh God, if it is a paradise on earth exist, then it would be this piece of earth is similar," said even the sailors and explorers Amerigo Vespucci at the sight of the little fishing village of Guaiana-Indians. Parati Today is one of the best preserved colonial cities in the country.

After the 17th Century in Minas Gerais gold was discovered, mauserte the small village to the thriving town since it is at the end of the famous gold and coffee route was. With the dry up gold mines also fell Parati long forgotten, until in the fifties, its historical and especially tourist value was rediscovered. The UNESCO has listed Parati. Countless films about the colonial era were shot here. The directors had not much to change the backdrop. Perhaps Thomas Mann would have been here even a family drama like "Buddenbrooks" can play, would be his mother Julia, grew up in Parati, with her family not to Lübeck withdrawn. Your house is a cultural center since 1997.

Cars are in the cobbled streets of taboo. The whitewashed houses are pretty full with brightly painted balconies and windows and doors decorated. The port is no less brightly painted wooden boats, one of the upstream jungle islands.

Ilha Grande is the largest among hundreds of small islands in the south Rios. The mile-long beach of Lopes Mendes is one of many visitors to the most beautiful in the world. Many tourists are also pulls in the small, rain forests, hidden between bays, where centuries ago pirates hid that gold to the Portuguese ships had apart. Ilha Grande was then the hub for African slaves and after World War II prisoner island. Until 1994 the prison was blown up, and instead of new prisoners are now increasingly tourists who come to settle on the almost unpopulated island to recover.

Dream beaches and Noble stores

Something a tourist is in the north of the state of Rio. In addition to the dream beaches of Arraial do Cabo attracts especially the peninsula of Búzios, already in the seventies by Brigitte Bardot to the best-known seaside resort of South America was. Today touristically overcrowded, Búzios is precious with its boutiques, restaurants and nightclubs like the "St. Tropez of Brazil referred.

Brazilian culture and history are in the interior experience. Only a few hours away from Rio, in the vicinity of the town Vassouras in the highlands of the former colonial Fazendas coffee barons visited. The coffee here tastes kinglike. Imperial but is in only 65 kilometers away from Rio Petrópolis, where the Brazilian imperial family in the cool mountain climate means its summer residence had.

The museum now serves as the Emperor's Palace of Pedro II was in the forties of the 19th Century. Horse-drawn carriages, beautiful colonial buildings and the French-Gothic cathedral can hardly imagine that here in South America is located. Petrópolis in 2010, the house of Stefan Zweig opened as a museum. The famous Austrian writer Petrópolis spent his last years here before he committed suicide. From his house you can almost see the Serra dos Orgãos. The park is know for its rock formations, which from a distance like a huge church organ look like organ pipes also called Mountains and is climbing and hiking fans a popular tourist destination.