Christ the Redeemer - Seven Wonders Later

Sunday, January 18, 2026

"Which one is it?" Jeremy jokes.

From far away, Christ the Redeemer looks like one of the nearby antennas. It has turned into our running joke.

In his defense, it is only 98 feet tall…towering solo on Mount Corcavado 2,310 feet above the city.

"Kristi, it's not in the clouds yet," Greg assures me. The forecast said there would be poor visibility shortly after our arrival. Christ literally vanishes on bad days.

This is my make it or break it moment. The marvel is the reason we are on this trip. Seeing Christ the Redeemer would mark off my final World Wonder.

Due to its massive scale and breathtaking location overlooking Rio de Janeiro, it is one of the 7 Wonders of the World.

Christ the Redeemer is the largest Art Deco sculpture on the planet

Skeptics out there believe that Brazilians rallied together to vote Christ the Redeemer a World Wonder. I can understand the incredulity; it doesn't seem to fall into the same unimaginably extraordinary category as the other six. And comparatively, it is just a baby. However, it is truly exceptional.  Christ the Redeemer stands atop the Corcovado hill that overlooks the entire city of Rio - and can be seen for many miles away.

The statue's message of hope, love, peace and universal welcome feels like the most poignant conclusion possible for the end of this epic journey across continents. I am truly blessed.

Back down at the bottom, we stopped nearby at Rio Coffee House. It felt great to be done with the scheduled item of the day and relax for a bit, enjoying the award-winning coffee.

Then we left for a little sightseeing. Within a 15 minute walk in the Lapa district, you can see three popular sights: Catedral Metropolitana, Lapa Arch, and Escadaria Selaron.

Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião was intended to echo the ancient Mayan pyramids. The church can hold 20,000 people.

A worthy quick and easy stop, the inside of Catedral Metropolitana was ethereal

Next we walk five minutes to see Arcos da Lapa – the aqueduct originally built in 1723 to bring fresh water to the city. Today it serves as a bridge for the historic Santa Teresa tram. Nobody, except Chris and me, seemed interested. "It is ugly," Jeremy said. The whole area reeked of pee. "Is it a sewer?" Lucas asked.

Seeing aqueducts doesn’t ever get old

Since we were so close, even though I knew they would be crowded at 10am, we went to Escadaria Selaron - Rio's famous colorful steps. Covered in over 2000 tiles collected from over 60 countries around the world, the steps were designed by Chilean artist Jorge Selarón. Originally he began renovating the steps outside his house with Brazilian colors: yellow, green, and blue. Eventually he incorporated red for Chile as well as tiles other travelers brought from their home countries.

The Selaron stairs are very popular

A collection of tiles from around the world - what a cool concept!

If you want a picture without anyone in it, just walk up a little bit and be patient 

Another five minutes of walking and we were at Sunday's Feira Livre da Gloria – a massive farmers market perfect for shopping, eating, drinking, and listening to samba echoing between the stalls. We filled up on pastels (thin rectangular fried pastry filled with meat), a custard pastry, a tapioca Nutella crepe (they also have incredible looking savory ones), a huge linguica sandwich, freshly squeezed sugarcane juice, and coconut juice.

Rio's extensive Feira Livre da Gloria was the best farmer's market I have been to in a very long time. Nowadays all over the world they have gotten too gourmet and expensive. The affordable prices at Feira Livre da Gloria are between $1-5 for most items. Except for some reason when you cross the main boulevard, the prices double. Literally the guy rolled his bar cart across the street and charged twice as much for his drinks.

The heat and exhaustion finally got to us, sending us back to our air-conditioned apartment in the South Zone, where most tourists stay.

Copacabana and Ipanema are world-renowned for their white sands, surfing, and relaxed social atmosphere.

Arpoador Beach between Copacabana and Ipanema is a very popular place to watch the sunset.

The large crowd broke out in applause when the sun finished its show.

Logistics

• There are 4 ways to get up to Christ the Redeemer statue. We used the train because it gets up first. Our tickets were for the first train at 7:20am.
• We got our tickets just less than 48 hours in advance. 24 hours in advance, no tickets were available for the first train at 7:20am.
• The train only allows you to buy 5 tickets per account. We had to create a second account to get 2 more.
• Even though we bought our tickets online, we still have to wait in the long line with everyone else - to exchange our online barcode for individual tickets. I guess that is why they tell you to arrive 30 minutes in advance.
• We arrived 35 minutes in advance and, due to the long ticket line, missed the first train. It left at 7:00am. Our train left at 7:10am.
• If you are on the first train and then run up the stairs (instead of the elevator and escape), chances are you will get to the top first, having it all to yourself.
• Rio has a bad reputation for being dangerous. Particularly, there is a US travel advisory to steer clear of Rio's favelas. In fact, just recently (October 2025) police had their deadliest gang raid in history, killing 121 favela 'residents'.
• When we arrived in Rio, we intentionally removed all jewelry and came prepared with phone leashes (Nite Ize Hitch Phone Anchor + Tether). We felt reasonably safe at all times.