Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro

And hard to spell! ; )
You simply must take photos of sunsets against dramatic backdrops such as mountains! Very interesting! And the sun seems to know the folks in Rio need it's brightness so much. At dark it gets SO crazy! You have to visit and see the lovely sunsets! Very interesting!

An upscale neighbourhood that boasts a legendary beach, busy nightlife, great restaurants and sophisticated shopping. It is also a cultural center which features art galleries, universities, schools, bookstores and theatres. Ipanema sets fashion trends which affect the whole country. All the attractions are within walking distance. A very popular place to visit.

Ipanema,famous by the song "Girl From Ipanema",by the famous composer Tom Jobim.
The beach spreads over 2km and is separated from Leblon by a chanel at Jardim De Alah(Alah's Garden),which links the Rodrigo De Freitas Lagoon to the sea.

IPANEMA BEACH
a nice beach which was imortalized in a worldwide song called ' The girls from Ipanema'. Don´t be surprised by the size of women´s bikinis, mainly the bottom. Foreigners use to say that the girls are nearly naked..

Or rather Leblon... I don't know whose clever idea it was to split the beach in half and give it two names, but it was probably the same guy that also gave two names to Copacabana (from intersection with Av. Princesa Isabel, it's called Leme). Well, this pic was taken at the very end of Leblon, looking towards Ipanema and Copacabana.

Ipanema is supposed to be more chic than Copacabana. Well, if you count the number of rich looking tourists and good looking show-offs of all three sexes (yep, they have a gay section of the beach as well), it may be so. But otherwise, I haven't noticed much difference between the two, apart from the fact that Copacabana and Avenida Atlantica are more spacy than their neighbouring counterparts. The other thing Ipanema is good for, besides from showing off, is wave-surfing. Waves get much bigger than on Copacabana, so there's plenty of surfers in the water. If you want a great view of Ipanema, go to Arpador, the heap of rocks between Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. It's also the location where this picture was taken from.

1 more image

**Beginning the process of arduous upload of photos. Please come back soon as time permits, I will be adding actual information to this tip**

During the day the beaches of Ipanema are packed with sun worshipers. At dusk people come out to play volleyball or to just sit and relax at one of the kiosks and have a beer. Nice and mellow!

Ipanema is a pretty snazzy place. It's cleaner and safer than Copacabana. Copa is safe....but Ipanema is better. :)

If you're old enough to remember Antonio C. Jobimand his bossa nova music, then you must also know his hit song "The girl from Ipanema".