Rio de Janeiro

Christ the Redeemer at dawn before the crowds

Rio is geography made visible. The city has no flat ground: everything is mountains or beaches or the sloping hillsides between them, and the result is a city that constantly shows you itself from an angle you didn't expect.

Christ the Redeemer is smaller than the photographs suggest and more moving than the photographs can capture. Ipanema at sunset is as beautiful as its reputation. The city rewards walking, always uphill and always worth it.