The hills of Santa Teresa

When PB and I were booking our hotels in Rio we ran up against a little problem...the problem being we waited too long and all the hotels we wanted to stay at along Ipanema were booked. And while we were initially a little sad about it, we realized that it presented the perfect opportunity to stay in the Santa Teresa areas in the hills of Rio. We stayed in a villa converted to hotel called Relais Solar that presented amazing views of the entire city and quiet mornings reading out by the pool. We ate delicious kale and fried pork and feijoada along with these crispy cheese ravioli (I have no idea what they are called) at Bar do Mineiro. We also had a wonderful lunch at Espirito Santa of crab filled plantains, delicious vodka caipirinhas (you have to mix it up sometimes) and a coconut stew with shrimp. And we wondered along amazingly beautiful winding streets watching the way too cute street car pass by.

If you get a chance to go to Rio, I definitely recommend at least spending a meal and a few hours in the neighborhood. Oh, but don't try and take pictures of the tiled store shown above...you'll get in trouble :)