By Sean Chaffin, Editor/Senior Writer

Posted on: October 22, 2009; 8:29 pm CT

Rio de Janeiro is an amazing city with wonderful music, unique culture, inspiring geography, and charming people. But why take just our word for it? With “Rio Reflections” as our October theme, we thought it would be nice to put together some other interesting folks’ reflections on Rio. Some simplistic, others smooth and ethereal – these give a bit of insight into the unique experience that is Rio de Janeiro. So… read through these and then add your thoughts to the list!

TRAVEL

“Nearly all visitors catch their breath when they first visit Rio from the window of a plane. That fabulous white shoreline curving crescent-like around the azure-blue ocean, the mysterious jungle-like mountains towering above the city’s sinuous streets, and the hundreds of tiny tropical islands that dot the natural southern bay all combine to make a Rio a city of startling beauty, if not perpetual promise. For the (millions of) people who live here, Rio is like a tempestuous lover one can never imagine leaving. Some other cities may have more money or more culture, but none have the beach, the sun, or the joie de vivre of Rio de Janeiro. ”

–        Pamela Bloom from Brazil Up Close, the must-have guidebook for traveling in Brazil and winner of a Lowel Thomas Travel Journalism Silver Award for Best Guidebook.

“I love the music, the food, the beautiful landscape. It would be a lot of fun to come here and make a movie. I’d enjoy it very much. (It’s) beautiful. We’ve had an incredible stay … it’s been extraordinary.”

– Actor Tom Cruise while staying in Rio for the Brazilian premiere of his film Valkyrie.

“Yes I’d love to roll to Rio, someday before I’m old.”

–        Rudyard Kipling, English short-story writer, novelist, poet, and winner of the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature. This simply sums up the thoughts of many.

“How my heart is singing

I see Rio de Janeiro,

My lonely longing days are ending

Rio, my love, there by the sea

Rio, my love, waiting for me

See the cable cars

That sway above the bay of Guanabara

Tiny sailboats far below dance the samba as they go

Shinning Rio there you lie

City of sand and sea and sky

Mountains of green rising so high

Four minutes more we’ll be there at the airport of Galeão

Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro

Statue of the savior with open arms above the yellow seashore

Sugar loaf in majesty climbing from the silver sea

Dark-eyed girls who smile at me

City of love and mysteries

Fasten seat belts

No smoking please

Now we’re descending and everything rushing

And now the wheels

Touch the ground.”

–        Antonio Carlos Jobim lyrics – Song of the Jet.

CULTURE

“More than a distant land, over a shining sea, more than the steaming green, more than the shining eyes. Well they tell me it’s only a dream in Rio. Nothing could be as sweet as it seems, on this very first day down. They remind me son have you so soon forgotten, often as not it’s rotten inside, and the mask soon slips away. Strange taste of a tropical fruit, romantic language of the Portuguese, melody on a wooden flute, Samba floating in the summer breeze.”

–        James Taylor lyrics – ‘Only a Dream in Rio’ from the album That’s Why I’m Here (1985).

“I don’t think anyone can resist Rio’s charm.”

– Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes on his city hosting the 2016 Olympics.

SPORTS

“In Brazil every kid starts playing street futebol very early. It’s in our blood. As a professional I started at Sao Cristovao in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Of course I also played in the beach soccer league, barefoot.”

–        Futebol star Ronaldo on his career playing the game in Rio.

MUSIC

“It is common for Cariocas to say, rather ironically, that everything ends up in samba. If things go wrong, there’s always samba to lift one’s spirits. Samba is solace, celebration, escape and abandon, and it is culture, philosophy, and tradition. Samba is a musical form largely created and sustained by the blach and mulatto working classes in Rio, but all types of Brazilians draw vitality from it, and most of the country dances to it during Carnaval. Almost every Brazilian musician … records a samba at some point in his of her career.”

–        Chris McGowan and Ricardo Pessanha on the importance of samba in Rio and Brazil as a whole. Taken from The Brazilian Sound, their impressive book detailing the history of Brazilian music.