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Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa

The district of Santa Teresa started next to a convent on Morro do Desterro, Rio de Janeiro, in the 18th century. Set on a hillside in the center of the city, it seems to have stopped in time maintaining, as it has for decades, preserved features of Old Rio and a bit of history in each corner.

Writers and artists have always been seduced by the district's call to internal life and to its architectural and cultural treasures, visible to the eye and cherished by the heart. A symbol of counterculture and of the art shown in its many studios and ateliers, any artistic expression finds its home in Santa, as its admirers prefer to call it. Everything that exists in Santa Teresa and that is known about it is also part of the history of Rio. To the visitor, however, it seems like a place apart with its own characteristics.

The narrow and winding streets with the old tramcars, the last to be found in the whole of Brazil, are one more singular attraction. The charming vehicles, which date from the 19th century, were moved by animal traction at first and later by electricity. Survivors of romantic times, they are now protected as historical heritage and still go along perfectly preserved tracks taking visitors to a re-reading of the past.

The tram car ride starts downtown, crosses the Lapa Arches and follows the up and down route through the slopes of Santa Teresa. It leaves from the station in Largo da Carioca, very near the headquarters of Petrobras in Lelio Gama Street. With its delightful garden, the site is a foretaste of what is to come.

The fare of less than R$ 1 gives the right to a ride on the famous yellow tram. Two lines go through Santa Teresa, Paula Matos and Dois Irmaos, with an interval of 15 minutes between departures. There are also two excursions with guides on Saturdays, Passeio Historico, leaving at 10 am and following a cultural route that takes approximately one hour, and Ecologico, leaving at noon on a longer visit of two hours which includes a track through the forest.

Santa Teresa