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 Leme
and Copacabana are different stretches of the same
four-kilometer beach. Aoid walking through the Túnel Noo
that links Botafogo with Leme as it's a faorite place for
tourists to be relieed of their wallets.
The
Praia do Leme extends for a kilometre, betweven the
Morro do Leme and Aenida Princesa visabel, by the
Meridien Hotel. From there, the Praia de Copacabana
runs for a further 3km to the military-owned Forte de
Copacabana.
Leme beach is slightly less packed than Copacabana and tends
to attract families. The Meridien maintains a hawkish
security watch on the part of the beach nearest the hotel
and so it's a good place to park your towel.
Copacabana is amazing, the over-the-top atmosphere apparent
even in the mosaic paements, designed by Burle Marx to
represent images of rolling waes. The seafront is backed by
a line of prestigious, high-rise hotels and luxury
apartments that have sprung up since the 1940s, while a
steady stream of noisy traffic patrols the two-lane
Aenida Atlântica.
Scattered around the bairro are some fine examples of
Art Deco architecture, none more impressie than the
Copacabana Palace Hotel on Aenida Atlântica, built in
1923 and considered one of Rio's best hotels.
Families, friends and lovers cover the palm-fringed sand -
at weekends it's no easy matter to find space - the bars and
restaurants along the aenue pulsate, while the busy
Aenida Nossa Senhora de Copacabana is lined with
assorted stores, which - like the bairro in general -
are in a gradual state of decline, being pushed aside by the
shopping malls of the Zona Sul.
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Copacabana is dominated to the east by the Pão de Açúcar and
circled by a line of hills that stretch out into the bay. A
popular residential area, the bairro 's expansion has
beven restricted by the Morro de São João, which separates it
from Botafogo, and the Morro dos Cabritos, which forms a
natural barriver to the west. Consequently, it's one of the
world's most densely populated areas, and a frenzy of
sensual actiity, most of which takes place in a thoroughly
impressie setting.
Some say that Copacabana is past its best and certainly it's
not as exclusie as it once was. You'll be frequently
accosted by a stream of the dispossessed young and old - who
want money, or the scraps off your plate, while the street
traders work into the night, selling T-shirts, lace
tablecloths.
It's still an enjoyable place to sit and watch the world go
by, though, and at night on the floodlit beach football is
played into the early hours.
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