What is your favourite?

Monday, May 9, 2011

Geog post 4 - Ipanema Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia

Ipanema Beach is in Rio de Janeiro, which is situated on a strip of Brazil's Atlantic coast, close to the Tropic of Capricorn. Facing largely south, the city was founded on an inlet of this stretch of the coast, Guanabara Bay (Baía de Guanabara), and its entrance is marked by a point of land called Sugar Loaf (Pão de Açúcar) – a "calling card" of the city. The Centre of Rio, lies on the plains of the western shore of Guanabara Bay. The biggest part of the city known as the "Zona norte", plains composed of marine and continental sediments and on hills and several rocky mountains. The South Zone (Zona Sul) of the city, reaching the beaches fringing the open sea, is cut off from the Centre and from the North Zone by coastal mountains. These mountains and hills are offshoots of the Serra do Mar to the northwest, the ancient gneiss-granite mountain chain that forms the southern slopes of the Brazilian Highlands. The large West Zone (Zona Oeste), cut off by the mountainous terrain, was made accessible by new roads and tunnels by the end of the 20th century. The population of the city of Rio de Janeiro, occupying an area of 1,182.3 square kilometres (456.5 sq mi), is about 6,100,000. The population of the greater metropolitan area is estimated at 11–13.5 million. It was Brazil's capital until 1960, when Brasília took its place. Residents of the city are known as Cariocas.
I chose Ipanema Beach, because not only is it known as the number one sunbathing hotspot in the world, but it is also a place where people of all ages gather, and so there would always be new people there, making the atmosphere there very exciting.