Brazil 12
Ulysses Marreiros, above, is a very imposing Portuguese who comes from Faro in the very south of that country, and he’s in charge of a very imposing hotel, which towers over Rio’s highly significant Copacabana beach. Yes, it’s Belmont Copacabana Palace, built in 1923 because Octávio Guinle, a scion of the Brazilian ports and shipping dynasty often compared to the Astors or Vanderbilts in the USA, wanted a hotel that was up to the levels of the Carlton in Cannes and the Negresco in Nice.
Architect Joseph Giry duly designed a hotel for the 1922 centenary of Brazil’s independence. It opened – a year late – with a casino, which ran until 1946, and it still has massive public spaces. Saturday’s carnival ball is held here annually, with about 1,800 people. During prime time, May to July, they may have eight or more weddings any Saturday night. It’s where people come to be seen and also to see.
There’s an absolutely gorgeous integral theater here, which was reopened a couple of months ago after complete renovation. It’s now named after Fernanda Montenegro – real name Arlette Pinheiro Esteves. widely regarded as Brazil’s greatest actor. Born in 1929, she graced the re-opening with reminiscences.
At the moment, the newer tower, which soars to eleven floors, is being renovated and is therefore closed. Girlahead this time was back in main block suite #602, which has changed dramatically from the last visit 13 years ago. It’s one of six top floor suites with access to a private pool, the Black Pool, about 10 meters long and no paparazzi permitted. The suite has a square sitting room, about 8x8m, with, to one side, a terrace big enough for seating, through to a bedroom which is a little smaller, shares the terrace, and on to a bathroom that overlooks all this. Marble-center floors with wood surround hold carpets that are dark sand with soft terracotta images. Classic Belmont watercolors, gold-framed, grace the living area, where bold color comes from splendid books, a mammoth tome on Mountains, another on Iceland, plus Living in Style in Munich, Living in Style in Ibiza.
The bedroom is dominated by five watercolors, different sizes, placed side by side in front of the mirrored bedhead – placed together, these watercolors portray Rio with the stylized Sugarloaf mountain behind. .. See below
