How to get from Leme beach to Korea without leaving Rio
The host city’s beaches and lagoon are playing host to four national hospitality houses during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Tourism without borders: Germany has installed a big screen for visitors to watch events on Leblon beach (Photo: Rio 2016)
From Leme to Leblon; from Seoul to Stuttgart. A tour of the hospitality houses on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro had Rio2016.com bopping to K-pop and sampling kimchi in southern Rio neighbourhoof of Leme, playing in a pool full of Lego overlooking Ipanema Beach, and cheering for Brazil against Argentina on a big screen on the sands of Leblon.
The day began in the ‘carioca Alps’ on the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon, near Ipanema. This is honorary Swiss territory for the duration of the Olympic Games. Entry to the country’s hospitality house is free. A big screen and comfortable beach loungers made for the perfect setting in which to watch Usain Bolt run his heat on Saturday (13 August), while children enjoyed the venue’s activities.
Child athletes take to the mini track on Usain Bolt’s race day (Photo: Rio 2016)
Part of the playground included a miniature sprint track for children complete with technology such as an electronic starting gun and a photo finish camera, similar to those used by Omega during Rio 2016 events. There’s even a 200 square metre ice rink. Expect to queue for entry, although lines are shorter during mornings and on weekdays.
“This is my favourite of the houses so far, it looks wonderful,” said carioca tourism consultant Sandro Fonseca, who was visiting with his wife and two daughters.
Click here to see what’s on at the House of Switzerland
Snow on the beach?
Snow came to Rio de Janeiro courtesy of the Republic of Korea
The Republic of Korea’s tradition of hospitality is showcased by a kiosk promoting PyeongChang, the host of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Located on the sands of Leme, the venue offers Korean food samples twice a day, including the traditional kimchi and rice balls. There are also Korean pop music shows and two virtual reality experiences to try, one of them allowing players to attempt a virtual ski jump, using real skis and artificial snow.
Fernanda Zogahib and Caroline de Souza tried out some of their moves during a K-pop dance presentation on the beach. “When Brazil isn’t competing, we support Korea,” said Fernanda, who is of Syrian-Lebanese heritage, but has been interested in Korean culture since 2001, when she discovered singer BoA, known as the ‘queen of K-pop’.
The pair had already taken part in a workshop on traditional tea ceremonies and are looking forward to seeing the K-Tigers group combine taekwondo moves with K-pop dancing from 17 August.
Bicycle nation
Denmark has set up two pavilions on Ipanema beach near lifeguard post 10, one of which is dedicated to all things Lego. Slots in groups of 40 people can be booked from 10.00am, allowing 20 minutes of play between 11.00am and 9.30pm (the slots tend to fill up within two hours, but there is a queue for vacancies created by cancellations throughout the day). A panel made of 18,500 Lego pieces is built everyday by children, creating a view of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Lego clocks instead of sandcastles for the Denmark House’s young visitors (Photo: Rio 2016)
Find out what’s on at the Danish House
The second pavilion is more geared towards adults and explores the country’s passion for bicycles (Copenhagen is reputed to have more bikes than people). Examples of different types of bicycles can be seen at the entrance to the pavilion, while every day at 5.00pm a DJ gets the atmosphere warmed up before Danish bands play from 8.00pm to 10.00pm.
Bring your sunscreen to the big screen
A little further down the beach, the German House also features activities for children and musical performances in the evenings, as well as traditional German food, two table football machines and table tennis. A forró dance workshop on Sunday 14 August will be led by Trio Pé de Serra and Cris Arruda.
The German House on Leblon beach has traditional food, table football and ping-pong (Photo: Rio 2016)
The German House’s standout attraction is a huge screen set up on the beach, which showed the Germany v Portugal football match on Saturday, as well as Brazil against Argentina in basketball.
“Germany managed to destroy Brazil’s recent record in football, but even so we have positive feelings for them,” said carioca student Hugo Lopes. ”A lot of people here are cheering for them.”
