Sambadrome

On Sunday night we had tickets to the Sambadrome, which is a massive concrete venue where the best Samba Schools parade, and where they get judged by a panel of experts. It is a massive event over two days (well, two nights, it started at 9pm and went on until sunrise!)

It was amazing.

We were sat very high up (Imagine the seats like those found at football stadia or amphitheatres) so we couldn't see the details of the costumes, but we could see the overall parade as it came down the runway. It was spectacular! The floats in particular were so elaborate and complicated, it takes your breath away!

Each school had a different theme, and the most popular schools had fans singing along to their music.

Each Samba School parade took one and a half hours to complete the runway of the venue (it is THAT big!) so around 4am I'm afraid to say I had to go back to the hotel.

In my defense, I hadn't eaten anything in twenty four hours due to being ill, so not so bad!