This entails a drive of about an hour (65kms), up into the beautiful mountains and jungles behind Rio, to the regal town of Petrópolis; and a visit to it's Imperial Museum, which once was the 2nd Brazilian emperor's residence.

Upon arriving in Petrópolis there's soon the house in which Stefan Zweig lived, and wrote his famous "Brasil, Land of the Future".

Further on one also gets to see the house in which Alberto Santos Dumont invented the motorized airplane ... and the wrist-watch ... and ... and ...;

then the cathedral, where Pedro II (Brazil's 2nd emperor) and his family are buried; -

and the Crystal Palace, where princess Isabel held concerts for the common mortals; -

also the "Quitandinha", formerly a casino built in the Tudor style, where one can lunch, choosing from a restaurant on the lake-shore, or one within the "Quitandinha" itself.

The drive in itself is quite revealing, and brief lectures on Brazil's history are an added attraction.