Where to begin! Brazil is so vast, attractions so varied that one must carefully pick and choose. As the largest country in South America and the fifth largest in the world, distances are great covering more than 3,250,000 square miles.Our explorations there have ranged from the capital, Brazilia, then an unforgettable adventure far up the Amazon, a flight to famed Manaus followed by colonial flavour of Bahia Salvador before going on to Rio.

Yet to be visited is the wine district . . . although a journalist friend who took a plane trip there from Rio made it sound interesting. Not used to carrying a passport around with him once cleared by entry customs, he’d left it in the safety of his Rio hotel.

He told a wild tale about being placed in a prison cell in the middle of the small airport where he arrived without it, until the US Consulate cleared the matter and he was released. So do carry yours along in a safe location, since theft is a problem.

Rio, a massive city of ten million people, is so sprawling and congested, focusing on just a few major sites is your best bet. For certain, a trip up to the 2,300 foot summit of Corcovada is a must. Be sure to choose a day when there’s no fog to obstruct the dramatic view. Mornings are usually best.

It’s possible to get there via special train and ascend by elevator or escalator, but we took a taxi out there and reached the summit by stairs. Along the steep stairway leading up to the massive statue of Christ of the Andes, you’ll encounter some interesting shopping possibilities.

There will be the usual touristy shock, but do look for long necklaces made of a silver-like wire wound around individual semi-precious stones - amethyst, jade, rose quartz, all sorts of Brazilian gems. Alpaca, which is nickel added to silver, is widely used in making such jewellery.

They’re very dramatic and can look quite stunning on a black or white dress. Choose carefully and once home, they look a zillion times more expensive than they are.

Brazil has a wealth of minerals including a long list of very valuable beauties ranging from aquamarine, topaz, emeralds, amethysts, tourmaline and even diamonds. They’re one of the reasons Hans Stern jewellers became so world famed with shops around the globe.

Like Corcovada’s panoramic view, that ascending Sugar Loaf via a two-stage cable car ride is also spectacular. Many will remember it from an action packed James Bond sequence where he struggles to survive in an encounter atop those very cable cars with his steel-toothed nemesis.

You’ll see Copacabana stretching out before you with islands, bays, inlets, mountains in all directions. Guanabara Bay below may look pristine from here, but work is still proceeding on its “depollution”. New sewage treatment plants and miles of sewer lines are attempting to solve one of the country’s major problems.

There’s no disputing Rio ranks high among world cities with the most dramatic setting, and these two summit trips will certainly prove that. Some lament the city is overbuilt with little planning and it’s not the easiest place to get around. But neither are many major world cities.

Those who arrive expecting a Portuguese flavour will find it’s most apparent at the mountain town of Petropolis just over 40 miles from Rio. The 44-room Imperial Palace there was summer home of Pedro II, Portuguese Emperor of Brazil.

From 1889 to 1899, it was not only summer home of the emperor, but the seat of government.

Now a museum, visitors come to admire everything from its unique floors of jacaranda wood to dazzling crown jewels that include a gold crown encrusted with 639 diamonds and 77 pearls.

The royal family tombs are in the Cathedral of Sao Pedro de Alcantara and the entire town of Petropolis has many colonial mansions of the former nobility dating to those early days. One can visit them via horse and carriage or just by strolling around town.

You’ll also want to visit the Palacio de Cristal, an unusual stained glass and iron building made in France and assembled in Brazil as a wedding present to the Emperor’s daughter, Princess Isabel. Used as a ballroom during Imperial years, she celebrated the abolition of slavery there in 1888.

It’s estimated that between four to 12 million slaves were captured and taken to Brazil, starting in 1549. No one knows for certain, but many died on slave ships before arriving on Brazilian shores.

They came from such African locations as Angola, Mozambique, Guinea, Sudan and the Congo. And although the slave trade was abolished by the English in 1807, it continued in Brazil through many uprisings and desperate struggles until that final, incredibly late date.

History here is very complicated and you’ll want to find a guidebook that covers the complexity of it all - corruption, massive exploitation of both indigenous natives and African slaves, as well as exploitation of natural resources by both locals and outsiders. It’s epic in scope and knowing about it will help you better understand the country as it exists today.

Every day travellers will be faced with multiple decisions - what to see, where to go. The country is so enormous, sights so varied, one just can’t do more than scratch the surface. Our two trips were quite lengthy and we covered a lot, but much remains to be seen including Iguacu Falls.

Petropolis was an example. That same day we were invited to a private reception at jeweller Hans Stern’s residence, glamorous as befits one of the world’s acclaimed jewellers specialising in Brazil’s precious stones.

But the palace won. Who could resist learning more about history of this fabled country and the town still populated with reminders of that early Portuguese heritage.

Traditions of African slaves blended into those brought by Europeans has resulted in something unique. It reaches across all aspects of life here, from music of Carnival to flavourful food, even religion. Roman Catholicism is the majority religion, but many combine it with Candomble, Macumba and other African-Brazilian beliefs and practices.

In the late 1800s, Brazil opened its borders and immigrants literally poured in from Italy, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Syria, Lebanon and other countries. It later became a refuge for Jews, like Hans Stern, fleeing Nazism - and eventually Nazis fleeing war crime trials.

Names like Adolph Eichmann and Dr. Josef Mengele, (his body was eventually found in Brazil) were only a few of many in South America. We personally encountered the Nazi element in an unusual way.

This column has previously mentioned a young Prussian journalist first met by this writer on a press trip to Leningrad, where he insisted he was constantly followed everywhere. We later learned his father had been one of Germany’s top generals on that Eastern Front.

On a later trip to Spain, our otherwise personable Norwegian-born guide refused to let him in her car when she heard his name. “Your father destroyed our country and my family. That Paraguayan wife of yours is probably Martin Borman’s daughter.”

His wife was born in either Uruguay or Paraguay, I’ve now forgotten; her mother Spanish, father German. After the war the 30-ish, very personable and handsome young man had fled to South American with his mother and began a publication covering the Pan American Highway.

We knew him quite well, our paths often crossing, and always had the suspicion he was involved in something connected to Nazis who escaped to South America.

Driving back to Rio after a jungle excursion, he asked our van to stop in the absolute middle of nowhere. The only sign of any civilisation in this remote area was an elaborate gate surrounded by a high stone wall. No residence was visible, but someone of importance obviously lived there and we let him off, watching as those closed gates slowly opened.

Jim and I couldn’t help but think of The Odessa File, something we had long suspected.

Not all that long afterwards, he and his wife were part of our press tour we had bypassed because of other commitments. On that trip he’d been given a flight-seeing ticket over Antarctica and another long-time writer friend of ours had generously given her ticket to his wife.

That flight crashed into a mountain, killing all aboard. It’s the kind of “life is stranger than fiction” scenario that would make a movie as fascinating as The Odessa File.

Next Week — The Expected And Unexpected In Rio

Rio: Dazzling on a grand scale