I lived in flamengo for a number of years and would pass by these trees often although admittedly never knew this about them.

One thing that always struck me in park were the sheer diversity of palms. There are really beautiful shapes and sizes. That whole stretch along the beach and highway is just incredible with the forethought of designing and planting such wonderful species of plants, beyond the trees mentioned in the article.

Also as an anecdote my favorite thing in the Flamengo beach park is an abandoned marionette theater filled with stray cats. The cats were very friendly and the community would come and take care of them. I would go as often as I could and often thought of one as my own.

Copacabana is way more famous, but Flamengo in my opinion is probably the top beach in Rio.

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nidnogg a day ago | parent [-]

This perspective suggests limited direct experience with Grumari beach [1]

[1] - https://www.mountainproject.com/area/202035833/grumari

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iterateoften a day ago | parent [-]

For me the central location of Flamengo adds a lot of value. You can live in an apartment with ocean views, have a great beach without crowds, excellent restaurants, and easy public transportation and access to highway that lets you visit either further south down Botafogo way or north towards downtown. Perfectly situated. Little to no crowds and mostly locals.

	▲	nidnogg a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		For me personally, I generally dislike those neighborhoods around the south zone. I feel very unsafe (more so at nighttime) and I never get used to that smell. Also I find it a huge plus when beaches have no electricity nearby nor buildings as a backdrop. (Florianópolis gets a massive thumbs up for these)
	▲	mixmastamyk 17 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It’s quite nice, unfortunately the bay gets more polluted as you go north. So full swimming at Flamengo beach is not recommended.