Marcelo and his family are beautiful people I throughly enjoy my time here and would be the first place to go back to when I visit Rio again, they made me feel like part of the family even though it was during the Olympics and I was busy seeing a lot of events Marcelo took me to a local market which I would not have known about, this market was so good I went back the next day.
As for the place it was great a bit of street noise but Rio is loud, the 15 minute walk up the hill is good to wind down after a busy day as I stopped at a local bar for a beer about half way. Or when you come out of the metro there is always a taxi and I always paid R$10 for the trip.
Location is great, Gloria metro is in a good position to head in either direction.
Thanks for my great experience of Rio.
I will be back for sure.