More on this year's Carnival from our man in the know!

This year Rio's leading samba schools will parade down a brand new and bigger Passarela do Samba, or Sambódromo, as it is better and affectionately known in Rio.

The Sambódromo was designed in 1984 by the legendary Brazilian architect, Oscar Niemeyer, now aged 104, and has been modernised and expanded between last year's and this year's carnival, and after the demolition of the Brahma brewery that lined one side. With an extra 12,500 seats, the "new" passarela can now accommodate close to 80,000 spectators. Nearly the same number of people that will parade with the main samba schools over the Sunday and Monday nights of carnival.

Since its opening in 1984, the Sambódromo, parts of which act as a school during the year, has hosted many other events besides the carnival parades, most notably a series of music shows and concerts. The Sambódromo will be now be used as an Olympic venue when Rio de Janeiro hosts the 2016 Olympics, acting as the venue for the archery and for the end of the marathon. It is a truly iconic setting.
For the statistically minded, the length of the Sambódromo is 1700 meters or 1860 yards, the schools, however, will officially parade over 540 meters (1,700 feet) of the avenue, taking about 80 minutes to each complete their parade.

Chris Pickard