Lone Couple

Magoito Beach (previous post)

Microclimate

Magoito Beach, 30 kms northwest of Lisbon (west coast)

The weather is great here on the Lisbon coast - blue skies and temperatures between 25 and 30ºC - but the Sintra Mountain Range makes everything look different on the nearby west coast.

A Day With Horses

King Diniz Agricultural School at Paiã

Nazaré (5 of 5)

Church of Our Lady of Nazaré

The building dates back to the late 16th century but many transformations took place over the centuries

Nazaré (4 of 5)

Typical scenes of a fishing town

Nazaré (3 of 5)

The Old Women of Nazaré:

Most of them are the wives (or widows) of fishermen. They sell goods at the market, they dry fish at the beach and in the evening they sit on the streets trying to rent rooms for tourists in summer.
(More photos of these brave women on my travel blog)

Nazaré (2 of 5)

The old fashioned beach
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For those who wondered how the calm see of Nazaré (it's summer now!) can produce such big waves (previous post), here's a vintage poster - which was actually on display at an exhibition at the MoMA, New York - showing how everything changes in winter:

(web image)

Nazaré (1 of 5)

Nazaré is not located on this coast but it's just about 100 Kms north of Lisbon. This traditional fishing town became world famous when Garrett McNamara surfed the wave shown below.

Up North (2 of 2): Porto

Typical boats used to carry Port Wine barrels down the Douro River

Porto, Portugal's second largest city (272 kms from Lisbon)

The downtown is a UNESCO World Heritage site

Up North (1 of 2): Guimarães

Guimarães, the birth place of Portugal (12th century) as we know it, UNESCO World Heritage city and 2012 European Capital of Culture (312 kms from Lisbon)

"Portugal was born here"

"Irene"

Great performance by Margarida Vila-Nova

Teatro O Bando, Palmela
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For more reflection photos check James' Weekend Reflections

A Weekend at the Dunes

Carrapateira Beach (280 kms south of Lisbon)

Vicentine Coast and SW Alentejo Natural Park

A Trip To Évora

The city of Évora is located in the Alentejo region, 108 kms east of Lisbon.

The old town centre, enclosed by medieval walls, is like an open-air museum with a large number of monuments dating from various historical periods. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In this photo: Roman Temple (early 1st century) and the Cathedral in the background (1186-1250).

I'm Back

... from London and Brighton, UK

More photos will be regularly posted on my travel blog

I'm Back

Sand dunes and cliffs at the
Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park, Portugal

Back from the Southwest

The small fishing village of Carrapateira dates back to the period of Moorish occupation. It's located on the Vicentine Coast (southwestern Portugal, 280kms from Lisbon), in the heart of a wonderful natural park, containing a great number of marine and terrestrial wildlife species.
For more of Carrapateira check my travel blog

Speaking of windmills...

In the last decades old windmills have been restored and transformed into summer country houses, like this one located in southern Portugal (west coast).

As this post is an off-topic (nothing to do with Oeiras) I leave you with Falcão Azul (Blue Hawk), an helicopter company whose site has some interesting aerial views of Lisbon and other parts of central and southern Portugal. Click on the engish version and it will automatically show you the five clips (options on the right).

Off-topic: Carrapateira

The villageThe coast-lineThe beachesI've just came back from the southwest coast of Portugal, where I spent the weekend on a small village called Carrapateira.
More photos on my travel blog: http://mendoncajose.blogspot.com