Departures, progress and shells

Following our Monday trip to Sevilla, Rose had one more day before departure. Tuesday morning was windy and overcast with intermittent rain so no walk on the beach. John suggested a city bus ride to give Rose a glimpse of the rest of the town of Albufeira and a rainy morning seemed a perfect time for it - so for a relaxing hour we joined high school students and other citizens of Albufeira on the bus.

The rain abated so later in the day Rose and I walked on the beach to old town - Ruth took the bus and met us there. After a bit of last minute shopping for Rose we took one of our favourite walks to a high point in the western part of old town.

Caught Rose trying to persuade her camera to behave.


By the way - don't forget to click on any photo to see a larger and better image.

More discussion with the camera.

Then home for wine and snacks at the Wheeler's place, farewells to Rose who still had final preparations for a 5:15 am bus to Faro for the flight home and "poof" - she was gone! How quickly a week passes.


So, Wednesday morning was departure time - Rose left for home and Jean and John left for Lisboa - and we have had to survive on our own for a few days.

But, we have managed. We walked in to old town Wednesday and accomplished a few errands including sending some postcards and doing some grocery shopping - the first time Ruth has walked there and back home since we have been here this year - so her leg/hip difficulties seem to be lessening a bit each day. And yesterday, Thursday, we went to the beach - again, a first for Ruth this year. No photos to prove it, but, trust me, we were there.

And, speaking of the beach - I mentioned a couple of blog posts ago that, like last year, there are bunches of shells being gathered by the ocean at several locations along the beach and there seem to be more shells every day. (These must be part of Steven Wright's collection of shells :-) Remember him? The monotone comedian that claims he has a large shell collection - it is on beaches all over the world.)

People visit these areas throughout the day to find and pick up their favourite shells - tough to decide with such a rich and endless variety of sizes, shapes and colours!

But I don't decide - I just make lots of photos and that way I get a great collection of shells - without having to clean off the sand and find a place for them in my suitcase.

This morning, for example, there was a beautiful sunrise and excellent light on my shell collections. The best of all worlds!

And, for the record, I found these shells in place as you see them.

And, at the other end of the beach.... the other end of the sunrise!

Sevilla

On Monday this week Rose, Ruth and I rode the bus for just under 3 hours en route to Sevilla, España, the 4th largest city in the country (population around 1 million) and the capital of the region of Andalusia. We have visited Sevilla previously (see this blog post and this one) but the historical and architectural richness of the old city and, especially for us, the Real Alcazar, are definitely worth another visit.

Don't forget to click on any photo to see a larger image.

This is a day trip so as the time in Sevilla is fairly brief we are limited in what we can see. Our goal was to visit the Real Alcazar, the Catédral de Sevilla and the area of the old city nearby. Rose was interested in the Cathedral so she spent just under an hour there while we strolled around this huge edifice trying to figure out from which of the many possible doorways she might emerge. In the end we got it right so managed to avoid the unpleasant experience of getting separated.

While we were circumnavigating the building we found these two fellows. It appears that the meditator on the bottom is holding, in one hand, a pole which supports a platform on which the other is sitting. How they achieved and maintained this arrangement was not clear to us.

I think it is fair to say that Rose was disappointed in the Cathedral. Both outside and inside it is an extremely over large, bulky and  quite unattractive structure and inside it is cold, dark and dingy and most of the areas that might be interesting to get close to are blocked by iron bars.

It was built on the site of a mosque and, to me, the most interesting part of the Cathedral is the imposing tower, a preserved remnant of the original mosque. They say the view from the top is quite spectacular but as our time here is limited we decided to move on to the Reales Alcázares.

The story about the beautiful Real Alcazar is confusing as different sources relate a slightly different history. I think what is not in doubt is that the original "fort" or "palace" was built in the 10th century by the Moors, an Arab, Muslim culture that was established and thrived in the Iberian Peninsula (what is now Spain and Portugal) for over 500 years.

Above, a couple of tourists just inside the original wall are trying to understand the map of the Alcazar.

After they drove the Moors from these lands the Christians destroyed many of the structures, especially those of a "religious" nature,  replacing Mosques with Cathedrals/churches (as in the case of the Cathedral of Seville above) . Others, recognized for their beauty and functionality, were at least partially preserved, modified and put to use (as with the Alcazar which is the official residence of the Spanish Heads of State and the oldest Royal Palace still in use in Europe) or, at least not destroyed, but rather left to the degrading effects of misuse, entropy and weather (as with the Alhambra in Granada, though in this instance, fortunately, Washington  Irving's discovery of the Alhambra and his book about it seems to have been part of the motivation for Spain to rehabilitate this treasure.  More about it after our upcoming trip to Granada.)

Since its original construction, within the ancient walls there have been major alterations and revisions which reflect Moorish and Spanish history, all of which contribute to the exquisite structure that we see today.

The architecture and artistry vary tremendously including Moorish styles such as Almohad and Mudejar and other genres such as Renaissance, Baroque and Neo-classical.

Here is one of several reflecting pools inside the Alcazar.

I can't possibly describe the beauty of this place or show much in photos but have selected a few to try to give some sense of the artistry and craftsmanship that enrich it.

Here and in the photos below I think you can appreciate the beauty of the tile work and the detailed carving in the plaster like material that is shown in more detail in a close up image below.

Both the inside and the extensive gardens are quite spectacular though I have no photo here of the gardens, check out earlier blog postings.

From the Alcazar we went for some lunch then a very brief walk through an adjacent area of the old city before returning to the bus and a short drive to the Plaza de España for a very brief visit. We have been here before so didn't mind that the visit was so brief. But for Rose and others who have not been here before I think the time was too short. I have quite good photos and comments about this place in an earlier blog post. If you are interested click here and here. Use the back button to return to this page.

Then the long bus ride home.

I have a number of other photos that I would like to show, so they may surface in a later post.

John and Jean have gone to Lisboa for a few days and Rose is now back home, so we are on our own for a couple of days.

Next Monday we leave for Granada (the Alhambra), Cordoba and the Costa del Sol - a three day trip to which we are looking forward - especially the visit to the Alhambra. But, at least one more post before we depart.

More March

Our friend, Rose from Rockton Ontario, arrived Wednesday for a one week visit to Albufeira. She brought some sun so Wednesday afternoon was sunny and warm, albeit still very windy. After she was settled in her space (with a great view of the ocean) and. after a brief nap, we went to the beach then to the bakery for some goodies and Portuguese white descaffeinado coffee.

A very nice dinner with Jean and John at the Trés Palmeiras restaurant then early to sleep.

Our varied weather pattern continues with bits of sun mixed with cloud, some rain and lots of wind. Our JM Vacations Portuguese contact person, Anna, says that southeast winds bring this kind of weather and if they last more than 3 days they will continue for at least 7 - I think we are past 7 and the wind, though calmer, is still blowing.

We met with Anna and on Friday and learned that our 3 day trip to Granada (the Alhambra), Costa del Sol and Cordoba is going to happen on March 18, 19 and 20th. A trip to the Loulé farmer's market for Rose, John and Jean was arranged for Saturday but unfortunately, through some miscommunications, Rose was not able to go :-(

It's now Sunday and Rose is well oriented to Albufeira after several strolls on the beach, a couple of walks to "old town", beer at Sir Harry's pub, a shopping meander and dinner at Casa de Fonte, a restaurant in old town that is new to us.

Sunday morning Rose and I were on the beach in time for sunrise and also in time to get caught in an unexpected, brief but drenching rain. But we are now dry, so, as the guessers are predicting a mostly nice day today, at noon we will walk the beach to old town for lunch and, no doubt, visits to a shop or two.

Once again there are fairly dense collections of shells on the beach these past few day.

Tomorrow we are off at 6:30 am to Sevilla, España for the day. It's about a 3 hour bus ride to get there and as we return the same day, we are in Seville only about 5 plus hours, but as it is a beautiful city it worth the trip. Our plan is to visit the Reales Alcázares Palace (built by the Moors) and the Jewish section and, time permitting, the Catedral de Sevilla.

More about Sevilla later but for now, another sunrise.

And sunset.

Early March rain and wind

The weather guessers have, unfortunately, been mostly correct since we have been here. They predicted the cold spell and were definitely accurate about that and they predicted 2 days of rain beginning Sunday and at the moment they are on target! We had quite a lot of rain along with strong winds last night, strong winds all day today with intermittent rain, sun and cloud so far. It's warmer though; 18°C today and that sort of temperature is expected for the next several days - which is definitely good. This is the first year since I have been coming here that I have not worn shorts or short sleeves in the first couple of weeks, so to me it feels like an unusually cool beginning.

Today (Monday) very strong winds and intermittent rain have kept us in most of the day, though I did go to the beach for a short time this morning, and this afternoon I walked the beach for about half an hour. Made a few photos while on the beach as well as from the apartment this morning, some of which are included here.

Remember the breakwater covered with green moss? Here, right and below, it is looking very different buried in roiling water!

Ruth and I also walked to the bakery to pick up some snacks for tonights' game of Sequence with Jean and John. The walk went well for Ruth and she feels her discomfort is less each day, which is great. We got caught in a bit of rain on the way home from the bakery, but missed the downpour which came on almost as soon as we got inside the apartment!

John and I had beautiful weather for our walk this morning  (Tuesday) with sun and a distinctly more pleasant temperature. But this afternoon we had a brief rain shower and the wind has returned to whip up the ocean into substantial waves and, as we are closer to the ocean here than we were at Club Oceano, the sound of the waves pounding the beach is very loud and on occasion the percussive effect can almost be felt.

The photo to the left was made this morning on our walk, so even this morning the wind was working its magic with the water, though the sun kept the temperature very pleasant. Love those waves and spray but wouldn't want to be out on that water!

More tranquil water from a several mornings ago and below is the sun that is providing the light on old town.

We are looking forward to the arrival tomorrow morning of our friend Rose and in preparation are off to do a bit of grocery shopping to get some basics for her larder. The rain seems to have passed and the sun is pouring into our living room, so likely safe to head out to the Pingo Doce!

Early March

We met with our JM Vacations contact person on Friday and booked our trip to Seville for Monday, March 11.

We also learned, to our disappointment, that the Douro River Valley trip that we had hoped to do is not possible. Apparently they now only run the river and vineyard tours beginning at the end of March, not enough time to get to the area and back comfortably before we leave on April 3rd. :-(

That leaves us with the possible second option, namely the 3 day trip to Granada (the Alhambra) and Cordoba in Spain  - and this is not certain yet as they need more paying customers for it to go. So, we wait. We have been on this trip a couple of years ago but the weather was so cold and wet that we didn't see all of the Alhambra and virtually nothing around Cordoba except for the inside of the giant Mosque, so it would be a nice trip even though it would be  a repeat.

I included the photo above, made from our balcony, for those who have in the past confessed to liking the chimney pots.

Jean and John are leaving a week from tomorrow for a 3 day trip to Lisbon and will not join us in Seville or on the Granada trip - if that one materializes.

I took this photo this morning on our walk - the sun is shining though there are some very dark clouds in the north which we hope are moving north!









Ruth's hip discomfort is lessening so mobility is improving, thankfully. Yesterday we walked to the bookstore, which went well for her, and today we are going to the bakery - about a 15 minute walk.

And the temperature has improved significantly - about 12 C this morning with lots of sun and supposed to reach 17 C this afternoon, conditions most welcome!

As we are looking forward to the arrival of our friend, Rose Janson, this coming Wednesday we are happy that it is supposed to be warmer during the week that she is here.

Last evening I spent some time on the beach trying some long exposure photos. Unfortunately there was a strong wind which made it a bit uncomfortable but most annoying is that the tripod is not totally steady when the wind is so strong. In spite of that I think the images are not bad and I am feeling more confident about getting the exposures I want.

As you can see from the photos below it seems John keeps an eye on me from their room while I on the beach.

Here I am bravely facing the tsunami like wave bearing down on me.

But, I am very safe with lots of company on the beach.

Above is yet another image of part of the breakwater, which I seem to find quite photogenic. You  will no doubt see more variations.

And another sunset for those who, like me, don't tire of them.

After one week.

Well, we seem to be in a prolonged cold spell here with temperatures around 5 or 6 °C in the mornings and highs around 15 or so - the longest cool spell I can recall since we have been coming here.

The cool morning temperatures make early morning photography a bit less attractive but I still go to the beach around 6:45 am as, regardless of the cool, it is still my favourite time to be there. In spite of the cold mornings I have experimented a bit more with long exposures, this time using a slightly different method. Yesterday I took my tripod and made some long exposure photos with the camera on the tripod so that things that are not moving stay in focus while the moving water has a smooth texture to it. This is trickier than the earlier method of just moving the camera while the shutter remains open for 1/6 or 1/8th of a second - everything in the frame is "smoothed" out. Using the tripod method getting the exposure correct takes some work with filters and shutter speed. I know - more than you care to or need to know.

In any case, the photos here are from this method and, as they are my first effort, the photos are not as good as I had hoped. I learned quite a bit as I bumbled my way through the process so, hopefully, they will be better next time.

As I said in my last blog post, we are well settled in now and liking the rooms we have much better as we adjust to them and alter them to our needs. For example, the tiny kitchen had a door on the entry and the open door blocked access to the 'fridge and part of the limited counter space. Every time you needed to get to the fridge you had to close the door. So, I removed the door - what a difference! And, so far, I have not been charged with vandalism. And there are some aspects of this place that we really enjoy - for example, in the afternoon we have sun on the balcony and streaming into our living area, which is lovely. Having now looked at and heard about other places, given that our old place is no longer available, this place seems the best for our needs.

I actually lied above - this photo was made by the so called Intentional Camera Movement method, so different from those above. And I have also been trying a bit of black and white.  Let me know what you think.

I included a photo or two of the stone breakwater in an earlier post, but I have quite a few photos of it and quite like this one.








Ruth is having some hip discomfort so not able to walk far so our usual daily activity patterns have been somewhat limited. She has not been to the beach yet and yesterday, for the first time this year, we went to "old town", part way there and back on the bus. While in old town we found a very good walking stick/cane for her and that seems to help quite a bit.

On the other hand, I have been walking from 10 to 15 Km every day. This is one of the things I enjoy a lot here - being free of the car, if I want to go somewhere I walk. In the morning I go to the beach, then John and I do our daily walk and I usually have my 10,000 steps in before lunch. Need bread or groceries? I walk. It's great!

Last night I went to the beach just in time to catch the sun setting so, no surprise, I made several photos, a couple of which are here.

Tomorrow we meet with our JM Vacations rep so will book our trip to Seville (March 8th) and find out about the possibilities concerning the Douro Valley and Granada-Cordoba trips.