The beach at Albufeira

Click on the photo to see a larger image.

The favorite route to old town was by the beach - an easy 15 or 20 minute walk - time to enjoy the sand and the sound and cool of the water. Nice. But it took us a bit of time to figure out that one needs to keep an eye on the tide behaviour. Failure to pay attention to the tide compounded by lack of respect for the power of the water got us into a bit of trouble on the way home one day. We misjudged the rate at which the waves come in and because we weren't quick enough to get out of the way, we ended up being swamped and knocked over by the water. A few scratches and scrapes but, fortunately, no serious personal damage and no damage to cameras. The next day we hunted up a tide table.

The photo of the Fishermans' beach taken from an overlook in old town shows an absence of fishing boats. This apparently is a change since Ruth was last here when there were a lot of colourful fishing boats and fishermen tending to their nets and gear here on the beach. All this has now been moved to an area to the west which is enclosed by a breakwater and effectively out of sight. Maybe it is an improvement in conditions for the fisherman and, if so, that's great. It does, however, eliminate one of the colourful scenes from this area of the beach.

An interesting meeting in Albufeira

On one of our walks John and I passed a small house where we noticed a table behind the fence/wall on which there were a few stone sculptures - a fish and a dolphin and others which I don't recall. The person who created them was at the back carving something and when he noticed us he came to the front to show his work to us. He told us that he picks up the stones on the beach (likely limestone) and brings them to his house to carve them. He has been doing this as a winter "job" since 1999. He had been interested in carving figures in wood but a friend introduced him to the idea of using stone so he decided to have a go at it and he has been quite successful at both carving and selling his "product".

We thought it would be nice to have one of his stone figures, but the ones that he had available were a bit big and heavy to cart home on the plane. About 3 days before we were to leave for home Ruth and I decided to go by and see if he had anything small enough to pack into already limited available suitcase space. He told us that he didn't but he had recently picked up some small stones and would make a small figure for us from a rock which he showed us (already marked) and have it ready for us the day before we left. He was true to his word, so we were able to bring back a small stone carving of a dolphin as well as pictures of the artist, whose name is Lionel, the original stone and the dolphin figure that emerged from the stone. Cool.

By the way, Lionel has a wonderfully friendly dog named... you guessed it, Stone!

In the first photo Lionel is holding the stone which became our dolphin (check out the bottom left corner of the photo to see a larger version he had carved). In the second photo he is holding the finished carving and the final one is a clearer picture of it sitting on our stereo/tv cabinet.

More Sevilla and Real Alcazar

The photos included are all in the Alcazar - the top photo is the entry gate with the what may be the original walls, the next 3 are in various rooms inside. The third is a close up of the tile above the doorway behind the arch in the second photo. The fifth is a relatively poor view of the garden but it seems like the best single photo which shows a very small piece of the garden. When I get some collages together it will give a better indication of the extent and beauty of both the rooms and the gardens.

Remember, you can see a larger version of any photo by clicking on it.

According to one source the original building of the Real Alcazar was built in the 10th century on the orders of the King, Abd al-Rahman III, as the Governor's house or palace on the site of an old Basilica which had been dedicated to St. Vincent. Here again there are different stories about the history. A different source suggests that most of the buildings were actually built (by Moorish workmen it's true) for King Pedro the Cruel of Castile in the 1360's when the Moors had already been driven from Spain and Portugal. Pedro, with his mistress Maria de Padilla, allegedly lived in and ruled from the Alcazar. He embarked upon a complete rebuilding of the palace, employing workmen from Granada and utilising fragments of earlier Moorish buildings in Seville, Cordoba and Valencia.

In any case, over the centuries the Alcazar has undergone extensive expansion, demolition, reconstruction, more expansion and additions ultimately to include extensive gardens dedicated to all manner of groups and the whole influenced in its design by the period in which the particular part was built (medieval, renaissance, etc.). Through all of this, according to one source, it has remained a "Royal House", a dwelling of the ruler and continues to be occupied at least intermittently by the Royal family of Spain.

The Real Alcazar truly defies description; even the pictures can only begin to describe it (and even they cannot do justice).

It is an extensive maze of gardens, buildings and rooms all connected through beautiful archways and all exquisitely decorated; the gardens with all manner of plants and the rooms with sculptures, colourful and intricate tiles covering walls, arches, ceilings, reflecting pools and floors. There is far too much to see and take in in this fascinating place and too little time.

Day 10 - Sevilla, Spain

Hard to find the words to describe Sevilla.

A city of about 750,000 people - fourth largest in Spain. A city of history, wealth and beauty, both visual and aromatic - the fragrance of orange blossoms seems to be everywhere (the area of Sevilla produces bitter oranges used for making marmalade).

We have no books on Sevilla or Spain so I have to go by my memory.

The city is a major port situated on a major river, the Guadalquivir, that was once navigable from northern Spain to Sevilla - no longer, though Sevilla remains an important port city. It was in Sevilla that Queen Isabella met with Columbus on his return from his second trip to North America. This meeting allegedly took place in the Real Alcazar (more about this amazing place later).

Our first stop was at the Plaza d'Espana - the Plaza and the building, now a government building, were built in 1929 when Sevilla hosted a Fair of the Americas. At the time of the Fair this beautiful building, adjacent to the Maria Luisa Park, housed displays of Spanish technology. According to our guide Princess Maria Luisa of Spain (Spain still has a King and royal family) apparently loved this city, was married here and lived here in Sevilla. When she died she willed the property on which the plaza and park are located to the city. (However, from what I can learn of the Princess so far, she was not married in Sevilla and never lived there, so I am not sure what the real history is.) In front of the Plaza building is an extensive large open space paved with white and black stone patterns with a large fountain near the centre. There is a "moat" around the building and it is crossed by two beautiful arched bridges decorated with blue and white tiles on the railings and balusters and more colorful tiles along each side of the bridge. And there are tiled areas over large parts on the outside of the entire building - some beautifully decorative but also several creating exquisite pictures, likely of historical significance, relating to a number of Spanish cities.

The first three photos are from the Plaza d'Espana.

From here we moved to an area of the city which is "pedestrianized" near what appears to be the centre of the city and the cathedral and our main area of interest, the Real Alcazar. Here we parted with the tour guide and the rest of the group. We walked to the Cathedral of Seville, a Gothic structure occupies the site of a great mosque from the 12th century. The total area of the Cathedral covers 11,520 square metres and new calculations, based on cubic measurements, have now pushed it in front of Saint Paul's in London and Saint Peter's in Rome, as the largest church in the world - and it is large. There is a tall cathedral tower which allegedly is in the place of the minaret which was part of the original Mosque on this site built by the Moors.

The cathedral is adjacent to the Real Alcazar, the original building of which was also built, according to one source, by the Moors in about the 10th century.

The last two photos are of parts of the cathedral - the last is the tower which is part of the minaret of the mosque that was originally on this site.

More Lisbon and environs

In the western part of Lisbon, an area called Belem, we visited a small fortress (Torre de Belem) built on the edge of the Rio Tejo in the 16th century and an extensive Marine Museum once an elaborate monastery, Mosteiros dos Jeronimos, constructed after Vasco da Gamas' safe return from India. The monastery was built on the site of a small chapel where da Gama and his shipmates had spent time before their departure on the historical journey. A huge amount of money was spent on this elaborate monestery, much of which apparently came from income from pepper and other spices acquired as a result of the explorations and colonization. (Though the discoveries were amazing accomplishments and aptly celebrated as such, they were also early colonization and exploitation of the goods and lives of other civilizations.) South of the monastery near the river (which joins the Atlantic just to the west) is a large and quite spectacular monument to the explorers, the Padrao dos Descombrimentos, inaugurated in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Henry the Navigator's death. Both sides are adorned with large sculptures of people of some note with Henry the Navigator at the prow of the ship-like structure.

Have quite a few good photos of much of this area including the Torre de Belem, the outside of the monastery and the Padrao dos Descombrimentos.

The photos included are the Torre de Belem, the Monastery and cathedral, the entrance to the monastery (now a maritime museum), the Padro dos Descomrimentos and one photo of Sintra(see below). (The blogger software only allows 5 photos per posting so will put together some collages so that I can provide more views of these areas.)

From Belem we went to Sintra, a beautiful city (26,000 pop) northwest of Lisbon. Sintra is situated high (about 270 meters) in the mountains - so it extremely hilly and filled with unusual architecture - castle, palaces, churches and botanical gardens. It is said that the Iberians made it a "cult" centre; the Moors built the castle and the palace, the medieval period built the monasteries and the nobility/aristocrats of all groups used it as vacation and refuge - the wealthy fled here during the destructive 1755 earthquake. More narrow and charming streets to wander than you can imagine, and great exercise as it is extremely hilly. If you look closely at the photo of Sintra (last photo in this post) you will see an interesting turreted house situated on the hillside above this part of the town. Apparently Byron visited Sintra and claimed it to be paradise.

We had only a short time here, unfortunately. Walked up and down, took photos and had a drinks and pastry at the "Lord Byron Restauante"! Lot's to return for.

These trips are a nice idea to get a taste of an area, but they have serious limitations, especially for areas like Lisbon and Sintra where there is so much that one could see, learn about and enjoy. On this trip the time factor was a limitation but it was it was also limited by a less than helpful tour guide.

Day 8 - Lisbon and environs.

Portugal is a country of just over 10 million people and about 3 million of them live in Greater Lisbon.

Lisbon is an ancient and complex city of many hills (seven it is said) so there is lots of hill and step climbing involved if you want to see much in this city. Also much, potentially, to say about it.

For descriptive purposes it is "divided" into the lower city and the upper city - from the edge of the river (Rio Tejo), the Placa do Comercio (Placa is like a plaza) and Rossio (the main square of Lisbon - there are many squares throughout the main part of the city) on the lower level to the Barrio Alto (extensive restaurant district) and Castelo de Sao Jorge (Castle of St. Jorge)on the upper levels. Our hotel (Hotel Mundial) was in the lower area so we strolled in and around these Placas, but, strangely, I took no photos in this area.

The Alfama (which we toured on foot) in the southern area of the old city, also the poorer area, was originally established by the Moors (the "Al" prefix indicates an arab derivation of which there are many in Portugal e.g. the Algarve where we are staying or Alentejo, the province just north of the Algarve). The Alfama is a fascinating maze of narrow to narrower lanes/streets connecting the extremes of elevations negotiated by steep stairs or walkways. Though there are still some walls built by the Moors, most of the buildings are newer (17th and 18th century). In the Alfama we also visited the "Se" or Cathedral of Lisbon (a Romanesque church built around 1150 on the site of a Mosque). Though it has its own rather stark beauty, it is dark and plain compared to most of what we experienced in Italy.

Time was short so we saw little of the main city.

All of the photos included here are in Alfama. The first (top) looks over Alfama in the lower city with the Rio Tejo in the background.

More about the rest of the visit to the Lisbon area in the next posting.

Day 5 - Town of Loule.

This visit was to the Loule Gypsy market and the local farmers' market. Bought some more gifts and had a nice lunch.

Bought some flowers for Ruth from an elderly Portuguese woman all bundled up against the cold - it was about 19 or 20 degrees C.


The second photo, also taken at the Farmers' Market right next to the lady selling the flowers, gives a better indication of the temperature - depends on what one is used to.

One added feature for me was a walk up to a lovely church/chapel, de Senhora da Piedade, situated relatively high on a hill overlooking the town. Apparently this is the site of an Easter ritual in which a 16th century image of Our Lady of Piety (presumably Mary) is carried down from the chapel and then two weeks later, amid a procession of worshipers, is carried back up to the chapel; though there are other versions of this story that say this is a maternity rite which involves reuniting Mary and the infant Jesus.

The first of the last three photos is the church, the second is the adjoining chapel dedicated to a Bishop of Lisbon and the third is taken from the bottom of the hill showing the first half of the climb to the top.

Walkways

In an earlier posting I suggested noting the patterns in one of the walkways. For example, look at the photo of the walkway by the harbour in Lagos in the post on the Western Algarve - you will see more examples in several photos yet to come.

The first (top) photo shows a rock pattern in the "patio" area outside the back of the place we stayed. This sort of small rock based pattern appears in streets and walking areas all over Portugal. These small rocks, about 2 to 2.5 inch (larger in some areas) rough cut cubes, are still put in place by hand as you can see in the next two photos.

They seem to lay a base of sand like material (it may be limestone screenings or some equivalent) and then workman like these two work with a small hammer in a sitting or squatting position for hours positioning and "tapping" these rocks into place. After they finish a large area they tamp it down either with a hand tamper or with a power tamping machine, pour a sand-like filler over the area, sweep it around to fill in the gaps. The result is a beautiful surface for walking and driving on. There is no hardened grouting material in any of these walkway/streets that we saw.

Western Algarve, Portugal

Wednesday - Day 3 - containing more than you likely want to know.

Another cloudless warm day - probably reached 22 C, maybe more.

Started at 8:45 am when Ruth and I left Albufeira by bus to go west to Silves, once a rich and powerful city, Monchique in the mountains, Lagos and Cape St. Vincent - the furthest south and west point of Europe - seen in the 14th century as the "end of the world".

Silves (pronounced "Silvesh") thought to have been originally founded by the Phoenicians, but more recent evidence suggests much earlier settlement, as far back as the bronze age. When the Romans occupied the area they built a castle/fortress of local limestone, which was reinforced at points in time and still remains in quite good condition. During recent repairs very early artifacts were found and an archeological project is currently in progress.

It was the Moors who turned Silves into one of the richest and most powerful cities in Europe. The Moors occupied this area from 711 ad to about 1250 (with a two year hiatus, 1189-91). After the Christian occupation in 1250 the city declined gradually over time.

In the 13th century the Christians built one of the early gothic cathedrals (Se de Santa Marie) in this city on the site of a mosque - they demolished the mosque and used the material to build the cathedral - as the photos show, it was on a much smaller scale and less grand than many of the medieval cathedrals we saw in Tuscany and Umbria.

First two photos are the fortress and the cathedral.

From Silves we went north to the village of Monchique, a lovely place where we spent little time, but enough for one of us to buy a beautiful poncho and sweater.

Then west and south to Lagos (pronounced Lagosh), once the capital of the Algarve. Not surprisingly, wandering Portuguese applied the name to a place in Africa, the former capital of Nigeria. Lagos, Portugal is a beautiful city of winding narrow streets and an excellent natural harbour, allegedly the base port for Henry the Navigator's African trade during Portugal's age of "the Great Discoveries in the 15th century. It is easy to forget the enormous impact the explorations of the Portuguese had on the map of the world. They rounded Africa's Cape Bojador (apparently not an easy task) to provide access to west Africa's gold, ivory and slaves (Lagos has the distinction of being the site of the first slave market in the world). Nearby Sagres is, allegedly, the site of Henry the Navigator's School of Navigation and, some claim, it is where the major Portuguese expeditions set sail. (In Lisbon it is said they departed from Lisbon.) The Portuguese discovered the Azores and Madeira Islands in the Atlantic and they were the first to round the Cape of Good Hope (Diaz) and reach India by ship (da Gama), after which they discovered Brazil in South America. Portuguese from the Azores were fishing the Grand Banks of Newfoundland 40 years before Columbus' initial voyage.
The Golden age (wealth for the crown, the church and the aristocracy - some things never change) came to an end with the Inquisition which led to a period of decline and instability, expulsion of the Jews, a general loss of in Portuguese power, a brief period of Spanish rule, invasion by Napoleon and a series of wars. Portugal, a relatively small country, has never regained the power and influence it enjoyed during that period, constantly in the shadow of its more powerful and wealthier neighbour, Spain. A little like Canada and the US.
The next 3 photos are from Lagos, one of the walkway along the harbour, one of Ruth and the third captures some local folks sitting relaxing in front of the beautiful Bird of Paradise flowers.

Near Lagos we stopped briefly at a spectacular overlook, then on to Cape St. Vincent where there is a spectacular view of the Atlantic west and south, a famous lighthouse and a lot of wind. Definitely had the aura of the end of the world.
We arrived back at our apartment at about 7 pm.

Went for a some beer and food at about 8 pm. I learned how to eat sardines like the Portuguese - six large sardines; remove skin, remove spine and bones, put meat on bread - eat. Tasty and very salty so drink lots of beer.

More on the Algarve.

The area that is now Portugal has been inhabited at least since about 7000 BC until about 700 BC by a Neolithic culture - around 700 BC Celts came in from middle Europe. From about 535 BC, the Algarve was controlled by the Carthaginians who came from what is now Tunisia. In about 200 BC the Iberian peninsula (the area which is now Portugal and Spain) was taken by the Romans but because of persistent resistance in what is now Portugal, the area was not fully part of the Roman Empire until Julius Caesar conquered areas in the north including Lisbon in 60 BC.

After the fall of the Roman Empire Visigoths and Romanized Christians were in power until about 711 AD when the Moors moved across the strait of Gibraltar and quickly conquered vast areas of the Iberian Peninsula. The Moors, mostly from Morocco, created a highly civilized culture with opulent architecture and scholarship - a prosperous time for the people in southern Portugal. As well as innovative and spectacular architecture the Moors introduced new agricultural methods as well as new crops which continue to be integral to the Algarve - oranges, lemons, almonds, cotton and rice.

Oranges are everywhere so fresh and delicious.

We will see more of the Algarve over the coming days.

Today we remained in the city of Albufeira - went to the Gypsy Market - strolled around, bought some gifts and some less necessary stuff.

So, photos here are from the Gypsy Market and Albufeira including another taken from our balcony and a couple from old town. Note the patterns in the walking area in one of these photos. More about these stone walkways later.

You can see a larger image of any photo by clicking on it.

Came "home" and scheduled our excursions for the balance of our time.

Thursday we are on a tour of Historic Algarve which takes us to the furthest point west, to Cape St. Vincent and other towns.

Saturday to the town of Loule - a town known for its festivals and markets.

Sunday and Monday we are in Lisbon and next Wednesday in Seville, Spain.

Thursday to a place called Monchique and Saturday before we leave we visit the "Unspoiled Algarve" - the area east of Albufeira. Not sure why it is called "Unspoiled", but I guess we will find out.

More on each of these places after our visits.

Portugal - Day 1

Monday, March 3 - Day 1 - Arrival

After an uneventful but long flight (7 hours) we arrived in Faro, Portugal at about 8:00 am - a sunny warm day, temperature about 17 degrees C at 9 am - up to about 21 C later in the day.

Faro is the capital city of the Algarve, one of eleven provinces in Portugal.

The bus left for Albufeira, the city in the Algarve where we are staying, at about 9:00 am and we arrived at our apartment/motel near 10 am - met by Jean and John on arrival.

Our apartment at the Club Oceano is very clean - two bedrooms/sleeping areas, kitchenette, general living room area and balcony with a beautiful view, shown in the first and second photos.

After settling into our room we walked along the ocean beach to the "Old Town" for lunch. On the beach walk photo you can see old town in the distance, though not very clearly. Jean then John and Ruth are in the foreground. There will be more of this sort of photo later.

The next two photos are taken on one of our walks around the old town.

After lunch and a bit of strolling around Old Town, we walked back to our apartment and slept for a few hours, then to dinner.

Tomorrow, we will go for breakfast at 8 am then to the Gypsy Market.

At noon we meet with the JM Vacations person to plan our trips to Seville, Lisbon and a couple of other places.

The internet connection is limited in our hotel so postings may be quite limited. I will see how it goes tonight as I try to post this.

Albufeira (winter pop about 20,000 swells to over 100,000 in July and August) where we are staying is an old city (said to have been an important port in Roman times) situated on the Atlantic coast of the Algarve about midway between the eastern and western extremes. Its name is derived from the the period when the Moors occupied this area and it was called Al-buhera or "Castle by the sea". In more recent times it was a quiet fishing village but the city is now predominantly a tourist area with numerous and extensive construction projects, adding to the plethora of large hotel/apartments already in existence. Most of this hotel/apartment construction is outside the old town which is a relatively small area of narrow streets and older buildings situated on very hilly terrain. These narrow streets are lined with white, slightly Moorish style buildings and dominated by small shops and restaurants oriented to satisfying the tourist trade. Nevertheless, the "old town" still has its charm and it is always relaxing and enjoyable to walk 20 minutes along the beach or the streets from our apartment to old town to visit the square, the used book store, T shirt shops and Sir Harry's pub and to watch the tourists.