Costa da Caparica
A resort town just south of
Lisbon. Not foreign-touristy - mainly Portuguese. The main
tourist beach destination is the Algarve, on the south coast.
Long, long beach - I walked on it for 5 mi. south and never got to the
end.
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Our Beach
The beaches accommodate thousands,
but never seemed crowded, beacause they are so vast.
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Boats In
In
the "old days", it took 10 men to launch the boats.
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Hauling Nets
The boats go 'way out to set the
nets, then they are hauled in using a tractor-driven winch.
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The Catch
Sardines, etc. The fishermen
sort thgem into plastic bins by type. You can buy them
practically still alive right off the beach.
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Costa da Caparica Thistle
One of many wildflowers, including
ice-plant and others.
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Lisbon - Discoveries Monument
Commemorates Portugal's age of
discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Portuguese
Discoverers were the first to round the Cape of Good Hope and sail to
India (1497-8, Vasco da Gama),
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Monument Plaque
The monk Henry the Navigator
(Infante d'Henrique) was the brains and driving force behind the
Discoverers. He died in 1460, but his legacy turned Portugal into
an imperial maritime power and the richest country in Europe.
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The Discoverers
The monument depicts a "caravel",
the type of small (80', 3 sailed) ship that carried the Discoverers on
their quest. At the forefront is Henry the Navigator.
Holding the round object (an "armillary sphere", a sort of navigational
instrument) is King Manuel I, whose wealth funded the
Discoverers. Vasco da Gama and Magellan (likewise a Portuguese),
are depicted on the other side of the ship's prow.
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Lisbon - Jeronimos Monastery
King
Manuel I (ruled from 1495) provided the funding for the
Discoverers. He built this Gothic monastery and church using an
intricate style of architectural decoration appropriately known as
"Manueline". St. Jerome was his patron saint, thus the name.
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Vasco da Gama - in the Monastery
He set sail from this spot (then a
small chapel) in 1497, the first to sail to India.
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Sintra: Moorish Castle
Sintra is about an hour's drive
north of Lisbon. It was a cool retreat for the nobility in
summer.
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Sintra Architecture
An
architectural detail of the royal palace in Sintra.
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Porto
The home of Port wine, a
sweet, fortified wine (20% alcohol) created by halting the ordinary
fermentaion of grapes after 2-3 days by adding grape brandy. It
is then aged for 2-100 years. athere are three basic kinds: ruby,
white, and tawny, (the most typical)
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Tomar - Convento de Cristo
This
was a Crusader castle and then a convent of the Order of Christ, formed
in 1314 when the Knights Templar were disbanded (they were too rich and
too powerful to suit the tastes of Pope Clement V). Henry the
Navigator was a Grand Master of the Order of Christ. It's huge -
many three-storied cloisters, and many long hallways lined with "cells".
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Batalha - Dominican Abbey
Celebrates a military victory by
Joao I in 1385. Begun in 1388 but unfinished - abandoned by
Manuel I in favor of the Jeronimos monastery.
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Casa dos Vargos
A
manor house hundreds of years old, once owned by the Governor of Macao
(a Portuguese colony).. Now opened as a bed and breakfast by his
great-great-great granddaughter, Pilar.
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Their Private Chapel
Decorated inside with lots of
beautiful gilt and tile. Unbelievable.
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At Casa dos Vargos
That's
Phil wearing the lamp-shade, in his own inimitable party style.
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Madrid
- Botanical Garden
That's
another (giant) thistle, with a prickly Phil in the foreground. We also
visited the Prado (Madrid's Louvre) and the Museum of Modern Art.
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