Lisboa

I spent a while in Lisboa, but i didnt take that many pictures, i think mainly because i just wanted to be in the moment, i just walked and rode around at my leisure and took in the sites, smells, sounds, and activities. I didnt want to leave...but here are a few pictures i took, out of not that many total i took...

"Life's a fragile thing Har'."

foto

The Pilars

Sintra - One of the most Magical places on Earth...

I wont say much about Sintra, only that i really loved it there, despite the heavy tourist traffic, and i took many photos, and it made me feel really peaceful at the end of my journey to have such a fantastic day at such an amazing place. So i visited 2 palaces, a Moorish castle, 4 gardens, and walked around the Sintra Villa, the old town with all the shops and restaurants. It was amazing, here are many pictures which reflect my enjoyment of the area...

Palacio Pena

Palacio Pena

From the top of the Moorish castle

Muslim resting area

Downtown Sintra near the Villa

spiral staircase in Palacio Pena

Muslim dome in the gardens at Palacio Regaleira

Regaleira Gardens

Palacio Pena

Awesome!

beautiful

Enchanting

The spire at Regaleira Gardens

Almost Gaudi'esque

this was wierd...

a spiral staircase into the cave systems under the gardens

a lighted pathway in the caves

one of the many entry/exit ways of the caves

a fantastic treat around every corner

Looking down from above

Regaleira Palace

another spire in the gardens

What!

a beautiful tree...

another view of the spiral staircase

Faro and the twilight zone...

Theres almost too much to tell here, i dont know how to tell the story. Ill make it short. Basically, i missed a train in Faro so i had to spend the night there. So, i bought a bottle of port wine and went to the plaza to have a drink and make some recordings. Once there, i recorded some live music and children playing. Then i headed to a distant park near the wetlands to finish off the bottle, record some birds, and sleep. Im not sure i ever recorded the birds...i woke up on the ground next to the bench covered in briars and nearly late for my train. so i go to the train station and get on, the conductor comes to me and asks for my ticket, i go to get it....nothing, no recorder, no coin purse = no money, passport, train ticket, ID...nothing...shit. so i get booted, then head to the police station, ive been stolen...I make a police report, get in touch with the American embassy, they tell me to find a way to get to Lisbon and then once there, get 100 dollars to get a new passport. THANKS AMERICA FOR THE ASSISTANCE BY THE WAY.....ummm yeah ok. So the police officer asks why the embassy wont help, then dials 144, an emergency number there in Portugal. 2 hours later the red cross was there to rescue me, they took me to the train station, bought my ticket, took me to restaurant and bought me lunch, coffe, 2 waters, and then gave me 50 euros and told me to be safe and good luck, adios, no questions. so hell, i lost my passport but i can now get to Lisbon and i have money to eat and get a place to stay, and i still have my bike....speaking of which, i still had 2 hours, so i thought to go look for my stuff one last time, to retrace my steps....i get 15 meters from the station when a man in a big green van hails me down with his horn. He hollars something in Portugese and then holds up my audio recorder...im freaking out jumping off my bike in joy, and he pulls over to the side of the road, then proceeds to give me my recorder and my money purse, complete with passport, id, credit cards, cash etc. AWESOME! the guy told me that he had seen me with these things the day before, then found them somewhere, knew they were mine, then spent 2 hours that day driving around trying to find me, which he did. Then he offered me lunch at his restaurant, so i accepted, free lunch and a hug for the very nice man....wierd how chance operates i guess. so heres the photo from Faro...

Tranquil.

Sevilla

The train ride from Cordoba to Sevilla was short and pleasant, upon arriving i found the hostal i had booked a bed in the night before after a short while, took a shower while my clothes were being washing, and prepared my bicycle for a sunset ride around the old town. The city was bustling with activity well into the night, with people from all over the world perusing the shops, picking at the Tapas bars, and dining at the outdoor restaurants. It felt really nice to be in such a busy yet seemingly "friendly" city, if that makes sense. So i stayed out late, making it my mission to take some night photos as i had not taken that many the whole trip. The next morning i visited the Catedral as it is free from 8 to 10, there i saw and photographed Christopher Columbus' sarcophagus, and again, i sat and contemplated my journey for a couple of hours in the Catedral, the largest Baroque domed catedral in the world (maybe in Europe, but im fairly certain in the world, or at least i wrote it in my journal...oops again). I visited gardens galor, and another Muslim palace which was amazing. I took a tour of the oldest bull fighting arena in europe (maybe the world here too...) and rode a bit out of the way to see the bay where Christopher Columbus set sail for the new world. (as a side note, its interesting to point out that i have visited, quite accidentally, the place where he landed in the new world, Discovery Bay in Jamaica...interesting hmm...) So Sevilla was amazing and is one of the now many cities i could have spent plenty of more time in....however time was now getting short and i had to get over the Portugese border and start the journey to Lisbon...So two days in Sevilla and afterwards i was headed to Faro to take a train up to Lisbon. Here are some photos from my time in Sevilla...

a crypt in the Muslim Palace...quite beautiful

a gorgeous ceiling in the palace

graffiti, photographed at sunset

a beautiful park near the hostal i stayed in

i took a lot of these photos, i really like them, cropped in a certain way, they shine :)

Plaza de Espana, a very cool place for people to hang out and conversate

Plaza Espana

A cool lamp post.

Muslim dome in the Santa Maria gardens

Sevilla Arena de Torros

Cordoba

After seeing a bit of Malaga, i made the journey to Cordoba. I arrived late in the day and found a cheap hostal to stay for a couple of nights. First thing in the morning i went to the Mosque and spent a few hours just walking around, sitting, and pondering my journey and my life back home, it felt refreshing. The mosque was beautiful to the last detail, i went back the next morning as well. Afterwards i visited the Roman bridge and took some photos. I spent a good three hours after that just riding around the city shooting photos before returning to the hostal for ciesta and then going out again for a cheap dinner. The next morning i was to take a train to Sevilla as i didnt want to bike into such a large city, but i missed the train, affording me more time to make a quick sketch of the Roman bridge, and the opportunity to ride around some of the other parts of the city i had not seen. Here are some photos from my two days in Cordoba...

I like the colors, just after sunset

Outside of the Mosque in Cordoba

the top of a monument watching over the Roman bridge

Roman Bridge with Mosque in the background

Gardens at the Christian Palace

One photo from inside the Mosque

Granada - Malaga - 136km

So, somehow i always do this, (Rico knows) i tell myself im going to have an easy day and then i wind up doing nearly 100 miles....so i left Granada early and planned on riding just till Torre del Mar, a beach about 30km outside Malaga, but when i got there, it was WAY too crowded so i rode, ¨just a bit further¨and before i knew it, i was only 10km from the city center, so i made the entire ride in just one day. The ride from Granada to Malaga was simply amazing, and for multiple reasons, first of all the whole way was around the Sierra Nevada national park, so the views were astounding, and secondly, because Granada is in the mountains at an elevation of something like 1000-1300 meters and Malaga is on the coast with an elevation of something like 92 meters, almost the entire ride, almost, was downhill - so its not SO impressive that i made the 136km ride in just one day i guess, but it was HOT... the only temperature reading i saw said 33 degrees, which is well over 90 i think...hot as hell. So, here are a few pictures from the days ride, no more than this though as i am tired and have no more internet time. also, i didnt take that many pictures of Malaga im sorry to say, my back hurt from carrying the camera so i only took something like 15 total pictures while there. Now i am in Cordoba and ill be here 2 days, then to Sevilla for another two days and then 3 and a half days in the Lisboa region...and then....back home :) August 11th quickly approaches...Christopher.

wow...

brief stop for an impromptu photo shoot HA!

i thought this was really cool

a small pond at the base of the mountains

more mountain views...