In the valley of Tamega river

Located at the top of the mountain, almost 1000 meters above sea level, church of Nossa Senhora de Graça is overlooking the Tamega river valley.

A vast piece of Northern Portugal with Alvão Mountains to the south and the montaneous border with Spain to the north can be seen from there.

Nossa Senhora de Graça church.

On the early afternoon, after visiting the church we drove down to reach Valley of Tamega. The valley is a part of Minho Vinho Verde Denominated Region. Minho with diversity of its soils, Atlantic-influenced humid climate with mild temperatures and various combinations of grape varieties, produces a very wide range of dry, mostly white, naturally sparkling wines. Most of them are very young wines and vinhos verdes are made from grapes with a low sugar content, so aging is not required to finish them.

Vinhos Verdes are light, full of sun and perfect for sharing with friends and family while enjoying light meals in the early afternoon on the hot day.

Down in the Tamega valley grows a Loureiro vine. Close to town of Mondim we visited a small local vinho verde producer: Quinta de Fundo.

Maciek.

Sunset ..... not again !

Oh gosh, I´ve been doing it again: photographing the sunsets !

I admit I´m monotonous with my latest pics but I can´t help it. All the sunsets are so beautiful and unique that I simply can´t stop photographing them.

So here it is: just another sunset. This one was taken yesterday, on Monday 12th May 2009.
I promise: next time it will be different since I'm definitely not the straight-laced and narrow-minded type.

The delta of Douro river filled with a dying sun light.

Model: NIKON D80
Date/time: 2009-04-12 20:46:40
Shutter speed: 2 sec
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
ND G 0.4
F-stop: f/16
ISO: 160
Metering Mode: Pattern
Flash: Did not fire
Focal length: 12 mm
Lens: 10.0-20.0 mm
Exp -0.3
Remote control.
Tripod.


Maciek.

Teppanyaki

The Japanese word "teppanyaki" means to cook on a iron plate. The Restaurant Sumo in Vila Nova de Gaia is our place of choice as far as Japanese food is concerned. Beautifully located on the bank of Douro river, filled with a lot of natural light, with panoramic views over the old city of Porto, the restaurant serves good food always with a type of "food performance" demonstrated by chefs.

Haru ice cream filled crepes "food performance" when crepes are set on fire.

Saturday, 09.05.2009
Maciek.

Our garden colours in early May

From the top left:

Tulbaghia Violacea called a "wild garlic",
red Radish or Raphanus sativus,
just beginning to flower - red Hibiscus Sabdariffa,

red Bottlebrush flower ( Callistemon ),

yellow Roses
and blue small flowers of Salvia Officinalis.

All pictures taken on the same day, May 6th, 2009.

Maciek

After 10 years - first Yucca flower in our garden

We planted our Yucca tree 10 years ago. It was a small, about 40 cm high, plant. Now it has over 3 meters of height. And this year, for the first time, a bright mass of white flowers protruded from a center stalk within the plant. Flowers !

Our species probably belong to Yucca mixtecana family.

Maciek.

Good wine - good time. This Wednesday wine tasting.

A nice bottle of Romeira Reserva 2004 from Palmela region ( 15/20 ), a red Quinta do Corujao Reserva 2003 from Dão region ( 15/20 ) and my personal best: Leo d´Honra 2003 single grape Castelão variety from Palmela region ( 16/20 ), the best wine from Dona Ermelinda producer you can get.

Today was a good day—the kind that sets me in a very good mood.
In the early afternoon we had a nice walk to Vini Portugal promotional space located in the Porto´s old city center.
We love this place. First because of Miss Tania Oliveira. She talks about Portuguese wines with such a passion and knowledge that it leaves an excellent impression on all the visitors.
And of course there are wines. Some very good Portuguese wines.

This time we did some Dão and Palmela regions wine tasting. It was such a nice and relaxing time.

At the end we had a taste of sweet, so good and honey smelling Moscatel from Palmela region.

Wednesday, 06th of May, 2009.

Maciek.

Two skies - two oceans.

The sunset over the mouth of Douro river, Portugal.

Date/time: 2009-05-03 20:36:19
Shutter speed: 0,5 sec
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
F-stop: f/22
ISO: 100
Metering Mode: Pattern
Flash: Did not fire
Focal length: 18 mm
Lens: 10.0-20.0 mm
Exp -0.3 Remote control. Tripod.
ND 0,6
5600 K.

Maciek.

First Passion Flower this year

Last weekend brought us a surprise: the first flower of Passiflora careulea in our garden this year. Passion Flower acquired its name from the first descriptions of its flowers supplied in the XVII-th century by Spanish priests from South America.

It´s an absolutely wonderful flower: colorful, made of so many tiny but three-dimensional structures and very symmetrical, proving that the mathematics is The King of all the sciences. Passiflora is also a naturally grown medicinal herb, approved in the treatment of insomnia and nervousness.

Model: NIKON D80
Date/time: 2009-02-02
ISO: 250
Flash: Did not fire
Lens: 50 mm

Maciek.

Last Wednesday: Back in Spain.

We set off from Porto in the morning. After 30 minutes we hopped over the border with Spain and soon arrived at Baiona. Baiona is a small port and at summer a busy tourist destination.



The beach and the port of Baiona is quite famous. On March 1st, 1493 a caravel La Pinta, one of Columbus ships coming back from the first trip to America, arrives to the port of Baiona. Baiona was the first port in Renaissance Europe to know about the discovery of America.



At Baiona we met our friends and had a lovely time and wonderful lunch at the Eliado restaurant located just in front of the Playa de América.

Eladio restaurant. From the left top: children at the table, grilled octopus, restaurant´s speciality: melon sorbet with a touch of Spanish jamon, rice with lobster, excellent Albarino slightly sparkling wine.

Maciek.

29.04.2009

Sunset over Afurada fishing port.

It only takes me 10 minutes to cross the Douro river and arrive at not-so-much busy port of Afurada ( google map: São Pedro da Afurada ). At night there is a little movement here. Only few fishing boats are coming back home. With EU fishing quota restrictions imposed over Portugal, there are every time less and less bussines here and more and more unemployed. And to make matters worse, EU admits fishing quotas have failed to protect fish stocks.

The sunset over the small port of Afurada, Portugal.

Photo:

Date/time: 2008-10-03 18:30:15
Shutter speed: 0,5 ; 1; 3,6 sec
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
F-stop: f/20
ISO: 100
Metering Mode: Pattern
Flash: Did not fire
Focal length: 12 mm
Lens: 10.0-20.0 mm
Exp -0.6 Remote control. Tripod.

Post processing:
HDR rendering with Allign Images.

Maciek.