Looking to the West

A view from Oporto´s small stone pier ( google map link ).
May 2009.

Aloe flowers

The Aloe in our garden started flowering. Over 450 species of Aloe have been described with diverse forms and sizes. The most common form of Aloe is the plant with red flowers. Our garden Aloe belongs to Aloe ciliaris or "climbing Aloe" family with yellow flowers.

Our garden, 30th of May 2009.
Maciek.

The Lord of the Stone chapel (2)

The Chapel is an "icon" for photographers in Northern Portugal. Winter and early spring is an exceptionally good time to take pictures there: it´s cold what makes the air more transparent and clear.

The chapel is partially surrounded by water from the small torrent passing nearby.

My older post and photos from The Lond of the Stone chapel.

Nikon 80, ISO 100, Maciek.

Blue church of Cortegaca.

The church of Santa Marinha of Cortegaca was built in 1910. Covered with beautiful blue azulejos ( typical Portuguese ceramic tiles ), with two high towers and nice portal, the church looks really impressive.
Today the church most of the time stays closed and abandoned. The village people has lost something very precious.

Photo:

Date/time: 2008-05-22 16:30:00
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
F-stop: f/9
ISO: 250
Metering Mode: Pattern
Flash: Did not fire
Focal length: 18 mm



Maciek.

A love flower

Four phases of Agapanthus flowering.

Agapanthus praecox is the evergreen specie, generally 0.8 to 1 m tall that flowers in the beginning of summer. Flower heads can be white or blue.

The name Agapanthus is derived from the Greek agapé: love and anthos: meaning a flower. So it´s "a love flower" or "a flower with which I am well pleased".



All photos shot close to our home in May 2009, Porto, Portugal.

Maciek.

Black and white

The Arrabida bridge, Porto, Portugal.

21th of May, 2009.
Maciek.

Beiras fortified villages

Remains of Pinhel Castle. Maria Manuela has 94 years and showed me the village.

Beiras is an eastern province of Portugal, close to the Spanish border. From the beginning of the XIIth century the region was covered with a vast network of fortified villages. Pinhel is one of them. Pinhel castle, often known as a Falcon City stands on a hill overlooking the Portugese-Spanish border.

The region is rather poor and under-populated. Very nice white and rose wines ( called Entrevinhas ) are locally produced there.




Monday, 18th of May 2009.


Maciek.

Birthday roses

A rose is a perennial flower shrub or vine of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae, that contains over 100 species and comes in a variety of colors.

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.