Egitania - ones a busy roman city

A lonely bird cruising above the Sé Cathedral, Idanha-a-Velha forgotten village, Beiras, Portugal.

For me the essence of Portugal lies very much "off the beaten track". I many times have the privilege to visit small and forgotten wonders of this country. Places like Idanha-a-Velha - a small village far away from the typical mass-tourism trails.

Ones a flowering Roman city that has grown at the outskirts of the Roman Empire now a small forgotten village: Idanha-a-Velha ( roman "Egitania" ) is located in the eastern Portugal, not far away from the Spanish border. At about 16 A.C the city had more than 1000 inhabitants.

Google map location

Many Roman tomb inscriptions left all over the city.

Roman city walls.

Maciek.

Sunset over Ocreza Lake

The sunset over Ocreza Lake, middle Portugal.

The lake is located in the eastern Portugal, not far away from the Spanish border.

Google map location

Photo:

Date/time: 2008-06-16 21:00:15
Shutter speed: 5 sec
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
F-stop: f/20
ISO: 100
Metering Mode: Pattern
Flash: Did not fire
Focal length: 12 mm
F/20
Lens: 10.0-20.0 mm
Exp -0.3 Remote control. Tripod.

Maciek.

Azores Islands - Continued ( 2 )

Lagoa Azul ( The Blue Lake ) in the old volcanic crater.
São Miguel Island, Azores.
End of the day, 06th of June 2009.

Model: NIKON D80


Exposure Program: Aperture priority
ISO: 160
Metering Mode: Pattern
Flash: Fire
Focal length: 10 mm
Lens: 10.0-20.0 mm Sigma
First photo: HDR rendering.
Second photo: Panorama of 6 HDR-s

Thank U all for visiting.

Maciek.

California fan palm

One California fan palm ( Washingtonia filifera ) tree is growing in our garden. 10 years ago when planted, it had about 1 meter of height. Now it has over 10 meters. The Fan Palm has a large, gray unbranched trunk with horizontal lines and vertical fissures.
It grows numerous evergreen leaves and leaf stalks with hooked spines along the edges.

Evergreen leaves.

Leaf stalks with hooked spines

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.