After months of desert-like conditions in Central Portugal (we had no rain at all even in September), a week of rain was forecast for the first week of October. Therefore we decided to make the best of our last day of sun and headed to Nazaré. It was our first time there and well worth it. Although the summer crowds had gone there were enough people about to give it a bit of life. We didn’t actually make it to…
American traveller who spent a month in Thailand
Our friend Sarah (an American, living in Paris whom we met in Jordan) was over for a short stay, so it was the perfect time for our first visit to Tomar, home of the Knights Templar of Crusader fame. Having done little research prior to our trip, in many ways made it even more enjoyable. The town itself, with a pedestrianised centre full of old buildings, narrow lanes and an impressive town square is charming enough – and we were…
It was a glorious sunny day, not too hot, so we took time off from Casa Azul to stretch our legs, and hunt for a few geocaches near the schist village of Talasnal. There are a number of Schist villages in the region, ‘schist’ being a reference to the slate of which all the houses are made. The villages themselves are all fairly inaccessible in the hills to the East of us but all in stunning mountain and forested scenery….
Paul de Arzila is a little known conservation area near Coimbra and the Mondego river. We spent some hours down there observing birds in March including the Marsh Harrier and herons. The villages nearby are also quite interesting with a number of old churches. Marsh Harrier Purple Heron Grey Heron More photos here
I spent a long weekend in Jerusalem in July 2009. It would only be a couple of hours drive from Amman with no borders but with the bloody-mindedness of the Israeli border guards to contend with means that the journey usually takes about six. It took me 5 hours to get there and 8 to get back. However, once there, there were no problems. A bit shocking seeing spotty faced youths carrying machine guns but apart from that security seemed…
We were living in Jordan and had been on holiday to Portugal (finding our new home in the process) and having flown Turkish Airlines via Istanbul, we thought it only right that we spend a few days in this beguiling city. It’s a place I’ve always wanted to go as I am fascinated by Islamic architecture and love wandering around local markets and Istanbul has both in spades. Combined with its magnificent situation straddling Asia and Europe how could anyone…
We only spent a few days in Porto but it was enough to enjoy this beautiful city. Not as chic or as gentrified as Lisbon, Porto had a real old world charm. The down at heel suburbs by the river had an almost Dickensian feel to them. One of the highlights of the holiday was to sit on the waterfront sipping a cold white port enjoying the warm early evening sunshine. Here’s the view from the bridge over the river…
We hired a car in Lisbon and then took off for Central Portugal. We had booked a holiday cottage in the village of Alvorge deep in untouristed central Portugal. Nearby is the pretty village of Penela. We were surprised by the amount of pristine forest in Portugal as can be seen from this view. There are many windmills in the area. Some old… …and some new In May the countryside is alive with colourful wildflowers including these pretty rock roses…
We went to Portugal for three weeks in May 09. Our hols kicked off in Lisbon where we stayed with our friends Jo and Nigel. We enjoyed several days of warm spring sunshine and the highlights included a day at the beach and some tram rides up and down Lisbon’s famous hills. Here’s the view from the plane flying over the river Tajo (Tagus) and coming in to land. As well as the distinctive yellow trams, this is a funicular…