Postcards from Portugal

The best thing about the Giveaway-fever-day(s) is to meet new friends out there in the blogging world. from Terri's Notebook is one of those brave bloggers who not only are giving something but also answer our comments, so this led to a nice exchange of emails today (while i was supposed to be working and instead was participating in the giveaways ehehe), which led to... i'll post some photos of my country to show you where I live!

Any good excuse to post photos in this poor excuse of a blog is good enough for me. So here are some of my favourite pictures taken while travelling in Portugal (i like to be a tourist in my own country).



The city where I live in is Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The following photos are taken from the other side of the Tagus river, where there is a big statue of Christ, similar to the one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The view there is amazing...

It was so hot the day I took the pictures that in one of them you can see how the colours are fading away.

I don't have photos of my favourite parts of the city, but I have one that looks just like a postcard. It even has one of our typical trams. I have one paiting bought at a street market which is just like this photo :)

The second largest city is Porto, and there is a famous wine made there.

And Portugal is also known for its amazing beaches. The first one is where I celebrated my 21st birthday, it's about one hour drive from home. The second one is closer but it's very wild, it's mostly for surfers. Then there is the coast of Alentejo, which is very quiet and adorable. Sometimes we joke that we would like to leave everything behind and go live there. And the last one is in the Algarve, the south region, where everyone spends their summer holidays, including me and my husband and the dogs.

It's a small country, but it has its charm. There's lots of smaller cities that I really like (each photo has the name of the city if you click in it).

Yes, I realise I have a "thing" for tiles and castles and churches. And also lamps, but I decided to skip that one for now.

There is, however, a very special castle in an island in the middle of Tagus river, before it gets to Lisbon. This castle has a nice legend about it, from the times that the Arabs where occupying this region, and it's very peculiar.

There is also a big national park in the north, almost in the northern border with Spain, called Geres. I loved going there... The nature was so wild there, like I had never seen before. It was breathtaking!

But if I had to choose just one place to show around and brag about my country, I would choose Sintra. This is a very romantic place, near Lisbon, actually it's where I got married. It's hard to explain but there is a special atmosphere there, even people who believe in the Pagan traditions all say so. Last summer we went to a sort of noblesman palace with gigantic gardens and I just loved it. The first picture shows what was supposed to be a fireplace in the palace but because it was damaged during transportation it ended up being like a sculpture in the garden. Amazing! And from here there is a wonderful view to the other monuments of Sintra.

I hope you have enjoyed the tour... Maybe when day you will come to visit!!!