The world is my oister

My daughter published this sentence in her facebook's page.
This is from Saint Augustin of Hipona, which must have loved travelling in is lifetime.
I thought that it's a very strong and very true citation, and I decided to share it with you all.
Here's another set of lost old pics I've shot from around the world...blended with some other great words.

Ib'n Battuta: He who does not travel does not know the value of men

Scotland, Isle of Skye, Quiraing/ Coral beach in Claigan, Isle of Skye

London, Melancolic view of the Thames/ British Museum organic structure

Wojciech Dabroswki: You can loose everything, but nobody will take away what did you see and what did you experience...

Spain, Barcelona, Glory to the human genius /Guell park

Tunis, Tunis harbour 6AM.../Sidi bou Said, Simple door

Hey, I'm watching YOU!

Charles Baudelaire: Free man, you will always love the sea.

Malta, La Valletta, harbour/ Preparation for local religious celebration

Sicilia, Messina harbour entrance/Stromboli volcano

Sailing against the volcano background

Daniel Serralta: What's the sense of this life??
Ever looking for an answer ... travelling a lot, everywhere, experiences, adventures, people, cultures... Cause there's something in us, deep inside us, the passion for life, the excitement of the discover, go higher, go further, go deeper, do the impossible, see what others just can dream ...

Honolulu, Hawai, Perfect Sunset/ The moment when time stops...

Sicily, Taormina, Roman theater/Local crafts

Samuel Johnson "As the Spanish proverb says,
'He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.' So it is in travelling; a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge."

France, Villefranche-sur-mer, Harbour view/ Window detail

The beautiful colors of the Mediterrean sea...

Cheers!

Imagine that you have landed in Lisbon.
Next you already have your rental car and the navigation system is ready to go to Troia.
Buckle your seat belt and start driving following the directions.
You will drive around the ring road of Lisbon, across the Tejo river and the beautiful iron bridge and then continue in the motorway another 20 km or so heading the direction of Setubal.

The ferry crossing from Setubal to Troia

Setubal is a interesting old city that used to be an important industrial and fishing harbour.
These days, the harbour of Sines has stolen most of the industrial business away from the city and fishing is limited to a very small amount of boats and fisherman.
But the city still carries a unique romantic felling, maybe because of the light that is reflected in the old colonial style buildings.
On top of that, a good meal of fresh fish is easy to find in Setubal.
In June and July everyone must try the grilled sardines, portuguese style: fat sardines, grilled in charcoal melting away in portions of rustic bread... and good red wine from the region!
Sounds good?

Well it can be even better.

You just have to trust your GPS, and you will find yourself in the ferry heading to Troia.

Troia is a narrow strip of land which almost closes the mouth of Sado river. On the river side, lose yourself in the beautiful dunes and pine trees, smelling lavender and many other kinds of aromatic flowers or herbs.

Lavender fields in Troia

Beautiful landscape in Troia

Troia peninsula

The laguna near Comporta, Sado river

Or maybe you want to try your luck getting a fish dinner by yourself. Then walk across the small road and head to the long white beaches facing the ocean. The color of the sea is very intense, sometimes it even looks like the Indian sea - unfortunatly the water is a little bit colder over here...
OK, no so cold... dolphins live in the area and in the summer time you can see them often during the crossing in the ferry.

Walkaway to the beach

The sea almost looks like the Carabean...

Untouched beach with white sands -Arrabida in the background

Troia is also a high end resort.
On the tip of the land facing Setubal a very expensive resort was built some years ago. From golf courts to a casino or design hotels you can find it all over here.
But let's get back to the good portuguese food.
Take you car again and drive south. Pay attention to your left: less than half hour later you will pass the Dona Bia restaurant.
By all means, stop. Forget about diet and ask for the local specialities: I promise you that you will come back sooner than later!!!

Ulm and the river Danube

Weekly street market in Ulm by the Cathedral

Fresh vegetables in the market

161.53 m high and 768 steps

Inside the Cathedral tower, last stretch...

Looking down to the square

Going down in the narrow stairway of the Cathedral tower

But the views are really great and once you get to the final platform you will sense that feeling of task completed.
The church is awesome as many other German cathedrals. It is a good opportunity to sit down a little bit, enjoy the silence and wonders how Man was able to make such great buildings many centuries ago.
The old Fischerviertel (fishermen's quarter) on the River Blau is really a "must see" with half-timbered houses, cobblestone streets, and picturesque footbridges. I liked very much the walk along the remaining section of the city walls, with the 14th-century 36 m high Metzgerturm (butchers' tower) and all the old buildings facing the river.

Houses in Ulm

Schiefes Haus(crooked house), a 16th-century house today used as a hotel

City Panoramic by the Danube

I saw this video in Stumbleupon and I thought that you would like to see it as well.
Maybe this will inpire some of us travellers to do something alike.
Cheers!

The Easter's weekend was promising rain in the south of Germany and so it happened.
We left from Oporto on thursday on a very, very full Ryanair flight, leaving our sunny country and knowing that the weekend's was going to be wet.
This was not a very exciting perspective, since we had planned the first day in Legoland Park (half hour away from Ulm) and the last thing we all wanted was to get a cold.
Luckly it turned out that the rain moved away around mid-day and we had a cloudy but dry afternoon.
Legoland is an amazing park and my personal favorite is for sure the center area where we can find cities and many different landscapes made with those famous plastic bricks.

I, like many other generations of kids, made my own buildings, airplanes, ships and all sort of crazy constructions. So I think that I can make an educated statement saying that somebody did a great engineering work to build all that with that small lego bricks.
I just hope that my pictures are able to illustrate just a little bit how fantastic that work is. Thank you Lego people!

Legoland Germany

Legoland Germany

Legoland Germany

Legoland Germany

Legoland Germany

Legoland Germany

Legoland Germany

Legoland Germany

Legoland Germany

OK, I'm not really a big fan of roller coasters. But kids insisted and so I had to give it a try.
I though that if I was going to do this challenging task I should at least record the moment for the rest of my life...
In the end it was not so bad and we all enjoyed so much that we took another ride.
Enjoy, from the safety of your laptop!

I'm sure that many of you have already seen this amazing video, but just in case...

[http://vimeo.com/groups/naturetimelapse/videos/30581015]

Some days ago I stayed two days in the city of Lyon.
Lyon claims to be the second largest city of France and I think that they may be right.
This is a vibrant city, with a lot of people in the streets, a very good transportation system and a very succeded combination between the old arquitecture and the new buildings.
Two of the largest rivers of France, Rône and Saône meet in the south of the city creating a peninsula or "almost an island" ("Presqu'ile"). The peninsula is probably only 150 m wide in some points and is crowded with old buildings.

Views over the peninsula, river Rône

Lafayette Bridge

It's so full that they have to store chairs outside

The Old Town is located in the western bank of the Saône at the bottom of a hill. The density of buildings in this old part of Lyon is so high that the city inhabitants realised that they had to find a way to walk quickly across the buildings instead of going around the perimeter. The solution: narrow passageways (named traboules) pass through buildings and link streets. The first examples of traboules are thought to have been built in Lyon in the 4th century. Over fourty of such passageways are open to the public from the early hours in the morning until 8PM, but you really have to know here they are or else you will never find the entrance doors. You will spend easily half day walking around the marrow streets, stoping for a cafe late or to have dinner (restaurants in the Old Town are very good but also very expensive!)

In search of the traboules

Courtyard of a traboule and open air corridors

Inside the traboule

Other places not to miss:

• Cathedral of St. John with its old clock/calendar inside the church
• The Place des Terraux, the City Hall and the Fountain of Bartholdi
• The university of Lyon, a huge Campus in the northeast of Lyon

Great city, perfect choice for a weekend break or a 2-3 days stop in your trip to France.

Last February I was travelling in the USA and I had to stay in the area of Orlando - Cape Canaveral over the weekend. I've chosen Cocoa Beach for my base. I've been in the region before, but it was the first time that I really had some free time to drive around. I've been following the space program all my life and I've always dreamed about seeing the places were everything happens for real and to have the chance to admire those wonderfull flying machines.
And this time the dream came true. Ok, the Kennedy Space Center is more like a theme park, sometimes it feels like you are in the Disneyland, but hey, this is probably the closest the ordinary man can be from the real thing and with a little bit of imagination you can really imagine yourself living the astronauts routine.
The east coast is beautiful and the beach stretches south from Cocoa Beach for more than 50 km. Merrit Island is also a nice place to discover although you can't really reach most of the island because of the Space Center.

Satellite Beach

Bird playing in the sand

Driving to Orlando

Atlantis resting in the VAB

Under the bird's wings

Merrit Island

Launch Pad 39-A

Apollo Mission logbook - how cool can this be?

This weekend we took off again to the south of Portugal.
Despite it's not raining for at least three months, the Alentejo region still remains greenish and it feels that spring time is definetly here.
This time we stayed in a brand new lodging called Monte do Giestal.
The place was built accordingly with the local tradicional design but all individual houses in the property have a high comfort level, complemented by a large well equiped spa area which will make you relax.
The area near Monte do Giestal is also lovely. Santiago do Cacem is only half hour drive away and it's a nice small town with an interesting medieval castle from where you can see the beautiful surrounding landscape. The sea and the southwest beaches can be reached within another half hour. Sines, Ilha do Pessegueiro and many others are all in a 25 km radius.
If you have the time, do not hesitate: loose yourself in the Alentejo/Southwest coast of Portugal!

Monte do Gestial lodging

Cork oak tree in Alentejo

How much more perfect could this be?

Santiago do Cacém from the distance

Through the castle walls