There is a place in Lisbon called Pink Street. It is quite literally a pink street. It’s a place where the late-night party goers party the night away. I decided to forego the party and see what it’s like early in the morning. It was quiet when I arrived with only 2 people shuffling down the street during my hour here. The street, a little on the sticky side, had the remnants of last night’s big party littered here and there.
After the Party Goers Leave
Pink Street is very short so after taking a few photos from different angles I made my way back to the apartment for some breakfast. Since it was still early morning I had to wait for the next place to open up before I could visit. My final stop for this trip was to the Igreja do Carmo. One of my first adventures in LIsbon was the light show at the Carmo. Check out the light show in the Carmo here.
Carmo Convent
The Carmo is imposing during the day with its tall columns reaching up to the roof that is long gone, although a little less mystical in appearance than my visit Here at night. Opposite the entrance into the Carmo is the entrance to the Museu Arqueologico do Carmo or the Carmo Archaeological Museum.
Museu do Carmo
Inside the museum exhibits from pre-historic through to the Middle ages of Lisbon’s history are kept in a few small rooms. There is a beautiful light coming in through the tall windows giving the rooms a peaceful feeling as I walked the small rooms.
The Library
The next room over featured a library with some models in the centre to the room. The library windows went so far up I could barely fit them in so I had to take a few shots to stitch them together so you could see them all. It was a very imposing room.
Carvings on Sarcophagus
In one of the last rooms I found a few more sarcophagi. This one, pictured above, drew my attention with its intricate carvings of people holding objects. Not sure what they all have but I love their facial expressions, At the ones that still have their heads…lol
And with this final stop on my trip here to Lisbon I am sad to leave but I know that one day I will be back to visit her again one day soon to discover more of her treasures.
A short hike (downhill – luckily) from Pena Palace and Park is the Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish Castle). Even though I walked downhill to the castle you’ll notice in the photo below that it definitely looks more uphill than down. And if you look at the final image from the previous post you will notice that technically the castle is downhill from Pena. They just don’t tell you that it sits on another peak so you have to walk down and then back up to get to its entrance. Still its a great view from the trail as you look up at those castle walls. (Hey, I’m storming a castle…lol)
Moorish Castle
I’m convinced that the grounds and walls of the Moorish Castle are a form of torture with all the ups and downs and then ups again. This is not a place for the weak. I’m also lucky that the temps today dipped from 30ºC + to only about 22ºC. I don’t think I would have made it. Or if I did I would have been done for the rest of the day. Below is the view from one side of the castle walls to the other. What did I tell you? Ups and downs. Like a damn roller coaster except you have to walk.
From One Wall to Another
A little history: the castle was built in the 8th and 9th centuries and was conquered in 1147 by Alfonso Henriques. It fell to ruin after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake but eventually it’s restoration, by King Ferdinand II, began in the 19th century and continued into the 20th century. Today It is classified as a National Monument, part of the Sintra Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Stone Walls
The castle walls are quite narrow. You could easily knock someone off. Which would not be so pleasant as you would fall a couple stories down onto hard rock. And that’s the good scenario because falling out of the castle would be a far steeper drop to your death.
When you exit from the castle you have a choice to either go back out to the main road to pick up the bus or if you take a path to the left you can exit the grounds and walk straight back (downhill) into the historical centre of Sintra. I took the path leading straight into town, away from the tourist buses. This also allowed me to see some of the back streets of the town.
HIdden Door
At the bottom of the hill I found this doorway. I have a weird fascination with doors, particularly old ones. It’s like they want to tell a story. I wish I spoke door.
Continuing the walk into town (more downhill btw) I tried to figure out my way to Quinta da Regaleira. In the end I had to stop in at the information centre to ask where the heck I was and how to get to Quinta da Regaleira. (I ended up buying a map.) Seems I would need to walk a little further out of the historic centre and most likely uphill. *sigh
I traveled up to the Ottawa area this weekend with a my friend Nigel to meet up with our friend Paul. And of course, going anywhere with Nigel means a lot of pit stops before we even get anywhere close to Paul’s place. First there was the waterfall:
Flinton Falls
Then there was the burnt out shell of a home:
Burnt Home
And finally the small river:
Broken Branch in the River
Okay this last one was my pit stop – I had Nigel pull over to get this shot.
Finally we got over to Paul’s home in Carlton Place, a small city outside of Canada’s capital, Ottawa. Once we got the tour of Paul’s new home we got back into the car and headed to Quebec. Specifically we were headed to Jacques Cartier Park where MoasicCanada had a beautiful display of plant sculptures. What are plant sculptures? Well, its sculptures made out of plants and plant material.
Shanghai
This submission by Shanghai is made completely of flowers, plants and branches. I mean, WOW! Isn’t it spectacular? But check out this amazing creation of Mother Earth. You can see just how large some of these plant sculptures are.
Mother Earth
And there are some that are even taller. It was an amazing afternoon here. I could have stayed forever.
The next day we checked out areas close to Paul’s place. One of them was one of the only 5 span (arch) bridges around – the Pakenham bridge. It was built in 1903 and reinforced in 1984 for car and truck traffic rather than being torn down and replaced by a newer bridge.
Pakenham Bridge
Unfortunately it was time to head home but before we did we had to make one pitstop along the way.
Tractors
This pitstop was my doing. There was something about these tractors sitting just inside the barn. Originally I thought the colour version would be what I would choose in the end but I love the black and white. The texture in the wood was what did it for me.
Today I was hiking the Bruce Trail near the Kimberley area and my focus was on the miniature worlds that are sometimes forgotten on our hikes. As always there are some mushrooms but also a nice surprise when I discovered a lone praying mantis on the boardwalk.
I won’t be writing too much today but hope you enjoy the photographs of the small worlds that hide by our tromping feet.
Yesterday’s journey from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland via ferry was uneventful. We were able to catch some naps and just laze around for the majority of the day. There was absolutely no photography happening beyond the quick smartphone snap. Today, however, was back on the road and with a couple of stops in mind we got to it right after breakfast.
Driving east from the hotel takes us to Rose Blanche, a town with a unique stone lighthouse on the south western shores of the island. Rain was falling as we pulled into a parking lot filled with growing puddles at the Rose Blanche Lighthouse site. After paying the small fee to get in we suited up in rain gear, grabbed some plastic bags to wrap the camera in we headed uphill on the path that would take us to the lighthouse. Rose Blanche Lighthouse sits high on the cliffs above the North Atlantic Ocean.
Rose Blanche Lighthouse
After some time of exploring inside and outside the lighthouse we wandered the ocean path before going back to the car and getting out of the rain gear. A lot of my photos had raindrops on them even though I was diligent about wiping the lens as often as possible. Unfortunately at some angles the lens was pelted with rain and there was no way to keep up with it.
Rose Blanche3
As we drove north the rain seemed to dissipate and when we arrived at Hidden Falls we were only greeted with cloudy skies. There are two waterfalls here at the Hidden Falls location and to be honest I’m not sure which one is the “hidden” one. The one below can be found at the parking lot when you pull in. No overly hidden in my opinion but hey I guess we did come down a not so clearly marked road so that could have been the hidden part.
Hidden Falls 1
From the parking lot there is a path to the ocean and a little ways down we came across another waterfall. Could this be Hidden Falls?
Hidden Falls
Since there was nothing to tell us which falls was which we just enjoyed ourselves and photographed until we had to move on.
