(( MY PORTUGAL ))

            in an attempt to avoid all the thanksgiving hubub this year, I jetted off to portual... below (and to the right) you will find images from my trip...

                 
nothing quite like a crystal blue sky
day to brighten your spirit... 		still river in the middle of
portugal's wine country		 ancient castle in Obido horseman watching over the city...
i wonder if he likes what he sees?		 shot moments before my camera was stolen... thankfully the germans? sitting near us saw the thief walk up and take my camera... thankfully I was able to successfully retrieve it... I'm all for the justice system here... (ask me about the robbery I witnessed in porto...) great cafe in Coimbra... in an old church... maybe we should take the lead here and convert all the churches around the globe into cafes? maybe it would stop the killing? elisa inside the cafe, isn't she purdy? for a mere 2,500 euros - this brand new portugese home could be yours...
sheeps included.		 the housing stock here is extraordinary... this one, in sintra, was beautiful. arch over road in Sintra. The roads here are so narrow, and the signs a bit tricky... at this point I think we were under the impression that we were going the wrong way on a one way street... egad! this is what one can expect when visiting towns in rural portugal. This is a typical town view (sintra) lots of steep hills... with narrow, winding roads.                              
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  portugal's 'second city' is located at the mouth of the douro river... life, history and beauty intersect here... truly a beautiful place.
                 
great shapes sunset in porto... unbeatable happy bird at the mouth of the Douro the light here is amazing across the douro is Gaia bridge over the river douro they know how to light their buildings... the mist this day was... shot from the river... shooting west down the douro shot from the room at residential rex sunrise over porto streetscape another streetscrape shooting down the hill river another porto picture, you'd love it here this is shot from a bridge designed by g. eifel... I'm not normally scared of heights the city of porto, built on a hill, reminded me in many ways of San Francisco...
only not as expensive.		                  
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   (( ABSTRACTS )) these images are my favorite to shoot... they are essentially self-explanatory...
                                                   
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   (( CASAIS, PORTUGAL )) wow... this small beach town might as well be la jolla... at least in terms of weather conditions: sans smog, traffic and rich people... portugal is the center of humilty and compassion...
                         
Rainy morning at the beach... surprisingly this was the only rainy day we had at the beach... a common day in november in portugal this is the view from my room in casais...
for less than a motel 6,
this is the place to be.		 room with a view. No exaggeration here... this was shot from the hotel's giant window on the beach at Casais... even in november this is a perfect place to be... 70 degrees during the day, and a mild 55 at night. center of Casais... this is probably my favorite spot on the trip... screw the rat race, you'll find me here if I am missing looking to the northwest from the
rooftop of hotel baia		 surfers on the beach my pants were wet looking south down the beach... even in winter, it's pretty amazing here... catch a wave, dude. Lots of surfers on this beach here in casais... had no idea that the place I'd found for 45e/night would be the center of the surf culture of portugal,
who knew?		 the hotel, built 50 years ago on the ruins of an old military fort, this hotel was once the center of portuguese wealth and culture in the 60s, muchaxo was the 'shit.' we were told by a waiter that one of the kings of portugal asked for his wife's hand in marriage at the hotel... you wouldn't know it now... the restaurant had a scent of stale pee... from the breakfast room at
Forte Muchaxo in casais... i am converted... fruit, cheese meat and bread for breakfast, along with a yummy shot of espresso... the europeans know how to live.		                          
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   (( LISBOA, PORTUGAL )) wow... this small beach town might as well be la jolla... at least in terms of comparison... only sans smog, traffic and rich people... portugal is the center of humilty and compassion...
                                           
this is elisa shooting the bridge san francisco has nothing on Lisboa this is perfect example of the european architectural superiority
(at least from the past)		 loved how the light was reflecting
onto these buildings 		                                           
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   (( FUNNY/RANDOM ))
       
couldn't help but not notice this one... shot by elisa in a moment of stealth photograpy the europeans have no issues w/sex - this image, shot in from a shop window that had a plethra of slogans that featured a sperm... open air market... THESE ARE NOT RUBBER they have beggars here too. Seconds after this was shot, this woman kneeled before me and was insisting that I give her something... I gave her some of the coins in my pocket, (though it wasn't what first came to mind) this is a fancy schmancy store in porto and lisbon... and the woman to the left begs, but shops here... bakers in Sintra... liked that it felt like they were in baker jail lots of hanging laundry... I don't think they have dryers in this part of europe elisa's socks smelled up the whole room, and we had to put them out on the patio elisa likes elelphants... this one is for you. this sign came a little too late, we had already passed the cows... cows in the duoro valley on the road I'm not sure what these objects did wrong, but they were in jail I first thought these were donuts in the window but on second look, it was sausage this was a metro stop, Ismai, but backward it's IAM21... accidentially deleted the other one... this shop was called BITCH and I had a woman walking into the store at the perfect moment... fun window with reflection the little baby jezus wants you... Fix and flip in porto available I wanted to get a large (fat) or super tall person coming out of here... I waited in vain great shadow from a neon light I didn't see anyone plugging the meters here carousel for all those kids in portugal who can't go outside...        
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   (( STREET ART )) Check out page two by clicking <HERE>
some might call it a plague of sorts... but there isn't much here that is 'sacred' closed cinema downtown porto... heavily tagged... don't shop here... they suck these types of tags are all over portugal as I started noticing the grapffiti, it became more and more apparent that there is a big difference between a 'tag' and an artwork the layers become as deep as any painting icons can be noticed... cherry was taggin a lot this one, while a tag, has a certain flair... both in the style of the signature, but the name and the bright green color... if your building is empty, it's going to look like this... taggers continue to hit the same places that don't get cleaned up once you start looking at these tags from a new perspective... they are actually incredibly artistic and have some amazing beauty this Q always reminds me of a cantelope a face... good detail... fast, but cool image these, like the cherries were tagged everywhere as I continued to explore the art painted throughout the city, it go more and more intresting... I can see these as tattoos some has a message... some are just an interesting effect... some are weird... some are just tags guso was all over... this may as well be a painting... I thik this is the same Q person this one was pretty elaborate as was this one...    
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   (( STENCIL VERSION OF GRAFFITI )) this series capture an entirely different type of street art, most, but not all contain a message of some sort
                             
some might call it a plague of sorts... but there isn't much here that is 'sacred' I like the commentary of this one, as well as the visual impact... very clever detail why not leave your face as a mark? this one is particularly beautiful... some are aggressive... others just ask why... some are vividly clear in their message another face... plus or minus?                              
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   (( DOORS, DOORBELLS AND THE LIKE)) these images are self explanatory...
                     
                                                   
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   (( ARCHITECTURE )) there certainly was a full scope of opportunities for me to shoot shapes, and details of these old cities...
                                 
time has shown it's real beauty here... love the colors of this one... I tend to get excited when shooting and forget to find out what the building's name or use was... I think this was a municipal building at one time... architectural detail

ceiling in cafe (used to be a church)
in Coimbra

years of water damage was
the culprit of this destruction... 		this is an example of the formal architecture style here in portugal... i can't tell you the name of the town because at this point, we were lost, and this was shot moments after I freaked out because the heat in the car had melted my brain (coupled with the humidity & panic of being lost) pushing me over my limit hidden patio... this was in the midst of another detail... lots of churches in this town... jesus was busy back in the day...                                  
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   (( THE DOURO VALLEY )) blah blah
                                       
some might call it a plague of sorts... this is the across the river... clouds great place for relaxation moss growing on a rock                                        
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   (( PEOPLE )) blah blah
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some might call it a plague of sorts... but there isn't much here that is 'sacred'                                                
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