Skip to main content

Portugal is Beautiful

 Whilst I am not an Instagrammer or whatever those in that part of the Gen Z demo are called I do like to capture thoughts in this medium of a blog .. mostly to impress on me what I did when I was a wee lad in my fifties.. assuming I make it few more decades and have the desire to look back in time..

This new year eve we left America to visit the southern tip of continental Europe in the form of a country visit to Portugal.

At the end of what is called the Iberian peninsula sits this nation of 10 million inhabitants straddling the Atlantic Ocean on its west and south shores. Shaped like and in many ways similar to our former home in California this is a fourth in geographic size and population to the largest state in America. It too is longish and sits along an ocean.

It too has a wine region except it is known for producing some fine sweet kind called Port.  Grapes are harvested in the Douro River valley in the area called Porto.  Used to ferment and then process halted with a grape brandy that adds alcohol and also raises the sugar content in the beverage so produced.  Some fine drinking that.  Got ourselves a bottle when we went there.  So for context the 3 big(ish) cities we hit up were Lisbon, also called Lisboa in lingua franca there and capital city in the central part of the country, followed by trip north to Porto (wine region); followed by a trip to the south coast in a sleepy hamlet called Armacao de Pera.

Latter was the sight of some spectacular limestone cliffs and caves right on the ocean.  Some pictures follow..


Happy new year 2023! Lisbon waterfront along Tegas river



remnants of Xmas celebrations




there is an underground movement too with lovely metro services running to various parts of the city



Main Train and bus station - Oriente





Plaza Commercia (large town square)


Great explorer of the 15th century who found India on a voyage lies here





fresh prawns from the sea

Porto in pictures - lovely vistas along the Douro river


Luiz bridge




Armacao de Pera in pictures..



Benegil caves approach by boat only



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On the go(zay masta) in Japan again

Cool cat the Japanese are Tokyo at dusk  My second visit to this land of the rising sun after almost a decade. Back then clearly I was wet behind the ears product manager and likely didn’t pay attention to all (efficient) things Japanese. But today I did and of course continue to be impressed. It is as much the obvious stuff like on time travel that is both clean and comfortable and all that which makes it possible. The impressive landmark and landscapes that these humans have put together despite their cramped (or because of it) surroundings and precarious geological conditions could amaze a novice architect among us. But it’s also the little things that someone had to think about which have a phenomenal impact on day to day lives that make the Japanese stand apart. Below are few random examples- 1. Providing a very fine machined wooden toothpick in every packet of wooden chopsticks. The said chapsticks are simply set on the To Go counter of any food vendor/ convenience store wher...
Post a Comment
Read more

Presumptive Society

Today's world is hyper connected.  I am not so sure what it means but you hear it a lot.  It is probably hyper but not sure how connected it is.  Sugar (fermented or not) is available in many ways than before and so getting hyper is easy.  It is probably more a threat than cocaine since it is sold legally. And what is this connected stuff?  Most people I encounter seem disconnected from reality.  So going back to this assumption that we are connected there are subtle and no so subtle instances of how brands and companies and middle men try to portray someone - A linkedin profile for somebody working for X years at a place advertises to the connected network that so and so is CELEBRATING X years @ Such and Such Inc. Do we know if (s)he is celebrating or cringing?  Perhaps a better way to portray will be - So and So LASTED X years @ such & such inc. Then it exhorts the readership to go ahead and congratulate them for this lasting effe...
2 comments
Read more

A few good books

 On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...
Post a Comment
Read more