Thanks to the sound advice of good friend and blog follower James, we made a point of taking a guided tour of La Alhambra in Granada, Spain. It is one of the must-see attractions in this country, and it did not disappoint. I’ve got a bunch of photos from our visit, but this will have to do for now.
We made it to Valencia yesterday. All’s well here in the center city, although we saw lots of signs of the recent flooding on our way here.
Sunrise in Cordoba this time of year is a civilized 8am, so it was pretty easy to get out early and grab this shot of the Roman Bridge.
Cordoba is a beautiful little place with lots of history and interesting architecture. While here we spent a day at the Alhambra in Granada and also visited the Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba. Those will be the subject of future posts!
We’ve been in Lisbon for a few days, and in fact will be moving on to Spain tomorrow. I made this photograph of a street car along R. de São Pedro de Alcântara near the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara park and viewpoint. Streetcars, trolleys and funiculars are popular with tourists and locals alike, and they attract budding photographers of all skill (and situational awareness!) levels.
Portugal has been wonderful! We’re looking forward to Spain, but have really enjoyed our time here.
We wanted to visit Porto first and foremost because it is world renowned as the home of Port wine. The south side of the Douro river, and the town of Gaia, is where all of the Port wineries are located. And of course every restaurant in town serves a nice selection of local wines.
I took this photo of the Luís I Bridge over the Douro on the night of our arrival. The bridge was designed by Teófilo Seyrig, who was a partner of some guy named Eiffel who designed something famous in Paris. 😉 Many sources credit Eiffel for the design, but locally everyone is quick to point out the real story!
Our second stop en route to Porto was Nazare (NAZ a ray). Because we had extra time in Obidos, Nazare was a quick stop to see the views and visit the cathedral. I only took a few photos there, but this view was pretty nice.
Summer time is a very busy time with vacationers visiting the beaches. Later in the winter, Nazare will host some of the largest waves in the world, and surfers will come from all over to try their luck. The town was pretty quiet on this early winter day.
We disembarked our cruise ship in Lisbon, Portugal this past Wednesday and had arranged transportation to Porto with stops in Obidos and Nazare along the way. Obidos (OH bee dose) is a cute little place with a main street full of shops, the requisite churches, a fort and – of course – cobblestones. It even has the remains of an ancient Roman aqueduct.
Obidos is also known for producing ‘Ginja de Obidos,’ a sweet and sour cherry liquor that is served in little chocolate cups about the size of a shot glass. And of course we bought a bottle as a souvenir! 😉
After Tenerife we stopped on the island of Lanzarote, another of the Canary Islands. A tour took us to many highlights, one of which is the Natural Park of Los Volcanes. This view of one of the many craters is representative of the interesting landscape.
Well, Kathy & I are on another cruise. This cruise is a transatlantic cruise from Port Canaveral, FL to Lisbon, Portugal. Along the way we stopped at Tenerife in the Canary Islands. This was the view of the port of Santa Cruz as we approached the island after 7 days at sea.
We love sea days, but 7 days was a long time, even for us. Today we are sailing toward Lisbon, where we will disembark for 18 days in Portugal and Spain while the ship goes to drydock. We’ll re-board the same ship in Barcelona to return home.
We got to Bardstown a day earlier than we anticipated. So what do you do with a bonus day in Bourbon country? You taste wine, of course!
Kentucky does have some pretty decent wine, it seems that Chambourcin and Cabernet Franc grow especially well here. So of course we picked up a few bottles. 🙂
We did stop by the Jim Beam Distillery, although they were not open. It’s still very scenic place and one we have enjoyed visiting in the past.
We wrapped up our western swing with a 2 day visit to Jackson, WY and Grand Teton National Park. This is a classic view of the Teton Range from an area called the Mormon Row Historic District. The photo is a bit of a cliche but I can’t imagine a photographer passing it by. Some photographs just need to be taken! We had some pretty nice clouds on this day, which helps a lot.