red things from prado (small village near santarém), last june. these diptychs are going to have a category of their own from now on – so there’s more from the series here.
Tag: in portugal
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Senbazuru
Thousand Origami Cranes (千羽鶴 Senbazuru or Zenbazuru?) is a group of one thousand origami paper cranes held together by strings.
An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. The crane in Japan is one of the mystical or holy beasts (others include the dragon and tortoise), and is said to live for a thousand years. In Asia, it is commonly said that folding 1000 paper origami cranes makes a person’s wish come true. This makes them popular gifts for special friends and family.
(from wikipedia)
seen a bit everywhere, in the streets of porto.
“onde nasceu fernão mendes pinto?
jorge de montemor onde nasceu?
a mesma terra o mesmo céu que eu pinto
castelo velho o que foi deles é meu”
– afonso duarte“where was fernão mendes pinto born?
jorge de montemor, where was he born?
the same earth, the same sky that i paint
old castle what was theirs is mine”
– afonso duarte
last tuesday, driving slowly between figueira da foz and coimbra, we came across the castle of montemor-o-velho, proudly standing on top of a small hill. we had no big agenda for the day, other than picking up the cats at midnight in lisbon, so we stopped a while to explore.
the castle was first heard of in medieval times (before the country of portugal was born), and it was successively conquered by christians and arabs and even by napoleon troops. in 1910, it was declared national monument, along with “igreja de santa maria da alcáçova”, a church within the castle walls.
the views from up there are stunning, green fields all around the castle walls and many squares of rice plantations (and some storks too) due to the proximity of the mondego river.
while the castle walls and premises are in reasonably good shape (the paths are clean and the lawns are taken care of, there’s even a little café up there) you can’t really say the same about the church. the frescos and statues could really use a hand. what battles are they trying to tell us about?
other details seem to have stood the test of time a bit better: there are beautiful tiles decorating the walls, writings and a few gravestones on the church floor.
the entrance is free and on the day we were there, there was no soul on sight. a whole castle to yourself, how about that? :)
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back home
still wrapping my head around these blue skies, the grass, the coarse salt and being able to drink the water from the tap, proper meias de leite, the politeness, not having to use a vpn to access the most basic sites… but also remembering what happened on the 4th of june, 20 years ago.
the cats arrived safe and sound (to my biggest surprise), and we’re all a bit jetlagged and trying to re-adjust as best as we can.
a lot has changed, and a lot is still the same in my little country but for the first time in my life, i am in portugal as a worker (as opposed to a student sponsored by her parents) and i am looking forward to re-discover this little “garden by the sea” with the small liberties this new position allows me.
so stay tuned for more adventures, including tons of test-tasting because the food here is absolutely unbelievable. it’s going to be a fun couple of months.
hello europe! :D