Categories
in portugal photography traveling

s. leonardo da galafura

são leonardo da galafura

À proa dum navio de penedos,
A navegar num doce mar de mosto,
Capitão no seu posto
De comando,
S. Leonardo vai sulcando
As ondas
Da eternidade,
Sem pressa de chegar ao seu destino.
Ancorado e feliz no cais humano,
É num antecipado desengano
Que ruma em direcção ao cais divino.

Lá não terá socalcos
Nem vinhedos
Na menina dos olhos deslumbrados;
Doiros desaguados
Serão charcos de luz
Envelhecida;
Rasos, todos os montes
Deixarão prolongar os horizontes
Até onde se extinga a cor da vida.

Por isso, é devagar que se aproxima
Da bem-aventurança.
É lentamente que o rabelo avança
Debaixo dos seus pés de marinheiro.
E cada hora a mais que gasta no caminho
É um sorvo a mais de cheiro
A terra e a rosmaninho!

Miguel Torga

At the bow of a ship of cliffs,
Sailing in a sea of sweet wort,
Captain in his place
Of command,
S. Leonardo plows
The waves
Of eternity,
No hurry to get to his destination.
Anchored and happy at the human port,
It is in an early disillusion
That he sails towards the divine port.

There will not be terraces
Nor vineyards
In the girls’ dazzled eyes;
Rivers flowing
Will be ponds of light
Aged;
Shallow, all the mountains
Will let the horizons extend
Until where the color of life is extinguished.

Therefore, it slowly approaches
Bliss.
It is slowly that the boat moves
Under his sailor feet.
And every extra hour it spends on the way
It’s an extra sip of scent
Of earth and rosemary!

Miguel Torga

hard task for me, almost impossible to translate this poem of Torga, without using all the twists the portuguese language offers. it’s about a specific peek on a hill in the margins of the douro river, called s. leonardo, or, the ‘terrace of the douro’.

compulsory high school portuguese literature, the meaning of the poem is much better captured when you’re up there, surrounded with vineyards on hills that resemble waves. this is the landscape of the “alto douro vinhateiro”, the region where porto wine is produced.

a truly magic (non-planned) roadtrip stop :)
são leonardo da galafura
são leonardo da galafura

Categories
just life

1.8 tdci 100cv 5dr etc wtf

so we’ve been thinking about getting a car. something simple, small but comfy, used but decent, diesel, 4 or 5 seats, and with some space to put our stuff. something to hit the road with when the time comes.

the plan is to stay in europe for a while, hop around cities and countries, discover a bit of what we’ve been missing – what we’ve been almost taking for granted. europe looks mostly predictable to me, organized and easy… but i’m willing to prove myself wrong, and i’m eager for the surprises these roads will throw at me. roadtrip

getting a car is kind of a big thing for us… we’re cautious about this sort of big commitments… but i think there’s potential. europe is small enough to be drivable, i like roadtrips and i like driving as much as i like being in the passenger’s seat, taking pictures, suggesting pit stops and fiddling with the radio and the maps. i can see this working out.

paulo took this photo from the passenger seat of our borrowed ibiza, who effortlessly took us to the douro region this last weekend despite the narrow bumpy road chosen by the gps. :)

Categories
in portugal on the big screen traveling

montemor-o-velho, the castle

“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

montemor-o-velho

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.
a vista do castelo

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?

frescos

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? :)