Peaceful

Peaceful scenes...

Expanses of sand,

Aquamarine skies,

Calm cerulean seas

Embracing the sunshine.

Friends smiling,

Unhurried, carefree,

Lingering in quiet gardens

This is my Sunday Post. Hop over to Jake's blog, where the inspiration begins.

D is for Doors, in traditional Algarve style

Since I did a post on this subject for Jake's Sunday Post back in May, I have taken a few more photos. I hope you like them.

And finally, here is a close-up of the "mãos de Fátima" knockers that most of these doors have.

Unusual, aren't they?

Natural Resources

Alentejo landscape on a wintery day

In Portugal, the cork oak is part of the landscape in the Alentejo region. From the outer bark of this tree come the cork stoppers we find in every good bottle of wine.

In this photo, you can see where the outer bark has been removed.

Photo by Joergsam (Wikipedia), available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

And here you can see a ceramic tile panel depicting workers removing that bark.

Portugal produces around 50% of the cork harvested annually worldwide, with Corticeira Amorim being the leading company in the industry, transforming the outer bark of the cork oak into cork stoppers and many, many other products.

This is my entry for Jake's Sunday Post challenge. Check out Jacksprinter to find links to other posts on this theme.

Who took my nest?

or The Last Thing the Algarve Needed!

These could be the thoughts running through this forlorn stork's mind one week after part of Silves' centre was ravaged by a tornado. 

On Friday, 17th November, the Algarve got first-hand experience of that rare weather phenomenon we know is not at all rare in North America - it ripped through Alvor, Carvoeiro, Lagoa and Silves, causing terrible damage. Three people were seriously injured and, having seen the videos and photos, I'm surprised there were no fatalities!

If you have read my posts about motor-home owners spending winter in the park by the river you will remember that area was still full in February. This is how tranquil the full park looked then.

By the end of October many motor-home owners had returned, in time to get the fright of their lives. Winds reaching 260 km/hr picked some of their homes like they were little toys and "played" with them.

Now some have left but many have just moved to the other side of the municipal swimming pool while clean-up is taking place. This is how the same area looks now, one week after the unfortunate event.

One week after the tornado

Over the weekend municipal workers and around a thousand volunteers removed the debris and cleaned up as much as they could. They did a wonderful job! The town looks almost normal.

Parts of the walls of the stadium came down and you can still see a large metal structure all twisted and leaning on the building next door.

The municipal swimming pool lost roof and windows. The Town Hall and many other rooftops lost their tiles.

Abandoned factory rooftop

Huge trees were uprooted.

On the main road near the bridge.

Clean-up at the Al Mouatamid Ibn Abbad Square

And the clean-up continues ...


My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have been affected by the tornado, specially to those who were injured.

Architecture

For this theme I have chosen examples from different regions of Portugal.

From north to south...

In Arouca, granite is a common building material.

Traditional house in Arouca, district of Aveiro

Granite again - Arouca

In the fishing town of Torreira, stripes and colour are traditional.

Fishing village of Torreira, district of Aveiro

In the posh town of Praia da Granja, these pretty houses are set amongst ornate mansions of the early 20th century.

Some of the smaller houses of Praia de Granja

And in the Algarve, ceramic tiles and ornate trimmings are common in older houses. 

Tiled house in Castro Marim

Ornate trimmings, Algoz

Which do you prefer?

Visit Jake's challenge for many more takes on architecture.