My "secret spot" in Algarve

Praia Vale de Centeanes, Lagoa, Algarve, Portugal

Well, it no longer is (or never was). But as you are now reading this post, I'm happy to share. This is one of those places where you feel you don't want to leave. The beach is small, quite narrow when the tide goes up and quite dangerous as cliffs are at risk of falling. Nevertheless, if something goes wrong, you die very close to paradise.

This is the set I dream of when I plan to return to Algarve. My memories go to the unbearable heat that keeps you not wanting to leave the sea which recorded something like 25c at the time of these pictures or staying fresh inside the cave.At 5 meters offshore it was already 3m deep with rocks, vegetation ant plenty fish keeping my breath longer when diving with my goggles.

See you there this summer.

Autumn in Luxembourg's woods

A long time has passed since the last post. Gratefully I keep travelling and wondering around with my camera but laziness prevented me from posting my favourite photos here. While trying to catch up with "older" photos, I'll start by inviting you to view and comment my selection of pictures below just shoot today.

Arriving from the Mediterranean mild Autumn and Winter seasons, I keep surprising with all the beauty northern latitudes provide when it comes to celebrate seasons. The countryside in Luxembourg and specially its small parcels of woods paint the season with a pallete of yellows and reds that can only depress you for not being able to capture all the beauty you try to get with your camera.

The selection below comes from a 3h drive in South East Luxembourg and invites you to put your boots and go for a walk in the woods!

Luxembourg's countryside

Vineyards in Remish



This is Luxembourg, a constant countryside where farmers drive Mercedes and cows live side by side with big corporations that find in Luxembourg a tax relief.

Soft snow

Just liked to share this foto with every one. It was taken during the final moments of a 3 day fantastic adventure I had in Serra de Gredos in Spain. For the most part of the trekking we had huge snow storms. The course was incredibly difficult but in the end the sun decided to show up and reveal to us the beauty that nature was working on.

Morre lentamente quem não viaja

O poema resume bem o objectivo deste blog:

"Morre lentamente quem não viaja,
Quem não lê,
Quem não ouve música,
Quem destrói o seu amor-próprio,
Quem não se deixa ajudar.

Morre lentamente quem se transforma escravo do hábito,
Repetindo todos os dias o mesmo trajecto,
Quem não muda as marcas no supermercado,
não arrisca vestir uma cor nova,
não conversa com quem não conhece.

Morre lentamente quem evita uma paixão,
Quem prefere O "preto no branco"
E os "pontos nos is" a um turbilhão de emoções indomáveis,
Justamente as que resgatam brilho nos olhos,
Sorrisos e soluços, coração aos tropeços, sentimentos.

Morre lentamente quem não vira a mesa quando está infeliz no trabalho,
Quem não arrisca o certo pelo incerto atrás de um sonho,
Quem não se permite,
Uma vez na vida, fugir dos conselhos sensatos.

Morre lentamente quem passa os dias queixando-se da má sorte ou da
Chuva incessante,
Desistindo de um projecto antes de iniciá-lo,
não perguntando sobre um assunto que desconhece
E não respondendo quando lhe indagam o que sabe.

Evitemos a morte em doses suaves,
Recordando sempre que estar vivo exige um esforço muito maior do que o
Simples acto de respirar.
Estejamos vivos, então!»

Pablo Neruda

Flying High

Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

Fish in the sea you know how I feel
River running free you know how I feel
Blossom on the tree you know how I feel

Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know
Butterflies all havin' fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done
That's what I mean

And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me

Stars when you shine you know how I feel
Scent of the pine you know how I feel
Oh freedom is mine
And I know how I feel

Nina Simone — Feeling Good lyrics

Mushrooms from Wonderland

Another photo I wanted to share. Somehow it makes me feel like Alice in the Wonderland.
For more photos like this one you should visit Arouca. It's a great place to explore nature and do some trekking.

Forgot to shave

Well... It has been some time since my last post. I was going through some photos and found this one and felt like sharing it. This was taken during a trekking in Frexa da Mizarela near Arouca. This is a great place for trekking lovers. I really recommend it.

it's great when you have no expectations

It’s 10 am and I wake up just a few seconds before the text message arrive. Our friend confirms she will be waiting for us in Auxerre. We had been waiting for her confirmation by e-mail but as the night before she hadn’t still replied we were about to leave Paris and get back home. It would be a bigger journey but we couldn’t miss her for only an extra 3 hours drive.

We left Paris outskirts by noon and hit the highroad southeast. The weekend in Paris was very strange. I did felt the city glamour and that “je ne sais quoi” that everyone says about Paris. It does is a place for lovers and felt I would love to come back and spend a more time there to be able to live the city like a local. However, strolling the streets with a baby chair, carrying the baby bag, holding the camera, avoiding the rain and challenging all the other tourists turned those days in Paris very unpleasant. I ended up taking less than 20 relevant photos. A disaster!

Even though my expectations were now in Auxerre, I personally had no expectation from the place as I haven’t done any previous research. All I had was a place in the map. First surprise: Auxerre has a river! This can seem very ignorant but as I mentioned before, my research was limited to a digital map... Cities with rivers have more personality, I think, as it opens the city to a lot more.

The weather wasn’t magnificent but we were lucky enough to walk around with barely any rain, now with our friend kindly guiding us through the city. I can’t say we did an extensive tour. After all we went there to visit our friend and not the city but it was definitely enough to feel that is a place which carries a lot of history.

I don’t mean history like battles and revolutions but the history of all of those who century after century, preserve the city, the houses, its personality. Like you and me, also the houses get fat in Auxerre. Remarkably well preserved, the traditional architecture brought to our days photogenic patterns and traditional buildings that became larger in their top floors.

It’s amazing when you see such buildings alive, being rented, restored, hosting businesses and becoming the set for all the generations that still profit from that romantic farm looking architecture.

The visit to Auxerre lasted only a few hours, reason why this post doesn’t aim to, by any means, describe the city and its culture. It would certainly be unfair to do so. However, it does list something that caught my eyes and is certainly an example to many other cities that simply forget to protect the most obvious, the buildings that we can’t miss.

Auxerre (Yonne, Bourgogne, France)

snow changes

December, first snow fall. Both for the season and for me. No other weather phenomenon can produce such dramatic change in so few days. Ok, forget hurricanes and diluviums. Those are nature accidents. A rainfall brings new life to the vegetation, wind blows leafs away and can even throw branches or trees to the ground, an hot summer can, in a few weeks dry everything to the bone. They all cause changes. That’s life. That’s nature.

This path I have walked with my camera was a dark alleyway one week ago. I couldn’t distinguish the next curve unless I reached it. Resilient leafs were still hanging and covering my sight from other leafs. Shadows were hiding places I wasn’t supposed to see. I would feel being the first in weeks to walk that path.

With snow, everything changed. I wasn’t for sure the first of the day. The trail was telling me that. Only the most resilient leafs were standing and the shadows were now gone reflecting all of the day’s light. I could now see the curves and where they lead.

It kept snowing, many other leafs gave up, each curve now brings a new option and shadows became a new challenge.

Howald, Luxembourg