Fonix Magazine

My "secret spot" in Algarve

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Tue, 22 May 2012 10:17:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:57:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:20:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 24 May 2010 23:04:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:22:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:54:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:39:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:03:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:55:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:48:00 +0000

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

Barcelona, the place to inhale high doses of creativity

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:21:00 +0000

This was my first time in Barcelona. For years people told me loads of positive things and I kept in my memory pictures of strange houses, large squares (like everywhere else in Spain), different tiles, wide range of colours, wild nights, among other things. Well, I must say those things are quite true but I wasn't expecting so much creativity out there.

There are places you can catalog fast and many cities brand for that. Let's say, Paris for Lovers, Venice for honeymoons, Milan for fashion, London for theater, and so on. I would definitely catalog "Barcelona, get creative".

It's not only the Dali buildings, not only the ramblas, neither the daily fashion, the niche shops, or the hundreds of street artists... It's everything togehter. Add the topless at the beach, the life at the medieval streets, the thousands of happy mood tourists, the gay freedmon of expression, the colorful graffities on the doors (I'm not a fan of graffiti but I could read some respect when seeing only the metal parts of the old buildings being painted and not the walls), the pleasent bars at the beach, the crazy metal detector guy with water by the neck, the houses making you want to buy one just by a busy street to stare wonder this all.

Well, I must say this was a painfull week with high temperatures, millions of tourists and the thing I hated the most, the lousy water they drink there that keeps you thirsty (my oppinion). Except for that I think everyone should visit Barcelona, at least once, to know what creativity is.

Keep the random photos:

Buracas do Casmilo

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:38:00 +0000

Just another great morning. I suggested this place to my friend Luis because everyone that had been there told me that it was amazing, I myself never thought that it was that impressing. The photos can't express de size of those big holes in the mountains. Nature keeps impressing me.

Track 1 at Serra da Estrela

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:05:00 +0000

A trully magnificent place Serra da Estrela in Portugal. This landscape just takes my breath away. I'd like to share this trail for anyone who wishes to follow:

http://gpsed.com/track/9EeyM5Rlvx7fshM9GggWYledifkny4DfHm2ubMii3OwrqD4uNr

Taking a bath

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:50:00 +0000

Going for a bath was just what it felt like that day. Though it has a cold day and the water was freezing that was a fantastic place I found. A set of cascades each followed by a small dam were one could wash away the worries of the work. This place is called Cascata da Parede just next aldeia da Parede near Mortágua. Check it out.

For anyone interested I'm leaving here the GPS coordinates to get to this place.

latitude: 40.490950
Longitude: -8.293890

If you have any difficulties getting there just send me an email.

Pedra Ferida

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:14:00 +0000

This is becoming a tradition. Again this year, in the earliest days of January, I went for a nice walk to the portuguese country side. (see post for early 2008 walk)

This year it happened to be in Penela, 30 minutes drive from Coimbra after recomendation of one of the participants (and also author at this blog - Alex).

We were truly lucky has it had been rainning hard for the past days - reason why there is such a great water flow in the river - and not in that morning. By the moment we reached the car in our way home... guess what, it started rainning. :)

Enjoy the pics.

Pedra Ferida, Espinhal, Penela, Coimbra, Portugal

The mist

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 21:32:00 +0000

The mist was growing in the mountains but inside, my mind was becoming clearer. As it slipped down the hill of the mountain it was as though the warm blanket of nature covered and protected us.

Land of the fairy

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:23:00 +0000

I think I saw a fairy around here!

Beams of light

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:06:00 +0000

Riding the night with beams of light
Looking for the one who hugs me tight.

The return of King Sebastian

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:57:00 +0000

Legend tels that King Sebastion will someday return on a foggy morning to save Portugal! Where are you King Sebastion?

new heaven above

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:53:00 +0000

Just playing God, painting clouds in a way that you and me can't see but, with the proper software enhancement you can realize it's trully there.

By the way... have you realized it is always sunny up there? Why doesn't some one come up with a tour bus in those boring cloudy days to bring our energy up?

And you? Do you deserve it?

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:31:00 +0000

London, UK

If there is such thing as a melting pot, London and New York are the places. Unfortunantely I haven't travelled much furder to confirm this or not. Even though, and considering London, my most recent journey "outside", I must say there is a common denominator which is freedom. Freedom to be who you really are. No, I haven't assumed new sexual trends while there. However, you feel the two most different characters can live door by door and, even so, wave in the morning to each other or stand to each other in the traffic, each in its own vehicle - for which I mean bycicle.

Yes, I believe if you're open minded enough, you can live in such place. Better, you deserve it.

Nikki and Gard

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:08:00 +0000

Congratulations to Nikki and Gard for their travel website. You will find a full and usefull report to the 35 and counting destinations they've been to.

Check their world map.

This is what I call live to travel!

loving a life, life of the love

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:59:00 +0000

Chateux de Versailles, Paris, France

Loving a life, life of the love.

post by Mohammed Nadir

Magoito sand cliff

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:35:00 +0000

Magoito Beach, Sintra, Portugal

It really looks like a wall of sand ready to fall down on you. This endangered cliff draws erratic curves defined by the wind since 10.000 years ago and was millions of years ago at the sea level. It is an outstanding geologial remark to be visited... and preserved.

Rice Fields

noreply@blogger.com (luis) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:17:00 +0000

Rice Fields, Mondego River, Montemor-o-Velho, Coimbra, Portugal

"Estavas, linda Inês, posta em sossego, De teus anos colhendo doce fruito, Naquele engano da alma, ledo e cego, Que a Fortuna não deixa durar muito, Nos saudosos campos do Mondego, De teus fermosos olhos nunca enxuito, Aos montes insinando e às ervinhas O nome que no peito escrito tinhas."

Camões, Os Lusíadas, III, 120.