Sunday, September 29, 2013

Heldentag 2013 // Day of Heroes 2013



Am letzten Augusttag des Jahres 2013 fand der alljährliche Heldentag auf dem Bikeareal Dresden statt. Hier trafen sich also tollkühne Biker, um den Sieger auf der BMX-Strecke, den Sprungschanzen und der Hochsprunganlage zu küren. Hier die Impressionen des Tages:



Wednesday, September 25, 2013

WORLD_TOUR_2013//Part 1: Churches of Portugal

I decided to make a little spin-off covering some interiors of the beautiful churches in Portugal. Here you are:

 

Monday, September 16, 2013

WORLD_TOUR_2013//Part 1: Exploring Portugal




This post is the starting point for a series of posts. During this year I collected (and will still collect) a lot of impression while travelling abroad. I would like to share these impressions with dedicated posts for each stop of my "world tour".

Today I will begin with the first stop (not counting the New Year's Eve parties at Prague), which is Portugal. During April I spent more than a week in the famous cities of Lisbon and Porto as well as on the road. From what I could gather during that time, I think Portugal is a very pleasant, calm, friendly and open country with beautiful landscapes. I love the combination of ocean and mountains a lot, not only in Portugal. The two cities itself are rather similar in terms of geography. Both are located along a river feeding the Atlantic Ocean. Riverbanks are small, because the cities rise rather quickly along the hills. Of course the people are different, but still very welcoming.

I found travelling around Portugal quite easy, and traffic outside of Lisbon was pretty calm. However, as a pedestrian I loved that you basically can step on the street and cars will stop for you. I didn't expect that from a southern European county.

The people of Portugal are very religious, I was constantly surprised by the number of masses each day (walked into a church every now and then and chances were high that a mass was going on) and the number of people attending the mass. Highlight concerning that topic was the town called Fatima, one of the most important pilgrimages of christianity in Europe. Well, you can really say so once you see the huge plaza inbetween two huge churches, which is one of the biggest places I've ever seen...

Enough for talking, I now let the photos speak!


Stage 1: LISBON                                                 

Portugal's capital is a very charming urban mixture of hills, the river Tejo and very cozy neighborhoods. The city is so nice that I literally welcomed me with a rainbow! Economic struggle is obvious in the streets and murals tell about the worrying situation of a lot of Portugese.
The maritime history of Portugal and Lisbon becomes present in Belém, however the modern times (visualized in art) can also be found there. The remainder of the photos covering Lisbon show street impressions.


Stage 2: OBIDOS                                                 

About three hours north of Lisbon is Obidos, a tiny village in the middle of (picturesque) nowhere. People go there to see a completely preserved medieval hilltop village surrounded by heavy walls.


Stage 3: ALCOBACA & NAZARÉ                                                 

Just north of Obidos is Alcobaca, a large monastery built to honor a victorious battle. Here, the warm after-rain sunlight gave some nice visuals. Not far away from the Atlantic Ocean I gave way for my yearning for beaches by visiting a small town called Nazaré, which is known for very traditionally dressed ladies.

  
Stage 4: PORTO                                                 

Porto was the next stop on my road trip. While topographically surprisingly similar to Lisbon, it of course had its own qualities.However, the economic downturn did not stop a Porto's city limits, so seeing ruins in the middle of the city center and "see-through" buildings were unfortunately pretty common.


Stage 5: COIMBRA                                                 

I visited the student city Coimbra on my way back to Lisbon. It was a short stop-over, so I planned my visit around the highlight of the town, which is the famous university. The historic buildings and especially the old library were impressive.


Stage 6: TOMAR & FATIMA                                                 

Last stop before getting back to Lisbon and boarding the plane back home were two towns in the countryside. Tomar has a beautiful Templar castle, Fatima I already talked about in the beginning of this post.