As the title suggests, the days spent in Portugal were filled with amazing sunny scenery and after eating the first bite of the custardy delicious Pastel de Nata it became the immediate go-to, must have, eat as many as I can possibly get my hands on treat. And I did.
Agnieszka and I would e spending the next 11 days in the country, first in Porto then to Lisbon and finally off to the beaches of Lagos. This was the longest vacation we have ever taken and the excitment was palpable. You may have seen my earlier post “Dilemma in Lisbon” but that was only a minor infraction and was easily worked around never marring the trip in any way. Small bumps but a fantastic ride!
Here I am going to give you an overview in images of what we saw and then later I will post about each city individually whenI have some time to really dig into my thoughts and images. But for now, consider this a nice little taste of this beautiful country, the people, the vibrancy and colorful cityscapes, food, scenery and charm.
Throughout the adventure, my thoughts really were defined by how much color was available. Porto has these amazing elevations through the city laced with all kinds of incredible colors. The light and deep shadows that I could find in the narrow city streets really captivated my attention and have me thinking about going back to host a street workshop at some point. Simply incredible and at every turn another interesting image could be found waiting to be grabbed. We climbed to the highest points to take in breathtaking morning views and then spent the aftenoons chilling along the river. On one day we ventured north along the coast and walked back into the city, enjoying a beautiful sunset at the Lighthouse watching the fishermen work their lines. Absolutely breathtaking.
Lisbon is a party. Everything about this city is vibrant and alive. The frenzy of the night was so vibrant, loud and alive that it was impossible to not get caught up in it and want more. We had 5 days here and it wasnt nearly enough to see all that we wanted to see but it was enough to have it soak into me and know that this would be a city I will want to visit over and over again. On my birthday Agnieszka took to me to A CivicheriaA Civicheria by Chef Kiko which left us in a complete foody daze and one of the best meals I have had in a long time. The cooking style easily reminded me of some of the some of the food that I know from my hometown of Seattle and easily called to mind the delicate and thoughtful food that some of my chef friends prepare. Incredible and worth the wait. She also surprised me with an analog photo workshop that included developing a roll of film. This was an AirBnB experience hosted by Stefan, a very talented German photographer who lives in the city. You can view the experience here and may be book one for yourself. Highly recommended. I just received prints back from the roll we developed and I am super pleased with it!
Finally we traveled to the sounth and the Seaside city of Lagos where we could relax on the beach and take in some beautiful scenery on our last days. I was reminded of my time living along the coast of Southern California in Corona del Mar and those types of vibes. Easy to sit back, read a book, be lazy and soak in the sun. I loved this and really enjoyed giving my feet the much-deserved break after walking so much in the first part of the trip. I have always lived relatively close to the coast in Seatlte, the Puget Sound, and my time in Poland is the first time in my life that I am so far removed from the ocean so the reconnection to it was long overdue and most welcome. Very relaxing, delicious seafood, great company and plenty of sun. Here we decided to take a 70 minute coastal cruise that did not disappoint and took us to visit the many beaches nearby. Highly recommnded and we used BlueFleet for our adventure and sat with 6 other guests along the way. Does not disappoint. There are many adventures to book in the water like larger cruises, paddleboards, small intimate boats, etc, everything to suit oyur needs. It was so relaxing, I was even on vacation from taking so many images…although I managed to get my more than fair share.
Writing this I am excited all over again about this trip! I didnt meant to get so wordy but I suppose I have a lot to say. For now, I will let the picutres do the rest of the “talking”. Enjoy! Adeus!
If you would like I have more to see and more to come at “Travels in Portugal” on my website. For this trip I used a Canon 6DII and 50mm, Canon EOS 4000d with a 18-55mm and my Samsung Galaxy S8 and I use VSCO for edits. Thank you to my partners at Digital24.pl for the gear support and to Canon for the 4000D!
Porto:
Lisbon:
Lagos:
I hope you enjoyed our trip! And I hope you put Portugal on your future destinations list! Safe travels friends!
Erik Witsoe 