One of the best discoveries of all of our travels to Europe is a small village in Portugal north of Lisbon with stone houses that have been converted to small apartments for tourists. The name of the little town is Aldeia da Mata Pequena and we stayed in the apartment named "Caso do Jasmin." Among the ammenities were antique decorations, a kitchen sink carved out of stone and warm bread served each morning by the owner.Another amenity was the town dog, whom we nicknamed "Sparky" because we couldn't say her real name. She would come to visit when we were out on our little back patio. She wouldn't respond to our English but did accept our small gifts of bread and cheese. When she barked, I'm guessing she spoke Portuguese.
Aldeia da Mata Pequena
We Can See Ourselves!
We were packing our rental car and getting ready to leave our little cottage in Aldeia da Mata Pequena, Portugal, when the two resident peacocks walked up and started to look at themselves in the dark reflection. I thought they were admiring themselves, but when they started to peck at our car, I concluded that they thought they were looking at two other peacocks that somehow posed a threat. They moved on amiably when I opened the passenger car door.
The Old Stone Wall
Like many of my photos, this photo was a bit of an afterthought. Deb and I had been out for a drive and I slowed to take in the scenery. And, though the sun was shining directly into my camera, I decided to take a shot of the little stone wall and the wild flowers (and colorful weeds) beside the road.Two things strike my about this scene. One is the stone wall, which is probably at least a century old. The labor and the time to construct this are rewarded by the longevity of the project.The other thing that strikes me about this place, is that it is only about 45 minutes north of Lisbon, the largest city in Portugal. And we are in a very rural setting. It is not unlike driving a few minutes north of Watertown and finding a landscape that is quiet and relatively free of people.Check out some of my London/Portugal 2010 trip photos here