Lisbon, Portugal

Leonardo

Going Lisbon last week in June. Any suuggestion or advice on shooting locations in Lisbon is appreciated. Have plan for one-day trip out of Lisbon, not yet decided where, maybe Fatima, Porto or Faro?

Justiceiro

Leonardo wrote:

Going Lisbon last week in June. Any suuggestion or advice on shooting locations in Lisbon is appreciated. Have plan for one-day trip out of Lisbon, not yet decided where, maybe Fatima, Porto or Faro?

I would PM Antonio Corriea- he knows a lot more about Lisbon than I do and is quite friendly. Having lived in Portugal (in the north) for a few years, I'll throw my two cents in.

Here are a few galleries that include some shots of Portugal.


Where you shold take your day trip depends entirely on what sorts of things you want to photograph. For nature shots I would go to the south of the country, it's generally very beachy and very touristy, but there are a few spots with spectacular cliff and rock coastal formations, like cabo sao vicente and Lagos. Here are some suggestions in a thread from last year for travel in the south. If you go South, you must see Mertola.

Being married to a Tripeiro (a resident of Porto) I, of course, am bound to share her anti-Lisbon prejudices. Given that, however, I do believe that the best parts of Portugal from a photagraphy perspective are outside of the capitol. Most of Lisbon was destroyed by a combined earthquake, Tsunami, and catastrophic fire in the 18th century (talk about the wrath of God), which means that present day Lisbon is largely an 18th and 19th century creation. The same sort of thing, almost, can be seen in Budapest and Paris (I'm sure that Antonio would strenuously disagree!).

Portugal is truly unique, both visually and culturally, in the countryside and the secondary cities. Frankly, a week isn't enough, especially if you intend to devote time to Lisbon. That's always the case though, isn't it?

So here are some broad strokes about the various sections of the country.

The Southern coast, the Algarve (arabic: Al-Garbh) is semi-arrid and cosnists mostly of fishing villages. The architecture is islamo-iberian and strongly mediteranean. The physiogeny of the people is indistinguishable from those across the straits. The people tend to be a bit more carefree and boisterous, and far less religious (probably due to the fact that their conversion to catholicism was largely forced many centuries ago.) It sort of looks and feels a bit North African. My wife's mother is from Olhao, and its a nice city worth visiting, as is Fuzeta.

The Alantejo south of Lisbon and North of the Algarve is the second poorest part of the country, sparsely populated, and arrid as hell. Wonderful lonely landscapes of grass with an olive tree or eucalyptus scatttered therabouts. Very pretty.

The Minho area, in the north, is more densely populated (relatively speaking, Portugal is pretty empty- everybody seems ot have moved to Newark) the major cities, and I am expanding the "minho" designation alarmingly, are Porto- the commercial center of the country and its major port, Braga, the spiritual center of the country with great churches, Aviero- a fishing city with great boats, and Coimbra- the country's oldest university having been founded in 1290.

The far North- Tras-os-Montes (beyond the mountains). The poorest, least populated, and most "traditional" of Portugal's regions. Most of the villages are populated by old people who's progeny have gone to Lisbon, France, or the Americas. If you go wandering around the back country, expect to get dragged off somewhere to drink wine and eat presunto. Life here is probably the last place you can see life approximating the way it was lived in the 19th century. A popular saying goes "Beyond Marão, those who rule are those who're there" ("Para lá do Marão mandam os que lá estão"). The area is mostly left alone by the rest of the country and ignored. Not that it's Portugal's Waziristan, or anything. Very cool.

Here's a mini travel guide I prepared for Panther last year.

Let me know if you have any specific questions!

ChatKat

Last Year
We were in Lisbon for two days and they had a huge festival for St. Anthony, I believe and it caused our tour guide to not show up! Anyway,
We took a taxi out to Sintra - very picturesque area. It' quite hilly - very much like San Francisco but there is so much street photography you can do just being in the central area of the city. We also went to Belem for a brief visit.

bsvirginian

My wife and I flew into Lisbon about 6 years ago and recooperated in Belem for 2 days before driving north to Spain. Frankly we didn't appreciate Lisbon as much as we were still suffering the effects of flying all night and arriving very early in the morning without some of our luggage. It appears the theft occurred in Norfolk, Va. Anyway (August) the heat was terrible, not knowing any of the language was trying but we did manage some unique food and beverages and actually bought an all day bus pass (very cheap) to tour Lisbon. You could get off anytime you wanted and get back on the next bus of which, I believe was every 1/2 hour. Belem itself was interesting particularly the statue honoring the explorers.
Hope this helps. It appears that you have others that are more knowledgeable and have a good trip. bsvirginian

Leonardo

Thank you all for very helpful info.

Justiceiro, your detailed answer made me whole yesterday's afternoon to explore map of Portugal and research on the web.

My wife and me decided to stay in Lisbon in our visit to Portugal because one week isn't really enough to experience the city, to say nothing of entire country. Now after some considerations I think I'll be focused on Porto for one day deviation of Lisbon experience. My wife is religious enough for both of us, so she has wish to visit Fatima and that is another option. There is one question in that case - I noticed on map that "Parque Natural das Serras de Aire e Candeeiros" is situated near Fatima but I can't find almost anything about this location.

If you go wandering around the back country, expect to get dragged off somewhere to drink wine and eat presunto. Life here is probably the last place you can see life approximating the way it was lived in the 19th century.

Don't be so sure about this. I'm living in Croatia and there are simillar regions in my country which is small enough for antagonism between capital city and rest of the towns. Dalmatia region from where I am, and yes Dalmatian dogs get name after this province, has parts with out-of-time athmosphere, sometimes I've got impression of medieval mood.

I'm sure we'll love Lisbon and Portugal, and hope I'll made some nice pictures of street life and architecture.:D

bsvirginian

I believe your choice of Porto is a good one. Although we found the area very congested (August) we had a good time touring the Port producing factories. The free samples helped a lot too.
bsvirginian

Leonardo

bsvirginian wrote:

I believe your choice of Porto is a good one. Although we found the area very congested (August) we had a good time touring the Port producing factories. The free samples helped a lot too.
bsvirginian

Thanks for advise! For unknown reason wine, don't matter how much fine, makes me heartburn, so I'll stay on schnapps, home-made if possible.

Justiceiro

I went to Fatima with my wife once. I'm notionaly protestant, but that place is soooo cathloic I had some deeply atavist genetically based Oliver Cromwell-like reaction. Freaked me out.

Very interesting. The bloody knee thing is disturbing, however.

JanH

I was in Portugal in 1997, maybe you are interested in the old world (roman)
There is a walled city that is still occupied. OBIDOS

Also a Roman city the archeologists are probably still uncovering CONIMBRIGA
is 7 miles from COIMBRA where the University is a tour well worth seeing.

The Roman city had my attention fully, built with baked clay bricks, so long ago is unbelievable. The bricks for the pillars are shaped so the pillars when built are round. The floor tiling is in excellent condition and true works of art.

These are not that far from Lisbon.

Enjoy you trip, I know I did.

PS There is also in Lisbon a Coach museum

Cheers Jan

Leonardo

Thanks to you all!

We've been there, and we'll be back. Beautiful country, city of Lisboa and people too. Fatima was disappointement for me, for my wife in some degree too.

But Lisbon is great experience, and I can't wait to get back there again with more time available. Obrigado!

One moment in raw image during ascent to Alfama and Mouraria:

1445.jpg