Lisbon

End of August I spent a wonderful week in Lisbon/Portugal and I just realized that I did not show any pictures of this fabolous city. So here we go:

Lisbon is a city that wants to be discovered. There are not to many sights in the traditional way but just a lot to discover when walking the steep up and downhill streets.

Lisbon lies at the mouth of the river Tejo almost at the Atlantic ocean. The river is really mighty here and you can see it from many places throughout the city.

One of the main attractions is the castello - a fortress founded in Roman times and still existing.

Here are some pictures from inside.

And then there is Belem. Not only famous for its pastries (yes - those yummy Portuguese cakes come from here) but also for its Torre de Belem - a watchtower at the end of the Tejo river which in former times was manned and alerted the king of enemies sailing up the river towards Lisbon.

From Belem many of the great Portuguese explorers embarked on their voyages of discovery: Prince Henry the Navigator and the first overseas expedition to conquer Morocco, Bartholomeu Dias to round the Cape of Good Hope, the first voyages of Ferdinand Magellan and Vasco da Gama to discover the sea route to India.

This is the monument of Prince Henry the Navigator - the emporer who stood at the beginning of Portugal's Golden Age.

On the other side of the Tejo river is the statue of Christo Rei. A cardinal of the Roman Church went to Rio de Janeiro, saw the Christo there and decided to build a similar one in Lisbon.

The ruins of Carmo Church are reminders of the devastation left by the 1755 earthquake. At the time of the earthquake it was the largest church in Lisbon but it was never rebuilt.

Here are some impressions of Lisbon:

Most of the streets have cobblestones with patterns in black stones. Beautiful to look at, a little tiring to walk.

Colours, ...

... flowers and ...

... olives everywhere.

Oceanarium is  a fascinating aquarium with about 25,000 fish, seabirds, and mammals. The main attraction is an enormous central tank that is the size of four Olympic-sized swimming pools with sharks, rays and 2 moonfish (mola mola).

And we spent a few hours at the coast of the Atlantic ocean. 

Apricots

This is the time for apricots. And there are the very tasty and famous ones of "Wachau" - a special region along the Danube. So we drove out to the Wachau-valley where all the apricot-trees are heavy with fruits.

The fruits are beautiful, they smell wonderful and they taste delicious.

We bought a few kilos to take home.

And there they were made into jam ...

... and cake.

Sunday in Laxenburg

Laxenburg is a large historical garden, cultivated since medieval times. Today it is one of the places where Viennese love to spend their Sundays. Especially when the weather is as nice as this weekend.

There is a castle

and a temple,

a lake and some canals,

a few statues (sometimes you have to guess - is it a lion or a monkey)

and miles of pittouresque trails.

And the first signs of Fall could be seen everywhere.

A weekend in Prague

Prague is a wonderful city. Like Vienna it is rich in history and has well preserved old buildings that contribute a lot to the flair of the city. Prague was also the center of Alchemy for a long period and when you wander the streets you can still feel why. Narrow streets, sharp corners, small houses with low entrance doors and walls of dark stone make you feel the magic.

The view from Charles Bridge to the castle of Prague.

 

 Palais Schwarzenberg

 The Golden Lane - a row of very small houses outside the castle's wall. 

Here (they say) the alchemists lived, outside of the city where they couldn't do much harm 

when they set their houses on fire while trying to create gold.

 Tyn Church where Tycho Brahe, the famous astronomer, is buried.

 The entrance to Charles Bridge

 An entrance door to an appartement building

 The astronical clock

The clock is composed of three components: the astronomical dial, 
representing the position of the sun and the moon and displaying various astronomical details; 
"The Walk of the Apostles", a clockwork hourly show 
of figures of the Apostles (those are the two blue doors at the top) 
and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months.