Mértola | Alentejo

Mértola was one of the first places I visited in Portugal, back in 2007 while here on holiday for the first time. I remember being fascinated by the tiny white houses and mismatched roof tiles, so very different to what I was used to back home… but the thing that made the biggest impression, that took my breath away quite literally, was the heat. So much heat. No wind, no shade, just hot white light reflecting everywhere and a cloudless blue sky burning down from above. So keeping that in mind, try not to visit in the peak of summer… not…

Évora | Alentejo

Continuing with the Alentejo theme, this is Évora, the biggest city in the northern part of the region and a place that I have blogged about before, you can see more HERE. Things have been pretty crazy over at Piteira Photography the last few months and if you´ve been following me on Instagram you may have noticed that we´re on the road almost constantly, which is fun and exhilarating, but doen´t leave much time for beautifully descriptive blog posts… or for vacuuming the house, but that´s another story. So apologies for these short posts, I know it´s pretty much been “Here´s…

Travelling in Porto

We have visited Porto 3 or 4 times over the last few months, for work and just because… so these are a collection of images from several different trips. This city fascinated me, it´s very different to Lisbon, but also similar, in some ways… as it’s also on a river, with loads of steeps hills and narrow winding roads. The biggest difference for me is the light I think… it´s much darker than Lisbon, perhaps because of the weather, but also the buildings and streets themselves. In the south the buildings are either whitewashed or tiled and Lisbon is famous…

travel photography monsanto, central portugal

Autumn Road-trip – Monsanto

Last November, a few weeks before we left to spend Christmas in South Africa we went on a very spur-of-the-moment camping trip in central Portugal and the Serra da Estrela. I´d been wanting to explore this part of Portugal for ages, particularly the town of Monsanto and it´s little houses built into the boulder strewn hillside… it looked like something out of a fairytale and I really wanted to see it for myself. And so, while checking the weather report one day (I´m a total nerd for weather reports) I saw that we had a full week of sunny days…

Beach love – São Julião

São Julião is our favourite beach in Ericeira, especially when you time it right and the tide is all the way out… it goes for miles and is almost always empty. Pure bliss. If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen these already… they´re iPhone photos and edited with vsco cam.

Dia da Espiga

“Dia da Espiga” (roughly translated to Day of the Wheat) is a Portuguese tradition dating back centuries and is believed to have originated from an ancient Pagan ritual. In some parts of the country this day is declared a holiday and the tradition is to go for a morning walk in the countryside to pick a variety of wildflowers, various grains (wheat, oats etc) and olive branches to form a bouquet which you then hang behind your front door and should only be replaced the following year by a fresh bouquet. The various plants in the bouquet all have different…

Azulejos Lisbon Portugal

Azulejos

A long-time obsession of mine, photographing the amazing tiles in Portugal, has had new life breathed into it by having a camera on my phone. Documenting these everyday things that pass you by becomes so much easier when you have a camera with you in every situation. Yay for technology! These images were taken with my iPhone and edited with vscocam… follow me on Instagram for other obsessions, such as clouds and freshly squeezed orange juice, and my dog…

Travel photography Portugal

Castelo de Amourol

We went on a scouting mission a while ago, look for nice locations for photo shoots and found the Castelo de Amourol, which is an ancient castle built on an island in the Tejo (Tagus) river. Parts of the castle date back to pre-Roman times… which is an insane amount of time for a building to stand in the middle of a river. Theres not much here besides the stone walls of the castle itself… no restaurants, curio shops and the usual flotsam and jetsam of the tourism trade, which adds to the mystery of the place… Portugal is so…

travel photography portugal

Porto do Barril

Just a few photos from a sunset walk we did many months ago, back in the summer… they’ve been waiting patiently for me to have some time to edit and blog them. The coastline between Ericeira and Santa Cruz is full of wheat fields, tall cliffs and secret coves… And in other news, I received a notification yesterday that this little blog of mine has reached 1000 followers… which simultaneously surprises and delights me! I have no idea why you have all stuck around since I blog so infrequently but I am so grateful that you have… and even if…