Summer time is party time in Portugal, and a party just isn’t a party without sardines and chorizo cooked over the coals and served with heaps of Portuguese bread (which is officially the most delicious in the world. Officially) and ridiculous amounts of beer. Welcome to the Lisbon sardine festival…
A few randoms/outtakes from an engagement shoot we did in Guincho last week, see the full post here…
The town of Óbidos is about an hour or so drive north of Lisbon and is a gorgeous and well preserved slice of mediaeval Portugal, complete with stone castles and thick walls all the way around. They also have a chocolate festival once a year. We went for the chocolate, but unfortunately, dogs aren’t allowed at the festival, so no chocolate for us. Instead, we wandered the tiny cobblestone roads and imagined living in the walled city hundreds of years ago, in constant fear of an attack by the Spanish, or the Moors, or both… makes todays financial “crisis” pale…
I love these photos for too many reasons to fully explain. The memories they carry make me nostalgic for the “old days” but also make me laugh at how silly and inexperienced we were, and how much dumb stuff we got up to… In 2006, home from my second contract as a cruise ship photographer, my good friend Tara and I decided to go on a “Thelma and Louise” road trip… except we didn’t plan on killing anyone, blowing up petrol trucks or driving off a cliff at the end… but I digress. We borrowed my dad’s 4 wheel drive…
Guincho is a beach on the Cascais coastline, just a little bit south of the Cabo de Roca. Generally known as the windy beach this is the kite-boarders spot and on any given day the sky is usually packed with brightly coloured kites… like Cape Town’s Blouberg when the South Easter is kicking. Luckily for me and my camera there was virtually no wind this past weekend… I have some more night shots too, but they have a totally different look so will be posted a bit later in the week.
There is a surprisingly large amount of things that Zé Pequeno and I have in common… we share a deep fondness for roast chicken, walking on the beach, nap time… and chasing the pigeons. This is Setubal, a beautiful city located on the banks of the Sado river, about half an hour south of Lisbon.
All good things come to an end, so they say… And our trip to Cape Town was incredibly good, so I guess the better it is, the faster it goes. It was bitter-sweet to leave, but it wasn’t goodbye… we will be back. This was our last night here, these photos taken at Derdesteen beach on the west coast.
Albert Rd, Woodstock – 2011 Long Street, Cape Town – 2011 Full moon rise seen from Signal Hill – 2010
Kerry Murray 