Most of my husband´s family is from the Alentejo and half of them still live out there, in various towns scattered across the countryside. This works out perfectly as we are always visiting one house or the other and the Alentejo just so happens to be my favourite part of Portugal. This is Alcaçovas, where we spend our Easters.
Last summer we hopped on a ferry boat in the fishing town of Peniche to spend the day on Berlenga island, off the west coast of Portugal. The Berlenga archipelago is a nature reserve so the “human footprint” is quite limited… apart from a few houses at the harbour, the lighthouse and the fort, there isn´t much here apart from seagulls and clear blue seas. We only spend the day but I loved the wildness of this place and would definitely like to come back and spend a few days here.
Being a freelancer and working from home has it´s pro´s and con´s, like everything else in life. Pro´s include being able to work when the inspiration strikes, whether it´s during the “real world work hours” or at 3am and conversely, being able to take time off on a Tuesday afternoon because the weather is great and you´d really just like to be on the beach right now. It also means that you can spend the entire day in your pyjamas which may or may not be a good thing… I´m on the fence about that one. The crappy part, however,…
We visited the Costa Vicentina several times this year and anyone who has been following this blog for more than 5 minutes will have realised that it´s pretty much our favourite part of Portugal… you can see more here and here. These images are from several different trip throughout this summer…
Marvão is a small town in the northern region of the Alentejo, very close to the Spanish border. Like many other border towns with ancient origins, the purpose of it´s existence was to protect against invading enemy troops which is why it is heavily fortified and perched on top of a hill with an unobstructed view for kilometres in every direction. It seems I have a bit of a thing for these border towns and it´s fascinating to visit them spread out from north to south along the border… their reasons for existence are all the same but the way they´ve been…
Earlier this year I spent a week in Albufeira photographing the city and surroundings for Booking.com. They have recently launched a new “Travel Guides” feature on their site, exclusively for people who have booked accommodation through them, and they asked me to photograph their new guide for Albufeira. I can´t post the link here because it´s only visible to booking.com members who have reserved accommodation in the area but I grabbed a few screen shots to give you an idea of how my images were used…
The Ilha do Farol is probably one of my favourite places in the Algarve, at least from what I´ve seen so far. This southern stretch of Portugal has unfortunately (but quite deservedly) made a bit of a reputation for itself as being cheap, trashy and full of drunk Brits on holidays… you don´t need to spend more than 5 minutes in Albufeira to know what I´m talking about. (Quick tip… don´t ever, ever go to Albufeira.) But the Ilha do Farol is none of these things… this long thin island off the coast of Olhão is only accessible by boat…
The Mercado do Bolhão in Porto is one of the most iconic markets in the city and dates back to the early 1800´s. I´m sure that in it´s hey-day it must have been one of the biggest and busiest markets in Porto but unfortunately it has fallen into disrepair and is desperately in need of renovations and some serious structural improvements. There are sections of the market that are, literally, being held up by scaffolding and there are a lot of empty stalls and shops. Nevertheless, this market is still worth the visit and hopefully something will be done to…
As promised last week, here a few out-takes and some of my favourite images from a recent assignment for Accent magazine, Aeromexico´s inflight magazine. You can see the tear sheets from the magazine HERE.
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…
Kerry Murray 