Cascais - Portugal.

[Originally posted on Mar 11th, 2008]

Category: QUARTERS

Traditional Portuguese Architecture: granite and timber balcony, typical house in Pitões das Júnias, Montalegre.

[Originally posted on Mar 11th, 2008]

Category: THE ARCHITECTURE

... to watch the Palio di Siena (a traditional medieval bareback horse race, late afternoon, in the famous Piazza del Campo, Sienna - Italy).

Piazza del Campo during the Palio. Sienna, Tuscany - Italy.

NOTE: On March 8th, 2008, a crowd of demonstrator teachers and professors (100 000) invaded Lisbon, to protest against the policies of the Portuguese Minister of Education. THANK YOU, PROFESSORS!

[Originally posted on Mar 9th, 2008]

Category: THE CITY

(or Marubakaido Apple Tree)

Malus prunifolia, Rosaceae Family - mid Abril at Quinta das Lágrimas, Coimbra.
Cf. Jorge Paiva & M. Lúcia Catarino, O Arboreto da Quinta das Lágrimas (Quinta das Lágrimas' Arboretum).

[Originally posted on Mar 7th, 2008]

Category: THE TREE

Tavira, Algarve - Portugal.

Copenhagen - Denmark.

[Originally posted on Mar 7th, 2008]

Category: THE COASTAL LAND

- BUT SOME OF THEM ARE SPECIALLY SPECIAL.

From the Declaration of the Rights of the Child:
(proclaimed by the United Nations at November 20th, 1959)

Principle 5. The child who is physically, mentally or socially handicapped shall be given the special treatment, education and care required by his particular condition.

NOTE: A call to read, sign and spread the word about an ongoing petition to improve the Portuguese Law (Decreto-Lei) 3/2008, January 7th, concerning children with special education needs.

[Originally posted on Mar 6th, 2008]

Category: UNIVERSAL TEXTS

Cork oaks (Quercus suber, Fagaceae family) seeded on January 15th, 2008.
[Cascais - Portugal].

[Originally posted on Mar 6th, 2008]

Category: A STORY ABOUT CORK OAKS

The Cork Oak - Sobreiro (Quercus suber, Fagaceae family) is a large native tree to Portugal.
The acorns were seeded on January 15th, 2008 - the plants' age is referenced to that date.

[Cascais - Portugal].

[Originally posted on Mar 5th, 2008]

Category: A STORY ABOUT CORK OAKS

Balance - Lightness - Sobriety. Good architects often reveal themselves better in simple works.

Almograve, Odemira - Portugal.

[Originally posted on Mar 4th, 2008]

Category: THE ARCHITECTURE

... «you must remember to teach your children that the rivers are our brothers, and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness that you would give my brother.»
Indian Chief Seattle's reply, in 1854, to The Great White Chief in Washington Franklin Pierce, who had made an offer to buy a large area of Indian land (this document was published by the United Nations for the celebration of World Environment Day in 1976).

Ethnographic Park and the Arnoia River, Allariz (Ourense, Galicia) - Spain.

«If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?»
(idem, ibidem)

[Originally posted on Mar 3rd, 2008]

Category: THE WATER

The Peace Pagoda of Battersea Park in London - England.

[Originally posted on Mar 3rd, 2008]

Category: A CLOSE LOOK

Copenhagen - Denmark.

London - England.

Tavira (Algarve) - Portugal.

[Originally posted on Mar 2nd, 2008]

Category: PARKS AND GARDENS

«The amount of old electronics, or e-waste, such as computers, phones and TVs being discarded every year is growing rapidly. In many countries it's the fastest growing type of waste as cheap prices mean replacing electronics is cheaper than fixing them, while low price often means low quality and a very short life spans.»

E-waste: a computer's mainboard (detail).

«Since August 2006 Greenpeace has been ranking the major electronics companies' efforts phase out toxic chemicals and improve recycling programs - both vital steps to tackle e-waste.»
(Read more: Greenpeace International News).

NOTE: The virtual office of Greenpeace Portugal has recentely been launched, on February 22nd, 2008.

[Originally posted on Mar 2nd, 2008]

Category: LOOSE LEAVES

(Azulejo - from the arabian al Zulaicj, that later became aljulej - small flat and polished stone).

The use of ceramic tiles in Portuguese architecture dates back to the 15th and 16th centuries, after the moorish presence and influence on the Iberian Peninsula.

An «important characteristic of the repetition patterns is the way in which the compositions are organized, always showing (with more or less subtlety) diagonals opposing to vertical and horizontal lines, main elements in architecture.»
Rafael Salinas Calado, 5 Séculos do Azulejo em Portugal - 5 Centuries of the Tile in Portugal, 1985.

«The tile is essencially an element that brightens the surface, reflecting light, heat and sound. [...]
It cannot - mostly - be appreciated peace by peace, because it is conceived to be seen as a whole definitely integrated in the architecture [...].»
(idem, ibidem).

NOTE: This post should have a link to the Azulejo National Museum web site, which is at the moment being renewed and therefore unavailable.

[Originally posted on Mar 1st, 2008]

Category: THE HERITAGE

(The original portuguese post starts with an excerpt from a Miguel Torga's poem, that unfortunately I cannot translate).

A stream by Santa Maria das Júnias' Monastery, Montalegre (Montalegre means "Cheerful Mount").

[Originally posted on Feb 27th, 2008]

Category: THE WATER

Two images of Vienna, Austria, in April.

[Originally posted on Feb 26th, 2008]

Category: THE CITY

An international Petition to achieve a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare at the United Nations is on line.

Wading birds, probably of the genus Calidris (Winter plumage), at the Tamariz Beach, Estoril - Cascais.

The Petition for a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare has "one strategic goal - global recognition that animals are sentient beings, capable of feeling pain and suffering" and has already reached 1 million signatures (www.animalsmatter.org).

NOTE: Some nowadays examples of cruelty towards animals are exposed in different web sites such as:

- WSPA, World Society for the Protection of Animals.

- Whale Watch, it's Time to Watch their Welfare - a coalition of non-governmental organizations led by WSPA "in order to raise public awareness of the inhumane methods used to kill whales."

[Originally posted on Feb 24th, 2008]

Category: UNIVERSAL TEXTS

In the gardens of the Queluz National Palace, Sintra - Portugal.

[Originally posted on Feb 23rd, 2008]

Category: A CLOSE LOOK

Parede, Cascais - The Avencas Beach (Avencas means Maidenhair) is still a living example of the coastal biodiversity, under and above the sea level, specially because of its rocky intertidal zone (the continental platform, predominantely limestone, with "steps" and basalt intrusions).

Here, one can watch:
... different species of animals, plants, protists and fungi, their adaptations and the interactions between beings and environment;
... different sorts of rocks, strata and intrusions;
... the effects of hydrodynamics, as well as of eolian and hydraulic erosion.

It is therefore a real living laboratory, which diversity and dynamics have been affected and diminished by all sorts of human activities, but which we must preserve and recover, as much as still possible.

NOTE: The Municipality of Cascais (Câmara Municipal de Cascais) and the Commission for Coordination and Regional Development of Lisbon and Tagus Valley (Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional de Lisboa e Vale do Tejo) have recentely reached an agreement on the "requalification" of the Avencas Beach. And "requalification" is a very up to date word, but very many times with no meaning at all!

[Originally posted on Feb 22nd, 2008]

Category: THE COASTAL LAND