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| From 2026 01 02 Salamanca, Spain |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Salamanca, Spain. The photo shows the heart of the Old City. It's medieval. It's beautiful. It's walkable. It's been walkable for a thousand years. The historic Via de la Plata, a branch of the Camino de Santiago, passes through Salamanca. For centuries, it's carried Christian pilgrims for hundreds of kilometers from Seville to Santiago de Compostela.
Bonus photo after the jump.
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| From 2026 01 02 Salamanca, Spain |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Salamanca, Spain. Our river cruise ship docked on the border between Portugal and Spain where we transferred to coaches for a day trip to Salamanca. Settlement in Salamanca dates to the Iron Age. The ancient Romans founded a city there. The Christian Kingdom of Leon took hold in the 11th century. So, yeah, Salamanca is old. It's also beautiful and off the beaten track.
Bonus photo after the jump.
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| From 2025 12 31 Porto, Lamego, Castelo Rodrigo |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of the Almirante Sarmento Rodrigues Bridge, which spans the Douro River in the village of Barca d'Alva, Portugal, about half a mile from the border with Spain.
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| From 2025 12 31 Porto, Lamego, Castelo Rodrigo |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Castle of Castelo Rodrigo in Portugal. According to Wikipedia, "It is believed that the castle was founded in the 6th century based on legends. After the village was conquered by Alfonso IX of León in the late 11th/early 12th century, he ordered to build the castle and reinforce the defensive line. The name of the village, as well as the castle comes from the name of the Count Rodrigo Gonzalez de Girón who was responsible for the defense of the castle. The Castelo Rodrigo was incorporated into the Kingdom of Portugal in 1297 with the Treaty of Alcañices between King Denis of Portugal and King Fernando IV of Castile."
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| From 2025 12 31 Porto, Lamego, Castelo Rodrigo |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of the Douro River in Portugal. It's wine country. Full of vineyards. Grapes are harvested, crushed, fermented and transferred to oak casks for shipment down the river to Porto cellars where the wine matures before export to the world. We visited in mid-winter when things are quiet. Even the river seems to be at rest.
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| From 2025 12 31 Porto, Lamego, Castelo Rodrigo |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of the magnificent boulevard in Lamego, Portugal (pop. 24,000). This wide, tree-lined avenue is seemingly many times too big for the small city. On a foggy, mid-winter day like the one we visited, not just the end of the boulevard is lost in the mist, but even the sides of the avenue seem to fade into the fog.
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| From 2025 12 31 Porto, Lamego, Castelo Rodrigo |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies in Lamego, Portugal. Our visit was on a foggy midwinter day that gave the site a particularly romantic cast. According to Wikipedia, "Popular devotion to the site dates back to a chapel, dedicated to Saint Stephen, erected in 1361. Over time, devotion to Saint Stephen diminished, replaced by devotion to the Virgin Mary. The devotion of those who turned to her seeking relief from illness, in turn, gave rise to devotion to Our Lady of Remedies. The current sanctuary was begun in 1750 and only completed in 1905."
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| From 2025 12 31 Porto, Lamego, Castelo Rodrigo |
Beginning our cruise up Portugal's Douro River, today's photo-of-the-day is from the Carrapatelo Lock. It is one of the deepest and highest river locks in Europe, featuring a large water level change of about 35 meters (115 feet).
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| From 2025 12 31 Porto, Lamego, Castelo Rodrigo |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Porto, Portugal. Porto is the second largest city of Portugal, after Lisbon, with a population of its metropolitan area of 1.9 million. According to Wikipedia, "On the Douro River estuary in northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest European centers, and its core was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996...Port wine, one of Portugal's most famous exports, is named after Porto, as the metropolitan area, and in particular the cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia, were responsible for the packaging, transport, and export of fortified wine."
Porto by day. Click for a photo of Porto by night.
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| From 2025 12 28 Pena, Cascais, Óbidos, Nazaré |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Nazaré, Portugal. According to Wikipedia, "Nazaré is one of the most popular seaside resorts in the Silver Coast (Costa de Prata). It is famous for its huge waves and surfing competitions. As of 2026, the record for the tallest wave ever surfed stands at a wave measured at 26.2 m (86 ft) at Nazaré in 2020."
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| From 2025 12 28 Pena, Cascais, Óbidos, Nazaré |
Today's photo-of-the-day shows Óbidos, Portugal, decorated for Christmas. Its history goes back to the Romans, Visigoths, and Moors. According to Wikipedia, "Óbidos is located on a hilltop, encircled by a fortified wall. Óbidos remains a well-preserved example of medieval architecture; its streets, squares, walls and its castle are popular tourist destinations." According to a Portuguese tourism guide, "The best way to end your trip to Óbidos is with a shot of 'ginja de Óbidos,' or 'ginjinha'. This cherry liqueur is a famous local drink, and is often served in a chocolate cup. It originated with 17th-century monks from the region, who combined Morello cherries and brandy, and drank it as an aperitif or after dinner. Today, any time is a good time to try the dark red drink, as many visitors to Óbidos do."
Bonus photo after the jump.
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| From 2025 12 28 Pena, Cascais, Óbidos, Nazaré |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of the National Palace of Pena in Portugal. According to Wikipedia, "The Pena Palace is a Romanticist palace in São Pedro de Penaferrim, in the municipality of Sintra, on the Portuguese Riviera. The castle stands on the top of a hill in the Sintra Mountains above the town of Sintra, and on a clear day it can be easily seen from Lisbon and much of its metropolitan area. It is a national monument and constitutes one of the major expressions of 19th-century Romanticism in the world. The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. It is also used for state occasions by the President of the Portuguese Republic and other government officials."
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| From 2025 12 27 Lisbon |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Adega Marchada, which according to Google, is a "nightspot dating back to 1937 for fado music & local dishes, filled with historic photos & art." It made for a great night out in Lisbon.
According to "Wikipedia, "Fado is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins...Fado is commonly regarded as simply a form of song which can be about anything, but must follow a certain traditional structure. In popular belief, fado is a form of music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor, and infused with a sense of resignation, fate and melancholy."
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| From 2025 12 27 Lisbon |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Praça do Comércio (Commerce Square) in Lisbon, Portugal. According to Wikipedia, it's "a large, harbour-facing plaza in Portugal's capital, Lisbon, and is one of the largest in Portugal, with an area of 175 by 175 m. Facing the Tagus river to the south, the square hosted Ribeira Palace, the King of Portugal's residence, until the latter was destroyed by the great 1755 Lisbon earthquake." (a tragedy that separates before and after in the city's history in many ways).
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| From 2025 12 27 Lisbon |
Roasted chestnuts. Not really. But that's the judgment of Caterina, "a pround Portuguese blogger." According to her, "they're a delicious treat served roasted in special portable ovens in the streets of Portugal. They’re called castanhas assadas and I'm not exaggerating when I say this is my favorite thing in the whole world to eat."
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Lisbon during Christmas season. It shows one vendor selling chestnuts roasted on an open fire. Sadly, in America, the chestnut blight killed billions of American chestnut trees in the 20th century. In Europe, however, the tradition is still going strong on the streets of Lisbon (and elsewhere), not only just in song.
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| From 2025 12 27 Lisbon |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the King Pedro IV Square in Lisbon, Portugal. According to Wikipedia, "The King Pedro IV Square, popularly known as Rossio, is a square in the Pombaline Downtown of Lisbon, Portugal. It has been one of its main squares since the Middle Ages. It has been the setting of popular revolts and celebrations, bullfights and executions, and is now a preferred meeting place of Lisbon natives and tourists alike."
Most buildings date from the reconstruction of the downtown carried out after the great 1755 Lisbon earthquake, which levelled most structures in the area. The earthquake shook European thought and literature, challenging the belief that everything happens for the best and prompting new debates about suffering, God, and the apparent indifference of nature. Voltaire famously responded by writing his satirical novel Candide to expose the gap between philosophical platitudes and real human suffering.
For us, the Rossio was just a big, beautiful plaza with the coolest cobblestone pattern that will always remind me of Lisbon.
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| From 2025 12 27 Lisbon |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon, Portugal. According to Wikipedia, "The Jerónimos Monastery is one of the most prominent examples of the late Portuguese Gothic Manueline style of architecture in Lisbon. It was erected in the early 1500s near the launch point of Vasco da Gama's first journey, and its construction funded by a tax on the profits of the yearly Portuguese India Armadas. [Think of that as a tax on billionaires.] In 1880, da Gama's remains and those of the poet Luís de Camões (who celebrated da Gama's first voyage in his 1572 epic poem The Lusiad), were moved to new carved tombs in the nave of the monastery's church, only a few meters away from the tombs of the kings Manuel I and John III, whom da Gama had served."
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| From 2025 12 27 Lisbon |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from Lisbon, Portugal, first stop on our New Year's trip this year whose highlight was a river cruise of Portugal's Douro River.
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| From 2025 09 22 Samarkand |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of miscellany from Uzbekistan. First, a sign for a public restroom. Next, a fast food place. Last, a common sight along the highways — storks nesting on power poles, chimneys, or any tall extension offering safety for nests.
Bonus photos are after the jump.
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| From 2025 09 22 Samarkand |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of the Shah-i-Zindi Necropolis in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. According to Wikipedia, the Shah-i-Zinda complex was formed over eight centuries, starting in the 11th century, and includes more than twenty mausoleums and other ritual buildings. "The name Shah-i-Zinda is connected with the legend that Qutham ibn Abbas, a cousin of Muhammad, is buried here. He came to Samarkand with the Arab invasion in the 7th century to preach Islam. According to one legend, he was decapitated during prayer, picked up his severed head, and walked to the deep well known as the Garden of Paradise, where he resides to this day."
Well, OK then. It's an impressive cemetery even without the legend.
A bonus photo is after the jump.