Travel stories: To a nation that once conquered the seas

Seville had a strong moorish influence.

Sevilla - a place full of energy

Easter of 2011 provided me one of the best backpacking trips I ever had. When I travel alone, I get the best out of the trips - time expands, my memory card fills up quicker and battery cycles get shorter! But that is the fun of traveling when there is limited time, if I want to relax I can do it at home on my couch. One of the most important things about this specific trip was that I experimented with different kinds of photography, not just sticking to my usual genre of landscapes. I started out to capture good images of people, birds, flowers, buildings and anything - so basically good images!

My starting point was Granada in Spain, and the major motivation was to travel across Portugal with a few interest points. So Seville was a natural first destination in Spain and then crossing the border to the southern most part of Portugal. Due to the lack of seats on the bus, I had to stay in Seville for the day and take the bus towards Faro at midnight. So re-visiting Seville it is! We had a pretty messy road trip in Seville before.

Sevillanas like to have flowers in their hair

An old city with cute narrow streets to keep a cool air flow in summers and rocky old buildings add a lot of charm to the picture, if one is reading a romantic novel or watching an actress walk around those streets in a bright red dress. But certainly not if one has to drive a rented car through those streets to an unknown destination. That is why it was a messy one, but the city definitely has a charm. I only found it when I visited it on foot. There are open concerts, ladies in nice dresses and kids playing in the park - in one word "Energy". The city was full of energy, owing to the approaching Semana Santa, a huge celebration during the Easter week. It is said that Seville is the place to be during that particular week. The old part of the city is quite charming with the Cathedral that is partially visible from most of the small streets. After a nice dinner, I embarked on my voyage to the country that conquered the seas during the 15th century.

Downtown Faro on a non-crowded morning

I often overestimate my abilities and this was one such time when I reached Faro at 4 AM. The city with small dark alleys, not a single soul roaming around and the sound of tides hitting the port sent all sorts of creepy thoughts into my head. Luckily it was safer than it seemed. I started my day with a nice breakfast and set out to explore the town really early. It is a really impressive cute town by the side of the sea. A lot of old stone-buildings occupy most of the old town. I went into the town on a sunday morning at 7 AM, so I had some of the really amazing shots without many people. It always proved as a good tip for shooting city scapes to wake up early on a sunday morning and usually the city is all yours. The trip to Faro was just to reach a more remote place called Portimão.

Formations on the sea side close to Portimão

Praia da Rocha is a beach with rock formations next to the sea close to Portimao. There are cliffs that drop straight into the ocean and provide a surrealistic landscape. It can be seen in the image. There are several cave formations that are fun to explore, but one must take care because the rocks are sharp and can easily injure badly if someone slips on them. A funny story happened on my way back to Faro. I got adventurous and just got down at some random stop knowing very well that the bus I was on was the last one for the day. The only way back to Faro was to take the last train from a small town close by which was 6 KM from the stop. I went to a small cafe by the train station for a warm cup of coffee and ended up starting small talk with the locals there. Apparently, they confused me to a well-tanned spanish guy. I used Spanish as my communication medium in Portugal, it works better than English there. And when I actually pointed out India and told them that I was from there - they were surprised, they said I was the first Indian guy they ever met. My trip to Faro to get a glimpse of Algarve district was a success. I would like to go back there and spend a few days just exploring that one district, which is rich in nature. From here, the next stop is Lisbon - the most beautiful city I have seen so far.

This blog is the first of the series of four blogs describing my Easter vacation in 2011.

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