The highlight

  Our last stop on the trip was Barcelona -a city I had never visited before. Our hotel was right in the centre of the city which was just as well as it was too hot for walking far.

The highlight of our time in the city, and I’m sure most visitors to Barcelona, was the visit to the still uncompleted Basilica de la Sagrada Familia. A quite amazing piece of architecture with a really fascinating story.The story of the Basilica is well described by Wikepidia.

The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, otherwise known as Sagrada Família, is a church under construction in the Eximpla district of Barcelona. It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. 

Designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi (1852–1926), in 2005 his work on Sagrada Família was added to an existing (1984) UNESCO heritage site  "Works of Antoni Gaudí". On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a minor basilica.

On 19 March 1882, construction of Sagrada Família began under architect Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano

 In 1883, when Villar resigned, Gaudí took over as chief architect, transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Noveau forms. Gaudí devoted the remainder of his life to the project, and he is buried in the church's crypt. At the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.

Relying solely on private donations, Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War. In July 1936, anarchists from the FAI set fire to the crypt and broke their way into the workshop, partially destroying Gaudí's original plans.In 1939, Francesc de Paula Quintana took over site management, which was able to go on with the material that was saved from Gaudí's workshop and that was reconstructed from published plans and photographs. Construction resumed to intermittent progress in the 1950s. 

Advancements in technologies such as computer aided design and computerised numerical control (CNC) have since enabled faster progress, and construction passed the midpoint in 2010. In 2014, it was anticipated that the building would be completed by 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death, but this schedule was threatened by work slowdowns caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. In March 2024, an updated forecast reconfirmed a likely completion of the building in 2026, though the announcement stated that work on sculptures, decorative details and a controversial stairway leading to the main entrance is expected to continue until 2034.

There are two reasons building the Basilica has taken so long. Firstly -as set out in Gaudí's original plans many features were very difficult and even impossible to build. Modern technology has changed that. 

Having to rely solely on donations from the outset meant money was always short. This requirement has not changed however the huge number of visitors today has swelled the Basilica's coffers and finance is no longer a problem.

As I approached the Basilica the smartphones were shooting away all round me but I realised that no photo of mine at ground level could ever do the exterior of the Basilica justice. My single effort is below along with a photo of a model showing what the completed building will look like.However I did manage a distant shot from a viewpoint overlooking the city which gives a sense of the size of the Basilica.

With 1500 visitors going through the interior of the Basilica every hour it is a very busy space but only one word can describe the interior-breathaking.

As well as being very enjoyable the 15 days  in Portugal and Barcelona gave me 30 worthwhile photos. Not as many as from previous trips to Portugal but I’m happy with that number and I know that if I missed something Ros has it on her phone.

Leica Q3 43 photos

Scenes from the Douro.

The Douro Valley is described as an area of outstanding natural beauty. It does not disappoint. 

It's an old landscape with old long abandoned buildings and small vineyards and huge areas of very well maintained vines in the estates of the major wine/port producers. 

There was a narrow gauge railway line linking Porto to the Spanish city of Salamanca. It ran the length of the Douro in Portugal before it climbed into the hills to reach Salamanca. Sadly it closed in 1980 because it was uneconomic but I'm sure if it were running today it would be a major tourist attraction.

 Most of the track, including some spectacular bridges, is still intact. The base of the track can be seen in the top photo below and the abandoned building may have been a station or a freight building associated with the railway.

Reopening the railway today would most likely be impossibly costly but it would relatively make a stunning tourist cycleway as so much of it is intact.

 Here are some Douro scenes including a photo taken in one of the locks as the ship was undergoing a big lift. The ship just, but only just, fits into the locks. Superb parking skills by the captain. 

 

The grapes from Douro are used in making its most famous product, Port, and a variety of red and white wines.

The dominant producer is Sogrape with its famous Sandeman port brand.

 Leica Q3 43 photos

 

 

Do you remember Mateus Rosé?

 If you were a teenager through the 60's and into the 70's in the UK, Australia, US and probably many other countries Mateus Rosé will hold a special place in your heart. It was the default wine for many of us. It was reasonably priced and it came in a distinctive flagon shaped bottle which, when empty, made an ideal candle holder. 

How many Mateus bottles, complete with a candle and dried cascading wax adorned student rooms and flats through that era? Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, I'm sure.

It may well have been my refined taste in selecting a bottle of Mateus Rosé which impressed my  girlfriend-who later became my wife -on our first date at the local Chinese way back in 1966.

I was somewhat surprised to find that Mateus Rose is still being produced and sold worlwide including here in Australia where it is marketed at the bargain price of just A$12. The distinctive dark flagon shaped bottle has morphed into another, but still distinctive, shape and the label featuring the Mateus Palace has gone. Shame. 

The reason for my sudden interest to this link to my long distant youth is that, along with probably every other tourist who cruises the Douro, we visited Casa de Mateus-Mateus Palace. 

 The Palace still looks just like the wine label. The gardens are very attractive. The interior, complete with musty old palace smells, is pretty ho-hum although our visit was enlivened by a very droll commentary from the young guide.

At the end of the mercifully short tour we were able to sample the local drop. How does it taste? Well, let's just say that we both took a couple of sips and put our glasses back on the table without saying a word to each other. 

As I headed back to the tourist coach I took a photo of the Mateus vineyard landscape complete with a line of barely visible wind turbines on the crest of the distant hills. A very contempory Portugese scene.

 

 Leica Q3 43 photos

Iberian light and shade

I'm back from a great trip to Portugal and Spain. The trip was very enjoyable except I struggled sometimes to get worthwhile photos. 

My previous trips to Portugal in 2016, 2018 and 2019 were all self driving road trips. We stayed at small hotels, we drove the backroads and there were opportunities galore to take photos of the country and the locals.

We had a trip to Spain planned for 2020. Again we were going to self drive at our own pace. Sadly covid intervened and we had to abandon our plans. For my wife, very sadly, that trip of September 2019 was her last before cancer took her in April 2021. 

A lot has changed in my life in the years since that last visit to Portugal. I am 6 years older, with a new partner, so my perspective on travel has changed.

Previously I never had any issues jumping straight into a hire car at the airport after the long flight and driving on the right. It was something I had done for over 50 years. Now, after a 6 year break, I am not confident that I can do it safely.

So we decided on a cruise on the Duoro River starting and finishing in Porto. We flew into Lisbon, and after a few days there, headed north to Porto via Coimbra. After the cruise we flew to Barcelona for a few days and then home.

This itinerary meant travelling in a group and the timing meant we were there early June. Nothing prepared me for the numbers of tourists in all the cities we visited. Barcelona, in particular, was mass tourism on steroids and the locals are not happy about it. But I cannot complain as we were part of the problem.

So there were no backroads. No friendly locals sitting taking the sun in quiet villages. Also over the years many of my best photos have been taken in the morning golden hour as I am very happy to jump out of bed at 6.00 am and walk the local streets. You cannot do that on a ship. It was restricted photography but despite that I came back with a few photos which are, perhaps, worth sharing.

They were all taken with my Leica Q3 43 which I acquired earlier this year. The Q3 43 has a 43mm lens. On the previous Portugal journeys, I had used my Q2 with its 28mm lens. On this trip there were a few situations when I missed the wider lens. Having said that I really appreciate the 60mp sensor on the Q3 which allows me to aggressively crop. And above all else the lens on the Q3 43 is stunning. That's the only word to describe it.

Here are the first set of photos-light and shade- from Lisbon, Salamanca and Barcelona. More will follow.