architecture
Another place I have visited but never before featured on my blog is Austria. I visited twice - once for work, then again for leisure -, and both times I spent most of the time in Vienna. It turned out to be a city full of interesting buildings to photograph. I feature some of them in the images below.
I was lucky enough to spend three years studying for my undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford in the UK, and I still miss it at times. The city is a charming mixture of many architectural styles, dating as far back as the 1000s, when it was founded. My college was more modern than most, built exclusively with the purpose of accepting women as students and academic staff at the University in Victorian times, but I still got to explore almost every other college in my time there. The collection of images below is a little longer than my usual blog post length, but I hope it will be a fun one to scroll through.
Over the past few weeks, I shared images of my 2016 trip to Greece, especially the Cyclades islands. For my last blog post from this trip, I return to the mainland.
I had always dreamt of travelling to Greece prior to that, and this trip delivered in every imaginable way. However, if I were to do it over again, I would be spending less time in Athens and instead visit a few more islands (I hope to make it to Rhodes some day!). Nevertheless, I loved exploring the Acropolis ruins, and learning about Greek history and mythology.
The villages of Fira, Imerovigli, and Emporio in Santorini are just as stunning as their more readily recognised cousin, the exclusively blue-and-white Oia. Here, the houses and churches take on different architectural styles and residents get a little more creative with their house paint colours. So here is a little more Santorini…
Marvão is another small medieval town nested within the Portalegre district. It is known for its white buildings with colourful trimmings, and the local castle. I enjoyed a peaceful couple of days in this town. Here are some of my favourite images from my meanderings through its streets…
Sintra is a small town, surrounded by castles. It is where the Portuguese monarchy used to spend their holidays away from Lisbon, bringing their sumptuous palaces and gardens along with them. Two of the palaces we explored during our visit to Sintra on a very foggy day were Quinta da Regaleira and the National Palace of Pena. The national palace was almost entirely shrouded in mist, giving an eery atmosphere to the place.
The Tower of Belém is arguably one of the most recognisable landmarks of Lisbon. I enjoyed exploring it both from the waterfront, and having a look at it from the inside (which was well worth queueing up for!). If you are planning to visit, don’t miss out the top floors, which provide jaw-dropping views over Belém and beyond.
My most recent trip to Portugal started off in the capital city of Lisbon. We spent a few days there enjoying the mouth-watering food and the incredible architecture. Lisbon is famous for its painted tiles, colonial architecture, meandering trams, and colourful streets. All of which I have tried to capture a little bit off for my very first post on it. From now on, I will be posting new content from Portugal every Saturday - so check back next week for more!
