Sagres is the most Western tip of Portugal... it is a town that likes to think it is the "tip" of Europe. Where explorers like Henry the Navigator took off from. The cliffs, lighthouse and fort off this "Continent Corner" are really spectacular.









As you can see, the cliffs are quite tall and sheer. So they obviously make a very desirable fishing spot.



This daredevil was not the only one fishing off the cliffs. I asked the guy running the ticket booth for the fort how many fishermen are lost each year to the cliffs. "Not many," came the response.

No trip to a coastal region would be complete without a boat trip. This boat trip was pretty cold, but the photos were worth it. And yes, those are flamingos.

One of my first stops was to Sintra, a dramatic town just outside Lisbon. This town is NOT in the Algarve, but it was too pretty to pass up despite being pretty jetlagged. This town has a palace and a castle built into a hillside. If you ever have a chance to go there, do.

Portugal's Southern Coast is called, "The Algarve" and it is an exceptionally popular summer vacation spot. Obviously, I didn't go there in the summer. So I did expect there to be fewer people there than at the height of their tourist season. What I didn't expect was for the place to be more or less empty. The town where I stayed was a virtual ghost town. The hotel's beach and pool area were totally deserted.





Most of the shops, restaurants and bars were closed. Period. And the ones that WERE open.. well... let's just say, getting good service was never an issue.



Video does an even better job of illustrating this... here is the only bar/nightclub that was open on the main drag. At about 8pm on a Wednesday night. And I realize that most bars are not exactly heaving with people on a Wednesday night at 8pm, but this is impressive:




Now, I was staying in a hotel where I know there were other people staying. I saw several in passing in the elevators. I confirmed with the hotel that they did indeed have other guests. About mid-vacation, I figured out just where everybody was. At the hotel's nightly Bingo game. No joke. Saw the most people (whether they were locals or tourists) in one place during my entire stay in Portugal at a Bingo bar:

Nativity scenes are also extremely popular. They are literally EVERYWHERE. I'm not even remotely exaggerating here. Sure, every town had its own "big" one... but every shop, hotel, church, etc had at least one as well.

This one was a "live" one... I realize it is empty at the moment, but the animals were on a "break."



This one is a "mini" nativity that has a bit of a "diarama" quality:



Here, despite nativities being 3D by nature, this one tried really hard not to be:



This store clearly thinks that the kings and shepards who visited the baby Jesus were very tall fashionable Portugese women.



This one was in a firehouse. It took a whole fire engine parking space.

Almost every town and village had a red carpet running through its major shopping area. At first I thought it must lead somewhere special, but no... it is just there to be festive.




And if you think this looks like it could be a good runway for a fashion show, you are right. Saw one of those being rehearsed.



In Faro, one of these carpets did in fact lead to Santa. Who apparently lives in a golf ball.

I just got back from my trip to Portugal's Southern Coast. It was a very eventful and fun week's vacation. I promise many blog entries about my adventures, with photos and videos to support them. I wasn't sure where to start, but because it is Christmas week, I'll start with how the Portuguese get their Christmas on.

The very first day, almost within an hour of starting my sightseeing, I saw this, which I thought was pretty funny and unique, until I realized that just about everybody in Portugal has one. I guess this is the only way Santa can get into houses since so few on the coast have chimneys:



It also became very apparent that on the coast, there are not many "traditionally shaped" evergreen trees that can effectively be strung up with lights. So instead, enormous metal cones are set up in village and town squares for this purpose:




Overall, it seemed that the Portuguese felt like they didn't have enough traditional places to string lights, so they lit up just about everything in sight.




And yes, that park bench was relatively toasty.

I also discovered that poinsettias can grow to be quite tall if you let them.

This week I had the privilege of trying Lutefisk for the first time. For those of you who may not be familiar, this is a Scandinavian fish dish that is traditional at Christmas. I've been dying to try this stuff ever since I saw it on the TV show, "Bizarre Foods." Why is this dish so "bizarre?" The Scandinavians essentially cure the heck out of it... with salt... and lye. Yes, lye... as in the poisonous stuff that can kill you. So for a time during the curing process, the fish is deadly. NICE.

I had been warned that the consistency of this stuff was kinda like jello. I HATE jello, but I was still willing to give it a whirl. This is what it looked like when it arrived at my seat. The lutefisk is saucy stuff in the lower section of the plate:




Does that look like jello to you? I didn't think so. It had absolutely no texture at all... As I stared at it, it seemed to be losing its composure, so to speak... I took video of somebody trying to eat it to better demonstrate:




After eating this... yes, I ate it... the sauce is nice... I come to find out that the fish was totally over cooked. Huh. You don't say. And those people who are willing to give "non-overcooked" Lutefisk another try, can come back in January for a Lutefisk Dinner Take II. Stay tuned for an updated review.

Haven't posted very many photos recently.. the reason for that is, for the most part, the weather has sucked. For like the past month. Happens in these parts, unfortunately.

Here are some photos I took in Vancouver recently where the weather was better.

Recently I attended a minor league hockey game. I was excited to go because I hadn't been to a hockey game of any kind in almost a year. In addition, I was also jazzed because I had seen an advertisement in the paper for the game that indicated it was "teddy bear toss night." i love teddy bears, so i was excited about possibly getting one.

As it turns out, I could not possibly have misread that advertisement more than I did.

There would be no free teddy bears. Not for the audience anyways. Walking through the crowd before the game, it became obvious that you were supposed to BRING a bear with you. Ooops.

Instead of setting up bins around the arena for people to give their bears/stuffed animals, THIS is what happened after the first goal was scored.



I wasn't ready with the camera.. I wasn't expecting this... so I started videoing about 15 seconds after the throwing started. Who ever came up with this idea deserves a prize and a hug.

As predicted, I just couldn't wait to get back into the butterfly house with my good camera.

All Saints Day was celebrated at the Seattle Center yesterday. Some of these pictures have to do with All Saints. Some have to do with the needle. I was experimenting with my macro lens.