Alcochete, once again. I've been playing with blog templates recently, until I find one that seems pleasant. I'm posting some of these older pictures to see if they look better in the webpage....

The seagulls were all over the place today...

Very bright and cloudless days recently, and also very cold.

Seagulls, flying near the river in Alcochete.

The only way to reach some of these beaches is by using a small train, which is only operational during a few months in the Summer. The tracks are now covered by sand.

Beach at Fonte da Telha, Caparica.

These beaches are far from town and are usually deserted.

With such glorious spring weather, it would be a shame not to visit the beach!

The local townhall has just named one of the area's scenic roads after Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet. "Poeta do Chile, do mundo e do sonho", says the inscription. Poet of Chile, the world and of dreams.

Later, I drove near the hills in Caparica, close to the sea.

In Alvalade, over the main church, I found more shadows...

Not much to do this afternoon, after paying the house bills, so I went chasing tree shadows once again. And found this house in ruins, not far from my area.

Tivoli Hotel, near the Expo 98 area, where we often go for coffee...

Today, driving around, after the rain...

When I left the restaurant used the ISO 800 to capture this picture. I really liked that blue tonality in the night sky - it seemed black with the naked eye.

I parked the car in this narrow and deserted street... I'm surprised these pictures are watchable at all, as I didn't use the flash again.

Lovely 19th century buildings in this area. That's the Portuguese flag you can see in a window - it became fashionable to show one during the Euro 2004, and some haven't been removed since than.

It was around 8.20 pm...

Yesterday, I went to a birthday party, in a restaurant somewhere in a small village south of Lisbon. A small miracle happened: after five months of drought (something never seen this century in winter) it finally rained. I used my digicam at ISO 400 to take this picture.

When I left the tram, near Restauradores... A colour picture for a change...

And there we went, down the hill... The one in the picture was actually coming up.

View from the back, inside the tram.

I suppose this thing is well over a hundred years old...

Inside the tram...

Later, heading back home, I decided to use this old tram, which connects the Bairro Alto to the Restauradores, in the center. It had been quite a while since I had last been inside.

I left the underground in the Chiado station, and while trying to photograph the buildings, secretely photographed this couple asking for directions to a policeman... I don't know about you guys, but I find photographing strangers quite... embarassing!

Looking at these trees from the other side of the world, I wondered if this is how forests in Australia looked like...

The eucalyptus trees in the park are some of the tallest in the city.

It had been a long time since I crossed the park in Campo Grande. I had forgotten how beautiful the trees are here. Some palm trees are of a variety we don't usually see here, like this one.

Today, I did what I rarely do these days - to walk. To save time finding a place to park in the city, I left my car in a parking area and used public transportation for a change. The sky was partly cloudy at midday and the sun created strange shadows near this place, in Campo Grande.