Lamb, lamb and more lamb please! ( by Susan Noeller)

I have to say,  I understand why many do not like to eat meat.  I  respect that.   But … that said I have to share my meal with you.  OML  if this is in way a way a reflection of how my next 2 weeks will be…culinary wise.   I will be in heaven!      I will also eat fish here, I guess, maybe….. Hard for me to turn my back on my favorite food in the world lol. Susan

Post Scriptum: Dear all, Paula here. I am the one who doesn’t eat meat 🙂 and I hope to find vegetables, cereals  and fruit in Niceland 😉

This meal… there are no words. . Add a glass of red wine.

this is so neat! a polished lava rock for the herb butter

View from my table to the lagoon. When I left the line of people to come in and go swimming swimming was amazing! Although, it never looked crowed there. An amazing experience, glad I jumped in!

The Blue Lagoon – Iceland

Waves at you all from the Blue Lagoon is out side of Reykjavik, Iceland.   I have arrived a couple days prior to the rest of our group so enjoying some ME time. Had a nice relaxing massage while floating in the water.  (still don’t know how I managed not to flip into the water)  These massage therapists have it down to a science!   A nice dinner and wine.  My First day in Iceland TWO THUMBS UP!

Funny thing, I found myself being a personal selfie stick to many of the visitors alone the path to and from Hotel to Blue Lagoon.    I have to say it’s quite funny,  Must be my  10 pound camera around my  neck that makes them ask.   But the funny part is when they want to explain how to take the photo!  lol  Actually they were all quite great.   Was fun day.  Even had a few make comments about my Kansas City Royals shirt!   Hi5!

The Blue Lagoon was formed in 1976 during operation at the nearby geothermal power plant. In the years that followed, people began to bathe in the unique water and apply the silica mud to their skin. Those with psoriasis noticed an incredible improvement in their condition. Over the years, Blue Lagoon has been innovative in harnessing this gift of nature to develop different spa services and products. Today, Blue Lagoon is recognized as one of the wonders of the world.

Susan Noeller

Iphone pics taken along the path from hotel to the main facility at Blue Lagoon

the water is much bluer then I can even produce here with my Iphone.

Silica crystals which is very for the skin.

All the Volcanic rocks formed by the lava, has a beautiful moss on it. This moss has taken 200 years to form and if anyone were to damage it , another 200 to reform.

 

It is the final countdown…

One week to go, and we will be in Iceland. I will return home and go immediately to Sicily, just a quick change of suitcases.

Traveling is good, it keeps us young, and it feeds our brain, it increases our visual education, it makes us more tolerant, and more aware of the fact that we are just a small grain of sand, it humbles us.

For a photographer traveling is an eye opener 😉 and it allows us to meet new people and new ways of living  – and that is why I smile when I think of photo-travelers that fly abroad to stick together with their small group of friends excluding everyone else during all the trip,  ignoring the fact that to travel is meant to meet new friends and those new friends are the ones who will make you understand the country.  Those photo-travelers people are missing the point. It is obvious.

Driving to the Alentejo ( Portugal)

 

As you probably noticed, this blog is used by Paula and by some of her friends who have travelled with her or attended her workshops. This is my first attempt to blog, so bear with me, Maria Joao, and be patient.

It was under heavy rain that Ann, Puppy and myself we took the road to Ourique , so that we could visit Paula’s new exhibition about the magical world of horses, and so that we could feel the warmth (not) of the famous landscapes of Alentejo.

Alentejo

We spent the first part of our road trip talking about horses in history, their role since the dawn of time, especially after we left behind the 20 thousand years old cave of Escoural and it’s prehistoric paintings of horses, vowing to return there as soon as we could. It kept raining.

Travelling through the almost deserted roads of Alentejo also meant watching the stork nests everywhere, and trying to spot their youngsters and enjoying the beauty of seeing the birds of prey taking flight and roaming the skies.

stork preparing a nest

When we arrived to the small village of Ourique we were first welcomed by King D. Dinis who, on his stone pedestral, still watches over the tiny roads and picturesque houses of the place he confirmed in the Foral Chart of 1290.

It is not very obvious, but this is his statue

In the car we went through that part of the history of Portugal, and also we discussed the Moorish traditions in the south, and the plantation of Leiria’s pine tree forest further north, which was so important to build the ships that would explore the seas in the 14^th century. It kept raining outside.

Here a photo to show you one of the beautiful and unique street lamps in Ourique

We finally gathered info on where to go to visit the Photo Exhibition and we went straight there to meet D. Fátima, who organized the event, and enjoy the magical world of horses shown in Paula’s pictures hanging on the big Library’s walls.

We explored each image and individual horse of all the photos there, and we can tell you that it was well worth the long road trip there,  under heavy rain.

did I say that it rained cats and dogs… and pigs?

We left the photo exhibition with our heads swirling with ideas and new projects.

Heading back to Lisbon we picked the coastal road (though we missed spotting the sea… I guess we were just a bit lost, I promise I won’t forget a map next time I do something like this,  and there will be a next time for sure. But sometimes it feels good to roam the smaller country roads without a map, heading a general direction and never knowing what to expect.

We stopped at Alcácer in a not too sucessful attempt to get a place still open to feed us some fish,  but it was far too late.

We enjoyed the rest of the trip and we are already planning for our next photo cultural adventure.

Joao Salbany