Cascades of colour

The flowers today are full of colour, and were a welcome burst of colour as we turned one of the corners on the second day of our Portuguese walk earlier in the summer. I didn’t know what they were at the time, but have since identified them as a Lantana.

LANTANAS: TURNING YELLOW TO RED

LANTANAS: TURNING YELLOW TO RED

The multi-coloured flower head is completely natural, they open yellow and mature to red. So the close up of the one above indicates it’s been flowering for a while, as there’s little yellow, much more of an orange. But it’s exquisite isn’t it?

Stepping back, the effect is stunning. Imagine facing that as you emerge from a cork forest, which was completely fascinating for other reasons, though obviously not as colourful.

a pretty portuguese corner

Definitely a welcome burst of colour.

The lighthouse at Belém

So when is a lighthouse, not a lighthouse? The answer it seems is when it’s the one at Belém. The red brick lighthouse was never actually used as an official working lighthouse. That doesn’t stop it being fascinating to look at, or photograph. The bluest skies helped too.

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the lighthouse at belem is fenced off

Belém is west of Lisbon on the Tagus river, and has many tourist attractions, we arrived by train but buses and trams also head out this way. Lisbon, and its transport system, is easy to navigate and cheap too, especially compared to travelling around London (sadly).

Belém was originally the location of Lisbon’s shipyards and docks and many of the 15th century voyages to India, East Africa and Brazil left from this area, and the first monument we saw - the Monument of the Discoveries - gives a very large nod to that too. But more on that another day.

looking up at the lighthouse at Belem

I was fascinated with the brickwork. If you look closely you can see the bricks are laid horizontally, so they stick out (technical term) from the structure. The square windows too, are fascinating.

A closer look at the brickwork

The other thing that struck me about the lighthouse? It’s size, it was tiny. If I remember I’ll remind you of that when I share more from a more modern monument in the same area. But for now, let’s just admire the brickwork.

A black and white French loo

After Portugal yesterday, we’re in Caen in northern France’s Normandy region. It’s where we ended our Loire cycling trip back in 2016 - I can’t believe it was that long ago! Although, I also can’t believe that I haven’t been out on my bike for a couple of years either…

We only had a night or two in Caen and its purpose was to break up the long drive home. These loos were in a restaurant close to the hotel and one where we’d stopped for a morning coffee after exploring the town. The tiles on the floor, and the mirrors were real scene stealers.

Simple but effective, black and white
A fancy mirror totally in keeping with the theme
geometric tiles on the floor
double doors in the loo in Caen

It wasn’t too much longer after these photos were taken that we retrieved the car from the underground car park, loaded the bikes back on and set on our way to Deauville. Another great town on our way home, that journey though was the one where the car smelt of goat, or rather goat’s cheese, and even for an avid lover of the stuff, it was challenging!