Yellow magic

Taking advantage of the small holidays of golden week, after seeing the advertisement on the train for the wonderful landscape of a whole slope full of narcissus or Daffodil (if you prefer, is one of those American and British English things), lets check it out. I have to confess that I never would imagine such a beautiful scenario...its was magic in yellow!!

This particular flower has an interesting story for its name, it seems that Narcissus (from the Greek mythology) became so obsessed with his own reflection that as he kneeled and gazed into a pool of water, some variations say that his reflection transformed into a flower and that why the flower is slightly bended; and some other say that he fell into the water and drowned and the plant first sprang from where he died.

Anyway its really worth going...The place is called Biwako Valley and is located maybe around 30 km from Kyoto.

Deus Quer, o Homem sonha e a obra nasce - Portugal's insights...

The picture above is from a place in Sintra (close to Lisbon) called Quinta da Regaleira that could be translated to english as the Regaleira Farm, but farm here does not mean animals, and plantations, this name is rather due to its size, I think... The whole compound is composed by the house in the picture and extense gardens with lakes and caves. This area of the country is mainly constituted by limestone, so its not surprizing to find such a extensive system of natural caves...in one of them I went in with two other foreigners that were also visiting...really dark and scary to adventure on my own... Need not to tell that my favourite part were the caves...
And to go with the magnificent master piece of architecture shown in the pictures here goes a poem by Fernando Pessoa.

Relativity

Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. How on earth can you explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love? Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Iluminare

I love Christmas ilumations, but Japanese don't seem to enjoy it very much , this because, good iluminations are nowhere to been seen. There is some ilumitations in Kobe, something called "Iluminare" that, someone explained, is kind of the a memorial for the earthquake in Kobe, every year they do it. So there I went, the iluminations where quite alright, maybe in some parts a litlle too much, but the bad part of it, is the fact that it took 2 hours to get to the place where it started (I should mention that in normal situation would take about 10 minutes). Anyway take a look!

Warm colours cold weather

Finnaly the red leaves season came to Japan again! Its amasing, and although its my second time seeing it, it still surprises me by its ultimate perfection and beuty! Here are some pictures taken in a place located west of Kyoto , Katsura Imperial Villa. Although is a little far, I think it is really worth a visit! enjoy

walking in the snow

this is a picture from 氷の山 in Hyogo-ken. Although i saw some snow and was able to walk on it, and listen to the crush , crush sound! But it didn't snow.... :( got to trough the first snow balls of this year :) it was very cold but it was very fun

Brigde to the sky

Amanohashidate is one 3 most beautiful scenic landscapes in Japan, and its said that if you look at it from the top of the nearest mountain with your head between your legs, it will seem like its floating in mid air! Honestly I didn't see it floating, although I did put my head between my legs!

The day was great...It was a pity I didn't took my swimsuit, the place had a great beach...Surelly a good option for summer...

Beautiful mountains - Taikou

It was the first time I caught some sunny day in this mountain , it was the 1st time i saw how beautifull it is!! Back there it was freezin cold (around 5-7ºC) so could see the leaves turning red some of them already fallen...well its was a hard hike there were times that the path was difficult to follow and may I add a litle dangerous... Anyway we made it...

Trekking Diaries

Day 19th – Rising up to the sky… 3482m….

The second day of the hike went quite smoothly, we woke up around 6:30 am, and believe or not it took us 1:30h to gather our stuff and head out to our objective that day, the Mulhacén at 3482m. It was a fine weather, the sun was shining and there very little clouds in the sky, and the temperature (although we were already quite high) was very pleasant maybe around 20º. Around 8:00 am we start the climbing from 2891m high. After some shorts breaks, some of them to see the rocks...(once a geology freak, always a geology freak – sem ofença Toni, tb me incluo). The climbing was a little hard, and seem like non ending, this because we could see Mulhacén very clearly all the way…but somehow the longer we walked it didn’t seem to get any closer…Anyway we made it there around 10:50 in the morning, and I really enjoyed the moment. After many Spaniards come and go we were still there admiring the landscape (in fact I think that both of us felt like it was so hard to get there and so we wanted to extended the moment as must as possible) The feeling was fantastic, indescribable…
Once more I made it!
Don’t know for sure up until we stayed there I maybe around 45min. Then we decided to have lunch in siete Lagunas so off we went for climbing down…it took around 1,5h to reach again siete Lagunas where, once more, we ate the delicious instant pasta. After a hour break for lunch we set off for Trevelez…It took us around 3:15h climbing down. Everything went well maybe in the first hour of climbing down, at that point somehow Toni’s knees started to hurt and soon after it was necessary to do frequently small stops for his knees to rest! I have to confess I you got me scared there, I had some pain in my feet due to my lousy boots, but your knees were in far worse condition. When we reached Trevelez…both of us were exhausted, we just laid in the closest coffee shop for one hour or so just relaxing and enjoying the moment ( I may say that the icecream Maxibom was one of the highlights of that day), and remembering our adventure…back to camping I had a long shower and a delicious dinner in a place with view for the village. That night, it took me maybe 1 minute to fall a sleep…
In the beginning we had planned to go to Veleta the next day, but soon we realized that we would be going, not this time…
Thinking back, I would only do different the second day…maybe a 3 days trip is more appropriate, to climb down almost 2000m in one day, it can proved to be very hard for our knees…

The next day we would have hoped for Alhambra but unfortunately couldn’t make it, the tickets were all sold out! So instead we just walk around Granada, got pass some street tea markets, the cathedral (amasing)… It was very hot that day, around 40º…so they say is one of the hottest cities in Europe…

the mountain hut

How often do we get to such a lovely hut...it reminded me of the swiss chalés!!

Beuty up close

One of my favourite types of photos, macros...It is amasing what you can capture in photo...this one was taken in a shrine in the north part of the city - Kamigamo Shrine. It sure is worth a visit altough is takes about 30 min by bycicle to get there...

Trekking Diaries – Sierra Nevada (Mountaineering)

Day 18th

After being advised by the kind persons in the camping park, we changed slightly our trail, the aim remained the same Mullacén in 2 days. Thinking back now, maybe it would be better to do a 3 days trip and enjoy a little more the mountain and by that slowly descend. We started off that day to siete lagunas (this trail according to the locals is one of the most beautiful landspace trail to get to Mullacén) at 8:30 at the altitude of 1550m. In the village was easy to find the trail. The time course issue is always something very discussable, in this case was no exception, in our topographic map was written its took about 3 hours, in the village its said it took about 5 hours, and for us, it took about 8 hours with lots of little breaks and 45min break for lunch, for instant pasta (all we would have for meals in those 2 days).

It was a fine day, the sun was shining and that time already very hot, we set off with our heavy backpacks towards the village (still remember what my parents said when they saw me leaving the house with the backpack, are you climbing the mountain with that? , isn’t that too heavy, I wonder, maybe they were right). The thing is, there are things there are a surely a must take thing like the tent, sleeping bag, small stove, stuff for cook, some medicines in case, and the most important and one of the heaviest WATER.

The village was still half asleep, since it was still early, and the path was very easy to find following the indications given in the park. We found the indication for Siete Lagunas soon after, and then we set out of the village. The trail started in a narrow stony path commonly called ”goat path”. For the 1st maybe 2- 3 hours that was all, going up we crossed some other very friendly Spanish people, at first we manage to go with them at their rhythm but soon enough we found out, that our heavy backpacks would force us to go slower… Ironically we met them again when we reach laguna Hondera, our objective for that day, smiling and preparing to go down…Anyway, after a couple hours the landscape changed, we left the narrow path and start to walk on a the mountain trail, the trail was very easy to follow and the few places that could arise dough there were indications (nota 10), as we looked back we saw the Village Trevelez with its white houses became smaller and smaller, and after while we couldn’t see it anymore, but its was still very far from siete lagunas…We had lunch (instant carbonara) in a place called Campinuela a flat place…still a lot to go…after replenishing our energies we set off again, at this point from time to time we would find the natural creeks, of course its not advisable to drink water from them, but personally I always do for one reason, who the hell goes to that big of an effort of walking to approximately 2300-2500m of altitude and get the water dirty…there only goats…And since I’m still here, it means that the water is not that bad…(maybe much better than the one I drink from the tap). After too many breaks, and meeting once or twice groups of Spanish coming down encouraging us to keep on, we reached the Chorreras Negras, a beautiful waterfall, with little water in this time of the year, but nonetheless spectacular…This was the last effort, we were both very tired already, I remember begging for a break in the middle of the way up…just postponing the inevitable… And finally Laguna Hondera, the biggest lagoon of the Siete Lagunas complex…

Its was… I think I cannot really describe the satisfaction I felt and magnificence of the landscape… It was around 4pm when we finished, we didn’t do anything else that day, just resting and contemplating the scenery…we had to wait until almost sundown to set up the tent (rules of the mountain, camping is permitted but only 1 hour before sundown and 1 hour after sunrise) , cooked this time kind of spaghetti a la Bolognese, and had our National Geographic moment with the only animals that can climb that high : the goats (these animals are impressive…).

After setting the tent in a not so windy place (like if that existed in that place) and it was about 7pm when we went to bed. I had a cold, so that night was quite rough for me and for Antonio, since I wake him up maybe several times…During the night it was not that cold but the wind was scary (in that moment I was thankful to be in a supertent), my only regret was to have stayed inside of tent. For brief moments I saw from the inside of the tent the incredible night sky outside…this because the higher you get the less interference we have from pollution and the heat in the atmosphere…but unfortunately a good night sleep is crucial for the next day hike…Couldn’t stay and see it…

black and white

This picture was taken in a shrine in Shizuhara a small village in north of Kyoto, pass there in one of my hikes! The black and white give to it a nice feeling!! enjoy

Trekking Diaries – Sierra Nevada (Mountaineering)

Day 17th

We reached Granada in 17 of August and after a stop in the commercial zone to a supermarket to search for condensed milk in a tube (Antonio’s ideas), we head off to the center of the city hopping to find some information about any trekking routes and topographic maps of the mountain. Quickly we both discovered that in Granada we wouldn’t find anything so we set off for the mountain following the indications to Sierra Nevada that would lead us to Pradollanos. After ascending by car around 1000 m we found a information center, there we could find a topographic map with suggested trekking routes graded by technical difficulty, time spend, physical difficulty. We had been successful with our goal but since we were there, we decided to proceed ascending to Pradollanos at 2075 m of altitude and afterwards to the highest point you are allowed to go by car 2500m of altitude. There were some coffee shops/restaurants where we took an ice cream moment. After carefully considering we decided to do a 2 days route Trevelez – Poqueira – Mullacén – Trevelez. Afterwards we set off for Trevelez its took us about almost 2h to get there, taking a mountain road from the exit of A44 to Lanjarón until Trevelez.

Trevelez is a small village located in the base of the mountain, the highest altitude village in Spain located around 1550m. The village is very beautiful when seen from far, all the houses are painted white, I can only imagine due to the same reason that in Portugal houses in the south are painted white (in the summer its hot, hot and hot…)and its shape ascends in the mountain. We stayed for the night in a camping park close to the village.

http://www.campingtrevelez.net/

Comments: There are several route possibilities according to the time you want to spend in the mountain, maybe the most famous one is the Integral 3000m that is a route that takes you from one side of the mountain to the other side crossing all the peaks with altitude superior to 3000m of altitude, a very interesting route in my opinion I would have liked to do it, but unfortunately this route takes a minimum of 4 to 5 days trip and we only had two. The most emblematic peaks Veleta, Alcazaba and Mullacén as well as the lagoons at the base of Mullacén (siete lagunas) are must go places, other than that it’s a little up to your own preferences. Veleta can be easily reached starting from Pradollanos, there is even a mini-bus service that takes almost to the peak. For Mullacén there are several possibilities coming from Veleta, Siete Lagunas among others, the technical difficulty of the trails is not very high, therefore any person with a minimum experience on mountain can do it. For Alcazaba I would say the best option is take the trail of the Siete Lagunas and from there proceed to Alcazaba. Although we first decide to spend the night in Poqueira following the locals advice we end up doing the siete Laguna trail and staying over on close to the biggest lagoon.

http://www.nevasport.com/sierranevada/montana/05integral.php (in spanish)

Trekking Diaries – Sierra Nevada (Why choose Sierra Nevada)

Sierra Nevada is mainly known in the winter because it’s big ski village (Pradollanos), the biggest in the surroundings meaning south of Spain (the biggest I’ve seen, although I’m not exactly very experience when comes to ski, on the contrary).

So why go to Sierra Nevada in the summer, for once is low season so there are less people in the mountain, the temperature in the mountain is very nice of around 20-27ºC at 2500m of altitude during daytime, its a very interesting with a good scenic view mountain, and above that, it has the third highest peak in Europe (after the Mont Blanc and Mt Etna) Mullacén with 3482m of altitude (impressive) and finally is always a good opportunity to get into the mountains again!
Although when comparing to others mountains in Spain like Picos da Europa, this last one wins due to its truly magical scenery, Sierra Nevada is still worth of a visit!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_(Spain)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulhacén

And besides the mountain Granada is a beautifull city with an Unesco classified World Heritige Site, Alhambra that deserves a visit, the tickets are bought in the day you visit, but be carefull, altough 7000 people are allowed to visit the place each day, these 7000 tickets fly....Have to be there early to get tickets (rumour says around 4 a.m.).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra

Big birds

One of the things of being on the other side of the world is that everytime I want get back to Portugal have to sustain around 10 to 12 hours inside a airplane! The first time I have to confess it was horrible, i didn't felt much sleepy and find what to do in this (seems like non-ending) period of time can be sometimes a big challenge! I don't feel like reading, get tired of watching the movies, specking with the neighbor in the next seat is not always an option, it can be very boring... All I can say, after enduring 5 trips like this, you get to used to it :) although everytime is a pain! Already tried 3 different airlines to do the Japan (Kansai) - Portugal (Lisbon) conection, and I have to admit the best is the last company with which I flew. The Dutch airline KLM has good points in everything, good food, frequent meals, good entertaiment with an interactive panel on your seat that allows to select from movies to tv series, documentaries and games, and somehow helps to spend time, and very kind treatment from the staff! grade 10

The other two Luftansa and Air France, if you can choose, between these 2, air france is without a dought the better one, with aceptable food, and interactive panel similar to the one in KLM. Have safe trip...

11 000 m of Altitude

Being in high places has been always of great fascination to me, this time flying KLM the Dutch airline company from Japan to Portugal, I got to see amazing landscape at 11 000m high above in the clouds. The sky was clear and the picture is quite nice, although during the flight there were some periods of heavy turbulence that made me wonder how fragile our live is, any given mistake/misfortune could lead to an accident and the outcome could be not the most desirable one.

Delicious Water

For those who understand Japanese watch closely this picture...This was taken in a mountain and it refers to the distance where we can find water! For those who dont understand japanese, here it goes a brief explanation: the signal to the right says that there is water at 400m (no big deal) but the funy thing is in the sign to the left "delicious" water at 200m! Now I wonder...isn't the water suppose to be tasteless, odorless, colourless...how can it be delicious....After drinking it, I realize maybe why delicious was wrote in the sign, it wasn't delicious but very refreshing after almost a whole day hike in the mountains.

Brand Apples

This wouldn't be that interesting picture if the apples were not marked! At first when i found them in a local market i thought, they to the trouble of painting the apples (these japanese are crazy i thought) but it turns out, after a closer look that in fact they are not painted, but marked when they are still small a grow with a mark on it! at least like this you can be sure where the apple came from...
Enjoy

Tanuki

This picture was taken in a station of Torokko romantic train in Sagano (North of Arashiyama). I would love to ride this train all the way from Arashiyama to Kameoka, its one of my must do things while in Kyoto! (Just missing company... :)

Personally I like the little animals statues (in english can be translated as racoon dog). They are found not only in the mountains, but most commonly outside of shops, guess to bring good fortune (although I'm not sure).

For more information....you know where....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanuki