A holiday in Lisbon...after several years.

Lisbon was built on seven hills (like Rome.) It has several look out points called miradouros. You can enjoy various areas of the city from these. Here you see part of the Miradouro de Santa Luzia.

This pic was taken at the Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara. You can spot the castle and part of the lower city from here.

Don't throw away your old car! recycle it!

Rossio is one of the main square in lower Lisbon. It is surrounded by several shops, cafes and restaurants.

This is part of the Jardim (garden) da Estrela.

Bandstand at the Jardim da Estrela.

The Monastery of Jeronimos. It is located in Belèm; a suburb of Lisbon. The church and cloister were built in the XVI century. Vasco da Gama and other famous people are buried inside this church.

The cloister has two storeys. It is very large.

I visited de Coaches Museum.Here you can see lots of carriages belonged to royal and noble people.

...to be continued.

A VT meeting in Bassano del Grappa (IT).

Santi; VTer Redang came back to northern Italy, so it was a good  opportunity to meet him. We agreed to meet in Bassano del Grappa. This is a nice town not OriettaIT) for a meeting. I invited to this meeting my friend Patrizia (VT member WXWXR) If you don't know what VT is please see; www.virtualtourist.com

One of the highlight of Bassano del Grappa is this bridge which crosses the Brenta river. In the late 1500 it was designed by Andrea Palladio; a famous Italian architect. Already in the 1200 a bridge existed on that place. Later it collapsed various times and after its destruction in the WWII war it was rebuilt according the original plan of Palladio.

The weather wasn't fine. It rained almost all day.

After lunch we had coffee (or something else; herbal tea or a soft drink) at a beautiful cafe. Here's Orietta.

Here's Dave (VT member painterdave).

This is part of the town hall with a loggia and the clock.

We went inside the oldest bakery in Bassano, because one of us liked to buy some bread.

Four of us on the bridge. The fifth; Orietta was taking the pic.

I don't know why somebody wanted to take a pic on this road.

These are Orietta's shoes.

Small orchards and pets.

A couple of days ago I paid a visit to a cousin of mine living in a nursing home. We spent some time in one of the gardens. I had my camera with me and I couldn't resist to take some pics of the small orchards built to keep the house's guests occupied.

A small orchard, or some vases with herbs it one of the things I'd like to make someday.

Here's my mother and my cousin Ernestina. She was my grand mother's cousin. She is now 89.

Aubergines! It's one of my favourite vegetables.

The nursing home hosts also some pets. Two chickens, some turtles and a cat. This one you see isn't the home cat.

The charity market.

Mercatino missionario is a charity market held in my village three times a year. It is organized and ran by a group called Gruppo Missionario Santa  Teresina del Bambin Gesù. This is my mother posing beside some of her cookies.

There are lots of beautiful items at this market. Most of these are handmade. In this pic you see Anna (one of the members of the group) ; on the right with some customers.

Here you can see some colorful creations on sale.

The money got from this market goes to several missions in the thirld world and especially to well known missionaries.  

Little Venice...Chioggia!

Chioggia is a nice town some 50 km from Venice (by car).

It is quite similar to Venice, because it has some canals, various bridges and lots of calli (narrow streets).

Along some canals there are porticoes where you can see shops and cafes.

This is Ponte Vigo. The "Rialto Bridge" of the town.

Here's one of the calli.

lCorso del Popolo is the main street of Chioggia.There is a good choice of cafes and shops here.

This is another palace at corso del Popolo.

Chioggia doesn't have any beach. There are some in Sottomarina, which is part of Chioggia. Sottomarina is about one km far from Chioggia. 

Sottomarina has a strech of beaches long around 10 kilometers.

I took a day trip to Pellestrina from Chioggia. This is an island, part of Venice.

Pellestrina has several colorful houses,like in Burano; one of the islands of Venice.

Le's say this is a "hole in the wall".

Pellestrina has lots of calli.

This is a closeup of a house in Pellestrina.

I also took a day trip to Venice.

Nice spot in Venice.