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A universe of beauty, mystery and wonder
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Showing posts with label Europe - Portugal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Europe - Portugal. Show all posts

Sunday, November 30, 2014

WILD WEATHER AND AMAZING SURF ON PORTUGAL'S COAST AND THE CANARY ISLANDS

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Link to this post is:  http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/11/wild-weather-and-amazing-surf-on.html - Thank you for visiting my blog
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Thrill-seeking surfers ride huge Atlantic Ocean swell off Portuguese beach where daredevil set world record.
 
  • Surfers take on huge waves in northern Portugal where surfer Garrett McNamara set a world record in 2011
  • The site has become a shrine for thrillseeking boarders as large Atlantic swells create massive waves
  • Photos taken yesterday show a group of daredevils catching waves which could easily turn deadly
     

  • The surf is best in the winter when Atlantic winds pick up, creating giant waves along the Portugal coast north of Lisbon. Pictured yesterday is a surfer dropping straight down the face of a wave
     
    See additional images and read about the Canary Islands

    Tuesday, November 4, 2014

    PORTUGAL VILLAGE BUILT IN AND AROUND GIGANTIC 200-TONNE BOULDERS

    Architecture completely adapted to geology.  But why did they choose to build there in the first place?

    'I like that boulder. That is a nice boulder': Villagers in Monsanto, Portugal have made their homes around ancient boulders
     
  • Mountaintop village of Monsanto, in eastern Portugal, sits 2,486 above sea level 
  • Locals have adapted homes around the enormous boulders, rather than attempting to move them
  • Some of the granite stone houses date back to 16th century 

  • Inspiration for Hobbiton? The lush green land with homes built into the landscape looks like something out of Lord of the Rings
    The lush green land with homes built into the landscape looks like something
    out of Lord of the Rings

    Sunday, April 13, 2014

    ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ

    The following article was written under the name Sebastian Vilar (or Vivar) Rodriguez and published in a Spanish newspaper a few years ago.  The name is a pseudonym, and there is no record of who the real writer was. 
    Barcelona Jewish Quarter


    I walked down the street in Barcelona, and suddenly discovered a terrible truth, Europe died in Auschwitz . . . 

    We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. 

    In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.  The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.

    DESPERATE FOR TOURIST MONEY, IBERIA ENACTS JEWISH HOLIDAY CELEBRATION IN TOWNS WITH NO JEWS - THEY EXPELLED OR MURDERED THEM CENTURIES AGO

    Jewish-themed Passover celebrations are increasingly tourist draws in Iberian towns that have not had Jewish populations since the 1492 murders and expulsions.    
     
    In the center of the medieval Portugese town of Medelim, two newlyweds in Sephardic wedding clothes are serenaded by a musical ensemble performing Ladino (Sephardic language) music.  Nearby several members of the knights Templar march in white capes and chain mail while a harlequin on stilts prances around carrying a pole topped with a Star of David. 
     
    The scene may have been familiar to someone living in Medelim 500 years ago, when the town had a large population of Sephardic Jews. But today there are no Jews in Medelim, their memory evoked solely by actors hired to play period roles during the municipally organized “Jewish and Christian Passover,” an annual cultural event held for the second time last month.