Ilaria and Om in Portugal: Serra da Estrela and Lisbon

When we left Coimbra, we really wanted to get in touch with a more rural, naturalistic part of Portugal. We were reasonably close to the Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela:

 The weather was hot and we walked a lot! We didn't have energies to dedicate to the sketchbook, but Nature painted for us some very nice works :)

When we left the Parque, we took a bus to the next, fundamental step of our trip: Lisbon! We had the chance to get in touch before with a wonderful person who hosted us in Lisboa: Sofia!

We got in touch through the Couchsurfing community, and when we met her we found out that she was a multi-talented, explosive and super-hospitable host! Her house is colored and her flatmates are furry! They're two dogs - Ibisco and Shaun - and three cats, of which the little cappuccino-colored Guinjo made us fall crazy in love at the very first sight.
We spent three days with her and her pets. On one evening we shared with Sofia the Flying Sketchbook idea and we jammed together on two pages:

Sofia put on an album by Ravi Shankar as a perfect accompanyment to this jam. We're sure it had a good influence :)

Lisboa won our hearts with its characteristic neighborhoods, with its tiny vintage trams that climb the slopes of the city...

...with its Fado culture...

...with its river, the Tejo...

...and with its nice flea market, the Feira da Ladra.

After visiting the Museu Coleção Berardo in the Belém neighborhood (the museum was much bigger than we expected, the entrance was for free and the works inside were very interesting!), we found a small churrasqueira where we had time to rest, eat something and to find the right inspiration for a small present to give to our wonderful host, Sofia:

Ilaria and Om in Portugal: Aveiro and Lua de Sol's house

Here we are!

So, Porto was a great experience, and we really felt like being embraced by its beauty and its simple and welcoming atmosphere.

To travel is to come and see, but it is also to leave and to remember: so, in the end, we had to take our train towards the next stage of our trip, Coimbra.

As a cheap solution, we took a local service train (comboio urbano) to the small city of Aveiro, and then an intercity train to Coimbra.
On the comboio urbano Ilaria felt a bit sad about leaving Porto, and she had an inspiration: she wanted to draw an "azulejo on paper" - but the result went out of control quickly!

To use the black wax crayon is nice, but has some disadvantages :)

We had three hours to wait in Aveiro for the connection, so we decided to wander a bit around this cute place.
Portugal seems to be very generous, and the colors used by street artists in Aveiro are an example of that :)

While we were wandering in the narrow streets surrounded by houses covered with azulejos, we noticed a house which looked very different from the others: it was all blue and turquoise, and we were fascinated by some drawings we saw through the open window...it felt like it was an enchanted house!

Om couldn't resist the temptation to ring the bell, which appeared as a white string leaking from a hole in the door, near the sign "Lua de Sol"...

A black haired portuguese man with deep black eyes opened after a while, and stared at us with a questioning glance. Aware of our uncommon behavior, we tried to explain that we were fascinated by the house and we were too curious about who painted it. He hesitated for a moment, then called the artist: his wife! A cute, smiling woman in coloured cloths, who invited us to enter and offered to show us the house...what a privilege! And what a discovery! The internal walls were completely covered with paintings, drawings, poems...it was the perfect nest for a wonderful family as they were! The couple introduced their son Leonardo, whose lively eyes, even if a little shy, looked at us with curiosity.
The house also hosted some cats and two little parrots, and a small garden on an interior terrace on the second floor.
The house had a name: "Lua de Sol", Moon of Sun, shining of each other's light, forming a small colored universe together with their little star Leonardo.

We told them about the Flying Sketchbook, and we agreed that jamming on it would have been great! Here is the result:

Another universe! With a flower of life too...
Shortly afterwards, sadly we had to leave - our train to Coimbra departed in half an hour, and we took it on the last minute! :)
Hugs to Lua de Sol e Estrela!

Ilaria and Om in Portugal: Porto (2)

...here is one more pic of Ilaria doing the first sketch!

So, Porto was so inspiring! We saw so many interesting things- one that surprised us is this series of masks we found in a small exhibition inside the Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar, in Vila Nova de Gaia:

I think they´re traditional masks from the ancient peoples of the North of Portugal (can someone confirm?) and what we found surprising is that we found VERY similar masks in the Taranului Muzeul (Museum of the Farmer) in Bucharest! (also check this blog!)

Speaking of Bucharest...it was maybe not a coincidence that a wondeful Romanian guy hosted us in Porto! Marius showed us some amazing, uncommon views of the city, filled with poetry and accompanied by his interesting talks about a wide range of topics.

In the pic above you can see Marius on the left, near his friend Marco, and Alina on the background. They´re three of the seven authors of this nice jam we made in the evening after a dinner in Marco´s and Joana´s place:

Summarizing, the seven authors were: Ilaria, Om Sharan, Marius, Marco, Joana, Alina and an Israeli guy whose name we really couldn´t understand! (sorry!) Joana is on the left on the first of the following pics, while the mysterious Israeli guy is wearing a green t-shirt on the second :)

We´re especially grateful to Marius for his warm hospitality, and to Marco and Joana for their generosity. Thank you all for taking part into the jam and giving your contribution to the Flying Sketchbook!

Ilaria and Om in Portugal: Porto (1)

Hi there!

Here are we: in Porto! This wonderful city in the North of Portugal readily welcomed us with its colored buildings covered with tiles ("ajzulejos") and with its streets filled with silent people - it seems they're always whispering rather than talking, not to disturb the breeze of the ocean that sings from a few miles away.

After our first lunch in Porto, the smell of the "bacalhau" and the beer inspired Ilaria the very first sketch of the Flying Sketchbook:

The lower part of the sketch was completed after seeing the nice Ponte Dona Maria bridge, built by Gustave Eiffel in 1877. (errata corrige: It is actually Ponte Dom Luìs, built by Téophile Seyrig - formerly a collaborator of Gustave Eiffel. Thanks to Geooorge for pointing out the mistake).

Nearby the bridge lie some old abandoned houses, which were covered by these wonderful violet flowers that can be found all the way through Portugal...does anybody know their name?

Ladies ans gentlemen: The Flying Sketchbook

Hi everybody!
Today Ilaria and I are packing our baggages for our trip to Portugal!

We're so excited, thinking about all the colors our eyes will see, and the eyes we will meet - everything will be a story, told to us and by us, an exchange and an enrichment.

We bought a sketchbook for the trip:

Ok, I know it looks a bit serious, but we're going to decorate it outside and inside!

So, this is the plan: we're going to enjoy the sketchbook and fill it with our drawings and ideas during the trip, and at last, before taking our flight back, we'll give it to another traveler, and he or she will do the same, for it to continue in its endless trip around the world!

There will be some rules that each of the sketchers will have to follow: