Before my first digital camera, I was one of those tourists lugging around a large camera bag with several lenses, lots of batteries, and many varieties of film. This trip to Portugal was one of the last trips with that camera bag. Perhaps that's one reason I love this photo.
My husband and I decided to spend our 5th anniversary in Portugal. We were only beginning to enjoy and study the world of wine and wanted to go somewhere slightly off the beaten path. We ended up touring the Douro River Valley in Portugal learning about port.
This little town, Amarante, was one of our first stops. There were no wineries here, in fact there was not much of anything in this town except the beautiful Relais & Chateaux hotel, Casa da Calcada, where we spent our anniversary. The town itself, however, was extremely beautiful and quiet. We spent the day wandering through the maze of narrow lanes, too narrow for cars, and observing the locals in their daily routine - the boys playing a game of keep away with the little girl's doll, putting the doll on a ledge of the church just out of her reach, the old lady mending her laundry on the balcony, and the produce shop keeper with her cages and cages of song birds. There were very few other travelers in the area giving Amarante a very authentic feel. You could see most of this town within a couple of hours, which for us was part of the charm. It allowed time to sit in the square enjoying an expresso and a few glasses of wine before our amazing dinner back at the hotel.
I love when everything falls into place and a shot just works.
While the photos below are very low quality, I wanted to include them to show a little more about this town and people who live there.
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