João Pedro Almeida - Just The Photos

Posts in "?? Portugal"

Last year when the lock-down ended I went away from the city for a while, to my family’s small village at Beira Baixa. In those late May days the summer was starting to show himself between the mountains that surround my house, I ended up going back and forth a lot that summer, between the city and that small getaway place. Now I’m revisiting that lazy summer, more on this in my blog.     Beira Baixa, Portugal 🇵🇹, May 2020  #beirabaixa #portugal

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In the year that this pandemic has completed here in Portugal this was the closest I got from traveling. Excluding the weeks spent in my little getaway in Central Portugal (more on that soon) a lot of my world has been the streets around my house, specially in times like now with a tighter lockdown. The airport happens to be in walking distance from my house, one of the places I end up passing in walks around home, right I think I know all the streets and alleys nearby, and it’s getting more and more complicated to get creative to find new places… Lisbon, Portugal 🇵🇹, August 2020  #street #lisbon #portugal

The sun as set, and with it the little warmth that it can provide to a cold winter day; slowly people start moving inside, where a hot soup awaits, and the fire will eventually consume everything until it becomes a small pile of ash.  Vila Boa, Trás-Os-Montes, Portugal  🇵🇹, February 2020 #portugal #trasosmontes #entrudo #shrovetide   photos.joaoalmeidaphotography.com/image/I00…

In all the more traditional Carnival festivities in Portugal, and many of the Winter Solstice ones that take place a few weeks earlier, the day ends with everyone surrounding a large fire (either a simple bonfire or even a figure being burned). Its meaning is simple and powerful: the burning of all the bad things enclosed in it, with added dimension from Christianity that a solemn period of moderation and discipline is around the corner.Vila Boa, Trás-Os-Montes, Portugal  🇵🇹, February 2020 #portugal #trasosmontes #entrudo #shrovetide   photos.joaoalmeidaphotography.com/image/I00…

Loose branches, old roots and all the burning stuff that could be found forms the big pile of wood that remains the whole day carnival day in a small plateau, overlooking the church and the houses of the small village, as well as the rolling hills nearby. Not sure if it’s on purpose or a coincidence…  It’s at the place where all will come to an end, meant to be lit around dusk, as soon as the chaotic procession of masked men arrives.        Vila Boa, Trás-Os-Montes, Portugal  🇵🇹, March 2019 #portugal #trasosmontes #entrudo #shrovetide   photos.joaoalmeidaphotography.com/image/I00…

Father and son, both wearing the “máscaro” red-hooded costumes, lighting the fire set in the middle of the square of Vila Boa, surrounded by the remaining people, while the remaining masked “máscaros” wait for the flames to rise.Vila Boa, Trás-Os-Montes, Portugal  🇵🇹, January 2020 #portugal #trasosmontes #entrudo #shrovetidehttps://photos.joaoalmeidaphotography.com/image/I0000Stc.SzvMdrg

The “Velha” (Old Woman) character carries a burned cork cross, meant to smudge all those who don’t give a small offering. This is one of the festivities of the Mirandese Plataeu from my latest blog post. Vila Chã de Braciosa, Trás-Os-Montes, Portugal  🇵🇹, January 2020 #portugal #trasosmontes #wintersolstice #festadomeninohttps://photos.joaoalmeidaphotography.com/image/I0000pXRyG5Ckd_4