Wanderlust Portugal

This is a natural reserve called Mata dos Medos which lies within the bigger protected landscape of Paisagem Protegida da Arriba Fossíl da Costa da Caparica. It is a wide area of mostly pine trees and shrubs on top of sandy grounds, with an absolute breathtaking view of the sea and the coast at times. The forest was planted by the order of King João V during the 18th century, in order to protect the agricultural lands further inland from the loose sand which had a tendency to spread with the winds and cover all the good farming areas. This preventive measure was a good one and sometimes you can hear people referring to this place as the Pine Trees of the King. The word Medos comes from the name of those sandy formations left by the wind (called Medos or Médões in Portuguese). The natural reserve is mainly famous for the beautiful and old stone pine trees, but you may also find maritime pine, strawberry trees, wild lavender and thyme. The fresh smell from the vegetation in com...

This is the Money Museum of Lisbon, it lies just next to the Lisbon City Hall and the Bank of Portugal by the square of S. Julião. S. Julião was the name of the church which is now housing the museum within it's walls. Here you will find some of the oldest coins and bank notes in the world, a proper timelined evolution of currency (from the bartering economy we had without money in the Stone Age until the utilisation of the Euro for example). They also have temporary exhibitions, when I was there visiting there was one about the counterfeiting of the Euro currency. The exhibitions also explores how money affects people in different ways and how people use/spend their money to achieve different goals. The museum has also a cafeteria for when you feel you need to spend your well earned money on a cup of tea or coffee as well as a lighter snack/lunch.  There is a mixture of traditional and modern museographics in this place which has been designed by the atelier of Providência Des...

The National Museum of Old Art in Lisbon is a big and lovely museum to visit if you are interested in European art as well as arts and crafts from Asia and Africa. Other than paintings from Portugal and other countries in Europe, it contains furniture, sacral art, tapestries, jewellery and porcelain/ceramics. A visit here will definitely give you a decent perspective in how the older palaces and convents in Portugal might have been decorated. They have temporary exhibitions as well, at the moment of my visit they had one with Joaquín Sorollas stunning paintings and one painting which is on loan from the Hermitage in St Petersburg, namely Mary Madeleine the Penitent by Tizian. The Museum first opened in 1884 in the old Alvor Palace. It is one of the first museums to open in Portugal. Through time it has acquired more works of art through buying, donations and temporary loans. Many paintings and objects have been saved through thorough restorations by the museum staff. The Palace o...