The Pena Palace sits on the summit of a ridge above the town of Sintra, a short train ride from Lisbon. From a distance the place seems unreal, given its location, its architecture, and its striking color scheme. Up close the weathering changes the effect a bit, but in a way that only seems to make the place a bit more mysterious.
Continue reading Windows and Yellow Wall, Pena Palace
The Pena Palace sits on the top of a ridge above Sintra, Portugal, a short train ride from Lisbon. (You do have to get to the ridge from the train station, perhaps a story for another time.) It is a remarkable structure that appears like something from a fantasy, especially in the foggy and rainy conditions while we were there. The palace and its turrets and towers are painted in brilliant colors.
Continue reading Detail, Pena Palace
I have visited some remarkable cathedrals in Europe, and I obviously have seen stained glass windows. But I paid less attention to the light shining through them until we visited Sagrada Familia in Barcelona a few years ago. We entered late in the day as light streamed though that church’s remarkable windows, and the effect was simply astonishing. After that I began to notice similar, though subtler, effects in other big churches.
Continue reading Stained Glass Light
I have a somewhat embarrassing confession to make about this photograph. I know that I made it in a church in the Belgium town of Ghent… but I failed to record which church it was! In my (weak) defense, this is a town of many churches — I don’t think I’ve seen many others with so many steeples. And after a few weeks of visiting Various European cities it is possible that I was starting to suffer from an overdose of church architecture.
Continue reading Church Interior, Ghent