Tag Archives: douro

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Portugal, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Travel

Vines and Bue Door

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Vines and Bue Door
“Vines and Bue Door” — Grapevines grow around the blue door of a stone building in a Portuguese vineyard.

My recollection is that I made this photograph on the last long day of our May walk in Portugal’s Douro Valley region. We walked out of the town of Alijo on a gray and damp day and into the surrounding vineyard-filled countryside. This door is on the side of an old stone building in one of those vineyards, and I assume that its purpose is related to wine growing in some way.

Looking back at my raw files of this subject, I realized that they embodied a basic rule of photography — try to get closer! My first photograph was of the whole building and the surrounding landscape. Then I moved in and tried to frame the full building by itself. Finally I walked even closer and found a couple of compositions featuring this weathered blue door.

An addendum: It turns out that Patricia Emerson Mitchell (https://patriciaemersonmitchell.com) photographed me as I positioned myself to make this photo!

G Dan Mitchell photographing in Portugal
G Dan Mitchell apporaches an old stone building in a vineyad near Alijo, Portugal. to make photographs.

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Portugal, Photographs: Travel

Douro River at Pinhão

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Douro River at Pinhão
“Douro River at Pinhão” — The Douro river bends past the town of Pinhão, with hillsides covered by vineyards.

I am going to use this post to give a shout-out to Portugal Green Walks, the company we used to organize our May walk in the Douro Valley hills. (I have no financial relationship with the company — just a pleased customer.) We spent a week in this region, walking on six days between cities in a loop that started and ended in Pinhão, the small town along the river bank near the lower edge of the photo. They could not have come up with a better conclusion to the walk. On the second-to-last day we rounded a hill and soon came upon this spectacular view of the Douro River and Valley.

A few minutes later we arrived at our lodgings, checked in, and walked out onto their terrace overlooking this view, where we enjoyed almonds from their orchard and a glass of wine. We truly felt that we had arrived as we sat and took in this remarkable scene. We were not quite finished yet — the next morning we had a short, easy downhill walk to Pinhão, where we began our trip back to Porto.

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Agriculture, Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Portugal, Photographs: Travel

Orchard and Vineyards

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Orchard and Vineyards
“Orchard and Vineyards” — Lush hill country, filled with vineyards and orchards, between Sabrosa and Alijo, Portugal.

One of the days of our Douro Valley walk in Portugal included a section between Sabrosa and Alijo. Between them we descended into this lovely valley full of vineyards and olive groves. We followed turn-by-turn directions from the walk’s organizers, and because of this I did not always track our precise location. That’s my long way of saying that I think this is the valley of the Rio Pinhão, though I’ve so far been unsuccessful in this spot on maps.

Regardless, it was a beautiful area. We came down a steep hill from the heights of Sabrosa, passing around and through vineyards. We reached the bottom of the valley, followed a road for a short distance, crossed a bridge and began the climb up the other side of the valley, a walk that would eventually bring us to our accommodations in the town of Alijo.

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Portugal, Photographs: Travel

La Ribeira at Dusk, Porto

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La Ribeira at Dusk, Porto
“La Ribeira at Dusk, Porto” — The Douro River winds past the La Ribeira district of Porto at dusk, Portugal.

On this evening we had crossed the Douro River via the famous Dom Luis I bridge to join the throngs watching the sunset from its south side. People staked out viewing locations almost everywhere, though the Garden of the Moors area seemed to be the most popular — with musicians and food carts ad more. We took a different approach and climbed up to the Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar.

After sunset we started our walk back to the north side of the bridge and our lodgings along the edge of the Ribeira district. Dusk was arriving as we re-crossed the bridge, so I paused to photograph the scene — the lively waterfront area, the buildings rising up from the river, the water’s winding path toward the sea, and some evening clouds overhead.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (If you are reading this on the home page, click the article title to see the full article and the comment form.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.