NL-1637537

Next week i'll travel to Barcelona! I've been there once but only for a couple of hours and a couple of hours aren't enough to explore such a big and amazing city.

In 2006 i've only visited the Sagrada Familia and the Park Guel, now i want to visit a lot more of Barcelona's attractions and the Casa Batlló is on my must visit list.

NL-1637537, sent by Nynke & Hessel.

Casa Batlló is a building restored by Antoni Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol, built in 1877, located at 43, Passeig de Gràcia, part of the Illa de la Discòrdia (the "Block of Discord") in the Eixample district of Barcelona.

The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), as it has a visceral, skeletal organic quality. It was originally designed for a middle-class family and situated in a prosperous district of Barcelona.

The building looks very remarkable — like everything Gaudí designed, only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, is rather astonishing with tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work.

It seems that the goal of the designer was to avoid straight lines completely. Much of the façade is decorated with a mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles (trencadís) that starts in shades of golden orange moving into greenish blues. The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of Saint George (patron saint of Catalonia, Gaudi's home), which has been plunged into the back of the dragon. - in: wikipedia

National Museum Machado de Castro - Portugal

Museums are not the 1st thing i look for when visiting a place but every now and then, and depending on the kind of museum, i like to explore these cultural places.

The National Museum Machado de Castro is one of the places i still need to visit in Coimbra. The museum is the building on the left side of this card sent by Fernando, and the building on the right is the city's New Cathedral.

Forways, Lda

The National Museum Machado de Castro (Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro) is an art museum in Coimbra, Portugal, named after the renowned Portuguese sculptor Joaquim Machado de Castro. It is one of the most important art museums in Portugal, and is housed in the former Bishop's Palace . During the Middle Ages, this palace was built over the Roman forum of Aeminium (Roman name of Coimbra) and nowadays its remains can be visited on the lower floors of the museum.

The bulk of the museum's collection, currently closed but due to open soon, is made up of items from churches and religious institutions in the area surrounding Coimbra. The collections of sculpture (the most extensive of all the national museums of Portugal), painting, precious metals, ceramics and textiles are especially noteworthy. - in: wikipedia

Vila Praia de Âncora - Portugal

Vila Praia de Âncora is a city in nothern Portugal. I believe this is the 1st time i'm posting cards from the place. The 1st card was sent by Miguel and the 2nd by Gracinha and it shows the Lagarteira Fortress.

Forways, LDA

This city is quite influenced by the presence of seamen and their fishing boats and all the whirl that surrounds a typical fishing day.

 Forways, Lda

One of the landmarks of the city is the Lagarteira Fort also known as Âncora Fort.
The fort was build in the 17th century to defend the coast from pirates attacks during the Portuguese restoration war.

Guimarães - Portugal

I've already posted so many cards from Guimarães, that i don't know what else can i say about this lovely city in northern Portugal.

Anyway, these cards were sent by Gracinha and Susana.

 Casa de Recordações

 Guimarães is known as the birthplace of Portugal and the portuguese nationality, because, among other reasons,  the city might have been the birthplace of Afonso I of Portugal, the first Portuguese king. 

D. Afonso (25 June 1109, Guimarães or Viseu – 6 December 1185, Coimbra), achieved the independence of the southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia, the County of Portugal, from Galicia's overlord, the King of León, in 1139, establishing a new kingdom and doubling its area with the Reconquista, an objective that he pursued until his death, in 1185, after forty-six years of wars against the Moors. - in: wikipedia
This statue, now located at the entrance to the Palace of the Dukes of Bragança, was erected 1888 in a different place. It has been at this current location since 1940. The bronze statue symbolizes the conquering king as a hero who fought in defense of the Portuguese kingdom, which he left to conquer Portugal.

 © M. R.

Susana had a lovely baby girl last year and she already started to travel. This is a card from her 1st travel. Symbol of faith and beacon of Guimarães, the Sanctuary of the Penha is a monument of a singular beauty and a worth architectural and religious. 

The Sanctuary of the Penha is a unique example of religious architecture of Marques da Silva. In 1930, the recognized architect, a real “friend of the Penha", was entrusted of the project and the choice of the implantation local. The work of regularization of the land began on 6 August of that year.
Inaugurated in 1947, is a monument of a singular beauty and a worth architectural and religious. An emblematic piece of Guimarães. - in: http://www.penhaguimaraes.com/eng/santuario.htm

Megalithic Monuments - Portugal

I've recently visited my 1st megalithic monument and it was an interresting visit. There's one in a village near my city and i might visit it soon with a friend.

These are far from my city but them seem to be very interresting too.

 Photo by Anibal Santos © IBERPONTO

When i visited the Terceira Island, i sent a card to Leninha and she sent me this one to thank me.

This dolmen is located in the parish of Alcobertas, in the municipality of Rio Maior. Is a  funerary megalithic monument, consisting of Chamber and hallway, typical of the late Neolithic period, being one of the largest in the Iberian Peninsula. It was from this dolmen that was born the mother church and, currently, is still used as a side chapel.This church, at the end of the 15th century, is a rare example of Christianization of a megalithic monument that remains to this day.

This week i've received this tumulus sent by Zé Guedes.

The Tumulus of Lamas is a megalithic monument located in the parish of Lamas, municipality of Braga.The monument was built in the Neolithic age (about 3000 BC), with average dimensions, the tumulus covered a dolmen of which there are only three lages preserved "in situ", and the others close to the tumulus. Their discovery also revealed important information about the past of the region.

Pópulo Church, Braga - Portugal

A few months ago Miguel sent me this card of the Pópulo Church in Braga. Last month, during the New Year's Meeting, we visited the church.

Guia Turistico do Norte

Pópulo Church is a neoclassical church located in Braga.

The church started to be built by the end of the 16th century, under the order of Archbishop D. Frei Agostinho de Jesus, to invoke the Virgin Mary that is glorified in Santa Maria del Popolo church in Rome.

Its front suffered some changes in the 18th century to neoclassical style designed by Carlos Amarante, a Portuguese architect. Its interior is decorated with tiles showing a great pictorial value as well as its baroque altar.

Close to the church, and belonging to the same architectural block there is an ancient monastery, which is now part of the Town Hall Services. - in: wikipedia

Portuguese PC Meetings

The last portuguese Postcrossing meeting were the Christmas meeting in Elvas and the New Year's meeting in Braga and i've been to both of them.

The meeting in Elvas was a great opportunity to visit for the 1st time the newest portuguese UNESCO site.

No many postcrossers attended these meetings, it was only me, Paula, Joaninha, Ninocas and Susana families in Elvas, and me again, Miguel, Vitória and her husband in Braga.

 Photo by João Carpinteiro - PAPYRUS, Edição de postais ilustrados

 The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, the former Cathedral of Elvas, located in Republic Square, was built in the XVI century to replace an earlier Gothic church. The author of the project in the Manueline style was probably Francisco de Arruda. The opening worship was held in 1537, with the work unfinished. In 1570 the church became the seat of the diocese of Elvas and was consecrated cathedral. But the Diocese of Elvas was abolished in 1881 and the church lost that status.

 Edição Tabacaria da Sé

The Saint Vincent Church is a 16th-century baroque Catholic church in Braga. It was built in 1565 and restored in 1691, on the same site where there was once a Visigoth church of the 7th century (656).