There are all sorts of really cool, old castles in Europe but few of them are as eye-catching as Pena Palace in Sintra, not far from Lisbon. From what I remember this is a Romanticist style completed in the 1850s. It’s a brave move not to let it age/weather like many other structures over there. Without doubt the correct decision.
If you ever make it to Portugal, but sure to go here to visit the Pina Palace. Planning ahead, you can reserve this whole place for a few hours of your own personal photography before the crowds come in. It’s not that touristy of a place anyway, but it is nice to take photos and be calm before all the muggles show up.
Here’s the first Machine Elf creation where I layer in a beautiful meditation from Mooji, one of my favorites at the art of a good mind-freeing session. Mooji is always quite relaxing and can help you stay zen when life gets a little too much. This is one of the more organic creations that is based on some different hidden symbology I’ve seen here in New Zealand.
A few years ago I decided to walk the Camino with Kevin Kelly and a great group of people. On day one, we assembled here in Portugal right by the bridge that crosses into Spain. We had not even gotten started yet, and then we all decided to take a rest! 🙂 The walk may have had more talking and resting than walking, and that’s okay with me too!
This is the first spot we took people during the Portugal workshop in Sintra. We were staying there in the Ritz-Carlton, and it was quite cool because there were many ruins within walking distance. You can see a bit of the old Roman aqueduct there on the top. Obviously, they built a golf course all around it. I decided to get this vantage point with the quad to make the photo a little confusing on purpose.
Here’s awesome Rene doing his thing. Whenever he’s near water, most of his clothes come off and he becomes this amphibian kinda guy. This reminds me of a story he told me where he was trying to be cool on some rocks around a girl and then he stepped on a sea urchin and screamed, falling into the ocean.
The Pena Palace is a must-visit if you ever visit Portugal. It’s an absolutely amazing place and you can actually reserve the whole place to yourself ahead of time if you want to take photos. It’s pretty inexpensive and you’ll be able to spend plenty of time getting all the photos you want. Even better, they are totally cool with drones to get some unique shots.
We went to a cool beach area near Lisbon and had a fabulous lunch before beginning the whole European tour. Just off the coast were these three boats, perfectly spaced with some dramatic lighting. At this time, I was still getting used to using the Hasselblad and this is one of my favorites!
We headed out here on the very first morning of my Portugal photo workshop. I don’t know why I planned a workshop right before the huge European tour, but I sure did! Sometimes I overschedule myself like that a bit… but, looking back at all these cool photos, now I’m okay with it! Also, I’ve always been a sucker for aqueducts!
I found this great set of words on Reddit!
Saw this on r/coolguides …. I think we can relate to some of these during our trips from DMT
Continuing the Best Of series to get everyone excited about travel SOME DAY, check out my favorite ones from Portugal!
We started off our European photo tour here in Sintra, Portugal. It was my first time there and we visited some of these hilltop villas. They were all cool in the way they worked themselves into the rugged and rocky surroundings. Here, you can see Tane in action!
