Monday Mural - VIHLS in Lisbon

VILHS, aka Alexandre Farto is a Portuguese street artist that does murals in a different way - by carving his drawings with chisels and hammers, acid and bleach, uncovering layers of stone and brick to create these works of art.

This mural was found on the side of an old building in the suburb of Alcantara (just outside Lisbon), near the 25th of April Bridge. The subject is his friend, American artist Brad Downey.

If you like murals follow this link for other murals around the world.

The whole building 

From a distance you can see the bridge to the left

The artist's signature

And here is another one of VIHLS murals, on the front wall of the Norfolk Hotel in Fremantle, Western Australia. The lady is Dorothy Tangney, Australia's first woman senator.

The bridal couple happens to be my son and daughter in law. The photo was taken almost 3 years ago by a friend of ours who is a wedding photographer.

If you would like to see how VILHLS works on his murals watch this Youtube video.

To check out more of my Murals click on this link 

Portugal - Cascais : the town and it's architecture

Following from my previous post about my walk around Cascais, today I'll show you some of the beautiful buildings in the area.

Town Hall



The building above is the Cascais Town Hall - located at the "Praça 5 de Outubro" (5th October Square), IN THE CENTRE OF CASCAIS.  The former palace of the "Condes da Guarda" (Counts of Guarda), has a few tile panels on it's facade depicting Saints - St John, St Anthony, St Marc and St Lucas.

St Anthony tile panel at the Cascais city council

Dom Pedro I

In this Square you can also see the Statue of D.Pedro I, the famous king from the love story of Ines de Castro and Pedro. It was during his reign that he received the "Charter" of Cascais.

The famous Irish pub O'Neills also faces the Square with it's ondulated cobbled pavement as well as having a view of the "Praia da Ribeira" (Ribeira beach) across the road.

The Beaches

Fishermen's Beach

Ribeira Beach, also known as Fishermen's beach, is mainly used by the fishermen as it's next to the port and the fish market. Because it's a small beach it can become quite full in Summer, but the fish smell can be a bit overwhelming too. 

Architecture

My favourite house -top right

Another favourite - top left

Above, some of the varied architectural styles, and below a variety of window and door styles  and tiled street name plaques.

Windows, Doors & other details

Casa da Guia 

Another former Palace from the 19th Century, it was the summer house of the Counts of Alcáçovas, located at Avenida Nossa Senhora do Cabo 101, on the way to Guincho, just 2,3km from the Town Hall. The remodeled palace now houses boutiques, hair and beauty salon, and the outdoor area has got a few cafes and restaurants with wonderful views of the Atlantic Ocean.

Casa da Guia, outdoor areas (Aerial photo from the internet)

di

The Fort of Our Lady of Light

Main entrance to the Cidadela and Fort

Also known just as "The Cascais Fort", it was started in 1594. During the earthquake of 1755 it was greatly damaged. With the use of firearms, the fort lost it's defensive function.

During the 20th century renovation of the fort took place and the building is classified as a site of public interest. This fort now owned by the Portuguese Government is mainly used by the Army and also serves as the summer residence of the Portuguese President.

Inside there is an upscale Hotel - Pousada de Cascais – Cidadela Historic Hotel.

Gelados Santini - Santini's Ice Creams

Enjoying our ice-creams - My Mom, my middle sister, my niece and my daughter

I couldn't leave Cascais without going to the famous Santini's, the ice-cream shop opened since 1949, to savour one of their hundreds of ice-cream flavours. 

On their site they have 68 flavours!!

I had a double scoop - Dulce de Leite and Brigadeiro.

It was a long wait since the queue was out the door, but it was worth it!

Heaven...on earth!

Hope you enjoyed the visit to Cascais and I wish you all a wonderful weekend.

After the Monday Mural post, the next one will be about another beautiful town -  Sintra.

Portugal - Cascais: New discoveries

When I visit Portugal I usually stay at either my sister's or my parent's apartment in Cascais, a coastal town about 30km from Lisbon.

Cascais is a pretty town, popular with tourists, and it also has lots of historical interest - it is known as the "village of kings and fishermen" as many European Royal families lived here in exile during the wars, as well as being the holiday getaway for the Portuguese kings decades ago. You can just imagine that a couple of centuries ago, 30km was another world away...

Cascais - a village of kings and fishermen

Even though I have visited my family in Cascais countless times, it seems there are still some interesting spots to discover as I found out during this visit.

Marechal Carmona Park

On a photographic tour with my Dad, he took me to visit Marechal Carmona Park,  a place I never even knew existed in Cascais... (named after Marshal Carmona, a militar and former Portuguese President).

A lovely cool oasis created in the 40's, with a pond, some statues, beautiful tiled work and ducks, chickens, birds and even a few peacocks roaming the grounds,. picnic areas, a Cafe...

I was excited when I found this 2 metre wide "Plastic World" sculpture in the park, as I remembered I had seen it before during our 2014 Sculpture by the Sea in Cottesloe - created by a Portuguese artist, it was originally exhibited at the "Sculpture ArteMar" at the Estoril beach (Portugal) in 2009 and won first prize!

Some of the fountains and other walls adorned with beautiful traditional blue mosaic tiles.

Chickens, Ducks and Peacocks roamed the park

The Museum

The park leads to the Museum of Conde de Castro Guimaraes.  This former palace was commissioned in 1900 by Jorge O´Neill, a personal friend of King Carlos I of Portugal. It was later bought by Count Manuel de Castro Guimaraes, and donated to the State upon his death in 1927. 
Entry is free and have access to 2 floors of beautiful furniture, paintings and other antiques.

Here you can see the tiled mural to the right over a small pond

Seen from the street, the Palace/Museum  in partly surrounded by a moat that fills up with sea water when the sea rises, as can be seen in the photo below taken from one of the top windows.




Inside the Museum

The original Palace's ceilings, tile work, chandeliers, furniture and paintings are quite beautiful.




                          


Across the street you can visit the Santa Marta Lighthouse and Museum as well.

                    

A pretty corner of Cascais, don't you think?
More about Cascais in the next post...

Monday Mural - Recycling bins in Lisbon

I'm back from my short visit to Portugal, where I found lots of interesting murals.

I'll start posting them once I sort out my notes about where I saw them and who painted them...

In the meantime here are some cute recycling bins. Hopefully they encourage more people to recycle!

For more murals from around the world click on this link.

Monday Mural - Cascais, Portugal

While visiting the beautiful beach town of Cascais, 30km from Lisbon, I couldn´t resist searching for murals.

This one was a great find, depicting the House of Santa Maria, built in 1902 and the lighthouse. You can see the original photo at the bottom.
I haven´t been able to find anything about the artist or artists...

For other murals from around the world click on this link

House of Santa Maria to the right of the mural, with the lighthouse at the end.

The original depicted in the mural above