A visit to the first fleet of the Admiral of the Ocean Sea

Moored at Palos lies a life-size replica of Columbus' first fleet: the Niña, the Santa María, and the Pinta.  It is from Palos that Columbus departed on his first expedition, the 3rd of August, 1492.

The Niña, foreground, sailed three times to America under Columbus, making over 25,000 nautical miles.  In between the second and third expeditions, it was kidnapped by Moor pirates and was only saved because of the daring prison break and escape of part of the crew.  

Niña has about the same nominal dimensions as Peregrinus, except the latter is pointy, and so from its bow it takes more than half its length to get to its broadest point, from where it tapers sharply, whereas Niña gets fat not far from the bow and carries much of its full width nearly to its stern.  This helps explain how Niña had a crew of 24 under Columbus whereas Peregrinus is only rated for eight.  

At one point, we were questioned by the lady at the admittance how had we arrived.  It is not our custom to speak of Peregrinus, but she asked if we were driving –no.  Arrived by taxi, then? –no.  By bus? –no.  Well, how?, she insisted.  When we explained that we had come to Palos by Zodiac from the mouth of the Odiel river, then up the Río Tinto and had finally climbed the iron Muelle de la Reina, the lady was a bit floored, but she walked out of her booth and, like everyone we met at Palos, was most welcoming and helpful.

Palos de la Frontera (of the frontier to the New World, not to the frontier to Portugal, which is some distance away).  3:07 pm 17 November 2015.  iPhone 6 Plus.

Oceanus

Caius Calpurnius, Caius Vibius Quintilianus, Lucius Atius and Marcus Verrius Geminus commissioned this building with the mosaic.
      ——— Municipal Museum, Faro

So rare to find a Roman private building, in this case the office of a trading concern or a bank, and to actually read who the owners were.  The centrepiece is a portrait of Oceanus, the god of the Sea Ocean, i.e., the Atlantic.

Owner's names in foreground.  4 November 2015, Leica Typ 114.

In the Al-Gharb

When the moors took Hispania in 711, they called its west Al-Gharb, or The West.  In Portugal, they still call their South the Algarve.  The kings of Spain, from the time of Alfonso X, the wise, also styled themselves Rey del Algarve; at first, because they claimed possession of the whole thing, and later, after treaties with Portugal, because they remained, and remain, lords of the eastern parts of the old Al-Gharb, and in particular because of their conquest of the saracen kingdom of Niebla (1262).

From the time we passed Cape Saint Vincent, and therefore entered coastal Algarve, we've been astonished at the easy sailing and incredibly good weather enjoyed here, and, particularly so, east of Faro.  The explanation is that the upper section of the Bay of Cadiz, from Faro to the Guadalquivir, forms the ultimate shelter from Atlantic and from Mediterranean storms, while maintaining the warmest weather in Europe.

And so today we entered the Piedras estuary, at El Rompido, near Huelva, and this does not look like Europe at all: it feels as if we are somewhere in the Caribbean.  

No wonder the moors liked it.

El Rompido, Piedras river, Cartaya, in Huelva.  iPhone 6 Plus, 5:54pm 12 November.

The view from da Gama's home

Vasco da Gama is the adventurer who opened up the trade routes to India in 1498 and changed the world: for one thing, his success resulted in the terminal decline of Venice, which had been the preeminent maritime power until then.  Like the other heroes of the era (Columbus, Pizarro, Magellan, Cortés, etc.), his willingness to take risks and the ruthlessness with which he undertook his enterprises are hard to fathom today.  Five hundred years later, he is still Portugal's major hero.

We made an unscheduled stop in Sines, south of Lisbon, and went into the little local museum, filled, in the bottom floor, with Roman ruins, like every museum of history in the Iberian peninsula.  It looked like we were about done with the museum but there was an elevator to the top floors, and what do we step in there?  Da Gama's family rooms, the very place where the man grew up.

And so we snapped a picture of Peregrinus anchored out, as little Vasco may have seen it from the top of his home's walls, and perhaps have dreamt that one day he, too, would go out to sea.

A luz de Lisboa

The Light of Lisbon is a current exhibit on the West turret of the Terro do Paço.  Among many interesting trivia, the exhibit shows Lisbon gets more sunshine than any other Euro capital, and that it turns out the city and its hills form a natural parabolic reflector that throws light on to the Baixa Pombalina.

As we stepped of the exhibit and sat for a gin and tonic at Café Paço d'Agua , this is the light of Lisbon we saw from our table.

iPhone 6 Plus, 4:03pm 20 October 2015