Wednesday, March 07, 2007

The Castle vs. The Windmills



(posted by ange re: March 6)







Today we took a drive to the top of the Algarve. Serra de Monchique is the highest point of the Algarve, with the peak being 2,960 ft. From the peak there are 360° views of the Algarve, from rolling hills and farmland around and out to the Straight of Gibraltar (At least I think it was the Straight of Gibraltar. It could have been the Atlantic Ocean. I don’t know which direction I was facing. Regardless, my point is we could see the ocean!). We got out for a photo shoot but, now don’t smile too big, it was freezing and windy as hell. I hightailed into the gift shop while Dave got some shots. Plan B: Let’s drive around to explore and take photos.

We saw lots of cool stuff, but two things take the cake in the cool department today: windmills and an old castle. Yes, two totally different sights…one new, modern, high tech, the other ancient, falling apart, no tech. Both very cool. But one cooler.

First, the windmills. I love windmills. I think they are the coolest looking things, especially when you drive by a whole “farm” of them. I’ve seen them a few times, but never as I did today. These windmills were up on Serra de Monchique, on a dirt road on the side of the hill, completely unguarded. We were able to drive right up to the damn things! I mean, right up… I was leaning against one! It was unbelievable! You could hear the whooshing of each turn. And they are HUGE! I was dumbstruck. I was soooo excited to be that close to these things, you would have thought I was meeting Dave Matthews! All I could think was that my nephew Markus would have had a conniption had he been with me, since the blades look like propellers, and I’m sure he would have thought they were some kind of airplane, and if you know Markus, well, airplanes are a BIG deal! I was giddy for the rest of the afternoon at being that close to those powerful harnessers of wind.

And then there was the castle. After driving around the hillside of Monchique, we went to Silves to see the old Moorish Castle. It’s quite amazing to think that these walls were built hundreds of years ago and are still standing today. We paid our 1.25 euro to get in and… well, we entered the inside of the wall and walked around the perimeter of the wall and so really got to see an old wall with a few turrets or minarets or whatever they are called here and there. The interior was pretty much hollow and in the process of being restored (although it didn’t appear they were following too much of the original plan, being that they were working on a restaurant and gardens, using wood panelling and plexi-glass, etc.). I don’t know, it’s neat, but without much context I couldn’t get all that excited about it. It sort of seems like it’s just a big wall to walk around, albeit a very old one. I felt a little guilty at not being a little more impressed, but I then I thought, maybe I’m just not an old-ruined-castle kinda girl. I’m probably more of an intact-old-castle-with-meaningful-stuff-inside-to-look-at kind of girl.

And so today, new, modern, high tech wins out over ancient, falling apart, no tech. Being up close and personal with the windmills totally kicked ass!

1 comment:

  1. when you visit Alberta ange, you can head down to lethbridge, where you will see the windmills, it really is awesome...about the castle, well, maybe you and dave will find one of more interest, like, Steps??

    ReplyDelete