Show Off Your Homeland

[pocaracas]

Dammit, Vic!
Show us your home region!!

Me..well... I've done it so many times on this forum, I don't feel it would be fair...

We got that same sunset as San Diego, but this one is over the Atlantic.
Just the other day, I did a test of my new phone's HDR on that...

---

---

Imagine the quality if I had used a proper camera!

You know those palaces that the Germans have?
We had a king who came from northern Europe, so he had one built here:

---

---

Also, we have real castles - the medieval kind!

---

This one is in Lisbon! Land at the Airport, take a taxi to the castle! We also have real canons, there:

---

Then... well, beaches bring in a lot of people

---

---

Food.... food... food!!!
There are a few special dishes which require you acquire the taste for them, but everything else is just plain old GOOD!
Here are a few ways Bacalhau gets served (a kind of cod fish, salted right after fishing for old-timey style conservation and it seems only the portuguese are allowed to eat this fish, for it is listed as endangered):

---

A nice whole piece of fish with boiled and then slightly roasted potatoes - the skin gets crackly and you're supposed to open it by punching the potato (try not to make a mess, it's impolite). Olive oil, everywhere!


Bacalhau with chickpeas. I could do without potatoes, rice or pasta, if only I could have chickpeas every day!

The kids favorite - very thin potato chips, onion, egg and bacalhau... some parsley sprinkled on top. Olives!

My mouth is watering!

---

Of course, we also eat meat... beef, pork, poultry... the usual. Here's a sample called bitoque:

---

---

Finally, the north of Portugal dedicates a large area to wine production... the famous Port wine. But almost everywhere we have people producing it.

---

each region on this map produces a different kind of wine:

---

The people are friendly, most can speak some english... and the weather is usually great. (after an almost clear July, August and September, October began with clouds and now it's pouring, as it should in the fall).

[thesummerqueen]

Or make a run across the south doing a Civil War and Revolution tour.  You'll get American southern culture at it's best and worst as an added cultural bonus.

Jesus christ, are you trying to kill the tourists? "Civil War Reenactment" is redneck code for Guns-n-Booze @ noon.   

Get a boat, hit the Suwannee. That's what I'd do.

You fucking redneck.



The Shenandoah Valley. Mid-to-late spring, when the red buds and dogwoods are blooming, or in the fall when the leaves change. Plop a canoe in at the top and float down. If there's an "Eden" in America, it's that valley. Get out at points and go see the three main cavern systems - Luray, Skyline (with their crystal flowers grown in vacuum) and Endless. Hike the Appalachian trail. When you get bored and want civilization, it's only a couple hours east to DC. And from there, you can go south in any direction in Virginia and hit something historical, from colonial periods through the Revolutionary War to the Civil War and on up. Just stay in your car if you drive through Tightsqueeze. That place smells.

[Longhorn]

Dammit, Vic!
Show us your home region!!

Ze sigh.

K.

---

---

[Whateverist]

If this weekend has shown me anything it is never try to drive around London.
They fling their cars at you as though they are unconcerned by consequences.
Cornwalls nice if you catch it on the nice day of the year.

I've only been to Cornwall for one day .. not that lucky day either.

Trebah in the Rain: Tree Ferns Around a Pond


But at least part of the day was nice, like here in St. Ives that morning.

[Jenny A]

Dammit, Vic!
Show us your home region!!

Me..well... I've done it so many times on this forum, I don't feel it would be fair...

---

We got that same sunset as San Diego, but this one is over the Atlantic.
Just the other day, I did a test of my new phone's HDR on that...
[hide]

---

Imagine the quality if I had used a proper camera!

You know those palaces that the Germans have?
We had a king who came from northern Europe, so he had one built here:

---

---

Also, we have real castles - the medieval kind!

---

This one is in Lisbon! Land at the Airport, take a taxi to the castle! We also have real canons, there:

---

Then... well, beaches bring in a lot of people

---

---

Food.... food... food!!!
There are a few special dishes which require you acquire the taste for them, but everything else is just plain old GOOD!
Here are a few ways Bacalhau gets served (a kind of cod fish, salted right after fishing for old-timey style conservation and it seems only the portuguese are allowed to eat this fish, for it is listed as endangered):

---

A nice whole piece of fish with boiled and then slightly roasted potatoes - the skin gets crackly and you're supposed to open it by punching the potato (try not to make a mess, it's impolite). Olive oil, everywhere!


Bacalhau with chickpeas. I could do without potatoes, rice or pasta, if only I could have chickpeas every day!

The kids favorite - very thin potato chips, onion, egg and bacalhau... some parsley sprinkled on top. Olives!

My mouth is watering!

---

Of course, we also eat meat... beef, pork, poultry... the usual. Here's a sample called bitoque:

---

---

Finally, the north of Portugal dedicates a large area to wine production... the famous Port wine. But almost everywhere we have people producing it.

---

each region on this map produces a different kind of wine:

---

The people are friendly, most can speak some english... and the weather is usually great. (after an almost clear July, August and September, October began with clouds and now it's pouring, as it should in the fall).[/hide]

It looks beautiful, but I'm already sold on Portugal--just not next year when we can only travel in June and July.

If I had just one or two weeks in Portugal, and we were coming in by train from Spain, where do you think we should go? Assume we are using public transport rather than a rental car. We like to walk in town and out. We often rent bikes. We aren't great fans of spending a day sunbathing on the beach though we like to walk ocean cliffs.

[Whateverist]

Jaysus, where to start?

Cavehill is mad cool - a hill from which you can see all of Belfast, the Isle of Man, and (sometimes) Scotland.  A 9th century ring fort atop the hill.


Boru

Does the ring fort date back to the first men?

[brewer]

Nebraska? Nothing to see or do here. Just another state that unfortunately you have to drive through to get to where you want to be.

[Jenny A]

Nebraska? Nothing to see or do here. Just another state that unfortunately you have to drive through to get to where you want to be.

While I wouldn't travel the globe to get to Nebraska, I have happily camped and hiked on the Nebraska/Wyoming border.

[Whateverist]

I live in coastal San Diego county. 

Hey you might know your moderating colleague, Rebeccarocks?  
I'll be getting down there more once the puppy grows up some more.

[Whateverist]

Nebraska? Nothing to see or do here. Just another state that unfortunately you have to drive through to get to where you want to be.

Oh no, you don't have to drive through it.  I usually just fly over it.  Much faster.