I’m writing this in my hotel off of Avenida da Liberdade in downtown Lisbon but probably by time I post this I will be back in grey, dark England wishing I was by the sea. I’ve been having a few ftp access problems at Etic so have been unable to upload anything (except for a few photos to my flickr) without having to pester people to do it for me from a different workstation. It’s been a crazy week. Long days. I’ve been borrowing desk space at Etic where during the day I’ve been pushing through my current workload and then breaking off every evening at 1900 to run workshops to ten fantastic students until 2300. So needless to say I’ve been knocking back shots of caffeine at regular intervals. I did however take a lot in visually in the time that I have managed to break away from soaking up LCD radiation. Every morning I was lucky enough to be able to walk to work past the view of the river Tejo leading out to the Atlantic. Such a beautiful sight… and again I’ve been blessed with fantastic weather. Blue skies and sun.

The first day that I managed to break away from my desk was one afternoon late in the week… I had a couple of 3 hour renders to output so managed to slip away for an afternoon while the G5 crunched zeros and ones. I took my trusty D200 and Ines showed me this insane massive graveyard which was pretty crazy… The smell of death was over powering and made me feel quite uneasy as the coffins were viewable through glass doors. Final resting places here aren’t just tomb stones but entire little shrines - almost mini churches with shelves containing coffins with empty shelves awaiting loved ones left behind in this life…

We then went to a Nepalese restaurant where we met Susana which was empty besides us as we were eating so late but it was a great time talking and then we hit an amazing bar virtually made of glass called Opart in an area called Alcântara that overlooked the bridge connecting Lisbon to Almada with the “Christ the King” monument watching over. Nothing beats drinking JD and Coke and watching the sunset over such a beautiful place.

The next day was another batch of renders and I think maybe the week was starting to take its toll as I was feeling pretty exhausted but during the afternoon I escaped the mac again to check out the King Christ which I missed last year (tourist stuff I know!) and then Pedro showed me a spot where I could shoot the bridge from directly underneath which was pretty amazing… the sound of the vehicles moving above is so unique.. we also reeled off a full memory card of shots in an abandoned factory just down from the base of the bridge… hopefully these will come in handy in some future projects. I returned back to Etic to talk at the last presentation to around 100+ people. The audience was great and a big thankyou to all who attended and stuck it out in the freezing cold venue!

The last full day I had in Lisbon was spent exploring Almada’s beautiful white sands and watching surfers catching waves and the odd sunbather here and there soaking up the winter sun. Winter in Lisbon one week before Christmas… what can I say! Sun sea and sand! We even ate lunch outside in tee shirts catching rays!

I love this city. It has so many contrasts. Such decay and history with beauty found in places you couldn’t find anywhere else in the world. I’ve met some really great people that I can count as true friends… so a big thankyou to Ines and Pedro for being my “tour guides” ;), to Rui and Nuno for having the faith and getting me over to Lisbon in the first place, to V for helping out with all the ftp issues and to Susana… for your inspiration… much love till next time. Maybe one day… I will live by the sea too.