Lisbon - Vasco da Gama - Sunday Snippet

Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) was a Portuguese explorer who discovered an ocean route from Portugal to the East.
Da Gama was born to a noble family in Sines, Portugal. Da Gama's father Estavao was also an explorer. He was to have made the sea voyage from Portugal to India that eventually made his son famous, but the elder da Gama died before completing the journey.
Vasco da Gama sailed from Lisbon, Portugal, on July 8, 1497, heading to the East. At the time, many people thought that da Gama's trip would be impossible because it was assumed that the Indian Ocean was not connected to any other seas.

an extract from www.enchanted learning.com


Having made it comfortably and in an indulgent manner across the Atlantic Ocean, I am more able to appreciate the enormity of the quests of past explorers.

The above photograph is a part of this monument with Vasco da Gama standing at its head.



Farewell Lisbon!

Sky Watch Friday

... with a little bit of land and sea ... as we left Lisbon

'The sun - with just delight
Looks long - and last - and golden -
For fellowship - at night'

from a poem by Emily Dickinson (no. 757)

Wordless Wednesday - in the Azores

Sunday Snippet

This is more a photographic snippet ..



... as we leave land behind ...



... and head out across the ocean ... six days of only sea and sky

'Where lies the land to which the ship would go?
Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know.'

From 'Where lies the land ...' by Arthur Hugh Clough

Solved for Saturday

The Plant!

It is from the Cow Parsley family and those are the leaves and buds making a surreal effort! I have included the patch of land, where you can see it amongst the other flowers and plants.

Incidentally, it is delighted to have two posts to its name!!

Sky Watch Friday

In the golden lightning
Of the sunken sun,
O'er which clouds are bright'ning
Thou dost float and run,

Lines from 'To a Skylark' by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Words for Wednesday

A few words of thanks to you all for continuing to follow my 'Wordless Wednesdays'.

I am home, having crossed the Atlantic Ocean - to experience the journey between Europe and America, which at one time was the only means of crossing. Granted, I had a smoother sailing on an ocean liner, and it would have been rather scary on board a galleon with salted beef and ship's biscuits, but I now know what it feels like to have days of only sea and sky.

I shall catch up with your posts in the next couple of days. Meanwhile, I am trying to discover the name of last 'Wordless Wednesday's' plant, which I photographed in my native Northumberland, at the edge of a field.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday