Once you have visited city, I would head for surrounding towns only a few hours to south in region called El Algarve. There are incredible fishing towns and beautiful sandy beaches. Once you have relax for a day or two, it would interesting to venture into countryside and take direction setting north to Alentejo region. The main city in this region is called Evora. The oldest monument in town dates back to II or III c. and it is temple of Diana - A real architectural beauty. There is a Pousada, reconverted castles and palaces made into historical lodgings which are all over Portuguese geography. Still heading north but towards Atlantic we come across One of most symbolic Catholic cities in world, Fatima. Whether you are a believer or not, everyone has a favor or burning desire to help someone with problems and profound religious ambience found here is very special. An from religious to intellect when we feast our sight on very old university city of Coimbra. Just visiting university grounds is a trip in itself. Still going up coast, we come to River Duero and city of Porto or sometimes called Oporto. This area together with Mino River valley make up fertile vineyards for famous Oporto wine. Other than enjoying green vegetation which are green grapes that make up this delicious wine, we can sip a few samples of different varieties and see process at some wine cellars.

Portuguese Cuisine

Lick your lips and dig in. Let´s see, I will try some Alentejana soup which are morsel of bread with coriander herbs, garlic and poached egg. Or maybe Cacao soup made from fresh fish. If it is chilly, I would like to try a typical meat dish called Pork a la Alentejana which is pork seasoned with wine, coriandro herb, onions and crushed almonds. Rabbit, hare or partridge with white beans can also warm your heart and stomach. Spread some creamy sheep cheese on some toasted bread or some hard, cured cheese from Evora with a touch of olive oil. Cod fish done in a hundred different ways, especially with tomatoes, onions, garlic and boiled potatoes which are all national products. To accompany all this scrumptious food we need right wine. And flaky almond pasties to finish it all off.

Let yourself be overwhelmed by Portugal´s picturesque details, shades of green, enticing bodies of water, tiled murals, white washed houses and warm feeling that Portuguese offer to all passerbyer. The result is a total success, living up to your every dream.

Robert Carlton runs a marketing company and lives with his spanish wife and daughter on the iberian peninsula. He writes travel related articles about Lisbon and Portugal. You can reach him via his website http://www.lisbon-and-portugal.com

If there are colorful bluffs, harbors, or other landscape picture opportunities on your beach vacation, you want to capture them, of course. Not only that, but wouldn't it also be impressive to add some family member(s) to shot and have people AND background in focus?

Set your F-stop for a high number (at least F-11, or at "infinity" or "landscape" setting of your camera). Position people in foreground, landscape in background. Focus on your human subject(s), while being at least 15 feet away (25 is even better, if you have a telephoto).

Adjust circular polarizer filter to obtain desired shade of blue in sky. Skip this step if you didn’t purchase a filter. Don’t worry, though. If you don’t like vividness of sky after print is developed, you can always take out a magic marker and color sky. (You didn’t hear that from me.)

Finally, gently squeeze shutter and… voila! A perfect “postcard” photograph.

5) Silhouettes

Silhouette beach vacation pictures (or, non-beach vacation pictures for that matter) produce one of most artistic and/or emotional-looking photographs possible. Most people never take silhouette photographs, and yet, they are just as easy as photographs taken during day light.

The best time to take silhouette photos is from approximately 1 hour before sunset, to ½ hour after sunset. Use evaluative or matrix metering (which is probably your default metering mode anyway), and focus on HUMAN SUBJECTS, with plenty of cloud-filled sky in background. Then compose shot, as desired.

Did I mention that sunset shots without clouds are fairly disappointing? Sort of like winning lottery and losing ticket.

The silhouette effect results from camera thinking overall scene is brighter than it is, and therefore under-exposes dark areas (human subjects).

To see sample photos and additional tips, check out http://www.best-family-photography-tips.com/beach-vacation.html .

Article courtesy of http://www.best-family-photography-tips.com , where you can see numerous sample pictures & photography tips on many subjects and events.

Copyright 2005 Robert Bezman. All rights reserved.