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Besides the carnaval festivities which we celibrated last weekend, each year during the month of February, the Algarve welcomes hundreds of sportsloving fans who come and witness the “Volta ao Algarve”, the Tour of the Algarve for professional cycle racers. This year, the 36th edition took place between 17th of February and today, 21st February. More than 200 cyclists and 23 national and international teams challenged each other to win this race. This race is the only race in the world of “class 2.1″ which succeeds in inviting the majority of the “Pro Tour” racing teams.

Two times winner of the Tour de France, winner of the Tour of Spain and Giro d’Italia, Spanish rider Alberto Contador, who won this race last year, insisted on participating in this year’s edition as well. As a matter of fact, I believe it was his first race after more than 206 days without competition. Last Wednesday, during the first stage in between Faro and Albufeira, in his first day of competion, Contador was attacking constantly. Last Friday, during the third stage in between Castro Marim and Malhao, he won his first race of 2010, and today, he became second in the time trial between Lagoa and Portimao as well. He didn’t win today’s stage only because UCI had made some problems regarding his team’s special time trial bikes. Alberto Contador has won this 36st edition of the Tour of Algarve for the second year in a row, which proofs he is currently the best professional cycle racer of the world. I am already looking forward to this year’s Tour de France where he will meet with 7 times winner Lance Armstrong.

This years overall results:

1) Alberto Contador.

2) Luis Sanchez.

3) Tiago Machado.

4) Levi Leipheimer.

5) Samuel Gonzalez.

Having been a cycle race fan all my life, it was pretty normal for me that I was following this year’s event pretty closely. Obviously, I also took some pictures.

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While the first long weekend of 2010 has just gone by, I am wondering who will stop the rain… I’ve been living in this country since September 2003, so this is the seventh winter season I am experiencing in this Southern European country. By far, it is the coldest and wettest winter I have known. Even when I speak with old Portuguese people, they all have to admit that they can’t recall a colder and longer winter than this one…

Anyway, yesterday it was the last day of the carnaval period. The Algarvian city with the most famous parade is Loulé. Apparently, it is the parade which resembles most to the Brazilian parades. At least, that’s what I have been told, although BB (remember, the Brazilian Beauty that turned into a Brazilian Bitch far too rapidly) didn’t agree with this. As I had nothing else to do yesterday afternoon, I went to see this parade, and took some pictures. I wonder how many of these girls will have catched a cold by now?

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It’s February. This means carnaval time. Having lived in this country together with BB - a Brazilian Beauty that turned into a Brazilian Bitch far too rapidly - for four years, I soon discovered that this “fiesta” is being celibrated in all parts of this country. All over the place, there are colourful parades with music, dressed up people dancing and having fun and children playing in the streets and squares. It seems that everybody wants to come out of their houses, and want to see or be seen… People are spending many weeks and months making their costumes very patiently with a lot of creativity. A lot of colours, a lot of confetti, a lot of fun.

Somehow, I have always watched this kind of “fiesta” from a distance and never took an active part in it. I guess I am not catholic enough to fully appreciate this party. The tradition of it goes back many centuries, to ancient catholic Italy when a huge dressed-up party took place at the eve of Ash Wednesday, forty days before Eastern. The popularity of this event grew all over the catholic world, and everybody nowadays knows that the carnaval in Rio de Janeiro is the most famous on the globe.

There are many theories about the word “carnaval”. Most probably, it comes from the Italian “carne levare” or from the Latin “carne vale”, the “removal of meat” or “goodbye to meat”. In the catholic world, during the forty days before Eastern, people should not eat or drink much, and especially not eat meat. Except on Sundays…

Yesterday, on a cold and rainy day in the Algarve, I went to take a walk in Tavira, and witnessed this year’s carnaval parade…

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A lot of things have happened over the past couple of months. I have been very, very busy with running my company which remains a very challenging activity in this country, I travelled a couple of times to the low countries, I was in Canada for a couple of days, I was al over Portugal visiting prospects and customers, my dad has been in hospital and is now recovering from a pretty nasty operation, the daughter of my ex-girlfriend has been elected Miss Belgium - congratulations Cilou, what a nice and wonderful surprise! -, 2009 changed into 2010 in a very rapid way, my car has been vandalised by unknown assholes, Portuguese police is behaving in a ridiculous way, in short… I was far too busy to keep an eye on this website. As a matter of fact, I’ve been neglecting it for far too long.

One of the main reasons why I started this blog at the end of 2008 was that I was looking for a solution to keep track on some of my favourite pictures. But… shame on me, the last time I published some of the many pictures I take was at the end of July of last year. I will take care of it that I will publish more pictures this year.

Last weekend, I was walking in the area of the Guadiana River. This river, with a length of 742 kilometers (460 miles), is one of the major rivers of Spain and Portugal. It forms part of the border between the two countries, separating Extramadura and Andalucia in Spain from Alentejo and the Algarve in Portugal.

There is controversy about the exact source of the river in the Spanish province of Castilla-La Mancha. The river flows east to west through Spain, then it flows south through Portugal. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean in between Vila Réal de Santo Antonio in Portugal, where I live, and Ayamonte in Spain.

Last Saturday, on a beautiful and sunny day, and last Sunday, a pretty grey day - winter is still going on over here in Southern Europe, I was walking through the beautiful nature around the Guadiana River, still on Portuguese soil. Thousands, if not millions of almond trees were in full blossom, and obviously, I took a couple of pictures which I really enjoy, so here we go… I hope you will enjoy them as well as I do.

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I came back from Canada more than a week ago. Since then, I have been very, very busy with the company over here in Portugal. One should think that during the holiday season business would go down a little bit, but this is not the case. And obviously, you will not hear me complain about that aspect of my life.

Thinking back of my Canadian trip, I must say that the business part of it went very well. I succeeded in doing the things I wanted to do. And as I always do, I took some time for “pleasure” as well. Toronto remains a beautiful city, despite the strike of the city workers that caused all the garbage remaining in the streets. The Niagara Falls were still amazing, as they always have been. And during the last couple of days, I went up north, to stay in the middle of Ontario’s beautiful nature. Despite the many mosquito bites that I still carry as a souvenir, it was a wonderful experience. There are countless beautiful lakes, amazing woods and wonderful national parks in that area.

Thinking back of those last three days, I got this crazy idea… I am thinking of renting a cottage in the neighbourhood of one of those lakes, which must also be close to one or the other airfield. Because I would love to restart my flying lessons. I flew small planes, until I moved to Portugal in 2003. Since then, I haven’t done that anymore. And I must admit, it is one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done in my life. And as flying lessons in Canada are a lot less expensive than in Europe, I might as well take them over there. It is a crazy idea, and I will not do this during this year anymore, but maybe some time in the late spring or early summer of next year. I’ll keep you posted on that.

But one thing is certain: Canada, you will see me back. And probably sooner than you can imagine right now!

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One of the “musts” while in the Toronto area is a visit to the world famous Niagara Falls. It is only a one and a half hour drive from the city center of Toronto to the Falls, and I can tell you, it is worth the trip. Today was the third time in my life I saw them, and I was still as impressed as the very first time 21 years ago. Back in 1678, a French Father Louis Hennepin was looking for a route to the Mississippi River. Along the way, he became the first European to see what is one of the greatest natural wonders in the world. Niagara Falls was first settled by the Seneca Indians hundreds of years before the Frenchman would arrive.

The Falls were formed over 13 thousand years ago when glaciers retreated from this part of Ontario. In their lifetime, the Falls have retreated over 11 kilometers, and one day in the very far off future, this site will be little more than a river’s rapids. Niagara carries over 20% of the world’s fresh water, flowing from four of the Great Lakes. Travelling over 65 kilometers an hour, the water’s speed and huge volume (dropping 154 million liters of water every single minute on their journey downstream to Lake Ontario!) has immense erosive power. The brink of the Falls moved up to three meters every year until twentieth century engineering intervened to slow the rate down to only thirty centimeters every ten years.

If you are looking to get very, very wet, but you want to come up close and personal with the Falls, there are two ways to do so. You can either jump on a little boat called “Maid of the Mist”, or you can go on the “Journey Behind The Falls”. Over 12 million tourists visit the Falls each and every year, and I was told this afternoon that more film is sold at Niagara Falls than anywhere else in the world.

The Falls consist of two main drops, the American Falls entirely on the U.S. side of the border and the more spectacular Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. In 1901, 63-year old school teacher Anna Taylor became the first person to go over the falls in a barrel and survive. Not all who have tried this curious feat over the years have been so lucky and obviously, today this stunt is illegal. However, today 49 years ago, the only person who went unintentionally over the Falls and survived was young Roger Woodward. After a boating accident on July 9th of 1960, this seven-year-old boy was swept over the Falls wearing only a life jacket and a swimming suit. The crew of the Maid of the Mist II rescued Roger pulling him unharmed from the churning water. Roger’s seventeen-year-old sister was pulled from the river above the Falls by two onlookers, and the driver of their boat, Jim Honeycut, lost his life in this tragic event.

Somehow, during the settlement and development of Niagara Falls, it became known as the “honeymoon capital of the world” and to this day, tens of thousands of newlyweds still flock to the Falls to celebrate their nuptials.

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This is the third time in my life that I am in the Toronto area. I came here for the first time in the summer of 1986, I was here in January of last year, and I am here now. This beautiful “Great Lake City” is Canada’s largest city and multi-cultural melting pot that stands proudly on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It has changed dramatically since I was here for the first time 21 years ago. It seems like Toronto has been re-inventing and re-designing itself in order to keep pace with the times. It is a financial, industrial, commercial, technological and entertainment point for Canada. Toronto is a modern city, that still has landmarks from a rich past and strives to preserve that history while advancing into the future. Tens of thousands of people live in the downtown core and along the waterfront. Throughout the world, Toronto has a reputation as a clean, friendly and very safe cosmopolitan city.

This afternoon, I went out on a boat trip to the islands at the other side of the harbour. I especially wanted to take some pictures of the beautiful Toronto skyline. Just scroll down, and you will see a couple of these pictures below here.

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The day before yesterday, I decided to combine business and pleasure. Having said that, I realise that most of my life is a combination of business and pleasure. I honestly believe that we must live in the NOW. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow will come. Eventually. But we have to live right now, and enjoy each and every second of each and every day. After all, the only certainty we have in this life is that we can’t survive it. And once the time has gone by, it doesn’t come back. I have decided already a very long time ago that I will not let my past ruin my present. Unfortunately, far too many people are not living right now, but are still stuck somewhere in their past. Ok, so be it.

As I had a couple of new clients where I had to deliver new safes, and as they were all situated in Alentejo, one of the most beautiful regions of Europe, I decided to carry out these deliveries myself. Normally I hire a transportation company who does this kind of job, but I wanted to keep some contact with my new customers as well. So I loaded my van on Tuesday, and left home early on Wednesday morning.

All deliveries went very well, all the customers were very satisfied, and if they are satisfied, I am even more satisfied. Having finished the deliveries, I decided to take some very small roads on my way back to the Algarve. I had my camera next to me. I stopped on various places, walked through little villages, saw some old ruins, and fully enjoyed each and every second of that day! As a matter of fact, it was just a perfect day. Only too bad I didn’t spend it with you.

Anyway, the pictures below give a nice idea of the region.

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Earlier today, I was going through some random pictures I’ve taken over the past three months, say during the spring of this year. I selected a couple of them which I like to call some of my “random favourites”. Some have already been published over here in earlier posts, others have never been published before. But even the ones that have been published in this blog before do deserve their place over here.

I hope you’ll like them as much as I do.

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It’s been a while since I last put some pictures in this blog. A couple of days ago, on one of the many official Portuguese holidays (incredible how many official holidays do exist in this country, they have them for oh so many reasons, and I am pretty sure that the Portuguese would even invent reasons for having public holidays), I was walking around the aria where I live and couldn’t resist taking some pictures which I like to share with you. They were all taken within the range of 15 minutes walking from my house. Sometimes, when the sun is shining (and I must admit, on average that happens some three hundred and thirty [330] days a year), it’s really enjoyable to live here in Southern Europe.

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