Melbourne, Art Deco

At the beginning of this year I went to Australia just for a week. I needed a stamp to be officially an Aussie Permanent Resident. 

On one of the days I took a walk in the city. I sketched one of the many Art deco buildings in the Central Business District or CBD.

Dos Jeronimos Monastery, Lisbon

Lisbon is mind-blowing.  For few years it was the center of the World. When the Portuguese sailors finally found a direct way to trade oriental spices and goods, Lisbon changed forever. It passed from being at the periphery of Europe, to being the center.

This spark of wealth is visible in many of the buildings you can find in the capital. The Church, of course, had its part. This is one of the cloister's arches in the "Dos Jeronimos" Monastery, an obvious demonstration of the power of the period in "Manuelino" architectural style.

Tour Saint-Jacques, Paris, France

The first time I visited Paris, more than 20 years ago, I saw it. I kept that image in mind and I wondered what the history was behind this medieval tower in the center of Paris.

Later a found out that it was a bell tower of a medieval church : "Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie".
It was built in the Sixteenth century and destroyed during the French Revolution. The tower is the only remaining part of the building, just because it had a functional use for experiments and, at that time, it was one of the tallest buildings in the city.

I love the view of it in the middle of the city, the white stone and the little park which Parisian kids play in.

Italy, Mantova, Palazzo Ducale

We visited the "Palazzo Ducale di Mantova", an impressive medieval construction with several courtyards, towers and gardens. 

The highlight of the castle is "la camera degli sposi", a fresco-painted room with paintings of the rulers, their family and their dogs.

I made this sketch from the river side, where you can get a perspective of the oldest part of the Castle. The main entrance, toward the center of the city, is from the Renaissance period

Il Duomo Verona, Italia

We spent Christmas and the New Year's Eve in the Veneto region, where part of my maternal family lives.

It was the opportunity to present my wife to them and to show to her some of the most beautiful cities in that area.

We spent one of the days in Verona, where I sketched this church, one of the most important in the city.

Swaziland : Vernacular architecture

During our trip to South Africa we passed a couple of days in Swaziland. 

This independent Kingdom,was able to escape the racial tension that affected (and still affects) South Africa.

The landscape was very striking, and 

 I especially liked the reconstruction of the traditional village.

Each construction has an spatial function or is the room of a member of the family.

South Africa, Cape Town

We didn't organise this trip. It was the first organized tour we had ever taken. 

The company that I work for gave me (as the Godfather would say) "an offer you can't refuse" : a heavily subsidized trip, a car with a GPS, and the only "obligation" was to sleep in their 3 or 4 star lodges.

We jumped on the occasion and we enjoyed a great trip: driving the area of Cape Town, National Parks and going on safaris to see the Big Five. 

These sketches were made in Cape Town. 

The Cape area is huge. We had a rented car to drive around, visit some coastal towns and national parks. We finished the tour in the Cape of Good Hope, a mythical historical place.

These sketches were made in the penguin reserve.

I associate penguins with cold weather, but here they were sun bathing.

In Cape Town there are a bunch of nice colonial buildings. It reminds me of Melbounre

This one was done in the Table Mountain National Park. It shows the "Lion Head" hill and Cape Town Bay

Iceland 2/2

A glance of Iceland:

- A coffee stop on the way

- One of the many lighthouses 

- A Puffin bird (almost a national emblem)

- Landscape architecture in one of the Fjords

- A replica of the first settlements 

Amazing Iceland

Iceland 1/2

Iceland was not the most appealing destination for me. I love to visit places were I can find a mix between nice cities, archaeology, nice beaches and good food. Furthermore, I was convinced that there is no natural beauty that can match the Chilean and Argentinean Patagonia.

For all those reasons Iceland was not on my bucket list. How wrong I was. Having the opportunity to see a geologically "young" island was a real delight. The landscape was striking and dramatic and the continuous change of the scenery was thrilling. Hot water waterfalls, "marbled" icebergs with black ashes, waterfalls that do not touch the ground because the wind is so strong that it fades away and a big etcetera.

We spent two weeks road tripping around the island in the most beautiful nature I have ever seen.