photography – Page 179

T for Týn Church / Týnský chrám

frizztext hosts a weekly A – Z Challenge

Event Type: General Blogging

Start Date: Tuesdays, recurring weekly

Description: Every Tuesday I offer the “A to Z challenge”, walking step by step through the alphabet.

If you would like to join in then please click here

Back in Prague (the city of 101 spires apparently) this week for one of the most recognisable buildings in the Old Town, a Gothic church called ‘The Church of Our Lady in front of Týn‘

The current church is a late Gothic style and construction began in the 14th century. The roof, the 80m high church towers and the smaller spires were completed in the 15th century. It dominates one side of the Old Town Square. (Wikipedia)

The front is decorated with a golden image of the Virgin Mary, made in the 1620s from the melted down Hussite chalice that previously adorned the church. This was during the tumultuous period when Roman Catholics were slaughtering the Hussites who had controlled the church for two centuries.

And take a close look at the two spires on the church. They are not symmetrical. They represent the masculine and feminine sides of the world. This is characteristic of Gothic architecture of the period.

The church is difficult to picture in its entirety as it is hidden behind the four-storey Týn School, and although impressively Gothic on the outside it is heavily Baroque on the inside. It is open to the public, though closed on Mondays, and often used for mass, so check before you visit.

Entrance to the church can be difficult to find as you have to negotiate through the narrow lanes behind the square. This amazing portal dates from 1390 and depicts scenes of Christ’s Passion.

Legend has it that Walt Disney based his Sleeping Beauty Castle on this church. What do you think?

A Lingering Look at Windows: In the Garden

This weekly challenge is hosted by Dawn from ‘The Day After’ who invites participants to post pictures of any windows that they find curious, inviting, photogenic, or in some way tell a story. Visit her blog to see more windows and/or to join in with the challenge.

Whilst visiting Stockton Bury Gardens in Herefordshire recently I also couldn’t help noticing some windows. The Tithe Barn obviously didn’t have windows, but does have huge doors. Now that it is used as a café new bi-fold windows have been added so that they can be open during good weather.

There is a window in the stable block, occupied by a pair of white doves it seems.

But difficult to spot them from the outside in May.

Budding wisteria in April

turns to dripping wisteria in May, and yes there is a window there if you look hard enough.

and a cute little window in the ladies loo.

Weekly Photo Challenge: A Work of Art

This week, share a photo of something that’s art to you.

This particular photo has been given a watercolour ‘art’ effect. Enlarge for more detail and clarity.

Pulsatilla vulgaris

The flowers bloom in early spring, which leads to the common name Pasque flower, since Pasque refers to Easter and Passover. Pasque flowers are the early harbingers of Spring, appearing before the leaves have fully emerged and it is a low-growing, clump-forming, perennial.

To me there is nothing more that represents a work of art than nature. A flower, from seed to decay, is truly magical.

A Spring Walk in Herefordshire

I discovered another garden not too far from here a few weeks ago. Apparently it is used as a location in ‘The English Garden’ magazine if anyone reads that. It also has a small café in a beautiful Tithe barn serving lunches and cakes, warm lemon & treacle tart anyone? So definitely worth a visit, although on this particular day I was feeling rather ill so had to sit and watch the OH devour a lovely chicken sandwich.

This post is linked with Cee’s Which Way Challenge, Jo’s Monday Walk and this week’s Travel Theme from Ailsa which is Blossom.

Probably the first thing you notice once you enter the gardens through the Cider Press, is this gorgeous Granary with the Oast Houses. I used to think Oast Houses only existed in Kent. Not so, there are quite a few in Herefordshire and Worcestershire and still plenty of hops in the fields.

I spent a fair while just photographing these gorgeous old buildings before venturing into the gardens themselves. But what a treat awaited me.

Steps on the Cider Press

Tulips

Redbuds

The problem was where to start? The Pigeon House Garden? The Spring Garden? What a choice.

The Spring Garden was a delight with these jewel-like anemones flowering in the sun. A crooked path leading to a sweet little summer-house with magnolia blossom overhead.

Leaving the Spring Garden behind brings you out in front of the Manor House, with pots of bright tulips outside the porch and walls festooned with budding wisteria. The Main Lawn softens the driveway which leads to the farmyard. And a barn with bells.

The Bathing Pool Garden was intriguing, especially as this leads to the Rock Pools where Fritillaria meleagris and Pulsatilla vulgaris flowered around the pool and blossom hung overhead.

Fritillaria meleagris

Chaenomeles japonica

Doorways and water features entice you into the Elizabethan Garden with violet-blue clematis dripping over the wall.

Next the Long Walk leads you past the Kitchen Garden, the Sunken Garden, the Pillar Garden and finally the Paddock Garden. See the blossom?

With plants and pots and watering-cans to catch the eye.

Pots

Erythronium

watering-cans

The path leads down to the Dingle, the furthest area of this lovely garden and where the Spring and the Grotto can be found. A very peaceful place to stop and rest and absorb the beauty of nature.

Lots of little paths to wander along.

And a wider one which leads to the Grotto. But watch your step!

Finally on the way back to the exit there are the Iris Walk and the Greenhouses which I can never resist having a nosey in. The irises weren’t in flower, so another visit is required, very soon. But I did find some mistletoe growing on a fruit tree.

Before you leave, have a browse around the plant sales which is behind the Cider Press and where you’ll find the Rill and a pair of Welsh Dragons 🙂

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Stockton Bury Gardens in Herefordshire. It has a very long history as there has been a dwelling on this site since 660. The ‘Bury’ is a Saxon word for Court House or Mansion House and was given the status of a Manor in the reign of Edward III.

S for Sintra Palácio Nacional da Pena

frizztext hosts a weekly A – Z Challenge

Event Type: General Blogging

Start Date: Tuesdays, recurring weekly

Description: Every Tuesday I offer the “A to Z challenge”, walking step by step through the alphabet.

If you would like to join in then please click here

The town of Sintra, Unesco-listed thanks to its extraordinary castles, palaces and country houses, is popular with Lisbon day-trippers. There is a lot of flamboyant architecture to see.

(please click on an image to enlarge)

The Park and Palace of Pena above the old town of Sintra are the finest examples of 19th century Portuguese Romanticism and the integration of natural and built heritage. It is another example (along with Rossio Station in Lisbon and Count Guimaraes Palace in Cascais) of neo-Manueline style, a revival architecture of the 19th/20th centuries.

This is as far as you go if you haven’t bought the full ticket. The coat of arms above the gateway is of Don Fernando II of Portugal and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He died in 1885 leaving the property to the Countess of Edla.

An alcove you pass on the way up to the second terrace, charmingly filled with a stone urn and lush tropical plants.

Allegorical gateway of the Creation. Half-man half-fish figure.

Beautiful tiles

Tiles

Carved stone decorations

The Minaret

On your way up to the entrance you go past a lovely border of tropical planting, which all looks in much better shape than the actual Palace buildings, which I thought were rather tired and scruffy looking. I wanted to get a paintbrush out there and then!

It is a steep walk up to the Palace and you may prefer to take the 434 circular bus route from the railway station (regular trains to and from Lisbon make it an easy day out) to the historic centre of the Old Town, the castle and Pena Palace. If you walk from the station then you can enter the lovely Parque de Liberdade.

I went there on a very humid day in May, and found it a little disappointing. The exterior of the Palace and the Palacio Nacional de Sintra were in need of some TLC and I found the historic centre to be very crowded and it was very hot and sticky. Climbing up hill in those conditions do not suit me, but I would like to go back as there are many other sites to visit that are very interesting.

Have you visited Sintra? Did you go to the Pena Palace and Gardens? What are your thoughts?