Around The World in 109 Days: October 2007

On our 3rd day in Portugal we took a trip to a winery out on the countryside. We got a chance to learn about how the harvesting of grapes and the production of wine has changed throughout the years due to the introduction of mechanization.

Wasting some time while we waited for our tour

Left - Our cameraman Josh playing with one of the dogs living at the Winery

Right - Three of our students relax outside

The first part of our tour was an explanation of the modern winemaking process, followed by a tasting of their wines. Some of the wines offerend had been award winners at wine tasting competitions around the world!

This little girl was the granddaughter of the owner of the winery and kept peeking through the bushes at us!

The next step was to head out into the sunshine to pick some grapes!

Left - Me picking my first bunch of grapes of the day!

Center - I had never seen (or tasted!) grapes straight off the vine

Right - One of our participant leaders, Dana, helping out with the harvest

This is about half of all of the grapes we picked. We ended up with about 12-15 buckets overflowing with bunches of the most delicious grapes many of us had ever had!

Then we dumped about 12 giant buckets of grapes into a huge stainless steel containment area and hopped in for some fun! It was slippery, mushy, cold, and AMAZING!

Apparently there is enough juice in 12 buckets of grapes to make at least 70 liters of juice! And for those of you who swear by Juicy Juice or Welches Grape Juice, they simply cannot compare to the freshly stomped grape juice straight off the vine!

The day ended in a feast of homemade bread, cheese, butter, and wine, all of which were made at the winery. Being able to step back in time and experiece something that was, for generations, almost a festival of community living, was incredible. Today a machine can harvest the same amount of grapes in one hour that it would take 12 employees to do by hand in a day. But nothing could possibly compare to spending time in the sun with friends picking, eating, and stomping the day away.

September 14th was not only our second day in the country of Portugal, but our first day of our first AFP. An AFP is a program where students spend 5 of their 7 days in a country taking tours, going to lectures, working with organizations, and working as a group to study the country from the perspective of their learning circle. As a member of the Global Cultures and Social Change learning circle, our first day was spent listening to a lecture on Population Settlements, visiting the Cartography exhibition and library at the University of Lisbon, on a guided tour of Jeronimos Monastery and the Maritime Museum, and a stop at the Discoveries Monument.

This is a copy of the earliest known map of Portugal. The real version is in a museum somewhere, so the cartography center was unable to have anything but a copy. The museum held hundreds of copies of maps from all over the world, but on display were only historical maps of Portugal. They varied in age, size, and technology. At the conclusion of our tour, the University of Lisbon (where the museum is) presented each of us with a package of copies of each of the old maps of Portugal. The quality is beautiful and all of us have full intention of having them framed and displayed upon our return to our homes.

Jeronimo's Monastery was an incredible place to visit. The architecture was complex and beautiful, and though the buildings are no longer used as a monastery, the rich history behind the locations were very interesting. Above is an entrance of the monastery.

These images are of the church within the monastery. The art and architecture were absolutely gorgeous and it was exciting to finally understand what it is my Art History professor had been talking about during all of those long hours in the lecture hall! The church was interesting because one of it's main functions was that when men were preparing to journey out across the seas to explore, the final step they took was to go to the church for confession so as to be absolved of all of their sins in case they were to die. Therefore much of the minor architectural details had oceanic references in tribute to the sailors. This church is the only part of the monastery which is still active today.

The courtyard in the center of the monastery.

These images are from the only room in the monastery where monks were allowed to speak. The outside images are of glazed tile paintings. Glazed tile is an old art form in Portugal which is used to decorate walls both inside and outside of buildings. It is still used today. The center images is a painting of St Jeronimo.

The entrance of the Maritime Discoveries Museum. This museum chronicles the progression of maritime technology as well as Portugal's explorations of the world.

This map was just inside the entrance of the museum and had the routes of all of the Portuguese explorations on it, along with the lead explorer's name and the year of the exploration.

Some of the model ships showing the progression of ship technology

Two figureheads from the front of Portuguese caravels. The one on the left is from the ship sailed by Vasco Da Gama, the most famous of the Portuguese explorers.

This image is of a giant map which has been inlaid in the ground outside of the Discoveries Monument. This monument is dedicated to all of the great Portuguese explorers who traveled the world in search of new places. This section of the map is, in case you can't tell, the east coast of the USA! Also, if you note where my foot is, I'm basically standing on where I am today!