EUROPE SEPTEMBER 2015- PORTUGAL

Lisboa, Portugal's capital city, and banking and manufacturing center. It is a city filled with history and culture, some of it marked by the horrible earthquake of 1755, which leveled two thirds of the city

Convento do Carmo, lost its roof during the 1755 earthquake, but its delicate Gothic arches still stand

 Rossio, Lisbon's historic center

 Rossio Train Station's beautiful facade, circa 1900

 Praca do Comercio (Trade Square)

 Alfama neighborhood, the colorful sailor's quarters, home to fishermen and mariners

Cervejaria de Trindade, the oldest beer hall in Lisbon, happened to be located a few doors from our apartment

 Tasting Ginjinha, a sour cherry liquor, traditionally made by monks

EUROPE SEPTEMBER 2015- NORMANDY

Pointe du Hoc. The bomb craters from the intense Allied bombings make this German gun battery site look like a lunar landscape. 

U.S Army Rangers scaled these impossibly steep cliffs to finally disable the German gun batteries, but not before many of them were killed or wounded

Utah Beach, another famous landing site of American troops during D-Day, and the days following

EUROPE SEPTEMBER 2015- NORMANDY

American Cemetery/Omaha Beach. Words cannot describe the spiritual experience of walking through this sacred place where 10,000 American soldiers are buried. Walking on the beach where so many lost their young lives was equally moving

EUROPE SEPTEMBER 2015- NORMANDY

Longues-sur-Mer Gun Battery. Part of Hitler's Atlantic Wall Defense, these 4 German casemates were placed in a semi-circle to maximize the firing range east and west. These solid concrete structures protected the gargantuan guns. Each gun was managed by 7 soldiers, firing 40 pound shells, 6 times a minute, hitting targets as far as 12 miles away. All of it mind boggling, to say the least

 Inside and outside the observation bunker, which was constructed on the cliff with a strategic view of the channel. The firing of the guns, which were 300 yards inland was directed from this bunker via underground telephone cables.

 The now peaceful and beautiful coast

EUROPE SEPTEMBER 2015- NORMANDY

Arromanches-les-Bains, where we based ourselves during our visit to Normandy. It is the location of the artificial harbor established by the British shortly after D-Day. The port was in operation for 100 days during which time 2.5 million soldiers, 500,000 vehicles, and 4 million tons of material landed there.

Debris from the artificial reef created to establish the harbor still litters the beach and shoreline, silent witnesses to the mayhem of June and July 1944

 Sitting on a German small weapons bunker

 Leftover debris of the artificial reef as seen from the distance

 Natural beauty contrasts with the dark side of history here

 Gorgeous coastline, witness to horrific stories

 Another view of the harbor from further away

 Beautiful damsel at sunset in Arromanches