Shooting the Shooter - Woo Woo isn't just for Eugene edition

If you recall, during one of our first trips through the Peneda-Gerês, we came across a series of rusted steel figures of wild animals (and, of course, one priest), scattered throughout a main drive through the park.  Well, imagine our surprise when, as we approached one obvious turn-out, we spied a . . .  blue door standing on a rock outcropping.  It was obviously an overlook, but . . . . why the door?

We didn’t immediately stop because we were exploring a road that we knew would end and we could stop by on the way back.  That didn’t happen for awhile, because as you’ll find out in another post we found a nice place to photograph, but we did eventually pull over.

While visible from the road, it took a very short walk to get to the door.  Along the way I stopped to make a photograph . . . because I photograph such things for the blog.  Little did I know that Ann also decided to make an image of me making an image on the approach to the door.  As you can see, the door is prominently perched on the rock outcropping, perfect for visitors to dutifully photograph.  (Ann later found out, it is a huge hit on the Instagram circuit.).

And as you can see, my image isn’t much different than Ann’s, except without much of the context surrounding the area.  

Given the fact that this is not a particularly compelling image (because I really do need to get back into the habit of posting again so I couldn’t be picky with images . . .) I figure I should share some more images from our door stop (you know I couldn’t resist the pun).  

So let’s step back a bit.  Here’s a view of the door from the pull-out, which is right by the road.  Imagine driving down the road, looking off to the left and seeing . . . a blue door.  It’s either a gateway to another universe (Star Gate anyone?), the real Tardis from Dr. Who, or some creative “statement” from one of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.  Given my recent two-decade residency in Eugene, Oregon (home of the Oregon Country Fair and described by a famous Eugene attorney as the last bastion of the terminally hip in the US) you can imagine which one I thought it was.

So tromping out to the door I had to chuckle a bit with the name of the door - Port of the Sun.  Umm . . . Ok.  Maybe the setting sun, because the rising sun was behind me, as you can see from the shadow.

And yes, it is a blue door on a rock overlook.  No, I didn’t try to close the door because . . . well, knowing me I probably would have broken it (or even worse, knocking it over) and felt bad about it (imagine the sadness of all of those Instagrammers who would make the pilgrimage here only to find a broken door).  So I took my photograph, walked through the door, and enjoyed the view.  No, I didn’t feel any sense of enlightenment, or true discovery.  No magic touch.  No sense of inspiration (as if you couldn’t already tell that by how mundane these images are).  If it’s a special door, it didn’t work on me.

Afterwards Ann checked it out and, yes, there is a woo-woo, mystic story behind why it was put there.  And in case you were wondering, I did not ask Ann what that story was.  Some things are best left a mystery.  

That said, a bit farther down the road our attention was grabbed again, though not enough to stop.  At yet another pull out, where there were several cars parked (the reason we did not stop), there was an iron gate and a bit down the trail was a giant . . . structure that looked like a swing.  Naahhhh, it couldn’t be a giant swing.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, it was the Baloiço de Mezio.  Check out “Mezio swing” on google images.  We are definitely going back for the swing!