Для полной функциональности сайта необходимо включить JavaScript.
Голосовать могут только зарегистрированные пользователи, необходимо выполнить вход.
Excellent view of this grand bridge! Would be nice to drive it someday!
Yes it is , my Friend! And as this bridge not too much high we can see the river all along the way!
It's really a very nice place to go for a drive!!!
jose
Excellent composition!!!
Best regards! 
Красиво и интересно смотрится!
Das ist fantastisch!!
Very interesting, thank you very much for sharing.
That's not the "virtual economy" : that's true and real business, a great human work.
Warmest regards.
Robert-Alexandre
отличная работа!
Beautiful view, Jose! Very good seen! Wonderful color and sharpnes! But by the way, why have this bridge the name of an Basque?
Warmest regards!
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (Sines or Vidigueira, Alentejo, Portugal, ca. either 1460 or 1469 – December 24, 1524 in Kochi, India) was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the European Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India.
Vasco da Gama was probably born in either 1460[1] or 1469,[2] in Sines, on the southwest coast of Portugal, probably in a house near the church of Nossa Senhora das Salas. Sines, one of the few seaports on the Alentejo coast, consisted of little more than a cluster of whitewashed, red-tiled cottages, tenanted chiefly by fisherfolk.
Statue of Vasco da Gama at his birthplace, Sines, PortugalVasco da Gama's father was Estevao da Gama. In the 1460s he was a knight in the household of the Duke of Viseu, Dom Fernando.[3] Dom Fernando appointed him Alcaide-Mor or Civil Governor of Sines and enabled him to receive a small revenue from taxes on soap making in Estremoz.
Estevao da Gama was married to Dona Isabel Sodre, who was the daughter of Joao Sodre (also known as Joao de Resende). Sodre, who was of English descent, had links to the household of Prince Diogo, Duke of Viseu, son of king Edward I of Portugal and governor of the military Order of Christ.[4]
Little is known of Vasco da Gama's early life. It has been suggested by the Portuguese historian Teixeira de Aragao that he studied at the inland town of Evora, which is where he may have learned mathematics and navigation. It is evident that Gama knew astronomy well, and it is possible that he may have studied under the astronomer Abraham Zacuto.[5]
In 1492 King John II of Portugal sent Gama to the port of Setubal, south of Lisbon and to the Algarve to seize French ships in retaliation for peacetime depredations against Portuguese shipping - a task that Vasco rapidly and effectively performed.
On 8 July 1497 the fleet, consisting of four ships and a crew of 170 men, left Lisbon.The vessels were:
The Sao Gabriel, commanded by VASCO da GAMA; a carrack of 178 tons, length 27 m, width 8.5 m, draft 2.3 m, sails of 372 m²;
The Sao Rafael, whose commander was his brother Paulo da Gama; similar dimensions to the Sao Gabriel;
The caravel Berrio, slightly smaller than the former two (later re-baptized Sao Miguel), commanded by Nicolau Coelho;
A storage ship of unknown name, commanded by Gonçalo Nunes, later lost near the Bay of Sao Bras, along the east coast of Africa.
Journey to the Cape
The expedition set sail from Lisbon on July 8, 1497, following the route pioneered by earlier explorers along the coast of Africa via Tenerife and the Cape Verde Islands. After reaching the coast of present day Sierra Leone, Gama took a course south into the open ocean, crossing the Equator and seeking the South Atlantic westerlies that Bartolomeu Dias had discovered in 1487. This course proved successful and on November 4, 1497, the expedition made landfall on the African coast. For over three months the ships had sailed more than 6,000 miles of open ocean, by far the longest journey out of sight of land made by the time.[7]
By December 16, the fleet had passed the Great Fish River - where Dias had turned back - and sailed into waters previously unknown to Europeans. With Christmas pending, Gama and his crew gave the coast they were passing the name Natal, which carried the connotation of "birth of Christ" in Portuguese.
Arab-controlled territory on the East African coast was an integral part of the network of trade in the Indian Ocean. Fearing the local population would be hostile to Christians, Gama impersonated a Muslim and gained audience with the Sultan of Mozambique. With the paltry trade goods he had to offer, Gama was unable to provide a suitable gift to the ruler and soon the local populace became suspicious of Gama and his men. Forced by a hostile crowd to flee Mozambique, Gama departed the harbor, firing his cannons into the city in retaliation.
MOMBASA
In the vicinity of modern Kenya, the expedition resorted to piracy, looting Arab merchant ships - generally unarmed trading vessels without heavy cannons. The Portuguese became the first known Europeans to visit the port of Mombasa but were met with hostility and soon departed.
Calicut, India
The fleet arrived in Calicut on 20 May 1498. Negotiations with the local ruler, the Zamorin of Calicut, occasionally took on a violent nature. Efforts by Gama and the Portuguese to obtain favorable trade terms were complicated by resistance from indigenous Arab merchants. Eventually Gama was able to gain an ambiguous letter of concession for trading rights, but he had to depart without giving notice of his intention to do so after the Zamorin insisted that Gama leave all his goods as collateral. Vasco da Gama kept his goods, but left a few Portuguese with orders to start a trading post....
P.S.
Well, my Friend, this is, in a few words..., our PORTUGUESE NAVIGATOR VASCO DA GAMA!!!!
And this beautiful bridge has his name!!!
Thank you so much, Jan, for your kind words on my work!
My warmest regards
jose
nice one; good perspective; regards
Very well done! My congratulations!
Impressive construction, beautiful composition and light.
What a wonderful photo, Jose! Such an elegant bridge on the background of so beautiful sky and water... Exellent!
WOW! SUPERB!!!!! Wonderful view, my friend!!!!!
Beijos!
