Braga, Portugal.

In 2020, Lynn and I planned a 50th-anniversary cruise from Rome to Southampton during our anniversary month. The Pandemic ended that dream temporarily, but in 2022, the trip became a reality, from Southampton to Rome. This was our first European trip, so we planned more inland excursions rather than just basic port stops.

Of course, we saw plenty of castles and churches. You can expect my Cellpic Sunday posts to feature images from our trip, and we start off this week with our excursion to Braga Portugal, and a tour of a pilgrimage site that dates back to the 14th century. Built high on a hill outside of the city, the site presents wonderful views of the city below from several viewpoints.

The current sanctuary was constructed over about 50 years and completed in 1834, and a large staircase leads the faithful to the church and courtyard. The site has a 600-year history of additional features built on the grounds and in 2015, Pope Francis bestowed the title of Basilica upon the small church. At some point, I will be doing a Travel Tuesday post featuring more views of the site and its beautiful basilica.

We were lucky to get to the site when we did. As you can see in the image, it was sunny at the site, but looking over the town, ominous clouds covered the city. As we headed away from Braga, the skies opened up to a steady rain.

About the photo: I used my Samsung S20U in 108 Megapixel mode for the source image. The image in its entirety was edited via Luminar Neo instead of first filtering it through Lightroom. I am experimenting with some of the latest add-ons to Luminar, in this case, the HDR module. Neo can create a high dynamic range image from a single image with minimal fuss. I found the technique described in a YouTube video. Click on the image above to view it in 2K HD.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, and, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner