Lisbon - Alentejo, Portugal, 20th April 2023

Lisbon is the second-to-last port before Hamburg, and as always, we arrived early in the morning. Lisbon welcomed us very kindly. The weather was excellent, blue sky, around 20°C in the morning and reaching 25°C by noon.

Right after our arrival, Vitor, the director of Hella Boccara Foundation activities in Portugal, picked us up from the ship. We then drove about 120 km to Alentejo.

Now it's still green everywhere, and it was fascinating to see the transition from pine and eucalyptus forests to cork oak groves. In the summer, it often reaches over 40°C in Alentejo, and everything dries out and turns yellow and brown until the rain wakes up the plants in winter.

The stork nests on the high voltage pylons were also fascinating. 10 to 12 nests on one pylon are not uncommon, and they are not cleared out.

The foundation's premises are located in a private nature reserve where various activities in the fields of nature conservation, archaeology, and sustainability take place. At the foundation, we were able to see the progress of the two zero-energy houses, autonomous water extraction from the air, cooling systems, and water purification.

After an excellent local lunch, we also met with the mine clearance project team, which showed us the latest technologies for mine detection. If the final test is successful, these technologies will soon be used in Ukraine.

All in all, an impressive day with many nice and interesting people in fantastic weather.