Since black and white photography is one of my biggest passion, I took this opportunity to share with all you my first Monday of 2022. Woke up around 5am40, like in a normal working day, but this week I'm on the afternoon shift, so I had plenty of time to prepare myself for a early morning workout at my gym! In the walk to the gym, it was practically impossible to see further then 50 meters... For many of you this is not a very uncommon January's morning weather condition, but in my city, this type of very dense fog is not so common, so I took the chance of capturing it with my smartphone (sorry for the low quality of the photos). This weather always reminds me the myth of D. Sebastião (1554-1578).

Don Sebastião, the grandson of D. João III became a myth since is disappearance in the battle of Alcácer Quibir, that took place in North Africa. The battle took place in northern Morocco, near Alacazarquivir on 4 August 1578. The battle was between the army of the deposed Moroccan Sultan Abu Abdallah Mohammed II, with his ally, the King of Portugal Sebastião I, against the numerous Moroccan army under the new Sultan of Morocco Abd Al-Malik I (uncle of Abu Abdallah Mohammed II). D. Sebastião, Christian King of Portugal, planned a crusade to help Abu Abdallah recover his throne. The defeat of Portugal and disappearance of the childless Sebastian led to the end of the Aviz dynasty, and the integration of the country in the Iberian Union for 60 years under the Philippine Dynasty in a dynastic union with Spain, paving the way for the delivery of the Portuguese crown to the Philips of Spain. His death opened the door to the dynastic crisis that will place the kings of Spain on the Portuguese throne. Around him was born the myth of “Sebastianism”, the hope that he would return one day, on a foggy morning, to save the country from all its problems. In the way back, the fog has "raised" a little, and let this cute little feathered friends pose in the leafless trees that stand proudly in the small flowerbeds in my neighborhood street.