The Portuguese are very fond of rice; they consume 16 kilos per year per person, the highest value in Europe! The complete rice-growing cycle takes 5 to 7 months, depending on the variety. The seeds are buried in the spring in moist soil (or already germinated in flooded ground).
When the plant reaches a certain stage of development, the land is flooded and kept that way until the seeds have formed, and then dried to allow them to mature fully.
As I walked near the Mondego River last October, in an area of beautiful and extensive rice fields, I was delighted to see, side by side, these two rice fields: one fully ripe (left) and the other later in ripening, with a water channel in between.
On one side, a landscape of warm, yellow tones; on the other, greenish hues, on the way to maturity. Two images taken side by side were assembled to form this panorama.
