Porto, Portugal

Porto was the next stop on my 6 week Amazon cruise, after Rotterdam.

We docked at Leixoes and I took the Metro into Porto. This is a long tram, mostly above ground.

I'd been to Porto in May 2017 (but didn't blog about it). So this time I wanted to see sights that I had missed then.

Christmas tree outside the town hall.

The naked lady statue, Juventude

I had to see the world's most beautiful McDonalds. Located in an emblematic 1930s building that formerly housed the historic Imperial Café, its name taken from the huge regal bronze eagle statue that stands protectively over the door, wings outstretched. McDonald’s has retained many of the building’s original art deco décor, features include stained glass windows and crystal chandeliers.

Porto Sao Bento station has the blue paintings.

Street scenes -

It seems gulls sit on statues everywhere!

Then down to Ribeira. I'd missed it last time as I was on the opposite bank.

-- --

See the next blog on my Amazon cruise - Funchal, Madeira.

Rotterdam and Kinderdijk

In January 2020, I set off on a 6 week cruise to the Amazon and Caribbean. The ship left from Tilbury on the Thames and our first port of call was Rotterdam.

I've only passed through Rotterdam once before, in 1975. Rotterdam is the 2nd largest Dutch city after Amsterdam. Located in the province of South Holland at the mouth of the Nieuwe Maas channel leading into the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta at the North Sea. The Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt give waterway access into the heart of Western Europe, including the highly industrialized Ruhr.

We docked right by the Erasmus bridge.

I went to the main market, this has apartments above it, these look down into the market. Opposite are the cube houses. And a bicycle park.

The doors of St Lawrence church, The Laurenskerk -

I wanted to get out to the World Heritage site of Kinderdijk. I'd been told about water bus 202, but found that doesn’t run in the winter, but I could get water bus 20 to Alblasserdam and then walk. This runs every half hour.

The 11 km journey cost €4. From Alblasserdam I decided to walk to Kinderdijk, rather than looking for a bus. I walked fast and it took about 45 min to get to the main dyke.  I had to cross many waterways and a lot of houses had water at the end of their gardens -

There are 19 windmills and a museum forming the WH site. The mills were built around 1740. They were used to to pump excess water into a reservoir until the river level had receded and could take more water. Since 1927 a diesel pumping station does this job. The windmills were last used during the second World War, when the mechanical pumps could not be used due to fuel shortages.

10 of the 19 windmills

Going back to Rotterdam, I saw some interesting architecture along the river -

__ __

See the next blog on my Amazon cruise - Porto, Portugal.

Walking with the Snowman, London Bridge

Christmas markets are popping up all over the UK now. One of the best in London for Christmas 2019 was the Christmas by the River market, by London Bridge. The best part was the festive sculpture trail celebrating Raymond Briggs’ quintessential Christmas character, The Snowman.

The trail featured 12 giant Snowman sculptures, each with stunning designs and decoration relating to the song, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’. Each snowman was created by a different artist, each unique statue placed at a different location throughout the London Bridge Christmas by the River market.

I managed to find all 12, though a couple were hard to find. Some of my favourite snowmen, 3 French hens and 4 calling birds -

6 geese a-laying and 7 swans a-swimming

8 maids a-milking, 9 ladies dancing -

10 lords a-leaping, 11 pipers piping -

There were also lots of stalls selling food and drink, crafts and things. -

And the tree outside the iconic City Hall -

See the official Walking with the Snowman website.

Winter solstic 2019

This year the winter solstice was on 22 December, at 4.19 am UK time.

The winter solstice occurs in December, and in the northern hemisphere the date marks the 24-hour period with the fewest daylight hours of the year. That is why it is known as the shortest day of the year, or the longest night of the year. There are 7 hours 49 minutes of daylight on the shortest day.

The winter solstice occurs at the minimum point for the northern hemisphere, when the Sun is lowest in the sky.

This is also the start of the astronomical winter. Although confusing it is also known as mid winter!
This year the winter has been unseasonably wet and there have been no good sunrises due to the clouds. This one was taken 10th Dec - 

This one on 18th Dec sun rays and mist -

At least on the solstice on the 22nd, the rain had finally stopped by dawn and it brightened somewhat.