Wordless Wednesday, Lisbon.

 I am late today as I lost track of the days! No post for the next two weeks, we are going cruising again, at last!!

Lisbon, Portugal.

We took a private mini bus tour of Lisbon as we don't like taking crowded ship tours. We saw this monument to the first flight across the South Atlantic by Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral in 1922.

We continued walking through the park and came to the Belem Tower. It was built between 1514 and 1520 as part of the Tagus estuary defence system.

The Monument to the Discoveries.
The Padrão dos Descobrimentos or Monument to the Discoveries was built in honour of Henry the Navigator, who was instrumental in the success of the Portuguese explorations during the fifteenth century, a period now known as the Age of Discoveries.

  The monument we see today is an exact replica of the original one. It was was built in 1960 on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Henry the Navigator's death.

Our tour group, Ivor on the left and the guide driver fourth from right.

I am joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the blog hop.

Wordless Wednesday, Split, Croatia.

Last week was Dubrovnik, and this week is Split, still in Croatia.

Facing the harbour, Diocletian’s Palace is one of the most imposing Roman ruins in existence and is actually the main part of the beautiful old walled city of Split.

A wedding had just taken place when we were there.

A beautiful setting for a special day.

The church tower.

This kitty looked quite dirty and thin but was friendly. He had found himself a nice place to sit in the sun. I wish I had some food with me.

This is a statue of Gregory of Nin located outside the Palace's Golden Gate and is a tribute to the Bishop who battled the Pope over the right to celebrate mass in the Croatian language during the 10th century.

Looking back along the sea front.

Republic Square.

I am joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the blog hop.

Wordless Wednesday, Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Our first sight when we got off the shuttle bus into the town was the beautiful rugged coastline.

A coach tour arrived at the same time so it was busy walking to the gateway into the walled city.

There were already a lot of people walking around the top of the city walls so we decided to keep at ground level to start with.

Clock tower in Luza Square.

If you look carefully you can see one of the two bronze figures that strike the bell. over the years the bronze took on a green tint so they became known as Zelenci - the green men.

Inside of St Blaise church. St. Blaise is the patron saint of Dubrovnik.

St. Silvan who was martyred in the 4th century.

He is known as an incorrupt saint which means his body does not decay. St. Silvan died 1600 years ago yet his body is perfectly preserved even to the gash in his neck. Some say it is a wax replica, others say it is the original body. No-one seems to know the truth, but either way I find it rather creepy.

On a lighter note this kitty doesn't worry either way about what is inside the church. He does look very similar to the kitty we met in Split though.

We walked through one of the stone archways and came out into a small harbour area.

The stalls were selling locally made goods so we bought some mementos there.

 

I am joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the blog hop.

Wordless Wednesday, Kirkwall, Orkney Islands.

.We had been to Kirkwall before, so this time decided to stay around the town.

The harbour where the cruise ships dock.

The above three photos were all taken from the ship before we went ashore.

On our way walking around the town we found the Orkney Museum and spent some time in there.

Behind the museum is Tankerness House Gardens.

Doesn't look the most comfortable of seats......

or is it?

As it was a very hot day we passed quite a while there enjoying the sun, flowers and the scenery.

I am joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the blog hop.

Wordless Wednesday

 We arrived in South Queensferry which is the tender port for Edinburgh. When we took our tender ashore we saw that a previous one had got stuck on a mud bank and another one was trying to pull it free. They were there for over an hour so I am very glad we hadn't gone ashore a few minutes earlier.

We decided we would go to Edinburgh castle as the last time we were there we took the HOHO bus and didn't have time to go in.

Two Scots Guards on duty.

Once you get inside the castle gates it is not at all as I expected a castle to look like. It looks more like a town with roads and houses.

The One o' clock gun which gets fired daily, yes at 1pm.

There was a lovely view out across Edinburgh from the castle.

The Forth Rail Bridge which was opened in 1890. Our ship is just visible behind it.

I am joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the blog hop.