Wordless Wednesday.

 Tenerife. Going back in October!

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

Canary Islands Cruise October 2013 - Vigo.

From Madeira we sailed on to our last port of Vigo in Spain. We had booked a private tour to go to Santiago de Compostela with a few other people.
We left the ship in pouring rain and that wasn't to change all day.

The best thing about the weather meant there weren't crowds of people there.

The occasional Pilgrim still braved the weather on one of the routes, many of them walking across France and Spain to get there.

The cloister of Fonseca College.

Statue of horses Praterias Square.

Inside the Cathedral.

Statue of the Virgin Mary which very unusually shows her pregnant.

So then it was back into the pouring rain and we decided to go and have a coffee before our return to the ship for a nice hot shower and a stiff gin and tonic.
That was our last stop and the next day was a sea day and packing before our return to Southampton.

Canary Islands Cruise October 2013 - Lisbon Continued)

Continuing our tour of Lisbon,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.

Views of Lisbon as we sailed down the River Tagus .

 Santa Luzia Church and Sao Vicente Monastery.

The Triumphal Arch.

April 25th Bridge.

Cars above, train below.

Monument of the Discoveries.

Belem Tower.
And so we left Portugal and headed for the Canary Islands.

Canary Islands Cruise October 2013 - Lisbon.

Our next cruise took us to the Canary Islands, and on the way there our first stop was Lisbon Portugal.
 We had been there a few times before but always stayed in the main part of the city. This time we had booked a private tour with 6 others which was to take us around the city and surrounding area.

Looking over the Alfama district towards the Triumphal Arch.

Carmo Convent ruined during the Great Lisbon earthquake of 1755.

Rossio railway station...and Starbucks.

Memorial to the Carnation revolution in Edward VII park.

The revolution was a military coup on April 25th 1974.

It was named the Carnation Revolution as almost no shots were fired and the people celebrated the end of the dictatorship by putting carnations in the muzzles of the rifles and on the soldiers uniforms.

Freedom Day is celebrated on April 25th every year by the Portuguese.

Lisbon Cathedral.

Sao Jorge Castle.

Monastery of Sao Vicente de Fora is a 17th century church and is one of the most important monasteries in the country, and is the final resting place of most of the Braganza monarchs of Portugal.

Monastery of Jeronimos.

Sculpture of Christ in Death under the altar of Jeronimos Monastery.

Looking over the Alfama district to the Tagus River and the April 25th Bridge shrouded in mist.
More photos from Lisbon to follow in the next post.