Today we explored the outside of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències (City of Arts & Sciences) in Valencia, Spain. This place is huge! Tomorrow we’ll go back and visit the aquarium, which is supposed to be one of the best in the world.
Thanks to the sound advice of good friend and blog follower James, we made a point of taking a guided tour of La Alhambra in Granada, Spain. It is one of the must-see attractions in this country, and it did not disappoint. I’ve got a bunch of photos from our visit, but this will have to do for now.
We made it to Valencia yesterday. All’s well here in the center city, although we saw lots of signs of the recent flooding on our way here.
Sunrise in Cordoba this time of year is a civilized 8am, so it was pretty easy to get out early and grab this shot of the Roman Bridge.
Cordoba is a beautiful little place with lots of history and interesting architecture. While here we spent a day at the Alhambra in Granada and also visited the Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba. Those will be the subject of future posts!
We’ve been in Lisbon for a few days, and in fact will be moving on to Spain tomorrow. I made this photograph of a street car along R. de São Pedro de Alcântara near the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara park and viewpoint. Streetcars, trolleys and funiculars are popular with tourists and locals alike, and they attract budding photographers of all skill (and situational awareness!) levels.
Portugal has been wonderful! We’re looking forward to Spain, but have really enjoyed our time here.
I was fortunate that the one morning I chose to wake early and get out and make photographs in Porto was the right one. I got a lot of nice shots, but this is one of my favorites so far. Interestingly, it was one of my last of the morning.
I was out well before the sunrise but in time to watch the color develop over the skyline. As the morning progressed, I noticed a fog bank forming over the river east of town and up river. I walked up to the Ponte Luis Bridge and made this photo just as a Viking river cruise ship passed. It was pretty good timing.
There are six bridges over the Douro connecting Porto with Gaia, so almost any photograph of the river is going to include one of them. The bridge in this photo is the modern Ponte da Arrábida Bridge, and it adds a nice backdrop combined with the ship and the buildings along the river bank.
We wanted to visit Porto first and foremost because it is world renowned as the home of Port wine. The south side of the Douro river, and the town of Gaia, is where all of the Port wineries are located. And of course every restaurant in town serves a nice selection of local wines.
I took this photo of the Luís I Bridge over the Douro on the night of our arrival. The bridge was designed by Teófilo Seyrig, who was a partner of some guy named Eiffel who designed something famous in Paris. 😉 Many sources credit Eiffel for the design, but locally everyone is quick to point out the real story!
Our second stop en route to Porto was Nazare (NAZ a ray). Because we had extra time in Obidos, Nazare was a quick stop to see the views and visit the cathedral. I only took a few photos there, but this view was pretty nice.
Summer time is a very busy time with vacationers visiting the beaches. Later in the winter, Nazare will host some of the largest waves in the world, and surfers will come from all over to try their luck. The town was pretty quiet on this early winter day.
We disembarked our cruise ship in Lisbon, Portugal this past Wednesday and had arranged transportation to Porto with stops in Obidos and Nazare along the way. Obidos (OH bee dose) is a cute little place with a main street full of shops, the requisite churches, a fort and – of course – cobblestones. It even has the remains of an ancient Roman aqueduct.
Obidos is also known for producing ‘Ginja de Obidos,’ a sweet and sour cherry liquor that is served in little chocolate cups about the size of a shot glass. And of course we bought a bottle as a souvenir! 😉
Why not, indeed.
On our way back from Michigan we stopped by Georgetown, Kentucky to visit our friends (and travel agents) Brent & Jo Anne. Brent arranged for us to visit and tour the Woodford Reserve Distillery in nearby Versailles (verSALES).
We’d been before, but love visiting there because the facility is beautiful and the bourbon is very good. Visiting with friends always makes it more fun, and we had a good time with Brent & Jo Anne before heading back toward home.
By the time you read this, Kathy & I will be sailing across the Atlantic on our latest adventure. Replied to comments may be a little more delayed than usual, but stay tuned for Postcards!
On our way south from Michigan we stopped in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin to visit our friends Jeff & Mary Pat. We needed to kill some time one afternoon when we remembered that we had previously tried to visit the Yerkes Observatory in nearby Williams Bay.
We tried to visit the observatory in October 2019 (Blog Post) but discovered that it had been closed and was not permitting visitors. We talked at length with the caretaker, who had been outside mowing the lawn. He explained that the observatory was in the process of being transferred to a private foundation and the goal was to re-open to the public sometime in the coming years.
We were pleased to discover that the observatory in now in the hands of The Yerkes Future Foundation. It remains a working observatory, and the only way to visit is by booking a tour, so that’s what we did.
Yerkes Observatory has a long history of discovery and has been visited by famous scientists and astronomers over the years, including Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble, Nancy Grace Roman, Gerard Kuiper, Mary Calvert, E.E. Barnard, Richard Kron, Carl Sagan and many more. The Yerkes 40-inch Great Refractor Telescope was the largest refracting-type telescope in the world when it was dedicated in 1897 (40 inches refers to the size of the main lens element). The telescope is 63 feet long, weighs 12,000 pounds and is so delicately balanced that it can be moved by hand.
The library/storage area contains hundreds of books on astronomy and astrophysics, along with an interesting array of old equipment, including cameras and enlargers. We even got to see some old slides that were made before digital imaging became the standard.
The foundation has done a beautiful job restoring the facility and does a nice tour. We even got to see the dome rotated and the floor raised, which is one of the way to access the eyepiece of the telescope!