Saturday, 27 July 2019

Algarve - al Gharb - The West


Walking in Loule

Inside Jose and Nazare's place.

Town Hall, Loule
Convent Loule

Praia Quinta de Lago

The causeway

Sunset on Olhao
Main gate in Faro Old City

Cathedral Steps

Faro Convent- now Museum
Cathedral courtyard

Side chapel
Roman remains in Estoi


The whole place was covered in mosaic


Palace at Estoi

Stork at 20:40
Ferry over to Armora






The End

My Quiz

1) Which country does not have a commercial ski resort?

   a) Portugal, b) Algeria, c) Cyprus, d) Greece, e) Iran, f) Kenya, g) Morocco, h) Lesotho, i) Mexico. 


2) Which of these countries has a modern colonial history?

 a) Eire, b) Czechia,  c)Slovakia,  d) Austria, e) Greece, f) Poland.


3) Which of these countries does not have an exclave (territory that must be reached by traveling through a second county)?

 a) Denmark, b) Belgium, c) Netherlands, d) Germany, e) Italy, f) Austria,  g) Spain, h) USA


4) Which of these countries can you cross a national border and continue speaking the same language (near enough)?

a) Netherlands- Belgium, b) Portugal- Spain, c) Italy- Switzerland, d) Germany -France, e) Germany - Denmark, f) Germany - Poland.

5) Fit the flags to the categories:-
a) Flowers, b) Birds, c) Maps, d) Religion, e) Weapons, (some have two or more categories)

India, Iran, Uganda, Mozambique, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Hong Kong, Kosovo, Cyprus, Mexico, Georgia.

6) If you travel from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean via the Panama Canal, do you travel from East to West, or West to East?

Answers
1) f) Despite having plenty of snow all year round on Mount Kenya.
2) d) Austria occupied the Nicobar Islands and had a small enclave in Tianjin- China.  They attempted to gain a foothold in India, at Bankipur.  Poland had an empire once, and was involved in the Crimea briefly, but that does not count.
3) a) The border with Germany has drifted up and down the neck of Denmark through history.  Many Germans have very Danish sounding names around Bremerhaven, but they don't speak Danish. Belgium and Netherlands has a very strange border, similar in design to India Bangladesh.  Germany has land in Switzerland.  Italy has to exclaves in Switzerland.  Austria has land on one side of a mountain that can only be reached via a long drive though Germany.  Spain has Llívia, a bureaucratic anomaly,  USA has Alaska.
4) e) Germany- Denmark.  Very different languages, and no Euro compatibility.  Galician is very similar to Portuguese.  Alsace is famously (infamously) frengdeutch.  Germany- Poland, well not any more, though Poles are excellent linguists.  
5) a) Iran (tulip), Hong Kong. b) Uganda, Mexico. c) Kosovo, Cyprus. d) Saudi Arabia, India, Iran, Georgia (with 5 crosses). e) Mozambique, Saudi Arabia.  Not to forget 'republican' tricolors such as France, Chad, Eire and Italy.  Mexico adopted the Italian flag before Italy did.  That is why the eagle catching a rattlesnake is important.  
6) The Panama canal was constructed though a toilet 'U' bend.  The route travels east to west.  It's a long journey.  

Friday, 26 July 2019

São Lourenço

São Lourenço of the griddle pan,
Was tortured for being a very good man.
Roasting sideways in the Algarve sun,
Said, "turn me over if you want me well done."
Later that evening at the Faro food Fair,
He was eaten completely including his hair.
Sao Lourenco- parish church of Almancil.
Of the Griddle Iron
Only 2 tiles fell off when the 1.11.1755 earthquake struck!

Wednesday, 24 July 2019

Anno Domini

Thwack! An arrow cuts though the air.
The crack jolts time sideways.
A clock falls to the floor.
Breath has gone.

We start counting.
Zero,
One,
Two....
An unrelenting beat.
Life continues,
Incomplete, familiar, dissonant, different, disfigured.
What next?

The sky went dark.
It's a terrible thing to loose a Son.
Life - death, two sides of a coin.
No life without death,
No light without darkness,
For better, and for worse.

The clock was set to Zero.

Monday, 15 July 2019

Ever wondered Thames side?

Walking down river from Kingston to Ham House.

I've spotted it.

What a fine house.  
The first crossing point I got to .

This is the PLA boundary marker.
This is the marker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_London_Authority between the Port of London Authority and The Inland Waterways Association.  It's where the tidal reach of the 
Thames is said to end.  I questioned this because I knew that there is a lock at Richmond.  However having read 
 http://www.pla.co.uk/About-Us/Richmond-Lock-and-Weir I now learn that this is a temporary lock that comes is taken out of uses twice a day. The tide continues to have an influence up to Teddington.
The weir at Teddington.  A wonderful thing to observe.
The sounds of the walk - Green ring necked Parakeets.


Wedding of the Century

LOVE- it says

And into the rest of life

Dave and Andrew as the likely lads

All standing
We are missing Jill (and the happy couple)

Tuesday, 9 July 2019

Divining the future

To Didyma we traveled, the oracle to meet,
From our depths an offering, in return, a few words.
"Potential, Probability - and Never."
With these sacred straws, a furtive glance to the future.
Words - like shards from a broken urn,
'Potential', 'Probability' and 'never'.....could mean anything.

At Calvary, a body also shattered; Potential lost.
From the depths, crystal clear words,
A certain promise of  life.
"I will not leave you, to the end of time,
A few words looking into the future.

His, broken first,
The gift, peace.
All we hold.....and it is enough.