OPORTO

Oporto, Portugal … Pen & Watercolour – WHB – 2015

OPORTO  is a registered UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is situated along the banks of the Douro river estuary in northern Portugal. The city’s actual name is Porto, but when preceded by a definite article, ‘O’ in Portuguese, meaning ‘the’ in English, it is written as ‘o Porto’ meaning ‘the port’ in English. As a result, in English the city is usually referred to now as ‘Oporto’.   The city is known for its stately bridges, its port wine production, and for its monuments and buildings by renowned architects.  The city was also the birthplace of one of world history’s legendary figures, Prince Henry the Navigator.  In some city guidebooks it is also given as  the birthplace of that world-famous fictional character, Harry Potter, as the author, J. K. Rowling, was living in Oporto as an English teacher when she started writing her first ‘Harry Potter’ book. 

According to its travel bureau
Oporto’s a town on the Douro;
Praise be to Jehovah
It’s famed the world over
For port wine to banish your sorrow,

It’s Portuguese wine at its best;
If you try it you’ll want to invest;
You’ll go back for more,
Buy out the wine store,
And lay all your bogeys to rest.

But then you must explore the city;
It’s stunning, impressive and pretty;
Renowned architects,
Artistic projects,
Far too much to view – what a pity!

Dubrovnik … from the City Walls – # 1

[ Photo Blog  #65 ]

DUBROVNIK … City on the coast of the Adriatic Sea in the south of Croatia 

Dubrovnik is an ancient city on the southern Adriatic coast of Croatia.  On a visit there in 2006  I took all the following photographs, except the first two, whilst walking around the city’s massive stone walls, which were completed in the 16th Century and which encircle the whole city.

View of Dubrovnik from the south on the road to Cavtat

The gates to the city

Views from the city walls

I will post more photographs of the city and its surrounding area next week

The PIER

Eastbourne Pier, Sussex, England: Photo – WHB, October, 2017  ©

 

As bravely my finger points to the sea
my peninsular pretences extend
for a while
my efforts at ocean reclamation
enabling land and sea to merge
countryside and shore
to meet and mingle
in mutual admiration

Taking my insatiable
search for pleasure
beyond its brief

Public pleasuring
made manifest
another pleasure garden
to add to nature’s own
another wonderworld
to vie with nature’s gifts

My destiny
Buffeted by wind and wave
invaded by rust and rot
attacked by frost
at risk from fire

I exist
On time borrowed
from the eye of the storm
grateful
whilst it continues
for the ocean’s grace

and so
I continue to proffer my splendours
To the denizens of my retreats
sea anglers and photo booths
Shops and tearooms
wurlitzers and waltzers
penny arcades
mirror halls
ghost trains and dodgems
all beneficiaries
of my daring
my bravery in simply existing

Hastings Pier, Sussex

Clevedon Pier, Somerset

Southend Pier, Essex – ‘the longest pleasure pier in the world’

 

Dublin, City of a Thousand Welcomes

Dublin has many such beautiful doorways dating from the Georgian period

This one photo is from Pinterest – the others are all my own

Dublin, capital of the Republic of Ireland, is a beautiful city.  It is an absolute delight to wander around the lush green parks and open spaces, especially on a sunny afternoon.  My first visit, many years ago, was in torrential rain.  A lorry driver who generously gave a lift, southwards from the city, to two itinerant hitch-hikers, welcomed us with the comment, “Ireland is beautiful – just needs a bloody great umbrella over it”.  My second and third visits were in delightful sunshine which showed off the city’s exquisite Georgian architecture and its many monuments and statues to great advantage.  I add below a gallery of photographs taken during my last visit in 2010 …

Sea approach to Dublin Harbour

The Aviva Stadium – formerly Landsdowne Road Stadium – venue for major rugby and football matches

St. Patrick’s Cathedral – Church Of Ireland.   Founded in 1191, its 43 metres high spire makes it the tallest church in Ireland.

Ivy covered Georgian Terrace houses

Georgian-style Bay Windows

Front façade of St.Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre

Memorial Stone in St.Stephen’s Green Park, to Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa,  (1831-1915) a former Fenian Leader.

Statue in St. Stephen’s Green Park, to Wolfe Tone a leading figure of the Irish Independence Movement

The Papal Cross in Phoenix Park commemorates the Pope’s visit to Dublin in 1979  

The Wellington Testimonial Obelisk in Phoenix Park.  Arthur Wellesley, ‘The Iron Duke’, general and politician, was born in Ireland.

Liverpool’s ‘Three Graces’

Port of Liverpool in the early 20th Century . . . Ink and Watercolour . . . WHB – 2015

My re-creation above, is in pen and watercolour of a scene at Liverpool Docks in the early 20th Century.  Lining the waterfront here are 3 distinctive buildings. The Port of Liverpool Building, generally known as the Dock Office,  is in the left background. To the right behind it (red in my painting) is the Royal Liver Building.   The Cunard Building is between the other two.

These buildings, all Grade I or II listed, are together known as . . .
Liverpool’s Three Graces.

DISSOLUTION

Priory Arch from, the Applegarth

DISSOLUTION

These remnants of the past adorn the present, 
Relating the aspirations of their birth,
Attaching the future to their past.

How dominant in silhouette
The ruined priory stands;
How assertive its very existence.
The faith that built its aspiring arch,
That held its hope through devotion
And a staunch religious life,
Remains in every desecrated stone,
Each weathered rock;
Still a monument to conviction,
A parable of faith.

What distinction a ruin can give,
Purpose disclosed in symmetry.
The shell recalls its torrid past, but
Hope was not destroyed along with stone.
These skeletal embers still speak of belief;
The story told in its remains,
Its hold on today still firm.

This bygone glory, the Dissolution’s ruins,
Transformed into the splendour of today;
Despair turned into hope.
This testimony from the past
Now, our treasure of the present.
Destruction brought about by time,
Ruins preserved in dignity,
Have now conveyed perspective to the present.
The toil of centuries brought to ignominious end,
Their dissolution brought about a resurrection.
In dissolution – a new life was created;
These remnants of the past adorn the present.

Gothic Arched East Window

Norman Arch and Medieval Dovecote

My photographs were taken on a recent visit to Gisborough Priory on the northern edge of the North Yorkshire Moors National Park.  My thoughts as presented above, although they followed from this visit and from many previous visits, apply also to the very many historic remains throughout the United Kingdom subsequent to the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th Century.

Viewers of Roland’s Ragbag will note that an image of this same Priory East Window (not my own photograph) is used as header to all my blog pages.