Avebury

This morning was cold and drizzly. John very kindly collected us and we made the long drive out of London and down the M4 to Avebury.  The outer circle is said to be the largest Neolithic stone circle in Europe. The amount of effort required to shift so many stones, some of them weighing more than 40 tons, and digging the earth works for the surrounding henge, is hard to imagine. The villagers in the 14th century started to push over the stones, probably for religious reasons, till one poor chap was flattened underneath a particularly large stone, which understandably discouraged his colleagues from further stone toppling. He was still there when archaeologists raised the stone in 1938.

The site is important for contemporary pagans, and there were a group there today communing with a fine group of four oak trees growing on the top of the henge wall.

For lunch we headed over to the Red Lion, a suitably quaint hotel in the village located within the perimeter of the outer circle and the hence. Nice to eat lunch looking out over the stones and the sheep grazing around them. After lunch we pottered around the picturesque village and visited the church of St James, where "All God's creatures are welcome .. dog treats in the purple Tupperware on the shelf." A bit funky but welcoming and with it's heart in the right place I think.

The area is rich with bronze age sites, and we passed another, even more impressive one on the way home. Silbury Hill is a huge man made mounf, which is said to have been the tallest man made structure (I guess a mound of gravel, chalk and Earth is a structure) in Europe till the middle ages. Once again, the scale of it and the effort required to build it are just stunning.

It was marvellous to see these sites and to think a bit about what it means to be human. We aren't so far away from the people who wrangled those huge stones, dug the massive henge,  and carried in the earth to build Silbury Hill.And it was lovely to get out and see some AONBs (that is, areas of outstanding natural beauty) and some of the lovely old towns on the old Bath Road, all with a genial and good humoured friend and guide. We feel very fortunate.

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Tower and Prime Meridian

We got down to the entrance to the Tower of London about 20 minutes before the doors opened, and not a moment too late as the queue already stretched right up the hill.

But we got in and Anne made a beeline for the crown Jewels display. There are some extraordinary stories behind some of those stones sitting in their splendid settings - like the Black Prince's Ruby and the Koh-i-Noor. We went round and round on the moving walkway quite a few times admiring them. I did the climb up and down the White tower while Anne enjoyed some sunshine and a chance to read the book on the Crown Jewels she'd bought from the Tower shop, then after a bit more exploring ,we headed out and down to the river and caught a cruise boat back to Greenwich. The river is lined with countless thousands of apartments, each one of which would be worth more than 1.5 million pounds. Makes the head spin to think how much money has gone into that stretch of water.

We had a nice lunch in the sun in the walled garden at the back of the Naval College buildings, then trudged up the steep Hill to the Observatory, to admire Harrison's 4 fantastically intricate chromometers in action, and to pay our respects to the Prime Meridian. Lovely views from up there too, worth the walk.

Afterwards we wandered back through the park and via some very interesting back streets back to our hotel. On the way we passed an intriguing building, a 19th century school, with two doors, one enscribed "Girls and Infants" and the other, narrower door, "Boys". Why is the boy's door narrower? Why did they need separate doors? What were the infant's doing coming here anyway? All very mysterious and a bit grim looking.

 A good day, lovely weather, and though we are tired we managed not to do too much, keeping our effort expenditure to sustainable levels.

Downtown London

After breakfast we headed out to give our Oyster cards a workout. We got from Greenwich to Leicester Square via Light Rail and two tube hops, and feel pretty smug about being able to get around now.

At Leicester Square we picked up our London Passes, which we bought in Australia using a credit we had with our local travel agent. Glad we didn't spend good money on it, as so far it has been a bit of a dud. One advertised benefit is free use of the hop on hop off buses, but the fine print tells you that you have to get a ticket for the bus from the booking office. Luckily we discovered this before we left the booking office, but we saw other not so lucky punters being turned away. The bus proved to be a draining experience. London traffic is just appallingly congested so the bus goes nowhere very slowly. The commentary is a cross between grade four and Benny Hill, and the group of German ladies behind us talked incessantly and loudly. We bailed out near the Victoria and Albert Museum, had some welcome lunch in their very nice cafe, then explored some of their dazzling collection.

After so many people, so many grand buildings and towering imposing monuments, it was strangely soothing to focus on the inticate delicacy of the collection of  minatures and gold snuff boxes.

Being a lazy peasant who had done no homework regarding the scope of the V&A, I had little idea of what was in the collection, so our visit was a series of pleasant surprise for me - around this corner a few William Blake paintings, over there some stunning Pre-Raphaelites, a wall of lovely Constable studies. Plus things I had no idea existed, like the life sized silver plated lions that are part of the Danish Royal regalia (ok these we copies, but still marvellous.)  So much to see, so little time to see it in, so few brain cells to absorb it.

We got another bus, but the traffic was unbearable after a while, so we got off and walked down to the River along the edge of St James park, which was a huge relief after the congestion and crowds.

We managed to get a little lost but found our selves at Embankment ferry terminal, so we used our Oyster cards again and got the Thames Clipper ferry back to Greenwich, much nicer and simpler than hopping from train to train, and a great view of the sights of the city.

After a beer in the sun at the Greenwich Brewery, and a Chinese meal so massive we couldn't eat half of it, and a long stump back up Greenwich high road, we made it home. Now to regenerate sufficiently so that we can get out there again tomorrow.

Greenwich

Today we had a relaxed start to the day, made all the better thanks to a call from home. Lovely to hear news and to talk with our wonderful offspring.

Once we got going, we walked down past the Cutty Sark and into the Old Royal Naval College, which is now the tourist information centre for Greenwich and which has some good displays of artifacts dug up on the site. A good place to get an idea of the layers of occupation of the site.

We tagged along on a free tour of the area, admired the breathtaking view of Chistopher Wren's neoclassical symmetry, gazed mournfully at the gate where Anne Bolyen departed on her last trip down the river to the tower, and paid our respects to the memorial to Admiral Thomas Masterman Hardy in the splendid Chapel of St Peter and St Paul. There is a family tradition, to which my dad subscribed, that our branch of the Hardy's is somehow connected to the Admiral's.  Hardy is a certainly a big name in Greenwich, as we passed Hardy's Sweet Shop, and the Admiral Hardy Hotel.

After lunch we headed over to the National Maritime Museum. Wonderful collection but somehow​ we struggled with it - the presentation seemed geared more for a younger school kid audience, lots of amazing facts and artifacts, but not strung in any coherent narrative that we could discern. But I am glad to have seen it, and the staff go out of their way to be helpful.

We then met up with a friend from the Camino. John and I walked across the Meseta together, and a more congenial companion for the challenges of that stretch would be hard to find. It was a treat to see him again, and, gentleman that he is, he has offered to drive us next week to a couple of destinations that are hard to get to by public transport.

We pottered home in the sunshine of a lovely afternoon, passing through Greenwich market and circumnavigating the church of St Alfege, "dedicated to Alege, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was martyred by Vikings on this site in 1012", according to my Greenwich Guide.

Tomorrow we collect our two day London passes, and Anne has been planning carefully so we can make the most of them.
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Goodbye Fado, futebol and Fatima, hullo London

Last night we went back to A Despensera where we had a great meal the night before. They were very pleased to see us back, and gave us free desserts, plus Anne got a hug and a kiss as we left from the beautiful young woman who seems to run the place. We strolled home feeling very fortunate to have come to such a wonderful warm place.

There was a mighty deluge in Porto over night, and our room sprung a leak, via the sprinkler fitting right above the bed, on Anne's side lucky for me. I managed to fitfully sleep through most of it, but Anne had to stack towels where the water was dripping. Not all that conducive to sound sleep. But we were up packed and at reception just as the taxi appeared, and we got out to the airport for the friendliest, nicest bag drop ever. The Porto easyJet staff were a continuation of the Porto hospitality.

We managed to buy Oyster cards and navigate the London public transport system, thanks to assistance from Google maps. 

London looked fairly grey and gritty, and we were wondering what we had done leaving lovely Portugal to come here, but I think we were a bit tired and hungry. After settling into our aparthotel - Anne wrangled us much nicer space than the little box we were given first - we had a meal in nearby Turkish restaurant, then a sleep. When we woke up, the sun was shining and Greenwich looked like a much nicer place. Still a bit grey and grotty though.

We found our way down to the supermarket, got some provisions, then back home for a quiet night planning the first installment of our raid on London.

Porto #3

Today our weather luck well and truly ran out. Light rain was falling when we set off after breakfast, and got steadily heavier as we walked on down the hill. We visited Sao Francisco, as much to escape the rain as from a deep interest in gothic church's or baroque decoration. Ok, more to escape the rain.  I visited the crypt, all suitably macabre and sombre, down to the grill in the floor opening into a large chamber piled with scattered human bones. Momento Mori indeed. The interior of the church is right over the top gold and carving, with some altars  very reminiscent of dioramas showing Fransiscans being gruesomely martyred. Just the thing to cheer you up on a gloomy rainy day after a visit to the crypt.

It was raining heavily when we left. We headed down to the river, thinking we might get one of the river cruises, but the people huddled under cover on the boats going past looked pretty miserable and the rain was sheeting down, so we sought refuge in a bar looking over the river with a great view of Eiffel's splendid bridge, and we settled in for lunch. A few hours later, the rain seemed to be getting heavier, so we sloshed off up the road back to the hotel, which had turned into a brisk stream by this point.

Of course, about a half an hour after we got back, soaked with sodden shoes, the sky cleared and​ the rain stopped.
Still, a good opportunity to get organized for heading off to London tomorrow.

Porto #2

We realized we have been on the road a week today, and this morning we were pretty slow getting going. Maybe a little tired, maybe the vihno Verde last night.

We had arranged to switch rooms today to one with a view, so after breakfast we packed our bags, handed over the key and set out, to discover that it was a distinctly cold, drizzley day, we had dressed for the bright summer weather we have come to expect, and that our warm clothes were inaccessible. Nothing to be done about it so we walked briskly up the hill to generate some body heat, then headed across to the Mercado do Bolhao, Porto's version of a produce market. We saw plenty of nice things in the shops on the way there and in the stalls at the market, but perhaps fortunately we have very limited capacity to carry stuff.

To thaw out and revive, we stopped off at the Majestic Cafe, opened 1923, all mirrors, plate glass, carved wood and nice China. A writer at the time observed that "up till now the Cafes in Portugal have been exclusively the hot bed of revolutionaries ... or places where the obstinate aged listlessly​ passed the time." He obviously hoped the Majestic would usher in something different, but there seemed to be quite a few of the obstinate aged listlessly passing the time in there today. Me included.

Warmed and revitalized we headed on over to the Cathedral, then down the steep steps into the narrow streets below. I was pleased to see the yellow arrows of the Camino Portuguese marking the way. Anne was less pleased with the number and the steepness of the stairs.

We had lunch in a little restaurant round the corner from the hotel, with a lovely waitress singing along happily to a random selection of hits from the sixties and seventies as she worked.

When we got back to the hotel we had a new room with a view across to the Cathedral, a bit noisier but much nicer than our last. So we can now loll about taking in the fine Vista of the historic centre of the city, a designated World Heritage Site.

After lying low for a couple of hours, we headed out for dinner in a lovely Italian restaurant nearby, A Despensa. It was best meal so far, highly recommend. It seemed a little disloyal to resort to another cuisine, bit I am afraid that the traditional dishes of Porto, which consist of either tripe or bacalhau​, dried salted cod with a pervasive,pungent odour, don't really get too far up the list of our favourite foods.

On the way over we threaded our way through the student parade, Cortejo da Queirma, an annual letting off of steam for the University students of Porto. The streets have been thronged with young people in different coloured top hats, capes, and superwomen outfits. When we were coming home the party was really starting to heat up, with lots of chanting, hooting and hollering, and general high spirited carrying on. All very good humoured and non threatening.

I read that Porto has been designated Europe's Best Destination 2015 and 2017 by none other than the Best European Destinations Agency. I can understand why.

Google photos has been making little slide shows of a selection of the photos I upload each day. Here is today's:

https://goo.gl/photos/oTTePbDWJrcpFXDw7