Tall ships

We have a five day sojourn into Lisboa Portugal. Each city I travel through definitely overs something memorable and distinctive. Barcelona was the work of Gaudi, and over time I visited a number of his buildings. Lisbon is architecture again. In mid 1700s a rather large earthquake and following tsunami demolished a large part of the city. The rebuild of the old city has resulted in these huge 3 or 4 storied buildings all looking the same but different. The buildings are square cornered, made from blocks of Portugese marble and plaster. To create the difference the house frontages are tiled, small ceremanic tiles. The patterning is fantastic and definitely distinctive. In the older areas where we are staying and where our bike tour took us yesterday the streets are as old as the buildings, small narrow and cobbled. The pavements smooth marble cobbles and there are arches with buildings built on top.Today the memorable is the visit to Lisboa of a fleet of Tall Ships. These large and magnificent vessels occupy the water frontage as they wait for the next leg of their race around Spain and back to Dublin. While in port they are open for the public to visit. This afternoon we spent our time wandering around the foreshore and visiting a number of ships. Two rather interesting facts. The foreshore is open to the public and visiting the ships is free of charge, some what of a rare feature I believe from my travels. The crowds visiting are huge but not restrictive as we all marvel in the beauty of these nautical wonders. The second discovery is that many of these ships have been recently built eg in the last 30 years especially for the purpose of Tall Ship racing, working with young people and training crews, a bit like our Spirit of Adventure. We did visit one ship that was Portugese and constructed in 1937. Of course the Brits also have a number of entries, inc The Lord Nelson, not opened to the public in our time. However this vessel looks rather old and historic. Photos to follow when I can work how to get them from camera to iPad or I visit an internet cafe.