Photos and words mainly on Albufeira and the Algarve, and more.
22nd April. Three very hot days last week, temperatures hit 29º C on Monday. Brought out the pollen, so hay fever time is here! It has been cloudy and windy this past few days. A very busy time. Two full days at the Europacopa Walking Football tournament, followed by three bowls matches in three days, each lasting around 2hours 15 minutes!
Albufeira beach webcam here. Albufeira local ten day weather forecast here.
Various felines spotted over the past few days. I have some more somewhere.
Spring is sprung, with flowers and bushes bursting out into colour. I don’t like plants as such because they give me hay fever, which has been pretty bad this past few days. But the colours are nice if I can ignore the itchy eyes!
I have been very busy this week, but I thought it would still be nice to publish some pictures taken down at the beach on Sunday 14th April. It was very hot that afternoon, 27ºC.
The seaside town of Cleveon is a little under an hour’s bus ride from Bristol. Time for a day out, even though the weather was cold and windy. After heavy overnight rain, thankfully it was dry. Bus fares in England are still capped at a maximum £2 for any journey. The buses used on the routes to Clevedon are double-deckers, affording a good view of the mostly pleasant, agricultural landscape.
The beach at Clevedon is rocks, shingle and mud. The tide was out. Despite the windy and cold weather, a few stoics were out there with their children. The children seemed happy enough, searching the rockpools for creatures.
Clevedon Pier was opened in 1869, initially for a ferry crossing to take railway passengers to Wales. Cardiff is about 13 miles (28km) across the Bristol Channel. That’s Wales in the dim distance below. The opening of the Severn Tunnel put paid to that after only 20 years. The pier was used by pleasure steamers for much of the next 100 years. It is owned by a trust. There is an admission fee to be paid. Detailed Wikipedia article here. The area of the beach close to the pier is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. A variety of unusual rocks can be found there.
Clevedon also has a Marine Lake, a kind of salwater bathing pool. Opened in 1929, it provides safe bathing. The water is regularly refreshed by the high tides of the Bristol Channel. It is maintained by a volunteer group – website here. Not many takers on a cold Sunday morning but I did see a small group braving the elements.
The wall across the lake encloses a shallow area for children.
Diverting away from pictures of wet and windy England, I was involved in a house clearance with friends while there. Among many books retrieved was a small book published in December 1974 which has some pictures of the Algarve from 50 years ago (yes, it is that long ago!) in which regular visitors especially will be interested. Firstly, credit where credit is due to the publisher Luis de Almeida D’Eça of Loures. Loures is the north of Lisbon.
First, Albufeira and the Sol e Mar Hotel. Not much has changed except that the beach is much wider. the cliffs have been coated and stabilised and the Nivea balloon blew away many years ago to be replaced by a restaurant!
The village of Alte, a popular destination for coach parties on sightseeing trips, then and now.
The Hotel da Balaia, now Club Med Balaia. The area behind is now the Balaia Golf Resort.
Penina Golf. The area behind the building as far as the straight road is now part of the complex, with a football pitch and second golf course.
This is the area known as Praia dos Tres Castelos.
The building on the right with the balconies is the Dom João II Hotel. There are a lot more buildings around it now.
This has changed at lot! The complex at the bottom with the square and round pools is the Hotel Apartmento do Golfe.
And something you don’t see now.
I spent the morning looking at other parts of the city I used to know. A big office block where I frequently had to visit for work was demolished a long time ago. Tollgate House it was called, near where Cabot Circus now stands. The pub we used to go to, The Phoenix, is still there. I was able to get a better look at the big white boat with the helicopter on the back. It is an actual ocean going yacht, not a night club as so many others are. It’s a private vessel owned by a group of locals. It has a colourful history which can be seen on their website https://www.missconduct.com/
If you didn’t know the city, you might mistake this for a stately home or maybe an ecclesiastical building. Wrong! This is the original Temple Meads railway station, designed by Brunel and opened in 1840. It last saw trains in 1965, having been replaced by a much larger and more suitable station next door. The building has been used for exhibitions and special events, although at the time of my visit it looked as if it hadn’t been used for a long time, fenced off in part.
It’s almost impossible to get a picture of anything in Bristol without cars interfering!
This is a church, St Mary Redcliffe. Parts of the building date to 1185, but like any old building it has been much altered over time. The spire, which I could not get completely in the picture, is 274 feet (83.5 metres) tall and one of the tallest in the country.
These are the kind of places I like to see – and visit. The Hole in the Wall is located in The Grove, just off Queen Square in the city centre.
The Hatchet is in Frogmore Street, just to the north of the city centre.
This is Queen Square. It was the centre of the 1832 riots I mentioned in my previous post. The houses of the wealthy were looted and pillaged by the mob, changing the character of the area for a long time! There are still large and elegant properties, many now converted to offices.
Out in the Harbour, the former tugboat John King was giving rides.
Across the water, some of the old buildings still stand among the new. Now known as Capricorn Place.
The big vessel is the Thekla, a German built cargo vessel converted into a music venue. It’s moored at the splendidly named East Mud Dock, near Queen Square.
It has been very windy and feeling cold all the time I have been here! And it’s been raining on and off. But I did manage a few hours walking around the city on Friday. Much has changed since my last visit, much has not. Here are a few pictures, taken on my phone since I forgot to bring the camera charging cable!
Bathurst Basin – these little backwaters can be found all over the city. Bristol is builton rivers and canals. The lock gates have long since rotted away, the lock silted up and the water the preserve of ducks. Access from the other end is still possible.
All that remains of the ‘new’ Bristol Gaol in Cumberland Road. Built in 1820, it was largely destroyed in the Bristol riots of 1831 and rebuilt. It lasted only until 1883 when replaced by a new prison. It was demolished in 1898, apart from the gatehouse which remains.
The nearby Goal Ferry bridge dates from 1935 and spans the New Cut canal. By that time, few ships used the waterway. The fixed bridge replaced the ferry. The bridge was repaired and restored in 2023 and is now fully open.
The lock gates at the harbour entrance are now rarely opened. In the background is the Clifton suspension bridge.
The Clifton Suspension Bridge is one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s masterworks. It dates from 1835 and is a toll bridge, used by vehicles crossing the river as it has done for almost 200 years. The works are open to visitors. I know people who will not walk across it. On a windy day it can be felt swaying slightly.
One of the many former commercial wharves and docks, now the home of pleasure and houseboats, lined with expensive houses. This is Poole’s wharf.
This sorry looking three-master sailing ship, the Fridtjof Nansen, was destined to be an educational sailing vessel taking young people on character forming journeys. Presumably for want of funding, it now lies sad and abandoned moored across from SS Great Britain.
Another of Brunel’s works. At its time, the largest passenger ship ever. The SS Great Britain lay derelict in the Falkland Islands until 1970, when it was towed back to Bristol and subsequently restored.
The colourful houses on the hill are typical of the city. The grey ship on the left is the Fridtjof Nansen.
The remains of the railways that served the docks until their closure in 1975 can still be seen here and there. On the other side of the river, the Bristol Harbour Railway preserves a short stretch of the system, with working steam locomotives running on summer weekends.
Not quite what I expected to see!
Nor this! Urban myth? What kind of crocodile would want to live in these cold and murky waters?
The view downriver from Castle Green. The castle is long gone, demolished after the English Civil War. Bristol was on the wrong, losing, side!
Where the castle once stood.
Castle Green and St Peter’s Church from the river. The latter is a bombed out ruin, a relic of the air raids on Bristil during World War Two. It was closed and under repair at the time of my visit.
The saga continues. Work is busily under way on several of the apartment blocks. These pictures were taken on Saturday afternoon 23rd March. Most of the jungle has now been cleared away. Painters were working on the exteriors. No-one is quite sure what the idea is behind all this. The other half of the apartment blocks plus the hotel are not being touched.
Don’t wish to confuse you! Another nice sunny day, 23º. It’s a long time since I have been to Lagos, so bus and train ride was the order of the day. Buses to and from Albufeira station included in my monthly pass. Senior citizen’s rate on the train Albufeira to Lagos and back €5,20. Everything was on time, a very efficient journey.
Lagos is known for its riverside setting. The marina is a busy area. Click or tap a picture to see it in a larger size.
Lagos has its fair share of well preserved buildings, including the little fort at the mouth of the river and the town walls. Bits of the town wall stick out everywhere, with more modern buildings often incorporating the old works.
I chanced across this old aerial picture in display, taken long before the Esplanada was built in the 1960’s. You can see that the river was much wider and came right up to the buildings now 50 to 100 metres back.
Another good picture, taken by the looks of it not long after completion and before the marina was built.
There is a fascinating archive of old pictures and postcards of Lagos, Praia da Luz and Sagres at https://xrx.pt/foto-arquivo/ which includes this superb aerial view, dated 1947. You might not recognise the places you know.
Then there are the tourist parts!
Unfortunately, this type of urban blight is all too common in the Algarve. Lazy builders dump their rubble anywhere rather than bother taking it to an official tip.
Across the bay, a distant view of Alvor and Torralta, about 7km or about 4 and half miles.
The trains and Lagos railway station were busy. Backpacking types descending, long queues in the ticket office trying to buy tickets for the next train – and I thought everything had to be done via apps these days!
Along the tracks are the masts already installed, to support the overhead power lines. Work is supposed to be complete in September, but I cannot see that happening!
Nice sunny day at last! On the way to the Arte Bar quiz mid afternoon.
The to this! Not the best bit of pouring I have ever done!
And as the sun was going down later. Still plenty of people on the sand.
Tom's Place - a sort of blog by a British resident of Albufeira 