Little Lolly's Small Adventures: market

Showing posts with label market. Show all posts

Puerto Chacabuco, Chile. Excursion: Northern Patagonia & Coyhaique City

The tour group had a nice scenic drive from port to Simpson River National Reserve, with snow-capped mountains & waterfalls in the distance; rivers and valleys.

At Simpson Reserve Visitor’s Centre we had time to find out more about the reserve. Unfortunately the information was in Spanish but Patricia, our guide, was able to give us an overview of it. We had time to stretch our legs and take a walk along the river. It was pretty, and very peaceful.

Our next stop was at Coyhaique to visit the village square and handicraft market. The square was pretty with its fountains and trees – it had a park-like feel to it, more so with many families out and about relaxing. A few handicraft shops were open but most places were closed because of today being a Sunday.

Lunch at Fogon Restaurant was buffet-style with a nice selection of empanadas, fruit and liquids. Over and above the soft drinks wine and Pisco Sour went down a treat for the guests.

Scenic drive back to port with brief photo stop (from bus window) to see Cascade of the Virgin which was a pretty waterfall.

As always, it has been good to get out and about.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Simpson River National Reserve

Cascade of the Virgin

Coyhaique

Lisbon, Portugal. Bye bye Prinsendam - for now.

We are off the the Prinsendam!

This morning Paul did a handover with his counterpart and then we headed into the port terminal to meet up with a taxi to take us to our hotel. Town was busy and there were problems with the traffic lights and also problems with traffic. Our poor driver had difficulty getting us to our hotel because some of the roads were closed but there were no diversion signs. We later learnt that there was a vintage car show/rally so roads had been blocked off near the vintage cars - which happened to be near our hotel! Instead of taking about 10 minutes to get to our hotel, it took us over half an hour.

It was too early to check into our hotel (Hotel Lisboa) so we left our luggage in the hotel's luggage room and hit town. Yes, we came across the vintage cars during our walk. It was no wonder the roads had been blocked off. The cars were lining the road so vehicular access to them was blocked off - probably to prevent theft or problems.

We made our way through the streets to the market where there was a food market in progress. We had a nice mug of mulled wine to warm us up. Yum!

We continued along the streets, to the waterfront and came across a man playing music on a long two-handled wood SAW! He vibrated the saw with one of his legs, the one hand held the upper saw handle and in the other hand he held a violin or cello bow. As the saw vibrated, the chap drew the bow across the edge of the saw to make the sound. The hand holding the saw handle end was also used to manipulate the angle of the saw so that the saw would produce different sounds or notes whilst the bow was pulled across it. Fantastic!

We made our way up to the hill to the castle, visiting two churches on the way. Inside one church there was a choir practicing. So we sat and listened for a while. The music was lovely and made more beautiful in such a good acoustic setting within the church. At one point I let tears flow - thinking of my parents and twin who passed away in 2015 and 2016; a time to reflect on my life and theirs.

We had hoped to visit São Jorge Castle at the top of the hill but unfortunately there was a long queue of people waiting to get in so we didn't. Instead we walked around the outside perimeter of the castle and a little bit through the village on its outskirts.

We were thirsty so we stopped briefly to have a smoothie before making our way down the hill, back to the waterfront, to wave the Prinsendam goodbye. Unfortunately I think we got our timing wrong. We waited a while but she wasn't leaving so we headed back to the food market for something to eat and more mulled wine. It left us feeling pretty full!

Once back at the hotel we were able to check in properly and put our feet up. We had done quite a bit of walking so our feet deserved a break.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. Day 2. Excursion: Botanic Beauty.

The weather was better and lightened everybody's mood somewhat.

For the first part of a tour I went on, we stopped at the local market in Funchal. As we wandered through the market Paula (our guide) pointed out different types of fruit, flowers and fish - giving everyone an idea of what to expect to see at a market here on the island. There were all types of exotic fruit and vegetables - some of which I've not see or come across. The market stall holders were just setting up for the morning so the market hall wasn't too crowded. We were given time to have a wander around the market and make purchases if we wanted too. There was a flower seller selling - of all things - proteas, a beautiful flower found in South Africa. I was tempted to get a bunch but I still had the rest of the tour to get through.

In Monte Paula took us through the gardens, pointing out varieties of plants and flowers; and she also how cobble stone paths/roads were made - as we were walking along such a path.

At the top of the hill, above the gardens, we visited the Church of Our Lady Monte which was beautiful inside. And then we headed to the cableway to get a cable car to the Madeira Botanical Gardens. The cable cars could only take 6 people at a time so we waited at the other end until our guide, who brought up the rear, joined us. The scenery from the cable car was well worth the ride.

Paula gave us a guided tour of the botanical gardens, which were beautiful, after which we had a bit of free time to explore the gardens by ourselves.

Time for some wine tasting! Our bus dropped us off in Madeira's town centre where we took a short walk to San Francisco Wine Lodge. I was more interested in tasting the sweet wines - I still don't like the taste of dry wine or semi-sweet wine but I still hope that my taste-buds might change .... I didn't get a bottle of wine at that point. I hoped that Paul would like to go ashore for a bit in the afternoon and then maybe I would pick up a bottle of wine then,

Some guests wanted to stay in town after tour, rather than coming back to the ship, so Paula reminded them of the 'all aboard' time.

Fortunately Paul was able to get off in the afternoon. Sometimes it is difficult to peel himself away from work and even as we were walking along the pier towards town, Paul was inspecting things along the ship's side.

Anyway, we had a wander through the streets. And yes, we did pick up a bottle of wine. Also we picked up a metal art wall decoration for our cabin steward (Rudi) and fiancée . Rudi had seen an owl metal art decoration that I had bought hanging on our cabin wall - and loved it. So, hence the type of similar gift. They are getting married at the end of the year when he goes home in late November. We will be away in the Netherlands in November so wanted to give Rudi something before we leave.

The Prinsendam has now set sail for Lisbon a day's sailing from Madeira. Life goes on on the cruise ship, it never stops!

PHOTOGRAPHS

Funchal market