At the end of the day …………

The caption just said “Happy Easter”.

It was posted on Easter Sunday by our Julia from Coruche in Portugal where she and Saul are on holiday.

It captures perfectly the end of a day, watching as the sun goes down with nothing to worry about other than if the wine is chilled.

I went looking for information on Coruche and turned up very little. My Wikipedia says "Coruche is a municipality in Santarém District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 19,944, in an area of 1115.72 km².

The present Mayor is Francisco Silvestre de Oliveira, elected by the Socialist Party."

Added to which Trip Adviser, offers up several interesting places to visit including, Museu Municipal de Coruche, Posto de Turismo de Coruche e Loja do Montado, and the local church of, Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Castelo.

After which a relax in the fading sun seems the perfect way to end the day.

Location; Coruche, Portugal

Picture; Happy Easter, 2023, from the collection of Julia Czajkowska

* Coruche, Portugal, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coruche

**Coruche, Trip Advisor, https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Tourism-g3191375-Coruche_Santarem_District_Central_Portugal-Vacations.html

Other people’s pictures …………. Lisbon …… no. 3 ….. roof tops

Now I remain fascinated by other people’s pictures.

It is partly because the pictures are often of places, I have never been, but also because it is an insight into how other people see the world.

So, here just a few years after they were taken are two from our Saul, featuring the bits we all see, but do not always decide to record.

It was a December day, the sun was shinning and unlike Manchester, it was warm.

Location; Lisbon









Pictures; Lisbon, 2019, from the collection of Saul Simpson

Other people’s pictures …………. Lisbon …… no. 2 ….. the monument

Now I remain fascinated by other people’s pictures.

It is partly because the pictures are often of places I have never been, but also because it is an insight into how other people see the world.

So, here just a few years after they were taken are two from our Saul, featuring the bits the history books are hot on.

Later in the week there will be more more, but for now here are two of that other side of any big city.

Today we might rightly question the story behind the figures with the assumption that Europeans could go anywhere and exploit other people's across the globe.

Location; Lisbon

Pictures; Lisbon, 2019, from the collection of Saul Simpson

Other people’s pictures …………. Lisbon …… part 1 ….. just before New Year

Now I remain fascinated by other people’s pictures.

It is partly because the pictures are often of places, I have never been, but also because it is an insight into how other people see the world.

So, here just a few years after they were taken are two from our Saul, featuring the bits of Lisbon which are off the tourist beat.

Later in the week there will be more more, from the more traditional haunts, but for now here are two of that other side of any big city.

Location; Lisbon








Pictures; Lisbon, 2019, from the collection of Saul Simpson

Boring pictures after the lockdown …. no. 3 .... two from Portugal

Now that lockdown has been relaxed, the 2 meters distance might shrink and you can again visit Primax and Top Shop, the new series is launched.

Boring pictures after the lockdown, invites everyone who is out and about to offer up their own photograph.*

The only qualifications are that it should be by you, and be boring.

And quick out of the tracks came Mário, who sent two, adding "Andrew, two pictures to choose: one, from my balcony in Canidelo, Gaia, Portugal, 21st of  June: a lonely elder on cane in his balcony looking down at a post-lockdown closed cafeteria; the other, in the City Park of Porto, 20th: no-access tape round a patch of green under Wisteria".

And unable to decide which to post I decided on both.

Which just leaves everyone else to take part.


Contributions can be sent to me on facebook or twitter, or as a reply to this blog story on any of the social media sites you come across it.

Location; Porto


Pictures; in the City Park of Porto, 20th: no-access tape round a patch of green under Wisteria and the balcony in Canidelo, Gaia, 2020, from the collection of Mário Ricca

*Boring pictures after the lockdown, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Boring%20pictures%20after%20the%20lockdown

Pictures from a backroom, on a moment of self-isolation .....quiet schools ... Oporto ... Portgual

The international side of the series, rolls on with these two fine pictures from Mário Ricca, who commented,

"This is from my balcony door, in Porto, Portugal. 

The building is a closed school, usually busy and noisy.  Its roof is now covered with swallows".

Leaving me just to thank Mario, and add that Mario is a retired teacher, just like me.

Location; Porto

Pictures; my balcony door, in Porto, 2020, from the collection of Mario Ricca

Tram car 541 ………… travels with Kathy and Lawrence across Lisbon

This is tram car 541 on Route 24, which takes you across Lisbon from Largo do Camões in Chiado to Campolide.

And it is one those old trams which have been pressed back into service after a slow decline in the city’s’ tram network.

The decline happened in the 1960s, when the trams were overshadowed by the bright new metro system and an expansion in the bus network.

But with an eye perhaps on the tourist trade, and the fact that the fleet of yellow trams looks fun they are back.

The service started back in 1873 with horse drawn cars, which were replaced from 1901 with electric powered ones, and by 1959 when the network was at its height, there were 27 tram lines.

Today there are six routes, one of which has its own blog story. *

And apparently given the geography of parts of the city, these small trams remain the most effective way of crossing Lisbon.

Route 28 Tram 28 winds its way through the old Moorish quarter which is a labyrinth of narrow streets which climb towards where the old castle was situated. *

And there is even a tourist tram, which as you would expect is one of the yellow ones painted red, offering a guide and a higher fare, following route 28.

All of which means you can do the tourist thing or like Kathy and Lawrence, take the independent approach and travel the network armed with just a map and guide to Lisbon and an indomitable confidence that all will turn out well.

Location; Lisbon

Pictures; Lisbon, 2019, from the collection of Kathy Lee

*Portugal: Touring Lisbon on Tram 28 https://www.routesandtrips.com/touring-lisbon-on-tram-28/