The Madeira Aquarium opened in 2005 in Porto Moniz, next to the harbour. It is housed in the São João Baptista Fort, which was built to protect Porto Moniz from raiding Moors. In 1998, the Porto Moniz Municipal Council bought its ruins, which were restored, keeping its original design but adapting its interior to be used as an aquarium. With about 90 different species of sea animals distributed in 12 tanks (the largest of which contains approximately 500,000 liters of salt water), this tourist attraction will give you a pretty good idea of the various habitats of the island’s marine world. Even if you do not go into the aquarium the outside grounds are beautiful with the facade of the old fort surrounded by the rocky shoreline.
The London Eye, or the Millennium Wheel, is a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. It is Europe’s tallest cantilevered observation wheel, and is the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom with over 3 million visitors annually. The structure is 135 443 feet tall and the wheel has a diameter of 394 feet. When it opened to the public in 2000 it was the world’s tallest Ferris wheel. The spacious pods go very slowly around the wheel and allow for great views of the Thames and the city.
The University of Coimbra is a Portuguese public university in Coimbra, Portugal. Established in 1290 in Lisbon, it went through a number of relocations until it was moved permanently to its current city in 1537, being one of the oldest universities in continuous operation in the world, the oldest university of Portugal, and one of the country’s largest museums of higher education and research institutions. The university is organized into eight different faculties according to a wide range of fields, granting academic bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in nearly all major fields of knowledge, such as arts, engineering, humanities, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, medicine, sports and technologies. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Directly across from the Museum Nacional de Machado de Castro are the steps leading up to the University.
We next purchased tickets to tour the Biblioteca Joanina. On our way to the library we passed several more buildings. Click on the highlighted links for in-depth posts on each component of the university.
We finally reached the library after a long walk. The route to the library begins in the basement. We watched a video about the University Academic Prison, fascinating.
On May 3, 2003 the iconic symbol of the state of New Hampshire collapsed. The Old Man of the Mountain can be seen on the New Hampshire state quarter and many other representations for the state. The location is commemorated with The Old Man Profiler Plaza today at the site where he once looked down upon. I had the opportunity to visit him many times before his collapse.
