Street Art or Graffiti?

The line between graffiti and street art has become blurred. Prior to 2011, when we saw the film Exit through the Gift Shop, at the Tromsø International Film Festival in Norway, directed by and often about the 'tagging/graffiti artist', Banksy, I hated any kind of tagging and graffiti. Run-of-the-mill layers of amateurish squiggles and bad calligraphy is pointless, ugly, anti-social and a blight on the landscape, especially when it defaces a beautiful building, or, structure. However, after being introduced to some of the images in the film, I can now see beauty, or, at least interest in some of the images, especially when they enhance an ugly, ordinary building or location.

Bristol is Banksy's hometown and there are still some of his original works on view here. This is his take on Vermeer's classic 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'. Notice the burglar alarm casing in place of the earring! This image definitely livens up the wall at the end of an alley where wheelie-bins are stored behind some low-rise industrial buildings.




This is another classic Banksy, variously titled 'The Naked Man', or, 'Well Hung Lover'.  When it was first completed, in 2006, it raised a local controversy. The council decided to survey the residents to see whether it should be allowed to stay. 97% voted in favour. Unfortunately, another 'artist' has defaced the work with blue paint.




I don't think this charming piece is a Banksy, but, it's delightful nonetheless.




Bristol street art is not all about Banksy and paintings, there are many other examples. We came across this fabulous sign/sculpture in the middle of a row of run-down storefronts. We have no idea why it's where it is, maybe there was an old feed store, or, pet food store in the premises underneath? Look closely to see the four rabbits (underneath the five parrots!)

Just around the corner from the above sign, this sad-looking figure adorned the ledge atop a residential doorway.

Sometimes, the best pieces are located on the top of buildings. This stunning unicorn is one of two on the top of the Bristol Council Office building.

Even public memorials are beautifully rendered.

This caught our eye on a recent trip to Weston-Super-Mare, UK.

These murals aren't even in the UK, they're in Astoria, Oregon, USA, but, I haven't published these photos before so here they are...lovely...

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Bristol Walking Tour - Pubs

We are teetotallers, so, pubs aren't that high on our radar as places to visit. However, many of them do good food as well these days, so, that's the main attraction for us along with their history and often interesting premises. So, during our recent walking tours of Bristol we came across a few that made us take notice.

The 'Ye Shakespeare' purports to be one of the oldest pubs in Bristol, built in 1636.

The 'Llandager Trow' is just steps from the Floating Harbour. Built in 1664, it takes its name from trows (flat bottomed sailing barges).

Along cobbled King Street, close to the Old Docks area and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre, there are many pubs. Here are three attractive premises in a row.

Across the street could be found the Royal Navy Volunteer, built in 1673.

The Pump House was built in 1870 to house hydraulic pumps for the bridges and lock gates around the harbour. Now, it's a stylish pub with an award-winning chef.

Most often pubs stand alone. Here's an attractive one tucked into a row of shops.

The Seven Stars, hidden away in a back alley has not much to recommend it in the looks, or, location department. An attractive plaque caught our eye and from it we learned of the important place this small establishment played in the abolition of slavery, which was once a major business in Bristol and from where most of its early wealth was derived.

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Bristol Walking Tour - Churches

Even though they seem to have little function today it's hard not to be impressed with the overwhelming scale and grandeur of ancient churches. Bristol has many examples, some nothing more than a pile of ancient rubble, some bombed-out skeletons, some still standing proud but no longer with a congregation and a very few are still open for services. By no means a complete list, here are a few we've come across during our walks.

This one is St. John on the Wall, built in the 12th century as one of five churches built into Bristol's city walls. It's the only one of the five to remain. It is possible to enter the church and visit the 14th century vaulted crypt beneath although it wasn't open the day of our visit.

Just up Broad Street from St. John on the Wall is Christ Church with St. Ewen, All Saints and St George (Church of England). It's the only Church left in the Old City that holds regular services. It was built between 1786 and 1791 and is probably the third church on this site. Its location is on the hill-top of what was once the centre of the original walled town. We took this photo on Christmas Day when the doors were open, lights were on and people were arriving for services. The ring of ten bells was being played by hand, not that expertly, but, delightful nonetheless. It's not often you hear church bells rung by hand these days. Normally, on the two plinths beside the clock, there are two 'quarterjacks' which hammer out a tune on the quarter hour. Unfortunately, they are out for restoration right now and we were unable to see them.

Bristol Cathedral grew from an Abbey on its site that was built in 1140. Some portions of this building remain. The Cathedral is known for being a medieval 'hall church', with the vaulted ceilings in the nave, choir, and aisles all at the same height.

There are many different buildings on the Cathedral site, all stunning.

St. Mary Redcliffe (Anglican) is another very substantial and impressive Church, constructed from the 12th through the 15th centuries.

The two most poignant examples though, were the Blitz-bombed churches of St. Peter's and Temple Church. St. Peter's is the most visible as it sits in a prominent position in Castle Park, just adjacent to the main shopping area of Broadmead. During the Bristol bombing of November 1940, the roof caught fire and the church was ruined. What remains is maintained as a monument to the civilian war dead of Bristol.

Temple church is hidden away, so, not as visible, but, it is also a loss of great significance. One 'benefit' of its destruction was that it enabled archaeologists to prove that within the walls of the old church was another, earlier, round church that was built here, as part of a monastery in the 1130s, by the Order of the Knights Templar. Only nine of these round churches were ever built in Britain.

Don't know the name of this church, but, it dominates the area at the foot of the Bristol Bridge.

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Blog updates

Since we purchased our current boat, in May 2017, the steep learning curve and maintenance issues have kept us so busy that there wasn't a lot of time for blog updating. Thus, the page on the site entitled 'THE BOAT' (on the horizontal menu bar across the top) was severely out-of-date. I've now updated it and changed the name to 'THE BOATS' as it contains information on all five of the boats we've owned. You may want to take a look? Here's a pic of our very first boat, "Cygnet", an Alberg22 purchased in 2005.

Also, I was never happy with the 'FIND GJOA' page either. What I'd really like to be able to show readers is a map that continually updates our real time position and keeps a historical track based on AIS data (which is generated from our AIS transponder and doesn't require any manual intervention). I know I can do something similar using maybe a SPOT device, or email, to report position with a subscription to various services etc., but, these all cost money and/or manual intervention and I haven't found one yet that offers a simple, cost-effective (i.e. free), hands-off solution that I like (any suggestions are welcome).

In the past I've manually moved our historical tracks from our chartplotter and loaded them to Google Earth and that is what I have been showing. Unfortunately, this requires a lot of manual effort and was never suitable for uploading when at sea. Recently, I realized I could embed a map from www.marinetraffic.com which would show our current position, from real time AIS data, when we are close to a shore-based station and when offshore in remote areas, possibly by satellite collection as well. I've now added this map to the FIND GJOA page. It's not great either, but, may be interesting to look at when we're underway again...

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Bristol Walking Tour - Streetscapes

We've been busy exploring Bristol on foot. It's a wonderful city for walking with many footpaths along the Avon river and Floating Harbour.

In some places, it reminded me of Amsterdam, or, Copenhagen.

Bristol was heavily bombed and badly damaged in the Blitz of WWII. The whole of the main shopping area around the Norman castle site was wiped out in just one attack on November 2, 1940. However, many old buildings and interesting historical streetscapes remain. Bristol was founded as a port around 1000, receiving a Royal Charter in 1155. There are examples of Norman, Medieval, Tudor, Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian buildings remaining throughout the town.

Queen Square, completed in 1727 in honour of Queen Anne, has been so perfectly restored, without modern intrusions, that it makes history come alive and offers a tranquil, green respite from the busy roads that run outside it. Unbelievably, it wasn't always so. In 1937, a dual carriageway was built diagonally right through the middle of the square! Luckily, sense prevailed and the road was closed and removed in 1992.

Many buildings of the same vintage surround the square without a modern interloper among them.

Elsewhere in Old Town, there is a varied mix of styles. Some of the most elaborate and grandiose buildings were built in the Victorian era. This one was erected in 1857. The design was based on a Venetian library.

Perhaps more typical of Victorian style is this streetscape...

and this example from 1899.

This building defied description. Technically Victorian, as it was built in 1900, I had to look it up to find it has "a pre-Raphaelite art nouveau style facade". It was designed by the chief designer at Doulton and is the largest decorative Carrara marble tile facade of its type in Britain. "Edward Everard" is the name of the printing company that commissioned it.

This quaint shopping laneway is known as the Christmas Steps.

Substantial and impressive limestone buildings were found along Corn Street.

Nearby, on Broad Street, is the lovely Grand hotel. Built in 1869 and Grade II listed it has just reopened after a major refurbishment.

The tour ended in front of the Corn Street Exchange where we found an interesting bit of trivia about the clock with two minute hands above the entryway.

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