Playa de Poniente

Poniente is the Mediterranean name for the westerly wind.

These look like strewn toys of a child giant but I think they are actually leftover models from parades stored outside an old warehouse.

I took a small diversion to walk on the wall of a breakwater that you see here.

Then I returned to the dockside promenade.

Here I paused to take in a photographic and documentary film exhibition in Sala de Exposiciones Antigua Rula, an art centre. Looking it up, the exhibition Fareras: La Luz Que Nos Guia (Female Lighthouse Keepers: The Light That Guides Us) seems to have originated in Barcelona and was touring Gijón. It's about a minority in a dying profession. By the time women were accepted for lighthouse duty, lighthouses were being converted to remote control.

The curator of the exhibition, Cristina Rodriguez Paz, has given an interview (in Catalan). Something one of the keepers said in the documentary has stuck with me: I felt so grounded in my lighthouse. It was about a feeling of connection to the earth, with a vast history beyond our human lives.

Across the street is the Habana pub.

Further along the promenade is the artwork Árbol de la Sidra (page in Spanish), Cider Tree. It was originally a temporary exhibit intended to promote recycling, and the Asturian connection with cider making, but has become a maintained exhibit.

The marina.

This is the statue of Rex Pelagius. Pelagius is the Latin form of Pelayo, thus King Pelayo, whom we have introduced before in the trip to Picos de Europa.

The statue is on a traffic island in front of Plazuela del Marqués.

I just liked the look of this building, but it turned out to be Antigua Sociedad de Fomento de Gijón on checking, which becomes a lively dance hub when night falls.

A much more artistic rendition of the name of the city than the usual.

Even better-looking close up and vibrant red for a cloudy day.

Another attractive building. It happens to house a small Carrefour Express supermarket.

Finally, the beach named in the title.

At one end is a gymnastics club, looking rather industrial. It's not as good a beach as San Lorenzo but it's handy for the people who live in this part of town.

And these locals, taken with telephoto.

I walked as far as Museo Ferrocarril and then turned back. I found lunch near Plaza Italia, and then returned to my lodgings to rest for the evening paseo. 

 

 

Cudillero

Cudillero is a tourist hotspot. This is evident from the large car park to the west of the village so that only essential vehicles are allowed in the village.

The first sight is of the enclosed harbour so not very photogenic.

It gets better as you turn towards the east.

Mustn't forget to advertise the name of the village.

After that it's a short walk to the main Plaza de la Marina.

Our guide is on the far left, giving some instructions over the PA.

No doubt visitors outnumber locals during daylight hours.

This mural is in front of the steps up the  Casa Consistorial (Town Hall).

Which is this.

A map showing the routes to the elevated vantage points for the village.

At this point I got lunch at a restaurant before deciding on one of the walks.

After threading my way through narrow paths going past people's houses this is the view I got.

A sea of tiled roofs. I think the camera had difficulty joining the horizon.

This one is a little better.

I had just enough time to take another walk to another viewpoint overlooking the harbour.

The lighthouse at the point.

A wide view.

Walking back to the bus.

The enclosed harbour at the start looks better with the tide coming in.

My interest in EV chargers again.

And then it was off to our final destination for the day. 

 

Paris vue par Tour Montparnasse

In the evening I ascended to the observation deck of Montparnasse Tower on the 56th floor. One can look out from the glass windows in all directions. Here you can see the island of greenery that is the Luxembourg Gardens.

It was still light so you can see the long shadow cast by the tower. It has been criticised for being a monolith and incongruent with Parisian architecture.

When I judged that it was late enough, I walked up the stairs to the rooftop terrace. It seems to be standard practice now to have a town or city's name in large 3D letters so that visitors can take away photos naming the place and thus provide free publicity. This one kids could crawl in and out of.

In perspective.

It's not curved like that, that's the artifact of taking a panorama photo. The Montparnasse cemetery is just to the south-east of the tower.

The Eiffel Tower is to the north-west and unfortunately a bit against the setting sun.

A telephoto shot of the tower.

I think people were just enjoying the ambience and waiting for the light to get more dramatic.

It's turning more orangey.

There's a small train running on rails surrounding the terrace. I think it's for service purposes.

A telephoto shot of the Church of Saint-Sulpice.

Notre-Dame of course.

The sunset photo I wanted.

The time of evening everybody had been casually waiting for.

Lights coming on in the city.

I called it quits and descended to the ground. And that was the end of my quick "tour" of Paris from up high. I had a late dinner and called it a night.