Tag Archives: travel

Jewel of the Seas — Voyage 2; Greenock, Scotland


Greenock, Scotland

Today I present our next U.K. destination aboard Jewel of the Seas during our second of three back-to-back cruises. Welcome to the Greenock, a small picturesque town in Scotland about 20 miles/33 kilometers from Glasgow. The first views are, of course, from the Jewel, and provide you with some outstanding shots of the skyline with its many churches:

Nelson Street church towers

Interestingly, the most prominent church tower is the old St George North Church (built in 1870), which is no longer a church. It’s now used as a retail space. When we were there in 2022, it was home to a furniture store.

St. George’s North Church (left), Sheriff Court (center), Westburn Church (right)

Ursula and I would eventually make our way toward Nelson Street for a closer look, but first we hit Tesco Extra (me for a couple of decks for playing contract bridge), and then Oak Mall Shopping Centre (because, well, shopping!).

View on Nelson Street

St George’s Square is home to not only the repurposed St George’s North Church, but also the Greenock West United Reformed Church. If you watch your angle while photographing West United, you’ll also capture St John’s Episcopal Church in the background on Union Street.

Greenock West United Reformed Church (foreground) St John’s (left)

Now for a photo gallery/slide show of North Church, Westburn Church, and the Greenock Sheriff Court:

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)

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Fun Photo Friday — Inverness and Invergordon Favorites


Invergordon offered up a lot of murals for me to photograph. And I love local color. So, today’s Fun Photo Friday will be heavy on Invergordon, but will also offer up some favorites of Inverness as well. Next week I’ll take you to our next Voyage 2 Scotland destination, Greenock.

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Jewel of the Seas — Inverness; Ness Bridge Area


Inverness Castle overlooking the east bank of River Ness

We’re now along the west bank of River Ness, having crossed over that Greig Street Bridge I showed you on Monday’s article. We turned onto Huntly Street and headed south. If you turn around and look back from whence you came, you’ll get this great shot of both Free North Church and the Junction Church:

Free North Church (left) and the Junction Church

After spending about an hour hitting various stores along Huntly, and including Highland House of Fraser (kilts, highland accessories, tartans, and all things Scottish), we crossed back to the east bank via Ness Bridge. Now it was time to visit the sights along Bridge and High Streets.

Where Bridge Street becomes High Street

High Street struck me as being perhaps the main shopping district for Inverness. High-end stores, another House of Fraser, great whisky shops, plenty of great stuff everywhere.

High Street vendors and tenants

The turrets you see in the photo below belong to the Inverness Town Hall. Just past the town hall is where High Street transitions to a pedestrian street:

Inverness Town Hall on High Street (twin turrets right side)

But just before you get to Inverness Town Hall, still on Bridge Street, you’ll come across the Tollbooth Steeple:

The Town Tollbooth Steeple, 2 Bridge Street

Here is the building to which the Tollbooth Steeple is attached:

Tollbooth Steeple building

Still on High Street, before it transitions to a pedestrian street, here’s a look back at the Inverness Town Hall’s west façade:

Inverness Town Hall

Beyond there you’ll find another fun High Street roofline:

31-33 High Street
Another view of Inverness Town Hall

It was time to head back to the bus terminal for a return trip in Invergordon and our rendezvous with Jewel of the Seas, so we turned north onto Church Street:

Lauders Pub, 16 Church Street

On Fun Photo Friday I’ll show you scenes of Invergordon, as well as some favorites taken here in Inverness. In the meantime, ever wonder where oil platforms go to die? Invergordon offered us some insight into that. Taken from aboard Jewel:

Oil platforms awaiting disassembly
More oil platforms off the coast of Invergordon

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)

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