Uploads from Frans Harren, tagged river, with geodata

Panorama of Arlington Memorial Bridge, Potomac River and Arlington

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:32:50 -0700

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Arlington Memorial Bridge

The Arlington Memorial Bridge is a Neoclassical masonry, steel, and stone arch bridge with a central bascule (or drawbridge) that crosses the Potomac River, linking Washington, D.C., with the U.S. state of Virginia. First proposed in 1886, the bridge went unbuilt for decades thanks to political quarrels over whether the bridge should be a memorial, and to whom or what. Traffic problems associated with the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in November 1921 and the desire to build a bridge in time for the bicentennial of the birth of George Washington led to its construction in 1932.

Designed by the architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White, Arlington Memorial Bridge defines the western end of the National Mall and is decorated with monumental statues depicting valor and sacrifice by sculptor Leo Friedlander. The bridge's draw span was permanently closed in 1961. The bridge has received minor repairs, but as of 2013, never a major overhaul and is deteriorating.

See: Arlington Memorial Bridge

Memorial Bridge

Arlington Memorial Bridge and its related architectural, engineering, sculptural, and landscape features are significant as important elements in the Neo-classical urban design of the National Capital as it evolved during the first third of the 20th century. Successfully integrated with Washington's grand plan, the bridge composition enhances the monumental city as well as the riverscape.

Widely regarded as Washington's most beautiful bridge, Memorial Bridge symbolically links North and South in its alignment between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial. The adjacent Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway terminus, the Watergate steps, and monumental equestrian statuary join with the bridge in constituting a formal western terminus of the great Washington Mall composition at the edge of the Potomac. The bridge axis, angled southwesterly from the east-west Mall axis, is carried on Memorial Avenue across the Boundary Channel Bridge to the Virginia shore. There it terminates at the Arlington Hemicycle, keystone of the grand renaissance gateway to Arlington National Cemetery and now the location of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial. This Memorial and museum, located in the Hemicycle, was designed in 1989 by Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi, and is now open to the public. The project has restored the Hemicycle in a very sensitive manner. Arlington House rises as the focal point on the hill above.

The entire composition was designed by the prominent architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White. The low, Neo-classical bridge is 2,163 feet long; nine broad arches carry the bridge across the river. Except for the draw span, the bridge is of reinforced concrete construction faced with dressed North Carolina granite ashlar.

Flanking the eastern ends of the bridge and parkway are two pairs of monumental Neo-classical equestrian sculpture on identical pedestals. "The Arts of War" by Leo Friedlander stands at the end of the bridge. In "Valor" on the left, the male equestrian is accompanied by a female striding forward with a shield; in "Sacrifice" a standing female symbolizing the earth looks up to the rider Mars. "The Arts of Peace" by James Earle Fraser flanks the end of the parkway. "Music and Harvest" consists of a winged horse, Pegasus, between a male figure with a bundle of wheat and a sickle and a woman with a harp. In "Aspiration and Literature," another Pegasus is flanked by figures holding a book and a bow. The statues, approximately 17 feet tall are of gilded bronze. They were commissioned in 1925, but were not erected until 1951.

Memorial Bridge runs across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington House in Virginia.

See: Memorial Bridge Equestrian sculptures

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, formerly named the Custis-Lee Mansion, is a Greek revival style mansion located in Arlington, Virginia, USA that was once the home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. It overlooks the Potomac River and the National Mall in Washington, D.C. During the American Civil War, the grounds of the mansion were selected as the site of Arlington National Cemetery, in part to ensure that Lee would never again be able to return to his home. However, the United States has since designated the mansion as a National Memorial to Lee, a mark of widespread respect for him in both the North and South. Arlington Woods, located behind Arlington House, contains the oldest and largest tract of climax eastern hardwood forest that still exists in Arlington County.

See: Arlington House

Center

Potomac River

The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river (main stem and North Branch) is approximately 652 km long, with a drainage area of about 38,000 km². In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the Atlantic coast of the United States and the 21st largest in the United States. Over 5 million people live within the Potomac watershed.

See: Potomac River

Right

Arlington County, Virginia

The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the south bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C. Arlington is also bordered by Fairfax County and the City of Falls Church to the southwest, and the City of Alexandria to the southeast. With a land area of 67 km2, Arlington is the geographically smallest self-governing county in the United States and has no other incorporated towns within its borders. Given these unique characteristics, for statistical purposes the county is included as a municipality within the Washington Metropolitan Area by the United States Census Bureau. As of 2012, Arlington County had a population of 220,565 residents. It would be the fourth-largest city in the state if it were incorporated as such.

Given the county's proximity to Washington, D.C., Arlington is headquarters to many departments and agencies of the federal government of the United States, including the Department of Defense, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The many federal agencies, government contractors, and service industries contribute to Arlington's stable economy, which has made it one of the highest-income counties in the United States. Arlington is also the location of national memorials and museums, including Arlington National Cemetery, the Pentagon Memorial, the Marine Corps War Memorial, and the United States Air Force Memorial.

See: Arlington

Fast ferry across the Tocantins river

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:43:37 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Tocantinópolis is a town and municipality in the state of Tocantins in the Northern region of Brazil.

See: Tocantinópolis

Ver-o-Peso, by the Guajará Bay

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:35:52 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Ver-o-Peso, by the Guajará Bay

Ver-o-peso market is a market hall in Belém, Brazil located at Guajará Bay riverside.

It is called "Ver-o-Peso" following a colonial era tradition, since the tax collector's main post was located there, which was called "Casa do Haver-o-peso" ("Have-the-Weight House"). It was in the "Haver-o-peso house" that the taxes over goods brought from the Amazon forests, rivers and countryside should be paid to the Portuguese crown, but only after their weight was measured, hence the name, which later suffered a contraction.

Nowadays, the Ver-o-peso complex contains the Açaí Fair, a free open market where açaí berry merchants sell the fruit in natura for açaí juice shops, the Clock Square, with an iron-cast clock tower brought from England, the Ver-o-peso docks, where native fishes from Amazon are unloaded from boats and sold fresh, the Iron Market, a gothic prefab structure where fish is sold, the Solar da Beira space, a colonial building where art expositions often take place, and the neoclassical Meat Market, across the street, with iron-cast stairs and cubicles. There's also the free market, where craftsmanship, natural essence parfums, typical food and native fruits are sold.

It is located a few meters away from Feliz Lusitânia complex, a gathering of 16th and 18th century buildings including a fortress, an old hospital transformed into a museum, and two churches: a baroque one where there is a sacred art museum, and Belém's cathedral.

All this area has been declared national patrimony by the National Historical Museum (Brazil). Around ten years ago, Ver-o-peso was bidding a place into UNESCO's list of world's human patrimonies, but it wasn't included and since then the City never tried again.

See: Ver-o-Peso

Floating filling station

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:35:35 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Guamá River

The Guamá River is a river of Pará state in north-central Brazil.

See: Guamá River, Belém

Riverboat

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:35:39 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Guamá River

The Guamá River is a river of Pará state in north-central Brazil.

See: Guamá River, Belém

Castle Fortress of Belém

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:37:40 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Castle Fortress of Belém

The Castle Fortress of the Holy Christ of the manger of Belém, popularly referred to as Forte do Presépio, located on the bay Guajará in Mauri tip of the right bank of the mouth of the river Guamá, overlooking the harbor entrance channel and the city of Belém in the state of Pará.

It constitutes one of the most popular sights of the city, by its location and its historical sense, integrating and religious architectural complex of the old town, the Feliz Lusitânia.

Feliz Lusitânia

Dom Luís Bridge

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:48:38 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Dom Luís Bridge, Porto

The Luís I Bridge (Ponte Luís I) is a metal arch bridge that spans the Douro River between the cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal. At the time of construction its span of 172 m was the longest of its type in the world.

The Government held a competition for the construction of a metallic bridge over the Douro River on a site that was adjacent to an existing bridge and would replace it. Téophile Seyrig had already engineered the D. Maria Pia Bridge project nearby, whilst working as a partner of Eiffel. He now took sole responsibility for the new, major Luís 1st Bridge. The construction was begun in 1881 and the bridge opened on 31 October 1886.

* Total length 385.25 m
* Weight 3045 tons
* The arch measures 172 m in length and 44.6 m in height

Originally built to take road traffic on both decks, at various times it saw trams on the upper and trolleybuses on the lower. The top deck is now occupied by Line D of the Metro do Porto and a pedestrian walkway.

Dom Luís Bridge

Porto

Porto, also known as Oporto, is the second largest city of Portugal (after Lisbon).

The city has the status of global city. It located in the estuary of the Douro river, in northern Portugal. The city of Porto comprises 15 civil parishes. The historic centre of Porto was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996. One of Portugal's most internationally famous products, Port wine, is named after the city because it is produced in, and shipped from the area or, more precisely, from Vila Nova de Gaia, a city just across the river which belongs to the same conurbation.

The Latin name of Porto, Portus Cale, is the origin of the name "Portugal" for the whole country. In Portuguese, the city is usually referred to with the definite article as "o Porto" (the port), hence the English name "Oporto".

Highlights

In recent years, UNESCO recognised its historic centre as a World Heritage Site. Among the architectural highlights of the city, Oporto Cathedral is the oldest surviving structure, together with the small romanesque Church of Cedofeita, the gothic Igreja de São Francisco (Church of Saint Francis), the remnants of the city walls and a few 15th-century houses. The baroque style is well represented in the city in the elaborate gilt work interior decoration of the churches of St. Francis and St. Claire (Santa Clara), the churches of Mercy (Misericórida) and of the Clerics (Igreja dos Clérigos), the Episcopal Palace of Porto, and others. The neoclassicism and romanticism of the 19th and 20th centuries also added interesting monuments to the landscape of the city, like the magnificent Stock Exchange Palace (Palácio da Bolsa), the Hospital of Saint Anthony, the Municipality, the buildings in the Liberdade Square and the Avenida dos Aliados, the tile-adorned São Bento Train Station and the gardens of the Crystal Palace (Palácio de Cristal). A guided visit to the Palácio da Bolsa, and in particular the Arab Room, is a major tourist attraction.

Many of the city's oldest houses are at risk of collapsing. The population in Porto municipality dropped by nearly 100,000 since the 1980s, but the number of permanent residents in the outskirts and satellite towns has grown strongly.

Porto

Vila Nova de Gaia

Vila Nova de Gaia, or simply Gaia is a city in Vila Nova de Gaia Municipality, Portugal. It is located in the Porto District, south of the city of Porto on the other side of the Douro River.
It is also well known for its "lodges" (locally known as "caves") where the world famous Port wine is stored and aged. The lodges have become a major tourist attraction.

Vila Nova de Gaia

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Quay of the Douro River

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:41:37 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Douro

The Douro or Duero is one of the major rivers of the Iberian Peninsula, flowing from its source near Duruelo de la Sierra in the province of Soria across northern-central Spain and Portugal to its outlet at Porto. Its total length is 897 km, of which only sections of the Portuguese reaches of the river are navigable, by light rivercraft.

The name may have come from the Celtic tribes that inhabited the area before Roman times: the Celtic root is *dubro- and in modern Welsh dwr is 'water' with cognate "dobhar" in Irish.

In its Spanish section, the Duero crosses the great Castilian meseta and meanders through five significant provinces of the autonomous community of Castile and Leon: Soria, Burgos, Valladolid, Zamora, and Salamanca, passing through the towns of Soria, Almazán, Aranda de Duero, Tordesillas, and Zamora.

In this region, there are few large tributaries of the Duero. The most important are the Pisuerga, passing through Valladolid, and the Esla, which passes through Zamora. This region, for the most part, is one of semi-arid plains planted with wheat and in some places, especially near Aranda de Duero, in wine grapes, in the Ribera del Duero wine region. Sheep rearing is also still important.

Then, for 112 km, the river forms part of the national border line between Spain and Portugal, in a region of narrow canyons, making it an historical barrier for invasions and a linguistic dividing line. This isolated area, in which the Aldeadávila Dam impounds the river, has now a protected status: the International Douro Natural Park on the Portuguese side, los Arribes del Duero Natural Park on the Zamoran bank. The Douro fully enters Portuguese territory just after the confluence with the Águeda river.

Once the Douro enters Portugal, major population centres are less frequent. Except for Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia at the river mouth, the only population centres of any note are Foz do Tua, Pinhão and Peso da Régua. Tributaries are small and flow into canyons to enter the larger river. The most important are the Côa, the Tua, the Sabor, the Corgo, the Tavora, the Paiva, the Tâmega, and the Sousa. None of these small, fast flowing rivers are navigable. The Douro vinhateiro, an area of the Douro Valley in Portugal, has been classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

These reaches of the Douro have a microclimate allowing for cultivation of olives, almonds, and especially grapes that are important for making the famous Port wine. The region around Pinhão and São João da Pesqueira is considered to be the centre of Port wine, with its picturesque quintas or farms clinging on to almost vertical slopes dropping down to the river. Many of these quintas are owned by multinational wine companies and are worth a visit.

Traditionally, the wine was taken down river in flat-bottom boats called rabelos to be stored in barrels in cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia, just across the river from Porto. In the 1950s and 1960s, dams were built along the river ending this river traffic on Spanish and border sections. Now Port wine is transported in tanker trucks.

There are five dams on the Portuguese Douro alone functioning to make the flow of water uniform, generate hydroelectric power, and allow navigation. Ships with maximum length 83 m and width 11.4 m can pass through five locks. The highest one on Carrapatelo dam has a maximum lift 35 meters. Level of Pocinho lake reaches 125 m a.s.l. Recently, a prosperous tourist industry has developed based on river excursions from Porto to points along the Upper Douro valley. Boats pass through the dams by way of locks.
Profile of the Douro river, from source to mouth

In Portugal, the Douro flows through the districts of Bragança, Guarda, Viseu, Vila Real, Aveiro and Porto. Porto is the main hub city in northern Portugal and its historic centre is declared as a UNESCO monumental place.

The railway Linha do Douro connects Porto, Rio Tinto, Ermesinde, Valongo, Paredes, Penafiel, Livração, Marco de Canaveses, Régua, Tua and Pocinho. Pocinho is near the city of Foz Côa, which is close to Vale Arqueológico do Côa, (an Archaeological pre-historic patrimony) another UNESCO Heritage Sight.

Major Spanish riverside towns include Soria, Almazán, Aranda de Duero, Tordesillas, Zamora and major Portuguese towns include Miranda do Douro, Foz Côa, Peso da Régua, Lamego, Vila Nova de Gaia, and Porto.

The most populous cities along the Douro River are Valladolid, Zamora in Spain and Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal. The latter two are located at the mouth of the Douro, which is the third largest river in the Iberian Peninsula (the Tagus (or Tejo) river is the largest in the Iberian Peninsula followed by the Ebro).

Douro River

Porto

Porto, also known as Oporto, is the second largest city of Portugal (after Lisbon).

The city has the status of global city. It located in the estuary of the Douro river, in northern Portugal. The city of Porto comprises 15 civil parishes. The historic centre of Porto was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996. One of Portugal's most internationally famous products, Port wine, is named after the city because it is produced in, and shipped from the area or, more precisely, from Vila Nova de Gaia, a city just across the river which belongs to the same conurbation.

The Latin name of Porto, Portus Cale, is the origin of the name "Portugal" for the whole country. In Portuguese, the city is usually referred to with the definite article as "o Porto" (the port), hence the English name "Oporto".

Highlights

In recent years, UNESCO recognised its historic centre as a World Heritage Site. Among the architectural highlights of the city, Oporto Cathedral is the oldest surviving structure, together with the small romanesque Church of Cedofeita, the gothic Igreja de São Francisco (Church of Saint Francis), the remnants of the city walls and a few 15th-century houses. The baroque style is well represented in the city in the elaborate gilt work interior decoration of the churches of St. Francis and St. Claire (Santa Clara), the churches of Mercy (Misericórida) and of the Clerics (Igreja dos Clérigos), the Episcopal Palace of Porto, and others. The neoclassicism and romanticism of the 19th and 20th centuries also added interesting monuments to the landscape of the city, like the magnificent Stock Exchange Palace (Palácio da Bolsa), the Hospital of Saint Anthony, the Municipality, the buildings in the Liberdade Square and the Avenida dos Aliados, the tile-adorned São Bento Train Station and the gardens of the Crystal Palace (Palácio de Cristal). A guided visit to the Palácio da Bolsa, and in particular the Arab Room, is a major tourist attraction.

Many of the city's oldest houses are at risk of collapsing. The population in Porto municipality dropped by nearly 100,000 since the 1980s, but the number of permanent residents in the outskirts and satellite towns has grown strongly.

Porto

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Panorama of the Merlion

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:03:57 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

The Merlion is an imaginary creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish, used as a mascot of Singapore. Its name combines "mer" meaning the sea and "lion". The fish body comes from Singapore's ancient name back when it was a fishing village — Temasek — meaning "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name — Singapura — meaning "lion city" or "kota singa".
Merlion

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands.
Singapore is the world's fourth leading financial centre, and its economy is often ranked among the world's top ten most open, competitive and innovative. The country is also a highly cosmopolitan world city, with a key role in international trade and finance.
Singapore has a diverse populace of 5 million people made up of Chinese, Malays, Indians, Asians and Caucasians of various ethnic origins. The populace of Singapore has the sixth-highest percentage of foreigners in the world. 42% of the population are foreigners, and these make up 50% of the service sector. The country is the second most densely populated in the world after Monaco.
Even before independence in 1965, Singapore was one of the richest states in East Asia due to its strategic location as a port. After independence, foreign direct investment into Singapore and a state-led drive for industrialization based on plans by Dr Goh Keng Swee created a modern economy focused on industry, education and urban planning.
Today, the port of Singapore continues to be among the top five busiest ports in the world. The World Bank ranks Singapore as the world's top logistics hub.
Singapore enjoys a very high standard of living. The Economist Intelligence Unit in its "Quality-Of-Life Index" ranks Singapore as having the best quality of life in Asia and eleventh overall in the world. Mercer in its "Quality of Living Survey 2010" ranks Singapore as the best Asian city to live in over its nearest competitor, Tokyo.
Singapore is the fourth wealthiest country in the world in GDP (PPP) per capita terms, and twentieth wealthiest in terms of GDP (nominal) per capita. Despite Singapore's relatively small physical size, the country has the world's ninth largest foreign reserves. The Singapore Armed Forces are the most technologically advanced and well-equipped in the region.
Singapore

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Old bridge when entering Piodão

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:49:08 -0800

Frans Harren posted a photo:

The harmonious, amphitheatre-like layout of houses gives Piodão the look of a crib built into the landscape.

The village of Piodão lies on a curve in the road, like a little crib nestling at the foot of a hill.

The delightful, orderly appearance of the houses and streets, all built of schist, is interrupted by the deep blue of the windows and doors of some of the houses. This use of colour is said to originate from the fact that the one shop in the village stocked only blue paint, and due to the isolation it was not easy to travel elsewhere.

It was also the isolation that preserved the historic characteristics of Piodão as we see them today.
The charming, whitewashed parish church dedicated to N.S. da Conceição, with its unusual cylindrical buttresses, stands out among the small two-storey houses. The villagers built it with their own money and gold in the early nineteenth century.

Panorama of the junction of the river Alva and the river Ribeira de Pomares

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:46:18 -0800

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Avô is a Portuguese parish in municipality of Oliveira do Hospital, District of Coimbra in Portugal.

The toponym comes from a ford in the river Alva and the river Ribeira de Pomares. A small lake formed by the two streams at their junction, with a small island in the middle.
The Avô castle was built by D. Afonso Henriques.

Avô is considered one of the most beautiful locations in Portugal.

Panorama of the river Ribeira de Pomares

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:24:03 -0800

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Panorama of Tocantins river at Tocantinópolis

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:43:52 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Tocantinópolis is a town and municipality in the state of Tocantins in the Northern region of Brazil.

See: Tocantinópolis

Panorama of Tocantins river

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:44:01 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Tocantinópolis is a town and municipality in the state of Tocantins in the Northern region of Brazil.

See: Tocantinópolis

Moto taxis waiting for passengers

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:43:33 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Tocantinópolis is a town and municipality in the state of Tocantins in the Northern region of Brazil.

See: Tocantinópolis

Ferry across the Tocantins river

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:43:40 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Tocantinópolis is a town and municipality in the state of Tocantins in the Northern region of Brazil.

See: Tocantinópolis

Ilha da Santa

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:43:44 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Tocantinópolis is a town and municipality in the state of Tocantins in the Northern region of Brazil.

See: Tocantinópolis

Panorama - Dom Luís Bridge

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:48:16 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Panorama - Dom Luís Bridge

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:47:39 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo:

Panorama of the Merlion

nobody@flickr.com (Frans Harren) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:04:54 -0700

Frans Harren posted a photo: