Lisbon is a city on the way up. In October, a financial package was confirmed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to upgrade infrastructure in the Portuguese capital to improve flood prevention and promote sustainable mobility. Private infrastructural investment is also obvious in the city. There are cranes dotted around the landscape and construction is underway at every second corner as the elegant 19th century buildings are renovated and rejuvenated, new ones built and even a new luxury cruise ship terminal is underway.
There’s more to this city’s resurgence than concrete and steel though, as all the signs at last…
Tønsberg is small coastal town an hour south of Oslo. Docked close to the mouth of the town’s Oslofjord inlet is a hand-built, full-size reproduction Viking longboat. A hundred metres along the quay another is currently under construction, using only the tools of the 10th century.
They were strong enough to cross the open ocean, but they were shallow enough that they could go way up river and truly surprise people in places where no one expected an ocean-going ship to appear.
William Short, author and Viking scholar
Viking longboats were a triumph of Middle Ages’ engineering. Their small draught…
Andrew O'Donoghue
Helped build happy Macs for a decade, now, I'm all talk. Series Editor, The Gadget Buzz, TV3 | Irish Mail on Sunday Columnist | Midlands FM
