What a surprise Cleveland, Ohio turned out to be! Our tour today is “Cleveland Highlights” and the tour guide does a great job of filling us in on the history while taking us through the city’s different areas. Lots of pictures in this blog!

Our ship sails into the port around 7:00 AM. Beautiful morning, a little hazy but warm. The ship docks right next to the Cleveland Browns stadium.

Our tour drives through Cleveland’s downtown area. We are starting on the Westside, right on Lake Erie. The bus drives us down Euclid Avenue, the main street. We pass the Public Square a nice park with a Civil War monument. Buildings on the square include the new shiny Sherman Williams headquarters building under construction and the more famous terminal building built in 1930. Cleveland was the first city in 1879 to have electric lights in their downtown.

As the county seat of Cuyahoga, there are a few government buildings on the square the one below is near the Cuyahoga River.

Next, the bus drives us through the Warehouse district where many of the buildings have been renovated. The Flats revived in 2016 and is a mix use neighborhood. Business, apartments, restaurants, etc.

Irishtown is being redeveloped and then there is the Market Square also being regentrified.

There is a University, Cleveland Clinic and other health care buildings, and a few remaining homes from the Millionaire’s Row era in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. John D. Rockefeller lived here along with other powerful industrialists of that era.

Then there is the Playhouse Square. There is a chandelier hanging in the center of the street – sorry, couldn’t get a picture out the bus window.

There is an area where the various museums and art centers are located. Near here is a large park created on land that was donated to the city by John D. Rockefeller. The road that runs through the park has several bridges that look very much like the bridges built in Acadia National Park. (Thanks, John D. Rockefeller!) In the park are areas set aside for countries to setup gardens. Some are more elaborate than others. A creative use of this park land.

Across the bridge over the Cuyahoga River, is Ohio City and the Edgewater area. A beautiful park and a great way to get a picture of Lake Erie and the Cleveland skyline!

As we cross the bridge back to Cleveland, we catch a glimpse of the Guardian on the bridge for which the Cleveland Guardians are named (formerly Cleveland Indians). The Progressive Stadium where the Guardians play is just on the other side of the bridge.

The last stop on the tour is the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame which deserves a separate blog post!