“Beauty exists not in sameness but in difference.” – PCoelho As part of our road trip, here are some olden style windows all found in Ilocos, the northern part province of the Philippines. Metal Grillwork on stone structure These are the traditional Capiz on wooden sliding windows. What is a capiz window? Capiz (Kapis) shell…
Category: Travels
Roadtrip
“Discover how beautiful our country is and how wonderful our people are. Time to fall in love with the Philippines.” – Tony Meloto A few years ago, my husband and I went with my family on a road trip to the northern part of the Philippines. And that was the last time I have visited…
Christmas Markets
“He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree“. – Roy L. Smith Taken from Christmas markets in London and in Budapest in 2018. For Jude’s Life in Colour – Kaleidoscope
Back in Cebu
“Once I had put enough distance between myself and where I grew up, I started to see its beauty. I started to see it the way outsiders do – maybe because I had become an outsider.” ― Taylor Jenkins Reid October 2016 … It has been more than a month that I have been away…
Edinburgh to Glasgow and back
A visit to a museum is a search for beauty, truth, and meaning in our lives. Go to museums as often as you can.” — Maira Kalman This was our last day in Scotland and we spent it mostly on walking and looking at some museums and public art and a castle. But because of…
The Scottish Highlands
“The best dreams happen when you’re awake.” – Cherie Gilderbloom One of the places that was high in my bucket list is Scotland and more specifically, the Scottish Highlands. Whenever I look at Instagram photos, I can almost feel the calmness of the place. And here we were, hubby and I and also with my…
Tulloch Castle: Is it really haunted?
“Whenever I wander, wherever I rove, the hills of the Highlands forever I love.” – Robert Burns It was nearly sunset when we reached our destination. This was the view from the parking lot. My cousins took us to the Tulloch Castle and this was where we stayed the night. Tulloch Castle is a 12th…
Walking the Royal Mile
“Always follow your dreams, even if they lead you down a few dark alleys.” – Teresa Mummert What better way to have a taste of Edinburgh than to walk through its most famous main street…the Royal Mile. This street runs through the heart of Edinburgh connecting the Edinburgh Castle with the Palace of Holyroodhouse. So…
All aboard…
“I name this ship Britannia. I wish success to her and all who sail on her.” – HM the Queen Our 23 days of European tour was all over but our travelling still continues. Next stop was Edinburgh and this time I am sure won’t be as hectic because we were staying with my cousin,…
Musee du Louvre
“My favourite thing to do is go where I’ve never been.” – Anonymous It was a free day because we didn’t go with the optional excursion. We decided to go to Musee du Louvre for our last day in Paris. The Musee du Louvre or just plain the Louvre is one of Paris’ most iconic…
Around Paris
With an early morning wake up call, we got ready for a city tour aboard the Cosmos tourist bus Still some awesome view from inside the coach window around the main city. Next, we went down for a guided city walk On the left hand side is the Palais de Justice, a beautiful building, which…
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles is perhaps the most opulent and beautiful palace in Europe. This was once home to kings and queens of France. It is one of the most important places in France and is now recognised as a world heritage site by UNESCO. This is the golden entry gate to The Palace of…
A Day in Paris
“Paris is always a good idea.” – unknown Aside from Disneyland, Paris is the only other place that was in my bucketlist when I was a lot younger. I thought to myself that when I find a boy, Paris is the place to be, because it is the City of Love and Romance. But several…
Lines from back home…
Some straight parallel lines and some intersecting lines in the Philippines. The next two photos were taken in Ilocos Norte Province in the northern part of the country some few years gone past. These are coloured windows in a church in Cebu City in the middle islands of Visayas.
Poitiers
“A breeze, a forgotten summer, a smile, all can fit into a storefront window.” – Dejan Stojanovic The city of Poitiers is a French city located west of France. We passed this city on our way to Paris. Here are some narrow and almost empty streets with old houses when we ventured further from the…
The doors and Seats of Château d’Amboise
A place of residence for French kings from the 15th to the 19th centuries and is linked to the history of France. These are some of the outdoor benches and doors that can be found in the Chateau d’Amboise in France. Inside the castle you can find countless doors, hallways, staircases all leading up to rooms…
Arches
“An arch consists of two weaknesses which, leaning one against the other, make a strength.” – Leonardo da Vinci This is a building in Melbourne CBD which is the former General Post Office of Victoria, known as the GPO. It is now a shopping centre and before pandemic was a bustling area with cafes, shops…
Amboise
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci Amboise is a town in central France’s Loire Valley. It’s known for the Château d’Amboise, the grand 15th-century residence of King Charles VIII featuring Leonardo da Vinci’s tomb, as well as royal chambers, gardens and underground passageways, old towns, villages and views of the river. Here…
Bordeaux
From Bilbao we were off to Bordeaux. Bordeaux is a small port city in southwest France. It is not the cheapest city but it is still worth to visit, as it is said to be France’s most elegant city. This was the view when our coach was just approaching this glamorous city in France. For…
Bilbao and its Public Art
“The ‘EARTH’ without ‘ART’ is just ‘EH’ – unknown Aside from this beautiful building, the centre of Bilbao is full of amazing public art. And this is what I want to feature this week for Photographing Public Art Challenge – PPAC. Here are the many architecture, sculptures, statues and murals of Bilbao, Spain. Bilbao is…
Burgos
“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta As we continued on with out European tour, we arrived in Burgos, which is a town in northern Spain and is about three and a half hour drive from Toledo. The first that we saw upon arriving was this… isn’t…
Public Art in toledo
“I do not insist,” answered Don Quixote, “that this is a full adventure, but it is the beginning of one, for this is the way adventures begin.” – Miguel de Cervantes This is the third and last of my series about Toledo. That shows how much you can see and do in this old and…
Toledo in Spain
“Live life with no excuses, travel with no regret”– Oscar Wilde Toledo is one of the oldest and most unique cities in Spain and is the former Spanish capital before Madrid. It stands beautifully high up on a hill above the Tagus River and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. From the Mirador del Valle, you…
Madrid
“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” – unknown The city of Madrid is a captivating city. Passing through the countryside and even before reaching the main country, we already had a glimpse of how artistic this country was gonna be by seeing all…
Windows of Madrid
Madrid is an exquisite city and can be seen in its grand buildings and of course in its windows, which is the topic of this challenge. The Palacio de Cibeles, formerly the Palacio de Comunicaciones until 2011, is a palace located on the Plaza de Cibeles. What an amazing architecture. El Palacio Real or Madrid’s…
Looking Up then Looking Down
“Look up to the sky. You’ll never find rainbows if you’re looking down.” – Charlie Chaplin For this week, the topic for Sofia’s Challenge is Looking Up/Looking Down. I experimented on the slider using it from top to bottom. This is the St Stephen’s Cathedral and is a landmark of Vienna. It is the most…
Walking Up Petrin Hill
“The best view comes after the hardest climb.” – unknown This was in November of 2018. I read that Petrin Hill is a must see and it is very easy to reach it by getting on a funicular. So on one of our “not too hectic” days in Prague, we decided to go. But when…
Barcelona’s Public Art
“Barcelona is Gaudí’s” –Kamand Kojouri Our second day in Barcelona started with a city tour. The local tour guide took us to the different iconic architecture which were mostly the Catalan Gothic style and the Modernisme. This second one was a cultural movement at the end of the 19th century protagonized by Antoni Gaudi. One…
Windows in Montserrat
“Your desire to be near to window is your desire to be close to life!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan Montserrat is a day trip that we took from Barcelona. Here are some awesome windows that can be found there. Montserrat is a multi-peaked mountain range near Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. It is known for the…