“The mountains are calling , and I must go.” – John Muir Montserrat is a mountain range in Catalonia, Spain and it is just a day trip away from the more energetic and vibrant nearby metropolis of Barcelona. This is the La Sardana Monument in Barcelona where our tour group met up and is a…
Category: Travels
Shoes on the Danube Bank
“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.” – Elie Wiesel On the banks of the river Danube, just in front of the Hungarian Parliament Building are 60 pairs of iron shoes. The “Shoes on the Danube” is a moving holocaust memorial, which honors Hungarian Jews who were murdered in 1944-1945. It is…
Art in Barcelona
We crossed spacious streets, with building resembling palaces, in La Rambla promenade ; the shops were well illuminated and there was movement and life… I did not decide to go to sleep, even though I wished to, so I could rise early and contemplate, in daylight, this city, unknown to me: Barcelona, capital of Catalonia….
Main Boulevard – Public Art in Carcassonne
On the La Bastide Saint-Louis or the lower town of Carcassonne, we immediately noticed some artistic treasures. Here are some sculptures scattered around the main boulevard, a testament of modern influence to the city. This Square is known as the Place Gambetta. For Photographing Public Art Challenge Sculpture Saturday and 6WS The Place Gambetta is…
Doors & Seats in the Old Town
“If you like the fairy tales, visit the old towns.” – Mehmet Murat ildan Outside the ancient walled city of Carcassonne, France, hubby and I were surprised at how many beautiful doors we saw in just the main strip of the old town of Carcassonne. For Dan’s Thursday Doors Challenge In some hidden corners that…
La Cite de Carcassonne
La Cité in Carcassonne, located in southern France, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the whole country. Millions of visitors come every year to this huge fortified city on a hilltop. From afar, this medieval fort looks like something out of a children’s story book. This castle was decided to be preserved…
Clock(s) & Jack
“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.” – unknown Sorry, but I am making this post very personal. It is Jack’s birthday, tomorrow, the 1st of August so I am having that as my first word ending with K. _________________________________ “Thank you for always being there for me…
Through the Doors of Avignon!
“He who is outside his door has the hardest part of his journey behind him.” – Dutch proverb ____________________ I am sharing this as part of Dan’s Thursday Doors Challenge ____________________ The Palais des Papes or the Palace of the Popes is the most important building built during the Gothic period. I am featuring the…
The Streets and Windows of Avignon
“Still round the corner, there may wait, a new road or a secret gate.” – J.R.R. Tolkien ____________________ I am sharing this as part of Ludwig’s Monday Windows Challenge ____________________ Avignon in France makes a wonderful day trip destination, which really is a combination of the young urban vibe and medieval, old town settings. Today,…
Avignon Windows
“Keep creating new windows from which to look at your world.” – Don Shapiro This is in connection to my travel post Boomer Travel. This is for Ludwig’s Monday Windows Challenge and for Sami’s Monday Murals Some random mural windows of a building in Avignon, France.
Sunset and the London Eye
“Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky.” – Kahlil Gibran November 2018. What a way to say goodbye to London…. Sunset, a silhouette of a tree and the London Eye. For BeckyB’s #TreeSquare
The Palace of the Popes
“It doesn’t matter where you are. You are nowhere compared to where you can go.” – Bob Proctor On our way to Avignon… The walls of Avignon are a series of defensive stone walls that surround the city in the south of France. They were originally built in the 14th century during the Avignon papacy and have been continually rebuilt and repaired throughout their…
Black & White
“What the human eye sees is an illusion of what is real. The black and white image transforms illusions into another reality.” – Ruth Bernhard I am not a master of black and white photography so my take on this topic is something that I experience and not from a technical point of view. I…
The Splendour of Monaco
“I avoid looking back. I prefer good memories to regrets.” – Grace Kelly Monaco is one of the world’s smallest country (second only to the Vatican). And so as not to be confused, Monaco is very small but essentially has everything that is expected of a regular country and Monte Carlo is a neighborhood inside…
On the Waters of Faraway Lands …
“Travel opens your heart, broadens your mind and fills your life with stories to tell.” – Paula Bendfeldt Missing travelling? 2 years and 8 months, that has been the amount of time that I had not done something that I so love. Especially now that borders have been opening up in other countries, I am…
French Riviera
“Meet me where the sky touches the sea.” – unknown You can call it the South of france… or The French Riviera… or the Cote d’Azur but one thing is for sure, this region of France is amazingly beautiful. Nice is the capital of the French Riviera and the city is called Nice la Belle…
One More Time … from London
“Life is a one way street, and we are not coming back.” – Anon I have posted photos of murals that my son has sent me through a span of several weeks. This is the last of the series but hopefully he will send me again soon. I think this is in Shoreditch or in…
Payong
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – unknown “Payong” is a Tagalog (language in the Philippines) word meaning umbrella. It was an essential thing in my bag as I was growing up. Unlike here in Australia, where people just happily walk without it when…
Another day in Florence
“Stand on a bridge over the Arno River several times in a day and the light, mood and view change every time. Firenze is magnetic, romantic and busy. Its urban fabric has hardly changed since the Renaissance and its narrow streets evoke thousand tales.” – Lonely Planet Our first day in Florence was very hectic…
The Streets of Florence
“Florence is one of those cities that most of us want to experience at least once (but most likely hundreds of times)!” – unknown Florence, as foreigners and tourists call this city, is known to locals as Firenze. Previously, it was called Florentia in Latin, then Fiorenza in Old Italian. Here is the Florence skyline from…
Churches in Rome
Some ruins of ancient times are much more beautiful than the best buildings of modern eras! — Mehmet Murat Ildan Rome has around 900 churches so it is really the best place in the world to visit some of these wonderful churches. Aside from the Papal Basilica of St Peter, here is a small church…
Rome on a Rainy Day
“It does not usually rain in Rome, which makes a wet day somewhat of a special occasion.” – unknown While planning on this trip, we didn’t even have a clue that these two iconic Roman buildings, the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine, are just standing quite near each other. The first time we found…
Rome at Night
“Italy will never be a normal country, because Italy is Italy. If we were a normal country, we wouldn’t have Rome. We wouldn’t have Florence. We wouldn’t have the marvel that is Venice.” – Matteo Renzi, Prime Minister of Italy… __________________________________🚞🚎🚗🚃🛫🚠 Travelling to Rome when it was nearly night time gave it a feeling of…
Assisi
”A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.” – Francis of Assisi __________________________________🚞🚎🚗🚃🛫🚠 Travelling from Burano to Assisi, the scenery was simply breathtaking. Glad we were awake the whole time to experience it all. Please click image to enlarge. __________________________________🚞🚎🚗🚃🛫🚠 Assisi is a small town in Central Umbria. It is a UNESCO Heritage…
Colourful Burano
“I am a believer that colors affects people’s moods.” – Lily Pulitzer __________________________________🚞🚎🚗🚃🛫🚠 On the Road from Venice to Burano… Burano is just a day trip away from Venice on a vaporetto. It takes about half an hour travelling time between the two islands. This is what can be seen along the way. Please click…
When in Paris …
“Better to illuminate than to merely shine.” – Thomas Aquinas Sometimes you just have to drag yourself to going to the same iconic structure twice in one day just to see it from a different point of view. And it definitely didn’t disappoint. One was taken while on a River Cruise and the other when…
Bright Burano and its Washing Lines
I tried so hard to find photos of washing lines in my archives, happy that I found a few. So this is my first of a series from Burano… a picturesque island in the Venetian Lagoon in Italy. BeckyB’s Square Challenge- Bright Burano Monday Washing Lines – Burano (1)
Gondola Ride…
“Venice never quite seems real, but rather an ornate film set suspended on the water.” – unknown You can never travel to Venice and not go on a gondola ride. It may be very “touristy” or maybe too expensive…but a gondola ride is quintessential to Venice. Some people in our tour group didn’t want to…
Autumn In Budapest
“Autumn…you blush my heart that travels through my dreams year round.” – Angie Welland-Crosby A row of flaming red trees lined an empty, winding street in Castle Hill, Budapest. I had my winter boots on but that wasn’t enough to keep my feet warm. Thursday Tree Love – Autumn in Budapest