Travel with me

Travel snapshots from Toonsarah

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  • About me
    • Contact me
    • ‘Always Write’ interview
    • My love of travel
    • My photography
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      • My photography journey
      • Video
    • Disclaimer & GDPR
  • Archive
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • England
      • London
      • Newcastle-upon-Tyne
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Bulgaria
      • Estonia
      • France
        • Paris
      • Germany
      • Iceland
      • Italy
      • Jersey
      • Latvia
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Spain
        • Seville
      • Switzerland
      • Ukraine
    • Beyond
      • Africa
        • Botswana
        • Cape Verde
        • Gambia
        • Kenya
        • Morocco
        • Namibia
        • Senegal
        • Tanzania
        • Zimbabwe
      • Americas
        • Belize
        • Canada
        • Chile
          • Rapa Nui
        • Costa Rica
        • Ecuador
          • Galapagos Islands
        • Guatemala
        • Jamaica
        • USA
          • New Mexico
          • New York City
          • Washington State
      • Asia
        • DPRK
        • India
          • Kerala
          • Rajasthan
        • Indochina
          • Cambodia
          • Laos
          • Vietnam
        • Japan
        • Nepal
        • Oman
        • Syria
        • United Arab Emirates
        • Uzbekistan
  • Themes
    • Architecture
    • Art
      • Crafts
      • Street art
    • Colour
    • Dark tourism
    • Eco-tourism
    • Food & drink
    • Gardens
    • History
      • Ruins
      • War
    • Landscape
      • Coast & seascapes
      • Deserts
      • Mountains
      • Rivers
    • Nature and wildlife
      • Animals
      • Birds
      • Plants
        • Flowers
        • Trees, forests and woodland
    • People
      • Culture & tradition
      • Street photography
    • Travel in general
  • Photo galleries
    • Themed galleries
    • Travel galleries
  • Postcards from the road
  • Challenges
    • Photography challenges
      • Just One Person
      • Lens-Artists
      • Mid-week Monochrome
      • Monochrome Madness
      • One Word Sunday
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Pick a Word
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
      • Words of Wisdom
      • Cee’s challenges
        • CBWC
        • CFFC
        • CMMC
    • General challenges
      • Monday walks
      • Writers’ Quotes Wednesday
    • Challenges archive
      • Bird Weekly
      • Friendly Friday
        • The Friendly Friday Challenge: how to join in
      • Friday’s Foods of the World
      • Life in Colour
      • One-to-Three
      • Ten photos
      • Thursday Doors
      • Thursday Trios
  • About me
    • Contact me
    • ‘Always Write’ interview
    • My love of travel
    • My photography
      • Photographic techniques
      • My photography journey
      • Video
    • Disclaimer & GDPR
  • Archive

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Topics I’ve touched on

africa architecture art birds black_&_white bulgaria cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks mountains nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife
  • Antarctica,  Galapagos Islands,  Germany,  Sunday Stills

    The thoughts of a very occasional cruiser

    August 31, 2021 / 25 Comments
    Bow of ship sailing towards snowy coastline

    I am very much inclined to agree with Ratty that there is half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. And whenever I spot an opportunity while travelling to take to the water, I am eager to set sail. A whale-watching trip; a cruise around a harbour; an afternoon on a city’s river. Count me in for any of those!

    Carry on reading
  • Destinations,  My photography

    A year in numbers

    August 30, 2021 / 49 Comments
    Signpost with numbers against a lake backdrop

    A year ago I was at home, and bored with the limits put on our travels by the pandemic. Travel outside the UK was clearly going to be off the agenda for a while yet, so what to do? Maybe this was the perfect time to start a new challenge, one I had been considering for a while. I would launch a blog!

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Road between graasy fields and woods, leading to mountains

    Gallery: getting away, or, there’s a wonderful world out there!

    July 18, 2021
    Seascape with icebergs and snowy shores

    Travel inspiration – where does it come from?

    August 8, 2021
  • Lens-Artists,  Morocco,  Street photography

    Keep walking … even on crutches!

    August 29, 2021 / 36 Comments
    Shadow of lady with crutches

    We were just twenty-four hours into our first visit to Marrakesh. We had arrived in the city with high expectations. It had been on our wish-list for some years; and as this was the first holiday of any length that we had been able to take together for over a year, we were determined to enjoy it. But on the evening of our first day I stumbled on the edge of a tiled basin in a fancy restaurant and broke a bone in my foot. I spent the rest of…

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    Or what about ...?

    Huge sculpture with outspread wings

    The Angel of the North

    December 8, 2020
    Orthodox cathedral at the end of a wide street

    Gallery: Sofia’s St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

    March 7, 2021
    River view with modern city buildings

    Gallery: city living in London

    February 15, 2021
  • Architecture,  Culture & tradition,  Friendly Friday,  History,  Rajasthan

    Friendly Friday: meet a young tightrope walker in Jaisalmer

    August 27, 2021 / 49 Comments
    Banner with photo of a tightrope walker

    Perched on the top of Trikuta Hill, Jaisalmer’s honey coloured fort rises above the city like a giant sandcastle. This is the second oldest fort in Rajasthan, one of the largest in the world, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and almost unique in India in being still inhabited.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Closed sign on a shop door

    Gallery: when one door closes …

    June 20, 2022
    View of a city with river and modern architecture

    The astounding architecture of Pyongyang

    November 7, 2021
    Several bridges over a river

    Newcastle: a city and its river

    February 18, 2021
  • Culture & tradition,  England

    Roll up, roll up! A Magical Mystery Tour

    August 26, 2021 / 40 Comments
    Statues of four young men

    What is the first thing you think of when I mention the city of Liverpool? There’s a good chance you answered, the Beatles. The ‘Fab Four’ all grew up here, and it was here that they met. Many of their songs feature the places of their childhood and teenage years, and have since become iconic tourist destinations.

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    Or what about ...?

    Colourful lorry

    Gallery: kings of the road in Nepal

    December 3, 2022
    Huge blue statue of seated figure

    Lord Shiva statue in the hills above Pokhara

    January 7, 2023
    Looking down at a station platform

    Taking a ride on the Pyongyang Metro

    July 10, 2021
  • Gardens,  London,  Sunday Stills

    In for a penny: a visit to Kew Gardens

    August 24, 2021 / 30 Comments
    Large glass conservatory with lawns and flower beds

    The Gardens at Kew in west London date back to the mid 18th century, when they were founded by George III’s mother Princess Augusta. Today the gardens’ plant collections are the most diverse of any botanic garden in the world.

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    Or what about ...?

    Gardens with flower beds, lawns and statues

    Gallery: a sunny afternoon in the Jardins du Luxembourg

    September 30, 2022
    White flowers in front of an old house

    Gallery: the White Garden at Sissinghurst Castle

    June 23, 2021
    River with boats and houses on the far bank

    Gallery: on our doorstep

    June 12, 2022
  • Gambia,  Lens-Artists,  Photographic techniques,  Rapa Nui,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: when the light is right

    August 23, 2021 / 29 Comments
    Low cliffs and palm trees silhouetted against the sun

    Studio photographers can spend a lot of time getting the light just right, changing the angles, adjusting the brightness and colour. Landscape photographers don’t have that luxury; we have to work with the light we have, or wait until it changes naturally.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Scruffy rusting ferry with trucks and people on board

    Barely afloat: the Banjul ferry

    September 1, 2021
    Painting of young slave

    Roots: dark history or tourist trap?

    October 29, 2020
    Group of men sitting among fishing boats on a beach

    Gallery: a traditional fishing village in Bakau

    April 10, 2021
  • Architecture,  Latvia,  Photographing Public Art,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: the Art Nouveau gems of Riga

    August 20, 2021 / 39 Comments
    Row of elegant buildings in cream, blue and white

    Art Nouveau, or Jugendstil as it is also known, was an art and architecture movement of the late 19th to early 20th centuries, at its height 1890–1910. As an artistic philosophy it proposed that art should be a way of life, and that everyday items could be beautiful too. It was inspired by nature – flowers, animals, natural forms. In the old buildings of Riga it is at times at its most flamboyant and exuberant.

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    Or what about ...?

    Stone and wood built temple surround a square with children and pigeons

    In Kathmandu’s Durbar Square

    November 19, 2022
    Black and white photo of white building

    Gallery: seeking geometry in architecture

    March 28, 2021
    Half-timbered building seen above a hedge

    A misty morning visit to Stokesay Castle

    July 14, 2021
  • Architecture,  Bulgaria,  History

    Asen’s Fortress and the Church of the Holy Mother of God

    August 18, 2021 / 20 Comments
    Small church on a wooded mountainside

    Asen’s Fortress is built on a cliff overlooking the Asenitsa River in Bulgaria’s Rhodope Mountains, and is impregnable on three sides. It isn’t surprising therefore that there has been a fortification here since the time of the Thracians, who fortified it in the 5th century BC. The fortress was rebuilt during the time of the Roman Emperor Justinian as one of a series of fortresses erected to defend the Empire against invasions by Slavic tribes.

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    Or what about ...?

    Empty airport seating area

    Gallery: Wonsan Kalma International Airport sits deserted

    May 7, 2021
    Ornate marble pillars holding up carved ceilings

    Chaumukha Mandir, the four-faced temple of Ranakpur

    March 1, 2021
    Rustic blue house

    Stepping back in time in Bulgaria

    June 5, 2021
  • Deserts,  Oman,  Sunday Stills

    Rub’ Al Khali: the Empty Quarter

    August 16, 2021 / 24 Comments
    Straight road and brown sign in English and Arabic

    The Empty Quarter, otherwise known as Rub’ Al Khali, is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world. It is so-called because this huge stretch of unbroken sand has defeated kings, adventurers, and nomads for thousands of years. In a region defined by deserts, the Rub’ Al Khali has come to be known as among the most daunting and inhospitable. And it is on an unfathomable scale.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Steam rising from several geysers at sunrise

    El Tatio: a steaming landscape

    September 16, 2021
    Dramatic mountain landscape

    Gallery: Mountain, Desert, Jungle or Ocean?

    June 28, 2021
    Green pool and palm trees from above

    Water in the desert: Wadi Bani Khalid

    June 11, 2021
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Read my featured blogger interview

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By Marsha of 'Always Write'

And my answers to Bren’s ‘five at five’ questions

Lady in a hat and red top sitting on rocks

Some favourite photos

Man in a turban with fishing nets
Fisherman in Fort Kochi, Kerala
Two elephants in long grass
Okavango elephants
Blue glacier edge
Glacier Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile
Elderly woman in black hat and sunglasses
In Santiago, Chile
Very large statues of North Korean Leaders
Statues of the Great Leaders on Mansudae Hill, Pyongyang
Water reflecting the sky with clouds and low sun
Approaching sunset in the Okavango Delta
Feet of huge metal sculpture, with man standing beside
The feet of the Angel
Large moai with row of more behind
The ‘travelling moai’ and Ahu Tongariki
Man in knitted hat by water, black and white photo
Waiting for the ferry, Banjul
Mountain reflected in a lake
On the road to Dyrholaey
Sunset at Wahiba Sands, Oman
Squirrel with a conker in his mouth
In Walpole Park, Ealing
Silhouette of a man in a gateway
Looking out from Bundi Palace
Blue and pink bird on a dead tree
Lilac-breasted Roller, Chobe NP, Botswana
Buddhist monk in orange robes with mobile phone
Monk at Wat Nong Sikhounmuang, Luang Prabang
Man sleeping in a tuk tuk by a carved stone wall
Tuk tuk driver by the Terrace of the Leper King
Close up of flamingo with head tucked under
Flamingo (Jersey Zoo)
Lady with baskets of fruit sitting by a canal
In Hoi An, Vietnam
Small fishing boat with a man in it, on a large lake
Lake Atitlan
Wet street and two people with bright pink umbrella
Street in Lucca, rainy day – edited

Some topics I’ve touched on

africa architecture art birds black_&_white bulgaria cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks mountains nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife

Archive

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  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
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  • August 2020

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All images and texts copyright Sarah Wilkie - 2023 ©
 

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