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Travel snapshots from Toonsarah

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  • Archive
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • England
      • London
      • Newcastle-upon-Tyne
    • Europe
      • Albania
      • 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
        • Colombia
        • 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
      • Nature Photo Challenge
      • 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 Trios
      • Thursday Doors
  • 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 animals architecture art birds black_&_white buildings bulgaria cffc chile cities colombia 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 nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa views village wildlife
  • Crafts,  New Mexico

    ‘While you were watching TV’

    May 20, 2022 / 28 Comments
    Sign saying Tinkertown

    On the slopes of Sandia Peak, above Albuquerque in New Mexico, we found a most unusual sight. As soon as I read about this quirky museum I knew that it was a ‘must see’. We both love those idiosyncratic places that seem to define a US road trip for us; and this is one of the best we have come across.

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    Man's hands working with tin

    Using our hands: handicrafts around the world

    April 27, 2021
    Tiles painted with a bull's head

    Gallery: Majolica, the ceramic tiles of Seville

    November 27, 2021
  • Lens-Artists,  New Mexico

    Gallery: the Very Large Array

    May 16, 2022 / 25 Comments
    Line of white telescope dishes on a grassy plain with distant mountains

    The massive radio telescopes of the Very Large Array, 27 of them, rise majestically out of New Mexico’s vast, otherwise almost empty, Plains of San Augustin like visitors from another world. But these are not visitors from another world, but searchers for such a world.

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    Black and white photo of tree and rocks

    Gallery: less is more (minimalism in photography)

    June 6, 2022
    River view with modern city buildings

    Gallery: city living in London

    February 15, 2021
    Balconies with Comuna 13 in large colourful letters

    Finding peace in Medellín

    March 6, 2023
  • Culture & tradition,  Landscape,  Monday walks,  New Mexico

    In the footsteps of the Anasazi: Tsankawi

    May 3, 2022 / 35 Comments
    Rock face with small caves and bushes

    One reason for our planning to spend several days in Santa Fe on our New Mexico road trip was to visit nearby Bandelier National Monument. I had read a lot about it and knew it was just the sort of place we would enjoy visiting. Then a few months before our visit a wildfire swept through the area, devastating over 146,000 acres, including about 60% of Bandelier’s area. Almost all of the monument was closed to visitors.

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    Street with low houses and woman carrying a basket

    Weird and wonderful: forbidden culture in Cuenca

    October 24, 2021
    Line of seated stone statues wearing red caps and bibs

    The Bake-Jizō of Kanmangafuchi Abyss

    February 16, 2021
    Small squat tree in a dry stony landscape

    Dhofar, the Land of Frankincense

    May 11, 2022
  • Architecture,  History,  Monday walks,  New Mexico

    A stroll around Las Vegas

    October 19, 2021 / 36 Comments
    Row of old shops and cafes

    No, not THAT one! Did you know that there’s another Las Vegas, in New Mexico? But unlike its more famous glitzy namesake this one is an appealing mix of slightly down-at-heel with trying-hard-to-revive itself.

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    Empty airport seating area

    Gallery: Wonsan Kalma International Airport sits deserted

    May 7, 2021
    Stone church and blue sky

    The wonders of Bulgaria’s Bachkovo Monastery

    February 10, 2022
    Part of a cathedral with blue skies

    Catedral de Santa María de la Sede: Seville’s cathedral

    January 15, 2022
  • History,  Landscape,  Lens-Artists,  New Mexico

    Our Land of Enchantment: the scenic byways of New Mexico

    July 25, 2021 / 27 Comments
    Scruffy looking shop in wood

    New Mexico dubs itself the ‘Land of Enchantment’ and indeed we were enchanted. What delighted us most was the variety. In two and a half weeks we saw natural wonders and man-made. We followed trails worn down over the centuries by the moccasin-clad feet of early inhabitants; and sat in the cramped confines of a Mercury capsule. We marvelled at the legends of those early Native Americans, and at the tales of aliens crashing near Roswell.

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    Hillside with large stone heads

    Rapa Nui: the birthplace of the moai

    December 1, 2020
    Low chairs around a table, dark wood wall units

    Welcome to the 1980s in Bulgaria

    October 20, 2022
    Large cobbled square surrounded by low whitewashed buildings

    A stroll around Villa de Leyva

    February 27, 2023
  • Food & drink,  History,  New Mexico

    A pit stop in pioneering Pie Town

    June 24, 2021 / 18 Comments
    Sign saying Pie Town

    When I saw Pie Town on the map I knew we had to go there! Any town named after food has to be worth a visit, yes? And while getting to Pie Town involves a long drive across the empty plains of western New Mexico, for us the effort was well rewarded.

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    Straw hat with pink hibiscus flower

    One of Colombia’s most famous crops

    March 28, 2023
    Limestone building in garden among trees

    Special treats: The Black Swan at Oldstead

    February 2, 2021
    Elaborately decorated table

    Eating like honoured guests in North Korea

    December 30, 2021
  • Friendly Friday,  History,  New Mexico

    Getting our kicks in Santa Rosa, NM

    June 15, 2021 / 19 Comments
    Brightly painted yellow car raised on a platform

    As we approached Santa Rosa on Interstate 40 the heavens opened and for about ten minutes we drove through a downpour so heavy that it was almost impossible to see the road or any other vehicle on it – scary stuff. Maybe the elements were finding a way to punish the road that almost destroyed one of the most iconic of all American cultural icons, Route 66.

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    Cobbled pavement with black stones depicting a castle

    Gallery: underfoot in the Algarve

    April 12, 2022
    Limestone building in garden among trees

    Special treats: The Black Swan at Oldstead

    February 2, 2021
    Aerial view of green swampland with river channels

    Video: flying to the Okavango Delta

    February 27, 2021
  • History,  Landscape,  Monday walks,  New Mexico

    In the footsteps of the Mogollon at Gila Cliff Dwellings

    May 31, 2021 / 25 Comments
    Looking out from a cave towards valley with pine trees

    Standing here and looking out over the valley, you have the same view a Mogollon would have had, centuries ago. For thousands of years, groups of nomadic people had used these caves to provide temporary shelter. Until, in the late 1200s, some people of the Mogollon culture decided this would be a good place to call home. They built rooms, crafted pottery and raised children in the cliff dwellings for about twenty years. Then the Mogollon moved on, leaving the walls of their homes still standing.

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    Mountain road with car on verge

    Following the High Road to Taos

    February 14, 2021
    Lamp post shaped like alien head

    The truth is out there: the Roswell Incident

    March 11, 2021
    Stone carved with cherubs

    Around the corner in Leipzig: die Runde Ecke

    April 16, 2021
  • History,  New Mexico

    The truth is out there: the Roswell Incident

    March 11, 2021 / 32 Comments
    Lamp post shaped like alien head

    Roswell would be a totally unremarkable town were it not for a single event - an event that quite possibly didn’t even happen, or at least not in the way that many believe it to have done. In the summer of 1947 a local man found some odd-looking debris on a ranch some 30 miles north of the town. Many of those who believe in UFOs are convinced that he had found a crashed spaceship, complete with its alien pilot who died in the crash. Sceptics are equally convinced that…

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    Stone statue on a plinth on a grassy hillside

    Admiral Lord Collingwood, a forgotten hero

    April 25, 2021
    Two large mosaics with portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il

    Gallery: mosaic portraits of a dynasty

    October 21, 2020
    Gable of brick building surrounded by trees

    In search of Billy the Kid

    November 5, 2020
  • Architecture,  Friendly Friday,  History,  Landscape,  New Mexico

    Following the High Road to Taos

    February 14, 2021 / 15 Comments
    Mountain road with car on verge

    There are two ways to get to Taos from Santa Fe. There is the quicker (but still pretty) Low Road, and the more dramatically scenic and historically interesting High Road. This winds through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains through high desert, forests and tiny communities. On the way there are stories to be discovered, stunning landscapes to marvel at and picture-perfect churches to explore.

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    Three large highly decorated buildings around a central square

    Gallery: building in threes

    May 13, 2022
    Ornate painted ceiling

    Gallery: ceilings and floors (and pavements and more)

    September 7, 2021
    View of cathedral on far side of river, with large crane

    Rising from the ashes: Notre Dame in 2021

    September 30, 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 animals architecture art birds black_&_white buildings bulgaria cffc chile cities colombia 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 nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa views village wildlife

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  • Gallery: finding peace while travelling

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