Everyone knows about the iconic sights of Paris. The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Sacre Coeur, the Seine … And they are not to be missed, for sure. But if you have the luxury of a second visit (or a third or a fourth or even more), why not get off the beaten track to explore some of the city’s neighbourhoods?
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Koprivshtitsa is not a regular sort of town; all the buildings of the town centre constitute a museum. Together they form a sort of time-capsule, encapsulating the atmosphere of the Bulgarian National Revival period of the 19th century. Wandering its streets you can feel yourself transported back in time; and exploring its historic houses opens your eyes to a difficult period in the country's past.
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One person I did not expect to meet in North Korea was a monk. In this famously atheist country, where tourists are forbidden to disseminate religious texts and the prevailing religion might be said to be belief in the supremacy of the Dear Leaders and the Juche idea, true religious conviction is hard to find. And I am still unsure whether or not I found it here.
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Lisa has set an unusual challenge, the selective colour editing of photos. It’s one that really attracted me to have a go. I love fiddling with my photos, as regular readers will know (I call it editing but really it’s quite often just fiddling!) So the idea of removing much of the colour in an image to leave just a splash appealed to me.
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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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As a lover of mountain scenery, I have long wished to visit the high Andes of Patagonia, and specifically the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. This is named for the three distinctive peaks at its heart, the Torres or Towers, but these are just a few of the majestic mountains contained within its boundaries. Add numerous lakes, glaciers and rivers, and this is a landscape to tug at the heart strings and demand attention.
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Towering cliffs and deep deep canyons, delicate orange arches, slender pinnacles, balancing rocks … Stone doing what you would have thought stone could never do. And always that blue never-ending sky.
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When we travel to Africa we do so in the hope that we will see wildlife, and we have never yet been disappointed. We also accept that on occasion one of the smaller local creatures might find its way into our accommodation, a natural hazard in many parts of the world.
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While the safety of a jeep is comforting and often necessary on safari, there is nothing to beat the experience of walking through the African countryside on foot. A slight frisson of danger accompanies you as you step carefully through the long grass. The only sounds are those of the wildlife around you and the breeze through the trees; the only scents those wafted on that same breeze.
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The most successful buildings are those in which form and function work in harmony. Buildings that not only look amazing but serve their purpose well. And also, buildings which reflect the culture of their location and contribute to it, rather than tug against it. The Louvre Abu Dhabi is one such building.
