30th December 2013 Maureen much better, we rented a car for the day and went out to explore. First stop being the famous Milaflores locks on the Panama Canal. I have to admit, it’s a jolly big canal and those are jolly big ships going through jolly big locks! An impressive piece of engineering and » » »
Posts Tagged ‘architecture’
18 May 2013
Dipping into Slovenia
13th May 2013 I’m liking Slovenia a lot. Today we squeezed in a visit to the picturesque seaside town of Piran, a real Italianate gem on Solvenia’s tiny stretch of coastline. The main Tartini Square was magical under an impossibly blue sky, presided over by a lively sculpture of the local violinist Tartini himself. This » » »
18 May 2013
Roman city
11th May 2013 Lots of driving today. Left Perast at 9:30am with nowt but an espresso inside me and reached Trogir at 3:30pm with no breaks and a couple of in-car biscuits. One of those things. Didn’t help that Croatians have a habit of putting road signs up before they’ve finished building the road, and » » »
18 May 2013
Balmy day, Kotor Bay
10th May 2013 I can’t imagine walking the walls of Dubrovnik in the middle of the day in summer. It was hot at 9:30 in the morning in May, and by the time we finished at 10:30 there were a few people-jams starting to form at the narrower points and the steeper stairs. In the » » »
5 July 2011
Valparaiso impressions
4th July 2011 Dodging dog shits. What can I say? We took a walk into the city today and my clearest recollection is the sheer number of dog shits that we needed to avoid on the pavements. Been in a lot of different cities this year, never seen anything close to this amount. There are » » »
26 June 2011
Santa Catalina
I’m very happy we went to the trouble of extending our stay in Arequipa by a day, despite the rebooking of buses, car hire and hotels required. Not only because we badly needed a day of (mostly) rest, but because we visited the magical Convent of Santa Catalina, one of the most delightful places I’ve » » »
23 June 2011
Incan Peru
In Cusco, Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu we found the legacy of the Incas. Both in the ruins and remains of their splendid architecture and in the Quechua people who are their descendants. And if you’re wondering about the inclusion of any photos of colonial buildings – well of course the Spanish recycled Inca stones » » »
16 June 2011
Was it worth it?
15th June 2011 Yes. It was definitely worth getting up at 4:30 in the morning to wait in line for one of the first coaches to take visitors up the mountain, because only that way do you get to look out over the ruins before they are scattered with roving tour groups. It was worth » » »
Tags: architecture, beauty
11 June 2011
Inca art, old and new
10th June 2011 I am so impressed with the works in the Museum of Precolumbian Art (MAP). It’s a great museum in the first place, in a beautiful building with all the works superbly presented. Each piece has information in Spanish, English and French although I have to admit the wording sometimes resembles the incredulously » » »
9 June 2011
Cunning artificers
7th June 2011 Everyone has heard of the Incas, right? Yet their civilisation only started in the 13th century and lasted two hundred years or so before the Spanish dropped on them from a great height in the 16th. The Tiwanaku civilisation pre-dates the Incas and managed to last over 2000 years before failing in » » »
Tags: architecture, temple
21 April 2011
Georgian comfort
19th April 2011 My image of Australia, far less Tasmania, didn’t remotely include a rambling old Georgian farmhouse set in rolling green pastures with a perfect cottage garden gently decaying into autumn browns and an old stone-build barnyard along the side. But that’s where we are tonight, in the old buttery which has been converted » » »
16 April 2011
Heart of Sydney
Sydney is a big, friendly, colourful city with a lot going on, and a lot going for it. We definitely felt it deserved more than six days, which is unusual for us in a city. Related Images:
12 April 2011
Sydney Opera House
11th April 2011 I’m really delighted by the Sydney Opera House. Every big city should have one. Not exactly the same, obviously. But every big city should have a venue for the arts that is: Central and impressive from afar, providing a focus for the cityscape Unique and ambitious, to astonish the first-time visitor and » » »
8 April 2011
Icon
7th April 2011 To my surprise the Sydney Opera House is every bit as beautiful and engaging to the eye as the hyperbole would suggest. To say it gives a focal point to the harbour view is an understatement. To my mind it makes the harbour view. I tried to envisage Sydney’s harbour without the » » »
2 February 2011
Singapore snaps
The release of this gallery was postponed due to the need to surprise Tim and Vanessa with Maureen’s new hair. We hope our readers will understand and excuse the delay. Related Images:
24 January 2011
Singapore impressions
21st January 2011 Four days in Singapore is hardly enough to summarise the city, but I did get some good impressions and in truth I liked the place a lot. Singapore is akin to London in having plenty of attractive old buildings juxtaposed with impressive modern architecture. The difference is in the ratios, which are » » »
20 January 2011
Georgetown, Penang
Georgetown was pretty much just what I expected an ex-colonial provincial city to look like, but with the addition of strong Chinese and Muslim influences. The other half of Penang island is still largely wilderness, where the resorts have not crept in. Related Images:
Tags: architecture, city
12 January 2011
Unguided
11th January 2011 Georgetown is the main city of Penang and was recently made a UNESCO World Heritage Site; we seem to bump into a couple of these in every country we visit. I can see why it would be, as the mixture of cultures here is fascinating and goes back a long way, influencing » » »
18 November 2010
Temple details
I love all the little details that abound in the strange mix of Hindu and Buddhist temples around Nepal. There’s no captions or commentary attached to these pictures, they’re just for browsing through (who knows, one day I might find time to add some witty quips!). Related Images:
Tags: architecture, temples
5 October 2010
Big City
Hong Kong is a busy, busy city – we only spent three days, and we didn’t see (or eat) enough of it. Related Images: