Red lichen covered boulders at Bay of Fires
Bay of Fires in Tasmania is famous for its crystal-clear waters, white sandy beaches and orange lichen-covered granite boulders. As a photographer, these bright red beach rocks in Binalong Bay on the east coast were a must-see item during our visit to Tasmania.
Leaning Tower of Pisa
After seven months of travel in Europe, we head back to the States the same way we came, a Trans-Atlantic cruise. This cruise departed from Civitavecchia, Italy and landed in Ft. Lauderdale. I very much enjoy the days at sea. We can be as busy as we wish or simply relax.
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Old Town section of Dubrovnik
Beautiful turquoise water surrounds the Old Town section of Dubrovnik, Croatia, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Only after a severe rain storm the prior day were the waters stirred up enough to create the turbulence for the turquoise water appearance.
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Zadar Fisherman
This old Croatian fisherman was fishing and collecting muscles under the main pedestrian bridge into the Zadar shopping area. As commuters and tourists hurried across the bridge to work or shop, this guy had been hard at work for hours.
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Raveinj Morning Boat
Rovinj is a small active fishing town on the far western edge of Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. Tourism is the primary source of income for the 14,000 or or so residents. Most residents seem to have rental apartments for tourists. Our rental apartment had a large balcony facing the old town Rovinj peninsula with its prominent Basilica of St. Euphemia church. We viewed this peninsula in its ever changing light over seven days.
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Norwegian Jade Cruise Boat, we boarded in Houston, Texas
Tenth day at sea, another week until we arrive at our final destination of Barcelona… My advice to anyone else looking to follow in our footsteps or those beginning world travelers is don’t fall for a bargain price on a l-o-n-g cruise.
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What is now a fun tourist attraction in Northern Ireland near the town of Ballentoy used to be the means of getting to a very important salmon fishery for a hundred fishermen. When first erected the Carrick-a-Rede Bridge was simply a thick rope spanning the 60 feet between ridges and 1,000 feet in the air. The fishermen would carry their equipment over in the morning and the fish they caught back in the evening, going hand over hand. The distant island serves as a breakwater for the ocean waves from the Atlantic. We could see large waves crashing the rocks on one side of the island, but calm waters for the fishermen to string their nets on the other. This point is no longer used by the fishermen as the Atlantic Salmon is on the endangered species list. A salmon fisherman’s house still on the island is shown in the picture below, click the ‘continue reading’ button below to see it.
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Previously I went on a rant stating I did not like guided tours, tourist trap experiences and many museums, preferring instead meeting the local people as best I could. (August 23 post) Here is one such fun encounter with a local. When I first saw this old man in his 90’s, he was painting his ocean front cottage on a rare, warm sunny day in Northern Ireland. It seemed as if he was getting more paint on himself and the window panes than on the sashes and frames. Does he plan to later use a razor blade to scrape the paint off of the window or is this good enough?
I do not claim to be a cinematographer but occasionally I see ‘movie shorts’ that cannot be captured on a single image and am intrigued by their movement, not a single image. A movie that highlighted these short clips was “American Beauty” where the next door neighbor guy filmed some leaves blowin’ in the wind. Here is some seaweed flapping in the currents….the background noise is the wind. To me it is interesting to think that wherever you are now, whatever you are doing, this action undoubtedly continues, on and on as it has done for thousands and thousands of years.
Sorrento, Italy was a milestone in our home free adventure. Making it to Sorrento means we made it through Italian customs (there wasn’t any), negotiated our way from the Port of Civitavecchia to Sorrento using two bus lines, three trains, and successfully meeting our landlord on the other end. Had it not been for our years of experience riding the subways of Chicago, we never would have made it on the Circumvesuviana train car in Naples. Running past many train cars which appeared to be 110% full, we managed to push and shove our way onto the last car with our two large suitcases, two back packs and two carry-ons. It may sound like we over packed, but I brought along 30 pounds of camera gear and a large tripod which required a large suit case. Also, I packed rain gear for Ireland and Scotland. Generally, the rule is to not pack more for a 6 month trip than for a several week trip. However when packing for hot and cold weather as well as strenuous hiking trips, the volume expands.
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