Trapani on a late September day.
The amazing staircase of the Vatican museums.
Sunset at the coast of Western Sicily.
The Cathedral of Modica in Central Sicily.
No comment needed 🙂
In September 2012, I went to Sicily and Southern Italy with friends. On the way there, I also had a chance to visit Milano. I already posted some of these impressions on this blog, but cramping them all into one entry would be nice. Also, as I mentioned, there are some new pictures as well 🙂
A view over the Bay of Naples.
The world-famous cathedral of Milano. A beautiful piece of Gothic architecture in black and white.
Catania is a fantastic city. Built on the foot of a massive volcano (Etna), it was destroyed and rebuilt a couple of times. A fitting alternative name for the city would be Phoenix, as it has risen from the ashes like a legendary bird. In Catania, the streets and many buildings are made out of lava stone (basalt), and it may happen very well that you end up in the cellar of a bar in which there are still traces of old lava flows under your table (Agora Hostel Bar). If you are on the main square (Piazza del Duomo), visit the Cathedral and enjoy this magnificent view from the rooftop.
Actually, this shot is not from 2012. But it fits pretty well, so here it is 🙂 Personally, I adore Vespas. And a beautiful turquoise Vespa in Rome must be a win, no?
The train station was built by the Fascists under Mussolini. It is colossal and displays various sceneries of Italian life and culture. Today, large commercial ads dominate. It is still a fascinating piece of 20th-century architecture and a prominent showcase for totalitarian gigantism.
It was the beginning of a warm day in late summer, sailing on board a ferry into the natural Bay of Naples. As we came on deck, we witnessed this beautiful sunrise over the Vesuvio volcano. The view was stunning, and we watched with a humbled AAW. Although we didn’t sleep much on the ferry that night and had a long program ahead of us in Naples, this sunrise was enough to carry us through the day.
Less than a week ago, I returned from a short trip to the magnificent Istanbul. It was the first time I visited an Islamic country and the first time I experienced a megalopolis with a staggering 16 million people! So, it was a very insightful and exciting trip. We enjoyed the beginning of spring in the Gardens of the Saray, drank tea served traditionally above the city skyline, and paved our way through the busy streets of the Old Bazar. We saw the last station of the Orient Express (sadly not existing anymore), found a feline friend on the Prince Islands (which should be called Cat Islands instead), and explored the nightlife of Galata. In short, the city on the Bosporus was beautiful and unique!
It should have been spring, but it was a freezing cold winter weekend. Some impressions of the southern bohemian cities of Czeske Budejovice (Budweis) and Czesky Krumlov (Krumlau) in those days.
Main Square of Czeske Budejovice (Böhmisch Budweis)
Bookstore “Shakespeare And Sons” in Czesky Krumlov (Krumlau)
Krumlov, as seen from the Schwarzenberg castle
Winter in spring
Cesky Pernik in Krumlov
Colors of Budejovice
Budweis Brewery in Budejovice (must visit!)
Some weeks have passed since I visited Portugal in mid-February, and I started sharing my impressions with you in a series of posts. This one will be the last one for now. But I will be back in April with new pictures of a new city (hopefully :))! Enjoy.
What is truly remarkable about Lisboa and Porto, and what I didn’t mention before, is the excellent choice of hostels here. Portuguese hostels win competitions on Hostelworld and Hostelbookers almost yearly, and they deserve the prices! A Lisboan hostel I can recommend from my own experience the Good Morning Hostel on the Praca dos Restauradores in the city center. The people there were lovely and very helpful. We cooked together and had a great time. If you go to Lisboa, check it out.
I can’t remember the church’s name, but it was undoubtedly in Porto. The city has many magnificent churches, some made of pure gold. They are reminiscent of a colonial era in which Porto became one of the wealthiest cities on the Iberian peninsula thanks to trade and the importance of the local harbor. + I miss the blue sky terribly.
Number 28 is again seen on a rainy day in Alfama. My favorite part of the old town. The surroundings of the Castello are stunning and very charming. It is a lovely part of the town for a walk, but you shouldn’t mind steep hights 😉 In case there is always a tram to bring you up & back.
A panorama picture of Porto. One day was definitively not enough for Porto. Although there are not many traditional “tourist sights” here, the city doesn’t need them. It is the maritime flair, the port wine, and last but not least the architecture and the small streets which are selling Porto and making it so attractive (especially for Britons, we were told, because there is a cheap connection from London introduced recently).
There had to be a cat picture at some point 😉 I get her anger, but I probably wouldn’t enjoy it if someone pointed a camera at me 10 cm in front of my face. So I was a bit of a cat paparazzi here. Guilty as charged. Still cute 🙂
The end of the world. Almost. The back of the European continent at Capo da Roca is 3000 km from home. It is a unique, almost spiritual place. Unfortunately, we had terrible luck with the weather; the wind was awful and cold as ice, so we had to return relatively quickly. Our hope to see the sunset stayed unfulfilled, too. It was beautiful nonetheless.
Hey! I hope you all have a great week so far! Actually, I wanted to bring the Portugal series to a worthy end with this post, but as there are some excellent shots left, there will be one more 🙂 As always, I hope you enjoy it!
Lisboa, Alfama. We didn’t try either Sangria or Caipirinha. Wine is relatively cheap, even ordered in a restaurant (but not as cheap as in Sicily). I like Sangria, though; I must revisit Portugal to try the Portuguese one.
Another shot of the great Mosteiro do Jéronimos in Bélem. The entry was a couple of Euros and was very much worth it. It was great. Our (first) hostel was practically around the corner. The tramway line leads straight into the city center, our daily commuter. It’s not always as modern as this one, sometimes cranky and out of wood, but even more charming!
A busy street in Lisboa. As I wrote in previous posts, Lisboa is interesting because it is very much European in every sense of the word but also kind of out of time and laid down a bit like a living anachronism. You don’t have a McDonalds and H&M on every corner (I didn’t say there are none of them ;)). There are many small shops and handcraft, even shoe cleaners. At the same time, it is not as stressful as Italy (♥) or other southern countries sometimes tend to be.
Self-examining seagulls. You are pretty – don’t worry.
One of many traditional wine distilleries in Porto. Well, that is not entirely correct. The distilleries are on the other side of the river in Gaia. On paper, it is an independent city, but most consider it part of Porto anyway (and the wine is called port wine in the end, isn’t it?).
So, what is actually the story behind Portwine? It is firmer and sweeter to be more durable during long ship journeys. One day, an Englishman came to Porto, liked the local wine, and took a bottle as a souvenir to England. It turned out to be a hit, and Englishmen – being Englishmen – did start to settle down in Porto and make businesses out of the production and shipping of the wine. Now, this small local tradition has become truly global. You can visit these distilleries – like the above Sandeman – and taste all the wines! The 10-year-old Sandeman was my personal favorite.
Let’s stay with food 🙂 Usually, I don’t like food pictures – we see enough of them in advertisements, and they make you hungry – but unfortunately, I guess I have to make you hungry right now. Because I feel like a Portugal recapture could not be complete without a picture of a gorgeous, gargantuan, excellent, good, deadly Francesinha.
So what is it? It is a toast with different kinds of meat in a cheese crust dunked into tomato/wine sauce (with about 2331859 calories). I’ve never heard of it before, and the story behind it is kind of great: In the fabulous 1920s, a man from Portugal once traveled to Paris and liked all the beautiful girls there (get it). That was a contrast for him as he only knew the not-so-outgoing (very catholic country) and skinny Portuguese girls. So he invented the Francesinha – small French – to make the Portuguese girls gain some weight and make them all hot 🙂 I guess it worked out quite well.
In the background, you see the bridge on April 25 in Lisboa. It is a magnificent bridge, which I discussed in a previous post. I guess the view speaks for itself.
Michael Hoffman Photography 