The city of Cambridge is well known as the home of the University of Cambridge. The heritage of the area is ancient, having been the site of habitation since well into pre-history. It was occupied in Roman times as Duroliponte. In Saxon times, it was Grantebrycge. The name of the place continued to mutate through…
St Albans has a long history connected to London. It was once a day’s ride from London, so became a major stop for the coach trade. Today at about a half hour by train, it’s become a charming bedroom community. But the history here is longer still, being the site of an ancient Roman town…
There’s a special charm to the small villages I’ve seen in southern England, centuries of history, often with one or two grand old building but otherwise fairly simple places. More often than not, the village’s church is one of the grander buildings. In the small village of Lacock in Wiltshire, their Church of St. Cyriac,…
The countryside of Cornwall is dotted with old treasures, ruins that could range in age from centuries to millennia. But they all have a rich history. Lanyon Quoit is on the older end. Built around 2500 BC, this neolithic dolmen is a also known as The Giants Table. In later times, people, who couldn’t fathom…
Among many stops on my Haggis Tour wander to and from Cornwall was the City of Bath. I was quite looking forward to seeing the old Roman Baths that give the modern city its name, but I knew very little else about the city. What I learned was that the night and half day we…
On my trip through Cornwall, we saw a lot of gorgeous coastline. The coast is full of dramatic cliffs and gorgeous views. Since Cornwall has been a vacation destination for so long, there are lots of little scenic spots and walks along the coast that are easily accessible. One such trail is a short walk…
Newquay is a an awesome little coastal town in Cornwall. There has been human activity here since prehistoric times and a fishing village as far back as medieval times. It’s lovely location and accessible sandy beaches have made it a tourist destination in Britain for more than a century now. In more recent times, it’s…
On my first trip to England in April, 2004, my only day out of London was spent on a tour of, among other stops, Stonehenge – my main destination that day. At the time, I had never heard of Avebury. When I saw it on the itinerary for my second visit in 2008, there were…
On my last trip to the UK, there was some repeat stops. Since this was my 5th visit to Britain, this should not be a surprise, however. The truth was, that my last visit to Stonehenge had been over 4 years earlier and before I bought a digital SLR and truly got into photography seriously,…
An amazing part of our trip was two days relaxing on the Red Sea at the Sawa Camp near Nuweiba. We literally stayed in straw huts a few steps from the waters. Here you can see an early morning shot of the beach and huts with a mountain range as a backdrop. After over a…
There was one part of the journey that I felt I only walked away with one shot I really liked. I’ll explain that in a minute, but first, that one shot. This photo was taken outside the walls of Saint Catherine’s Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage SIte on the Sinai Peninsula. Inside the walls is…
Karnak Temple was the last of the ancient temple ruins we visited on our tour of Egypt. It was definitely the largest complex we visited, although I’d be torn to pick a best. We were told that the Nile had flooded these temples and knocked down most of the columns and walls. What we see…
Our first afternoon in Luxor, we wandered along the Corniche – the riverside walkway along the Nile (apparently used in Egypt but borrowed from the French). Our guide was pointing out things we could do, amongst which was the temple ruins at Luxor. We managed to come by just as the late afternoon sun was…
I often think back to my experience of flying in a hot air balloon over Egypt’s famous Valley of the Kings. Even though there have been balloon crashes since my trip, I don’t regret taking my flight at all. It was, in fact, my favorite part of my trip to Egypt. There were so many…
While ancient monuments and temples are a treasure and grand to see, they are not what defines a place That would be the people. And while I don’t specialize so much in portraits thus far, I still made some attempts at catching the people and the places that made up the experience of visiting. This…
Traditional sailboats that have plied the Nile for ages still use this ancient highway today. These wooden boats with lateen sails are mostly pleasure craft these days but in the past would have been one of the main ways of moving goods and people. In this photo, the strong contrast accentuates the darkness of the…
During my trip through Egypt, we got to see a lot of the great desert, the Sahara. We also learned that Sahara is Arabic for desert. So, those of us calling it Sahara Desert, as I always had, are really saying “desert desert.” Is it the desert so nice they named it twice? The Sahara…
Ramses II, we were told, was the only Pharaoh of Egypt to bear the epithet, The Great. Ramses The Great lived to be 90 or 91 years old and reigned for some 67 years. He’s known today for being a warrior, a diplomat, a builder, and for his progeny. Ramses II is known to have…
Alongside the pyramids, one of the highlights of our visit to Cairo was the Mosque of Mohamed Ali Pasha at the Citadel. The Mosque is a major tourist stop for a reason. It’s an exquisite early 19th century Ottoman mosque, and although still a mosque, it’s prominence and age has transformed it into sort of…
There are many pyramids across Egypt, and if I ever make it back, I hope to see more of them, but I did get to see THE pyramids. THE pyramids being the ones on the Giza plateau in greater Cairo. These are the pyramids that were on the original list of the 7 wonders of…
If I was pressed to pick a favorite place to visit, most people could tell you it was London – with all apologies to the rest of the world and some of the fabulous places I’ve visited. But a very close second would be Edinburgh. Despite the cold winters I’ve visited during, there is a…
Although it was my second trip to Scotland before I saw any of the Scottish Highlands, it was an absolute highlight of my that journey. The Scottish Highlands are full of history and rugged landscapes. Home of some of the largest national wilderness areas in Europe, the Scottish Highlands are sparsely populated since the Clearances…
The Isle of Skye was a true highlight from my Haggis tour of the Scottish Highlands. An incredible place of natural beauty, the island is the northernmost of the Inner Hebrides. Archaelogical digs on the island shows that it has a long history, dating back at least to Mesolithic times. The Gaelic name for Skye…
There are two beach destinations near Mérida, Mexico. The closest is Progreso, a typical destination for the locals and from everything I had heard before visiting a bit crowded and just not quite as pretty as the further destination, the fishing village of Celestún. Celestún is in the midst of a large bird sanctuary (Parque…
Okay, a little something special. I had to go get paperwork out of storage today and also wanted to pick up a print that I had wanted to give to a friend and I picked up another one while I was there. This will be a gift for my 100th facebook fan – assuming that…
Mérida is the capital city of the Mexican state of the Yucatan. The Spanish founded it in 1542 on the foundations of an older Maya City, T’ho. Because Mérida’s foundations were laid on an older city, it is said to be one of the oldest continually occupied sites in the Americas and its centro historico…
If you’re ever planning a trip into the Yucatan to see ruins, you should really try to get into the Puuc Hills. From Mérida, Uxmal and Kabah are an easy day trip, but these are just the tip of the iceberg of Puuc Hill ruins to see! One day I will go back to see…
It’s been a couple of years since I visited Chichen Itza. At the time, I spent a week in Mérida, the capital of the Yucatan taking day trips out to see the sights, including possibly the most well known of the Maya ruins. Many Americans visiting Cancun will take a tour to see these ruins…
I traveled to Williamsburg, Virginia, in 2006, the year before the 400th anniversary of Jamestown. I definitely do want to go back at some point. They were building a huge new museum at Jamestown that was to be opened in time for the anniversary. A lot of people forget that in our American history, the…
Despite being close to Americus a real photo walk there is still on the agenda, but I have a photo of Americus’ landmark hotel that I love. Americus was founded in 1832 and for decades was just a small town where the Sumter county courthouse was located. After the arrival of the railroad, the city…