In 1929, the World's Fair was held in Seville, Spain. The fair was held in Maria Louisa Park and the majority of the exhibits were built to be permanent, functioning buildings after the event was over. For example, this is Plaza de Espana which showed the Spanish exhibit and is now government offices. This was the largest exhibit during the fair. In the middle of the plaza is a large fountain (to the left, out of frame). You might be able to see that there are bridges going over a canal in front of the building. One of my favorite parts is those bridges. Spain is known for their ceramic work. The handrail and spindles are hand painted ceramic pieces. While some bridges need repair today, this one was in perfect shape forming another one of my favorite Spanish photos. posted by she likes to travel at 4/09/2012 10:36:00 am no comments: labels: garden, seville, spain
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Once I was invited to a wedding in Bangor, Northern Ireland. I had met and worked with a group of people from Belfast and Bangor was just a short distance away.
While on the way we passed Belfast Harbor where Harland and Wolff built the Titanic and the sister ships. One hundred years ago today, the Titanic was pushed out to sea to prove her sea worthiness. Twelve hours later, the paperwork was signed and Titanic took off for South Hampton awaiting the arrival of her first passengers. The rest is history. My friends and I carried on the remaining 10 miles or so to Bangor, a resort town that is easily within commuting distance to Belfast. We stayed at a beautiful hotel on this square in town. Immediately to the right of this picture is the Bangor Marina which lead out to Bangor Bay and ultimately Irish Sea. We spent a beautiful weekend enjoying the wedding festivities and exploring the area. Recently I celebrated a big birthday. To celebrate I wanted to do something grand. I hadn't been to South America yet, and I started looking at options. I didn't want to be on a 15 day tour, where I was with the same people every day and a schedule planned months in advance. Instead I found an awesome travel group who allowed me to pick and choose a number of options (and fill the rest of my time with my own adventures).
I knew Chile was my destination but was hesitant about adding on a trip to Easter Island (or Rapa Nui) onto this trip. It was expensive, and took two days of travel to get there and back. But wow! Was it worth it! This is a photo of one of the resurrected sites on the island. Thanks to Japan for donating the money and a crane to assist in the effort. What I love about this picture is the view of the people wandering just to the right of the status. I think this photo gives an idea of the scale of these moai. The history of the island is amazing. While sometimes you look back at a trip and think it was special, I knew this one was magical from the very start. So today is St. Patrick's Day and immediately I knew I wanted to write about the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. I visited this site long before digital cameras were available, so these are scanned photos of my trip. Legend states that a giant in Northern Ireland was building this "bridge" to fight with the giant in Scotland. Another story (which I can't seem to find confirmed anywhere) is that the giant was building this bridge to meet his love on the other side. And heck, I'm a romantic at heart so I prefer the second story. The reasons for the incomplete bridge generally includes falling asleep for some reason. In actuality, this was lava rock that quickly cooled and shattered once the hot lava reached to cool salt water. This explains the similar rock formations on the Scotland side as well. What is unusual is the rock columns are generally broken into perfect hexagons; although there are some columns with 5, 7 and even 8 sides visible. Another reason to visit? This site is just a few miles away from Bushmills where you can go on a tour of the Bushmills Whiskey factory and even have a little tasting at the end. labels: bushmills, giant's causeway, northern ireland location: giant's causeway, antrim, northern ireland, bushmills, moyle bt57 8su, uk |
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December 2012
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