Terry Travels B&W Photos #8

#TerryTravelsBWPhotos8

Czechia
Over 100 historical monasteries here, with Brevnov that still has the oldest continuous tradition of
brewing beer within this country
Burp 😅

Ayegui Spain
On my way to Bodegas Irache where there is a public wine fountain where we can fill up our cups with free red vino 
There is a daily limit of 100 liters (26 gallons) which then the tap runs dry, but to flow again
 the next morning

After i raise a toast; To Our Health" (A Nuestra Salud)

Whitsunday Beach Australia
The sand here is 98% pure silica making it a blindly white plus soft surface and was historically
 used to polish jewelry
The area is made up of seventy four tropical islands with only eight that are inhabited, allowing me to wander around with my camera

Bucharest Romania
Finding the "relative" of the kerosene lamps that allowed this city to be the first in the world
 to be fully illuminated

Cordoba Spain
Exploring the famous patios here, where private homeowners open up their residences to showoff their flower filled and ceramic decorated interior courtyards

Besides Beauty a Function
With the combination of the shade, stone, trickling water and the continuous plant evaporation, this all creates a natural cooling effect
It drops the temperature inside the courtyards, working as a microclimate compared to the hot weather on the outside streets

Lisbon Portugal
This monument honors the Portuguese co-pilots Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral who completed the historic first flight across the South Atlantic in 1922
It took 79 days to complete and Coutinho pioneered the use of a modified sextant fitted with a spirit level for the aerial navigation, as it was a vast featureless part of the ocean without landmarks
Which explains why no one else dared to fly this
part of the Atlantic
 

Trafalgar Square Lions
The statues were cast in bronze using melted down cannons captured from the defeated French and Spanish ships from the battles fought here in 1805
So when you visit, you are looking at pieces of military history

New Zealand
Yes the sheep get priority here even on the motorways jajajja
With around 25 million wooly friends to the 5 million citizens, there are a 5 to 1 ratio so the
odds are against you

The Great Escape
In 2004 a Merino sheep (does not shed) named Shrek escaped into the wild and hid in the
 caves for six years
When he was finally caught and given a long overdue haircut it was 27kg (60 lbs) of wool which
was enough to make twenty high quality suits for men
All of this made Shrek an International celebrity, so with that in mind i do not mind waiting as maybe
 i get to witness the next "breakout" star 😀

Bohemian Forest
Here on the German Border there are entire villages that completely vanished from the maps, but as you can see not from my camera
Over 34,000 abandoned buildings including centuries old schools, churches and inns were demolished (1959) to prevent potential escapees from using them as hiding spots near
the communist side of the border (Berlin Wall was built in 1961)

Caribbean 
One of 7,000 individual islands, islets and reefs we have pulled into
Did you know that Cuba is so massive that it is larger than all the other Caribbean
islands combined
I really enjoyed my time there, here is hoping they get through this latest setup
and reopen for us tourists

California Pacific Coast Highway
The State Route 1 is around 1065kms (660 miles) which makes it the second longest
 in the United States

Built by Convict Labor
The stretch of pavement around Big Sur took eighteen years to complete (1919-1937) because of its rock cliffs. The State used the local prison inmates as workers, which for their efforts earned
a reduced sentence and a small daily wage 
Because of  high casualty rate it marked the last time California used inmates to build any
major highway system within its borders

Slovakia
Learning that the local priests can be married and have families, providing that the wedding takes
place before they are officially ordained

Canadian Winters
During this season we are the largest area of the "white blanket" covered land on Earth 
The hardest hit city is St Johns Newfoundland (East Coast) which gets buried on average of
 over 335cms (11 feet) of snow each year

Algeria
Heading to some of the Roman and Islamic ruins that are remarkably intact, mostly due to being buried by desert sands or built into some remote mountain locations

North Africa
Walking the "double wall system" that was built thousands of years ago
 It was not filled up with water as a moat defense,
 but rather it served as a highly controlled security zone to trap intruders

Terry Travels B&W Photos #7

#TerryTravelsBWPhotos7

Athens
Yes the modern Olympics were held here in 2004, but the ancient games (which took place every four years 776BC - 393AD) were 300kms or 200 miles away in Olympia and not in this city

Food Clock
Also if you eat diner before 10.00pm the local Athenians will know your a tourist, as they rarely
 have their meal before this time

 

Hungary
The ornate wrought iron fences were torn down and melted to create munitions during
 both World Wars
So if you find one in Eastern Europe, it is a true anomaly that the local citizens fought hard to hide, salvage or preserve for its historical significance

Midwest America
Had a chance to be a passenger in a vintage Crop Duster from a private collection
They were retired due to its high maintenance costs, stricter safety requirements
 and their low chemical capacity for its original purpose

Bahamas
Fort Exploring as i took this photo, which reminded me of the Transformers Movie
 or maybe something else more nefarious going on 😱

South Pacific
Heading to Fiji and the island of Taveuni
Its were the International Date Line is located (180th meridian) so you can stand with one foot
in "today" and your other "yesterday"

Brno Czech Republic
Using reflection for a cityscape shot, as i make my way to their
vast network of medieval tunnels

Italy
Before Uber Eats, this "kids" was the delivery vehicle back
 in the day 😃

North Island New Zealand
Heading to Ninety Mile Beach on the northern tip of this country, which i find out is "only"
55 miles long (88 kms)
In the business world, this is what we would call an overestimation bias jajajjajaja

Cook Islands
The outrigger boats here are called vaka-katea
Traditionally they were made entirely from organic materials, from the hulls that were carved from massive trees, the sails that were woven from the pandanus leaves and then all the pieces were sewn together with coir ropes
This came from the coconut husks and were used because of its resistance
 to the saltwater

Greece
In around 400BC wealthy homeowners had clay oil lamps on poles outside their
villas to deter thieves
So since there was not an electrical grid at this time, the enslaved servants did the job of manually lighting, watching and finally extinguishing the artificial illumination every night
Thankfully here on the Island of Crete, things are in the modern way
us humans are used to

New Zealand
It seems like i am heading to "the edge" but actually tramming the Routeburn Track
on the South Island

Moon Landscape
The 2000 acres around Peggys Cove has been protected since 1962 when it came under
the Commission Act
So this area will remain a timeless region for all of us to enjoy here in Eastern Canada

Novogorod
These one room churches were built within a 24 hour period with the belief that the evil forces and disease spirits could not penetrate the sacred structure
The constructing in the short period of time was in the thought of an absolute ritual purity to fight off things like the Black Plague, Smallpox and Sweating Sickness
during these times

Siberia
The area spans 13.1 million square kilometers (5 million sq miles) making up around 9% of the
Earths total land mass
I am making my way to Yakutsk, which is the coldest major city on our planet with temps regularly dropping below -50C (-58F) 
 Because of this, all the homes are built on wooden stilts as the
ground is permanently frozen 

New Orleans 
The famous courtyards were a byproduct of disasters;
It was because of two massive fires that destroyed much of the city in the 18th century, which then brought on new building codes
Owners were required to have a continuous street front and narrower lot lines, the end result was more open areas in the back which gave birth to these iconic terraces

Terry Travels B&W Photos #6

                                                   

#TerryTravelsBWPhotos6

Barcelona
Heading to the area where the 1888 Universal Exposition was held
I am here to say the "rumor" of Gustave Eiffel (who proposed his iconic structure) was rejected by the city because it was too expensive and an eyesore, is just not true
Other engineers did put forward some proposals for a massive style iron observation towers,
but Barcelona kindly said no

Final Selection
It chose to build the classical brick Arc de Triomf for the grand gateway to the exposition
 With one year later, Eiffel was successful with his 300 meter (984 feet) design for his metropolis of Paris and its 1889 Worlds Fair 

Kotor Montenegro
I am learning in the culture here, Zmaj is the "good dragon" that is  highly intelligent, has a deep
spiritual wisdom, is skilled in magic
and uses his powers to protect human crops, farmlands
 plus villages from the bad weather 

Peggys Cove Canada
Part of the granite landscape that was formed millions of years ago from the tectonic
movement and glacial activity in this area

Madrid Spain
The Victory Arch, because of its ties to the dictatorship who built it (Francisco Franco)
it has many locals and politicians calling the structure Puerta de Moncioa,
 to strip away any military association

Reykjavik Iceland
Because of its isolation, the Old Norse language has changed very little here
 since the Viking Age, so is still practiced and used

Ronda Spain
The region is known for its rugged beauty, so much that American author Ernest Hemingway
(who loved the area) used his feelings for the inspiration in writing 
 For Whom the Bell Tolls 

Pitigliano Italy
Counting the scraped cars and folded-in mirrors as i walk the streets, apparently the locals tell
me its very "normal" to see
Its because of the narrow street grid that was designed thousands of years ago
 With that in mind; there is a Sunday ban on heavy trucks and freight carriers on major highways for this day to ease congestion, plus make long distance trips safer

Aoraki / Mount Cook
Heading towards my next adventure to take on the "cloud piercer"
Did you know that Sir Edmund Hillary (first person to summit Mount Everest in 1953) honed his
alpine skills by climbing this mountain first
While i am not in this class of climber, i hope to learn some things from my experience here

Crows Nest
While i help out here; you learn quickly because it sits far above the ships center, it means any small rocking movement of the hull is amplified into a huge sway 
This can cause severe seasickness even for seasoned sailors, which i am not 😄

Punishment
A Captain would sometimes send misbehaving crew members up to the crows nest as a form
of a disciplinary "incarceration"

Rabat Morocco
These courtyards are built by design as an open-air area with plants and water fountains,
 which then creates a cooler microclimate

Halifax Canada
My city and the wrought iron fence around the our Government House
Its the oldest consecutively occupied official residence
 in the country

Portugal
After the massive earthquake in 1756 Lisbon rebuilt using a smart architecture strategy
The buildings featured internal wooden "x" shaped crossbeams that would act like shock absorbers, making the area an early quake resistant metropolis 

Naples
Because its the birthplace of the Margherita Pizza, well i need to have one
It was created in 1889 and named after the Queen with the toppings of tomatoes (red)
mozzarella (white) and basil (green) that where chosen to mimic
 the colors of the Italian flag 

Iceland Road-Trip
You will notice quickly there is no trees outside your vehicle windows
The original Viking settlers chopped down most of the native timberlands, with today less than 2% of the country that is forested
The local joke goes; if you get lost in an Icelandic woodland, just stand up 😅

Eastern Europe
Counting the crosses, as i am told its to signify that the building is a House of God and a
gateway connecting heaven to earth

Venice

#VeniceFloatingCity
The entire area rests on wooden logs that were driven into the mud and did not rot out because of the lack of oxygen in those depths

The History
Refugees escaping the barbarian invasions began settling on these marshy islands around 421AD
They hammered millions of sharpened alder, oak and pine timber deep into the soft bottom until it hit a dense compressed layer of clay
The posts slowly mineralized and hardened into a stone like structure
 over the centuries

 

No Cars Allowed
Venice has no roads so i took advantage of the water taxis and if your looking for a civic address the city does not work this way
So use the professionals if trying to locate a building, as the area is numbered by districts so
 generally you go by landmarks and not a digit

Ban on Any Wheels
Because of the narrow and crowded streets even pushing a bicycle is not allowed, skateboards
plus rollerblades are also a no no

St Marks Square
It sits just above sea level, so during some high tides its always the first
 neighborhood to flood

Old History
Before it was paved into its elegant stone we see today, in the 9th century it was just a marshy
 vegetable patch
Speaking of food; to preserve the historic integrity of the area the city enforces strict rules about consuming your own food and beverages here
It could cost you hundreds of Euros in fines, so there is your KeyTip for saving money today

Black Gondolas
In the 1500s it was a law enacted to stop the wealthy citizens from showing off with their flashy colored decorations and also to reduce
the class rivalry between the private and public boats

Smart Asymmetrical Design
They are purposely built lopsided (left side is about 25 cms or 10 inches wider than the right) as this unequal shape counteracts the push of the single oar, which then allows the gondolier to glide into a straight line without switching sides

Woodwork
It takes more then 280 individual pieces of oak, cherry, walnut, larch and mahogany
 to build a single vessel
Then it is all crafted by hand and takes hundreds of hours to complete

School
There are only 400 active gondola licenses that requires hundreds of hours of training in history,
foreign languages and rowing

The Aquatic Roads
There are speed limits for the boat traffic here at 5 knots, with the exception being the
emergency vessels

A) Polizia; they take a nautical training course over three months and also are required to memorize the
layout of the city. 
Also needed is to study how the fluctuating low and high tides effect the bridge clearances plus the
canals accessibility during reduced water levels

B) Firemen; they have specialized watercrafts packed with retractable ladders, breathing
apparatuses, heavy-duty hoses and centrifugal pumps
While they could pump the water directly from the canals in extreme emergencies, they have a hydrant network built throughout the city
As the saltwater from the channels is highly corrosive and would damage the historic architecture here, so they avoid that option 
 
C) Deliveries; packages arrive near a local transit hub near the lagoon, then they are loaded onto boats that navigate the canals and the final part of this journey is by foot
That person is wheeling his/her handcarts over the pedestrian bridges and through the
narrow streets

Over Tourism
I have been here three times and have seen the effects of this and it has reached
a critical tipping point
Roughly 30 million visitors overwhelm this fragile city that has less than 50,000
full-time residents

Access Fee
Venice became the first city in the world to charge an entry for for the day, its 5 Euro for booking ahead and 10 for last minute
Personally i think its great as the impact on the infrastructure and environment does not have a price
 as we need to protect both from decay
Add in the economic fall out; as the independent shops, bakeries and other services are being replaced by souvenir stalls plus fast food eateries all to cater to the daytrippers
This in the end result, leaves the citizens here with fewer neighborhood resources

Population Collapse
With skyrocketing property values driven up by the short term holiday rentals, some locals are forced to move to the mainland
In 1971 the historic center numbers were at 109,000 and recently has dipped below 48,000

400 Bridges
It helps connect the area and its 118 small islands, but there are only four that cross the
famous Grand Canal
With the Rialto as the only pedestrian span that was in use for three centuries,
 before the others were built

Marco Polo
He was born here to a wealthy merchant family, then at age 17 spent much of his life
 traveling (24 years) abroad
After he was captured by the arch rivals of the time The Genoa Republic,
it was then once imprisoned he wrote "The Travels"

KeyTip
You can actually tour past his old home but your not allowed to go inside

Ancient Empire
It was an independent maritime superpower that lasted for over 1000 years (697-1797)

Cool Culture
A) Clao; the global greeting came form the Venetian phrase "s ciavo" meaning
at your service
B) Mask Rules; during the 17th century wearing a Carnival mask was only allowed to specific holidays, as people used them to hide their identities from the local government
or to commit crimes

My Mask While Here
Something to be said that in those times, it allowed rich and poor (who all wore the same face covering) to mingle without judgment or consequence 

Quarantine
The word started here in the 1300s, as ships had to wait 40 days offshore (quarantena) before
being allowed to dock with people or cargo
It was a preventative measure for the ongoing Black Death pandemic during these scary times,
  as an estimated 25 to 50 million people died in Europe from this disease
 So with good reason to be cautious and prudent