Tag Archives: Sea
The quest for the best road.
There are countless articles singing the virtues of this or that stretch of road, claiming it to be “the best in the UK/Europe/world” (delete as applicable). So what’s the point in writing another one? What’s the use of increasing the … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Iceland
Tagged Ólafsvík, Borgarnes, Creedence, DJ Krush, El Búho, Eldborg, Europe, Fortress of Fire, Grundarfjörður, Iceland, Icelandic horse, Kirkjufell, Music, Road, Road Trip, Route 54, Route 56, Route 574, Saxhóll, Sea, Snæfellsnes, Snow, Stykkishólmur, Suzuki Vitara, Tourism, Travel, Video, Vitara, Volcano, Winter, Xica Xica, Ytri-Tunga
26 Comments
The worst-named animal in the world.
As far as names are concerned, few animals have had it as bad as the Orca. Popularly known as “killer whale” – a connotative appellative if ever there was one – they don’t fare much better from a scientific point … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Iceland
Tagged Ólafsvík, Blackfish, Calf, environment, Europe, Fishing, Fjord, Herring, Iceland, Killer whale, Láki, Láki tours, Mammals, Marine Mammals, Matriarchy, Mountains, North Sea, Orca watching, Orcas, Orcinus orca, Photography, Sea, seagull, Snæfellsnes, Snow, Tourism, Travel, Trawler, Westfjord, Whale, Whale watching
26 Comments
Snæfellsnes wide-angle.
The 9-18mm lenses I’ve just bought are, in the words of the photographer who won the chance of endorsing them, “perfect for panoramas”. In a rare astronomical conjunction where marketing met reality and they both shook hands with user requirements … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Iceland
Tagged 9-18mm, Ari Þorgilsson, Íslendigabók, Ólafsvík, Búðir, Beach, Columbus, Cristopher Columbus, Europe, Grundarfjörður, Guðriður, Guðriður Þorbjarnardóttir, Hellissandur, Iceland, Ingjaldshóll, Island, Kirkjufell, Laugarsbrekka, Lýsudalur, Mountain, nature, Neil Young, Olympus, Panorama, Photography, Sea, Sky, Snæfellsnes, Snow, Víðförla, Wide angle
24 Comments
Vapur abstraction.
There’s a concept I sometimes hear from my software engineer chums: abstraction, or the process of removing all sorts of attributes – be them physical, spatial, temporal – to get to the root of something (usually a system, since we’re … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Turkey
Tagged Asia, Atatürk, çay, Balat, Bosporus, Conscript, Crow, Eminönü, Europe, Eyup, Fener, Ferry, Golden Horn, Istanbul, Karaköy, People, People watching, Platoon, Sea, seagull, Sehir Hatlari, Soldiers, St Mary of the Mongols, tespih, Turkey, Turyol, Vapur, Water, Yusufpaşa
13 Comments
Beirut people watching.
Humanity is the best spectacle, in this city where gated communities rub shoulders with bombed-out, charred shells. Pneumatically-enhanced bimbos and babes driving Dodge Camaros on one end of the spectrum and ragged Syrian children tapping on their rolled-up windows for … Continue reading
Posted in Lebanon, Middle East
Tagged Art, Beirut, Corniche, Hamra, History, Mediterranean, Middle East, People, People watching, Phoenicia, Phoenicians, Sea, Street, Syria
12 Comments
Disaster by design: the death and partial rebirth of the Aral Sea (Part 3).
I’d expected the whistling undertaker from For a Fistful of Dollars to be appearing at every corner I turned. I was to experience this feeling again, in Central Asia, but Aralsk looked – even smelt, if that was ever possible – … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia
Tagged Aral, Aralsk, Aralsk Harbour, Central Asia, Harbour, Hotel, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Port, Sea, Station, Train travel, Travel
15 Comments
Leaving it all behind: a journey to Jaffa and the coast.
Jerusalem on a Shabbat is as close as the initial sequences of 28 days later as it can get. Empty streets, only a few hours before riddled with busy pedestrians and erratic motorist, stretched in every direction. No buses, no … Continue reading
On the Praia: life on Rio’s beaches.
The kilometres-long arc of sand glitters under the rays of the late afternoon sun. The green-blue sea breaks in white sprays of surf, ridden times and times again by kids using themselves as surfboards. Men and women flock in … Continue reading
Posted in Americas, Brazil
Tagged Atlantic, Beach, Brazil, Copacabana, Ipanema, Latin America, Praia, Praia do Urca, Praia Vermelha, Rio de Janeiro, Sea
6 Comments
Going up: Rio de Janeiro from above
One of my petty obsessions is to flicker through the pages of glossy magazines, or of travel websites, scouting for those articles whose titles are inevitably starting with “Ten things to do in…” or “Nine amazing places in…”, read them and … Continue reading
Posted in Americas, Brazil, The world from above
Tagged Botafogo, Brazil, Cable car, Christ Redeemer, City views, Copacabana, Corcovado, Cristo Redentor, Flamengo, Forest, Gondola, Ipanema, Leblon, Morro da Urca, Pao de Azucar, Praia Vermelha, Rio de Janeiro, Sea, Sugar Loaf, The world from above, Urca, Zona Norte
4 Comments
Northerly dispatches: getting to know Bergen.
I love Norway. Of all the Scandinavian countries, Norway is by far and large my favourite. As a history junkie and as a lover of underdogs, I simply adored how it was the Norse who came down from the fjords, … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Norway, Reflections
Tagged Bergen, City escapades, Exploration, Hordaland, Impressions of a city, Northerly Dispatches, Norway, Scandinavia, Sea
1 Comment
