Monday, December 31, 2012

Dubrovnik, Croatia















 Dubrovnik, Croatia

Dubrovnik was a port of call on our first Mediterranean cruise in June, 2011. At that time we chose a shore excursion that took us to this beautiful city for only 45 minutes of exploration on our own. Afterwards, we went into the countryside to visit a Croatian home and enjoy some local food and drink. At that time it was the best tour of our whole cruise, but I was always sorry that I didn't have more time to photograph the Old Town of Dubrovnik.
 
This time, we didn't book a tour and decided to explore the city on our own and I am glad we did. We had time to explore the narrow, sometimes quite steep, streets and see things we didn't have time to explore before.
I photographed the front of this statue before (Click http://kbrucelane.blogspot.ca/search?q=dubrovnik and scroll down a bit) and thought I would photograph the back as well. It is a beautiful sculpture, but I think they should clean it off, especially in a few places!

I really liked the vase and flowers and it's setting and when I saw the photo I liked the contrast between the colours of the flowers and the background.

If you remember when I started sharing photos of our trip to Europe that I said I photographed many small cafés on narrow roads. Well, one photo shows people eating and drinking while sitting on the steps, which is really the street in one part of Dubrovnik. Today, I have uploaded several images of the narrow "streets" that are steps that go up to the top level of the city. I bet delivery persons in this city are in great shape!!


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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Croatian Sunrise












 Croatian Sunrise

One thing I like about cruises is that when you wake up in the morning, you are usually in a different place. We left Venice and headed for Dubrovnik, Croatia and, as always, I got up early to make photos of the sunrise.. On a few occasions, we were docked before the sun rose, but most mornings were we still at sea, which certainly gave an unobstructed view of the sun as it rose over the horizon.

I liked the clouds and colours of the sky and photographed this one until the sun got too bright to look at. Look closely and you can see the range I have using two lenses: a 17-40 mm and a 70-300 mm.


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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Venice 6

















 Venice 6

This is the last of the Venice Series for now.  Today's photos were taken as the Grandeur of the Seas left Venice for Croatia, Greece and Turkey.  It was our second Mediterranean cruise in a row and we were excited to be on our way.

In June, 2011 we sailed into Venice on the Brilliance of the Seas and I took many photos which I shared at the time.  When we left port last time it was almost dark so I didn't get many photos so I found a good spot on Deck 11 of the Grandeur and shot nearly 200 images as we sailed out to sea.

I tried to capture images of the canals and bridges, a few buildings, San Marcos Square and LOTS of boats.  You can get an idea of the number of people in the square from the photos.



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Friday, December 28, 2012

Venice 5

















 Venice 5

Today I am sharing photos of clotheslines, windows and doors, and a few of the Grand Canal, Tomorrow I plan to finish the Venice Series.

I've mentioned previously that people in Europe hang clothes on balconies, across streets, and even out through their windows. Of course, since I photograph clotheslines a lot, I enjoyed seeing them. I have heard than many communities in North America have banned clotheslines, but I can't understand why - using clotheslines is an environmentally-friendly way of drying clothes.

I photograph windows and doors everywhere I go and Venice was no exception. I've uploaded a few this morning.

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Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas My hydrangea plant is done blooming for this year, but I have started a new album in which I will continue sharing photos from 20...