NOTE: Starting with the Thailand trip just completed, I have begun limiting each “photo story block” to only seven images. A few years ago, I was using eleven, but received feedback that the images were too small. I have since been using nine-photo blocks. Some people have commented that they read this block on small […]
Portugal 9 – Lisbon
Our three month adventure in Europe and Central Asia is now over. This is our 37th and final blog entry covering this trip that has taken us to Italy, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, and finishing with a month in Portugal. On our last day in Lisbon, we decided to check out their zoo. We […]
Photo Tour Travelers
Wow… Five countries (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Armenia) in six weeks. Mehmet Özbalci organized this tour through his company Fantastic Photo Tours, based in Istanbul, Turkey. We used him in 2016 for a tour of Turkey, and liked his approach so much that we decided to use him again for these countries. I thought we would […]
Kazakhstan 1 – Almaty
We have now left Kyrgyzstan and entered into Kazakhstan. Within the group, we refer to the three countries we have visited as “the Stans,” because the separate names are so long and tongue twisting to say. We stopped at a photogenic church by a small lake for a reflection shot. The weather cooperated, with almost no wind, resulting […]
Kyrgyzstan 3 – Eagle Hunters and Headless Goats
Our last evening in Kyrgyzstan was spent watching two local traditions that are unique to this part of the world. First up was a form of falconry with three nomad eagle hunters. Though often associated with Mongolia, this form of hunting with the golden eagle on horseback actually originated here. In addition to posing for the camera, as seen […]
Kyrgyzstan 2 – Issyk Kul
Our final days in Kyrgyzstan were long ones spent in Issyk Kul. In the early morning, we visited a chaotic animal market that is open only on Sundays. It was very similar to those we have visited in Ecuador, though sheep were the predominant animal, and there were no pigs at all (being an Islamic country, pork […]
Kyrgyzstan 1 – Bishkek
We are now in Kyrgyzstan, after completing our tour of Uzbekistan. There have been several cemeteries along the road, but one we stopped at today was particularly special. Looking at it from the top of a hill, it appears to be a small city (center above). It is standard for grave sites to have photographs of […]
Uzbekistan 4 – Khiva
We finished our tour of Uzbekistan by visiting Khiva, a small city of 50,000 people. On our first day, Mehmet (our travel guide) arranged for a private performance of traditional music. Though these trips usually produce some very nice photography, it is sometimes a bit of a scramble as everyone wants the same basic photograph (center […]