Yesterday I described the whale watching trip and Isla de la Plata. Our favorite activity in Puerto López though is to photograph the fishermen as they come in with their daily catch. Peak activity is between 8AM and 11AM…. As you approach the stretch of beach near the wharf where the fishermen come in, there […]
Puerto López 1 – Whale Watching
Last week we rented a car from CuencaCarShare and drove to Puerto López, a small fishing village on the coast of Ecuador, with two friends. We stayed at Hostería Mandala, just as we did on our first trip to this area in 2012. They have added some new deluxe suites, which we stayed in. The […]
Waterfall Moving From Still Image
You may have noticed that a couple recent blogs have had moving images in them (symphony and magic as examples). These are animated GIF images that I have been experimenting with. Both those were made starting with videos that I shot during the event. With some masking magic, I am able to obtain a moving […]
Amsterdam Redux
The flight from Istanbul, Turkey to Guayaquil, Ecuador is a lot longer than we prefer to stay on an airplane. We therefore decided to break up the long flight home with a night in Amsterdam on the way back. We weren’t expecting very much, other than a chance to stretch our legs and grab some […]
Turkey 24 – Life in Istanbul
Now that our latest vacation is complete, this is a summary of what it feels like to live in Istanbul, even if only for a couple of months. First, mosques are everywhere and a part of daily life, even for those who are not practicing Muslims. There are 2,995 active mosques here, and every one […]
Turkey 23 – Safety and Security
[NOTE: This post was written before the bombing at the Istanbul airport. The contents here still applies though. Such mass attacks have occurred in Belgium, Paris, London, and… Orlando. The world seems to be rapidly going crazy. Anytime you choose to leave your home, you at risk of an attack… or simply being hit by […]
Turkey 22 – Market – Tarihi Sali Pazari
We read about a large market on the Asian side (where we are staying), and decided to go there. We got the address and directions from a web site on local Istanbul markets, and off we went. First we walk to the metro, take that to the end of the line, then find bus 8A, […]
Turkey 21 – Ortaköy
The “Blue Hour” at Ortaköy Camii We traveled by ferry to Beşiktas, today, then took a long walk to Ortaköy Mosque, which is located right at the foot of the Bosphorous Bridge, specifically to photograph the “camii” (in Turkish) as the sun set. When we arrived at Beşiktaş, we tried to find the bus to take […]
Turkey 20 – Dolmabahçe Palace and Eyüp
Yesterday, we started at a crafts market in Üsküdar, then took the ferry across the Bosphorous to tour the Dolmabahçe Palace, which was built in 1853. It is easy to look at all these palaces, and wonder why “each new sultan had to build his own“. In this case, though, it was replacing Topkapi Palace, […]
Turkey 19 – Sea Life Aquarium
We are now in our final week in Istanbul, and are starting to explore places that have been on our “would like to see if we had time” list. Today, that brought us to the Sea Life Aquarium. Because our first two businesses back in the early 1970’s related to tropical fish (a long story […]
