*Equestrian Statue of Gyula Andrassy in Front of Hungarian Parliament Building. February 2022.*

Budapest, Magyarország (Hungary)

February 18, 2022

*Spotlights on the Parliament Building. February 2022.*

Spent the evening walking along the banks of the Danube River in Budapest two nights ago. I wanted to try out some handheld night photography with the new Tamron f/2.8 28-75mm G2 lens. The riverside monuments are beautifully lit at night, making for some really neat shots. Also had fun trying different adjustments in the RAW files. Let me know if you have any questions or comments, and which is your favorite!

*Moon above Szent István Bazilika. February 2022.*

*Buda Castle and Europa Boat. February 2022.*

Definitely one of my favorite cities. More to come from Buda and Pest!

*Hungarian Parliament Building, the Danube River, and Buda Castle. February 2022.*

*Half Moon Over Marseille Harbour. September 2021.*

Marseille, France

January 23, 2022

Having just finished the 53 hour long audiobook version of “The Count of Monte Cristo” and after watching Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown “Marseille” episode for at least the fifth time, I decided it was high time to visit myself. Marseille happened to fit perfectly in my plan for a two week Mediterranean vacation that included southern France, central Italy, and Croatia. After spending a few days lying on a beach in Nice and paying a visit to Monaco, we drove down the beautiful Côte d'Azur and checked in to the beautiful Hôtel La Residence Du Vieux Port, right on the harbour. The evening view of the harbour lights was incredible.

Driving into the city is an interesting experience in itself. This city is huge, especially when compared to some of the other coastal cities and towns I have visited. And as Bourdain says, it is definitely a little rough around the edges. If you walk a few blocks away from the harbour in any direction, you will most certainly notice. But that’s not a bad thing. In fact, I think that’s part of what makes Marseille unique.

La Samaritaine

Notre-Dame and the Moon

Virgin Mary atop Notre-Dame

View from la Bonne Mère

Marseille from Above

Looking Glass

le Boat

Old Harbour

*Église Saint-Ferréol les Augustins at Dusk. Marseille, September 2021.*

Marseille harbour is pretty typical for the French Riviera. Combination Hotels/Restaurants line the outside edges, each with their own outdoor spaces and overpriced drinks. But I’m a tourist after all, so this is exactly what I wanted after a long day of driving and exploring the coast.

*Fort Saint-Jean, Marseille. September 2021.*

A Day Spent Wandering.

The first landmark you notice is the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde, perched on the area’s largest hilltop. Climbing the hill didn’t seem like much fun at the time, so we chickened out and caught the bus that ran from the harbour all the way to the top. This was easily justified by saying “We will definitely walk back down.”

If you are going to Marseille and you’ve read about it anywhere else, I’m sure you already know that Notre-Dame is a must see. Not even so much for the basilica itself, but for the commanding view of the entire city. From here, you can see just how expansive (and beautiful) Marseille actually is. So I’ll add my recommendation on top of all the others that you probably have seen by this point: Be sure to go check out the city views from la Bonne Mère.

Palais du Pharo

Marseille Harbour Entrance

Fort Saint-Jean

Repost

Marseille Fish

Saint-Laurent

Tour du Fanal

Inside the Fort

Mucem

Taking in the view from the cathedral was great, because it gave me ideas for where to wander next. A very imposing fort guards the harbour entrance, so that seemed like the next logical choice. On the way there was a beautiful palace, and an amazing lunch at Le Chalet du Pharo, where you can sit and stare at the fort as boats go by. Also, you can take a little path down to the water and swim in the blue-green waters. One of the forts was closed, but Fort Saint-Jean was open to wandering (and free!) as was the Musée des civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée (also free!)

*Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde from Fort Saint-Jean. September 2021.*

Bridge to the Museum

Tower

Tour du Fanal BW

Crane Exhibit

Pink

Mini Me

Its a pretty natural progression of a walk to go from the fort to the museum to the major cathedral. And I recommend all of them! There was even a giant (and friendly!) orange bear! And everything was free, which is a huge bonus in my book. It does seem like the whole harbour area is undergoing a refurbishing, with several things closed and scaffolding on a few of the attractions. I can’t wait to go back and visit again in a few years and see what has changed.

Marseille is my favorite place in France so far. Uncharacteristically semi-nice people are occasionally less-than-reluctant to help you out if you need it, and I’m pretty sure one of the waiters almost smiled once. This is very different from my other French experiences. A quick fifteen minute drive to the airport and it’s time to pop across the water to The Eternal City. But before we go, here are a few recommendations:

Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde. - It’s a giant church on a hill. The views are amazing

Fort Saint-Jean - Wander around an old stone fort with interesting exhibits and harbour views.

Cathédrale La Major - An inspiring stripey cathedral.
Hôtel La Residence Du Vieux Port - A wonderful boutique hotel, right on the harbour.
Le Caribou Marseille - Great drinks, and super friendly staff. Awesome staff shirts, hope they start a merch store soon!
Les Mets des Saintes - Creole/African spin on French food. Delicious and cozy atmosphere.
Little Temple Bar - I didn’t see any resemblance to the actual infamous Irish pub, but drinks were dirt cheap and the location was great.

Questions/Comments? Ask away in the comment section below!

Utrecht, Nederland at Night

January 18, 2022

Went wandering around town on a cloudy night with my tripod in tow to try out some night shots with the new Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 G2 lens. It did not disappoint!

*Utrecht, Nederland. Tivoli Vredenburg and Hoog Catharijne at Night. January 2022.*

*Utrecht Centraal Train and Bus Station. January 2022.*

Stadhuis Utrecht, January 2022. — *Stadhuis and Domtoren. Utrecht, January 2022.*

There’s no denying that Utrecht is easily one of the most beautiful cities in the Netherlands. And the Sony A7C/Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 G2 is a very solid combination for night photography. Feel free to leave any questions or suggestions about which Dutch Destinations I should visit next in the comments below!

*Oudegracht in Black and White. January 2022.*

Lofoten, Norge

August 23, 2021

Lofoten is the Norwegian archipelago along the north-west coast of Norway. Here it is in mid-August:

*A Small Village in the Lofoten Archipelago. August 2021.*

The ferry ride from Bodø to Moskenesøya:

The village of Å:

*Hoárbma before Djupfjordbrua, Moskenes, Norway. August, 2021.*

Nøkkeløya on the Left. View from the Road out of Henningsvær. August, 2021.

*Early Morning View from the Hemmingodden Lodge, Ballstad, Vestvågøy, Norge. August, 2021.*

*Mosken and Værøy Islands, Lofoten Archipelago, Norway. August, 2021.*

Luleå, Sverige (Sweden)

August 13, 2021

My first time in Sweden outside of the Stockholm Arlanda Airport…

*Downtown Luleå from the Banks of the Lule River. August 2021.*

*A Yellow Sunset on the Lule River. August 2021.*

Walking Path Along the Lule, August 2021.

*Stone Fishing Pier on the River Lule. August 2021.*

Enjoy the long sunsets. More Sweden to come!

Vík, Ísland (Iceland)

July 31, 2021

I had an 18 hour layover in Iceland, so I took a 10 hour road trip along the southern coast.

Back in 2017 there was an ultra cheap Iceland-based airline called WOW Air. So cheap, in fact, that I scored a round-trip flight to Europe for around $250. And apparently so cheap that they are now out of business. But they got me to mainland Europe for the first time ever. RIP WOW Air.

*Volcanic Plains to the Southeast of the Keflavik Airport. June 2017.*

After a lengthy 10+ hour flight, I arrived in Keflavik with an eighteen hour layover ahead of me. I rented a car for $18 and set off to the southeast, heading for a black sand beach near Vík. I didn’t have much of a plan past that. Pro tip: Google Maps allows you to download maps to your phone just in case you don’t have signal where you are going. Somewhere like the middle of nowhere on a tiny island in the North Atlantic Sea.

Keflavik is bordered by large volcanic flatlands to the southeast. It is a volcanic island, after all. Note: Some volcanic rocks can be very very sharp. So try not to stumble and catch yourself on pointy boulders and bleed in your nice $18-a-day rental car.

Volcanic Flatlands

Cave!

Normal Rocks

SHARP ROCKS

Map?

Road Trip

*Seljalandsfoss, a Waterfall in Southern Iceland. June 2017.*

Seljalandsfoss is a beautiful waterfall that you can walk behind and is right off the southern Ring Road (Iceland has a single road - Route 1 - that goes all the way around the outside of the island in a giant ring. I’m not sure where the nickname comes from.) I dodged a bus full of tourists and donned my water-proof coat for what would be the only time in my whole two-and-a-half week trip. Man it was fun lugging that heavy coat around in Granada when it was 101 degrees outside. But that’s another story.

There are thousands of waterfalls across Iceland. I saw at least a few of them.

*Clouds Over Southern Iceland. June 2017.*

Alaskan Lupine

Drip

Barn?

Water Falls from a Cliff

Seljalandsfoss in Color

Skógafoss

*Reynisdrangar, the Black Beach Near Vik. June 2017.*

Made it to the black sand beach in Vík! Black pebble beach would be a better description. There was a cave! And geometric basalt columns! It was beautiful and cold. What may seem to be three large sea stacks out in the water are actually three trolls that were trying to drag a ship ashore and turned to stone at daybreak. So keep a wary eye on them.

A Natural Beach Arch

Geometric Basalt Columns

Beach Cave

Black "Sand"

Trolls

Rain in the Distance

*Black Sand Beach and Columnes Reynisfjara. June 2017.*

*Green Peaks in Southern Iceland, June 2017.*

When the Vikings discovered Iceland, they supposedly named it Iceland so nobody else would want to visit. Then they named Greenland. Vikings were the clear predecessors to internet trolls.

*Alaskan Lupine and a Snow-Capped Volcano. June 2017.*

Greenland?

Glacial Melt

Lavender and Grey

*A Small Village in Southern Iceland. June 2017.*

After all this driving I suddenly realized it was going on 1 am. This shocked me because the sun had barely even gone down. One of the reasons I was excited about visiting Iceland was the chance of seeing the auroras. Turns out you can’t really do that in the summer time and I am a big dummy.

I had a very, very late night (still light outside) beer and “dinner” in Reykjavik and wandered around the city. I saw groups of legitimate children running around and playing in the parks. They must want to enjoy the long days and short nights as much as possible during the summer. Either way it was strange and surreal.

In the end, I hope everyone gets a chance for an Icelandic layover on their way to/from the European mainland. WOW Air is no longer a thing, but I know you can easily add a 1/2/3 day layover in Iceland if you book with Icelandic Air. If you have any questions, comments, or likes feel free to leave them below. And give Iceland a shot! It is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen, and I barely scratched the surface. I did scratch my hand though.

Vernassa, Cinque Terre, Italia

July 25, 2021

Vernassa, one of the five fishing villages of Cinque Terre in Liguria, Italy.

*Tower of Monterosso, Vernassa’s Neighboring Village. June 2020.*

*Sunset Backlighting The Skellig Islands. Kerry Cliffs, Co. Kerry, Ireland. September 2020.*

Contae Chiarraí, Éire (Ireland)

March 24, 2021

Lockdown in Ireland was strict. Wet Bars have been closed since March, and I’m just arriving in early September. There is a mandatory two week quarantine in place. So I pick up my rental car in Cork and drive directly east to a cabin on the outskirts of a small town to make camp. The truth is, you couldn’t pick a better place to quarantine. Co. Kerry is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.

*Tip of the Ring of Kerry. Kerry Cliffs, Ireland. September 2020.*

I made my home in Cahersiveen, a small town that is about as far southwest as you can possibly go in Ireland, and set up in a faux-wood-paneled cabin on the outskirts of town. Something I learned very quickly about this remote area of the island: It gets dark. Very, vey dark. In fact, the Kerry Dark Sky preserve has a gold rating from the Dark Sky Initiative. Throw in the constant rolling fog banks and you get an intense feeling of isolation walking around after dusk. Those first few nights sitting alone by the fire on a 70’s-earth-toned couch just inches from the utter blackness outside brought back every single witch/werewolf/ghost story I had ever heard. After a few nights it really grew on me though. Everywhere I walked I could smell burning peat logs, a scent that will undoubtedly remind me of the experience from that point forward.

*Cnoc na dTobar (Knocknadobar in English if that’s any easier for you). Cahersiveen. September 2020.*

And that is the view from the yard in front of my quarantine cabin. Not too shabby.

Framing

Knocknadobar

Cuas Crom Beach

*Heavy Clouds over Portmagee Channel. September 2020.*

Since I have a bike at my disposal, I decided to go on several exploratory missions. The first roughly followed a route I found on the local bike rental shop’s website. It was pre built in Google Maps so all I had to do was download and hit the road. But the most breathtaking site I visited were the Kerry Cliffs. At sunset. I opened this post with a picture I took that evening, so I guess I’ll close with a few more.

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Inlet

Danger