Weissensee

What an unusual lump on top of this peak

The River Erft flows through this beautiful old spa town.

At the head of the Stubai valley beyond Neustift, the mountains rise to around 10,000 feet to areas of permanent ice. Five glaciers covering nearly 6 square miles form a large all year ski area.

WINNER : Travel/Europe Holiday/Austria Sept 2008/Pinzgau & Gerlos Pass gallery

Polperro harbour is unusual as it is privately owned by the Council Tax payers of the village. In 1894, an Act of Parliament sanctioned by Queen Victoria formed the Trustees of Polperro Harbour. They were the 15 eminent men of the village who bought the harbour rights. This Trust has continued down the years to the current residents

On the cliffs

Looking towards Kitzbuhel

Also the site of the horse market in medieval times, before the River Leuk was diverted through here to the mill basin, to provide enough water to extinguish fires in the town. The colourful shops, hotels and restaurants are all middle age buildings

Ghent

WINNER ; PAD MAR 09 GALLERY



A young couple snoozing head to head in the sun on the esplanade wall

WNNER : TRAVEL/GERMANY/MITTENWALD 2017 GALLERY

Lake Minnewanka

View at Schrocken

High above north-east Funchal.

From Burrard Bridge

The start of a morning's orientation drive around the city.

Dorfgastein

Berwang

A rather lovely surreal effect....in Old Town, Funchal.

WINNER: IN DAMME VILLAGE/CANAL TRIP & DAMME GALLERIES/BRUGES JUNE 2008/TRAVEL GALLERY

A fine building, which reflects Damme's past important status. Built between 1464-8 and paid for from taxes received on the wine and herring that passed through the port

Arriving for a mountain breakfast

Budapest. A trio of pleasure boats moored at the end of the business day.

In the background is Buda Castle and its surroundings. The oldest part of the castle, which has been reconstructed several times over the centuries, dates from the 14th century. The Royal Court moved here during the 15th century when Buda became one of Europe’s most famous cities. The Turks invaded the Castle in 1541 and ruled it until 1686 when the Austrian Habsburgs took it back after a siege which left castle and area in ruins. It was all soon rebuilt following the old street layout. The castle's current Baroque appearance was complete by the mid 18th century. However WWII battles severely damaged the place again, but it has since been reconstructed keeping the medieval street pattern and with most of the original architectural features restored.

Since 2003, when a palace within the castle became the Hungarian President's residence, a Changing of the Guards ceremony regularly takes place.

Spanning the Petrusse valley, it was built between 1859 and 1861 to connect Luxembourg City centre to the newly built railway station. The bridge is 950 feet long, 148 feet high, and has 24 arches.

WINNER : Travel/Europe Holiday/Germany Sept 2008/Saarburg Galleries/Saarburg Bits 'n' Pieces
gallery

From the river path to the lower village

A custom in Camara de Lobos...the fishermen immediately hang their recently caught catfish out on racks to dry in the sun.

Our B&B

Winner : My Travel Favourites 1 Gallery

Taken at the beginning of the slope of St Michael's Bridge.

Right in the centre of Ghent, this large bridge is the spot to see all around it a plethora of historic buildings. It is named after medieval church on the other side of bridge.....not in this image. From the bridge is the view of the famous 'panorama of the three towers'....St Nicholas Church, the Belfry, and St Bavo's Cathedral (unfortunately here covered in scaffolding and plastic sheets.

Gazing at the magical array.

The canalised River Leuk runs through the middle of this colourful town centre and over the steep cascades to join the River Saar

WINNER : Around Kufstein/Kufstein/Austria/Germany & Austria 2009 Galleries

The fortification, then owned by the bishops of Regensburg, was documented for the first time in 1205. From 1313 onwards Kufstein Castle belonged to the Dukes of Bavaria. In 1504 Emperor Maximilian I besieged and conquered Kufstein. He then ordered the castle to be newly built and expanded it to the size of a fortress. In 1703 and 1805 the Bavarians conquered the fortress which again came into Austrian ownership in 1814. It has belonged to the city of Kufstein since 1924.

In the city centre, surveying his work which I recognise as being located on the terrace of the Presidential Palace.

Look at the child burying project ongoing on the left!

WINNER : NETHERLANDS/AMSTERDAM GALLERY

Koningsplein

WINNER : Travel/Holland Dec 09 gallery

The 'Old' Church was founded as St. Bartholomew's Church in the year 1246, on the site of previous churches. The tower with its 75 metre high brick tower leans about two meters from the vertical.

It was added between 1325-50, and dominated the townscape for a century and a half until it was surpassed in height by the 'New' Church. It is possible that the course of the adjacent canal had to be shifted slightly to make room for the tower, leaving an unstable foundation that caused the tower to tilt. During one renovation, the tower turrets were rebuilt in a more vertical alignment than the leaning body below, giving the tower its slightly kinked appearance.

Above Alken

View across the valley, zoomed in from the exit to the Sygun Copper Mine near Beddgelert. In the foreground the mine buildings, and in the background on the left the several lower tiers of the waterfalls of the Afon-y-Cwm stream that cascade down from the peak of Yr Aran behind. Clambering up there is beyond me mow I think, but see http://www.pbase.com/alpiner/image/83476517

http://www.pbase.com/alpiner/image/91577457

http://www.pbase.com/alpiner/image/83724408

Wawel Castle

A row of guild houses that were originally built around 1580. During the Middle Ages, merchants in Belgium created their own unique, impressive halls to reflect their success. Typically, the varied, ornate facades had their coat of arms and a gilded statue on top. Some originals were significantly damaged by fires and wars over the centuries, but they have been faithfully reconstructed.

WINNER : City Walls Art Sale/Krakow Nov 2009 Gallery

A Grade II Listed building, reconstructed in 1854 when previously a wooden structure. Located where the stream, actually the River Pol, enters Polperro Harbour. It has probably been remodelled several times over the centuries, due to the many severe floods that this fishing village has suffered. The road above it bears the same name.

The Troll Wall,near Andalsnes,is in the background,. At around 3,600 ft high, it is the tallest vertical rock face in Europe. At its steepest point, the summit ridge overhangs the base of the wall by nearly 160 ft .

The Troll Wall has been a notoriously serious for climbers and base jumpers. It wasn't until 1965 that it was first climbed, by a Norwegian team. The first parachute jump from the Wall was made in 1980 and the site subsequently became used for the modern extreme sport of base jumping. Although the Norwegian authorities made this illegal in 1986, and despite eight deaths there, it still continues from the Troll Wall.

Historic buildings line this famous place, and once James Bond was filmed chasing a villain along here in the movie Quantum of Solace.

The lovely building at the end is a former church originally built in 1218 as a Knights of St. Johns' hospice, and was modified several times in later centuries, and had many uses, including as a salt storage place and horse stables in the 19th century. The tower got its present form during renovations between 1879/84. On the roof is a figure of a knight which since 1510 has hammered on a bell to indicate the time. The fresco on the exterior is of the sermon of St. John the Baptist. The building has been used since 1995 as a venue for contemporary art exhibitions.

Europe's 2nd highest sea cliff at 580m.

Looking straight down on the narrow strip of fields where they manage to grow vines and vegetables.

Ghent

This is one of Ghent's oldest squares in the city, and has played a major role in its history.

Here was where most of Ghent's public political and social life took place. Since 1199 the weekly market has been held here on Friday mornings, hence its given name. It was here that kings, princes and other dignitaries were solemnly received, feasts celebrated, riots fought and feuds settled, and it was also the scene of many executions. Most of the buildings surrounding the square are old guild houses dating from the 18th century, apart from a 15th-century tanners' guild hall of the tanners and the huge 20th century Bond Moyson socialist house of the people.

It is today still is a busy meeting place with cafes and their outdoor terraces surrounding the large market square.

WINNER : GEIRANGER & AREA/NORWAY/TRAVEL GALLERY

The white square mid right perimeter - an outdoor cookery demonstration was being filmed there.

Seefeld

Niederau

From the chairlift top station

At the head of the Stubai valley beyond Neustift, the mountains rise to around 10,000 feet to areas of permanent ice. Five glaciers covering nearly 6 square miles form a large all year ski area.

Patershol, Ghent

Hard Rock Cafe

Budapest

WINNER : TRAVEL/AUSTRIA/SEEFELD GALLERIES/SEEFELD REVISITED 2017 GALLERY

Since April 2009, this hot air balloon rises 150 metres into the air at the end of its tether. The pure white globe is visible from all over the city. Rising and falling every 15 minutes, it suddenly appears over ancient rooftops and spires

River Vltava

Arriving at Mountain Family Sunday - Brass band, barbecue, beer, good humour & hospitality - & wonderful views.

A tiny fishing village on the island of Mageroya in the Barents Sea. It is one of the northernmost in Europe and has only 70 inhabitants.

JOINT WINNER : TRAVEL/AUSTRIA/BERWANG 2014 GALLERY

Just behind the village's car park.

Berwang

WINNER : TRAVEL/EUROPE HOLIDAY/AUSTRIA SEPT 2008/BICHLBACH GALLERIES/IN & AROUND BICHLBACH GALLERY

Noordstraat

Church of St Pancras, Telfes.

Hochtannberg Pass

WINNER : TRAVEL/SWITZERLAND/AROSA GALLERY


Arosa

WINNER : On the Moselle/Moselle/Austria & Germany 07/Travel gallery

Zeltingen

Near Bernkastel

Tyne Cot Cemetery is the resting place of nearly 12,000 soldiers of the Commonwealth Forces who lost their lives in World War 1.... the largest number of graves of any Commonwealth cemetery, for either world war, in the world.

The name "Tyne Cot" is said to come from the Northumberland Fusiliers seeing a resemblance between the German concrete pill boxes, which still stand in the middle of the cemetery, and typical Tyneside cottages ... Tyne Cots. The cemetery was established around a captured German blockhouse or pill-box used as an advanced dressing station.

The stone wall surrounding the cemetery makes up the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing. On completion of the Menin Gate memorial to the missing in Ypres, it was discovered to be too small to contain all the names as originally planned. A cut-off point of 15 August 1917 was chosen and the names of the UK missing after this date were inscribed on the Tyne Cot memorial wall instead. The memorial contains the names of 33,783 soldiers of the UK forces, plus a further 1,176 New Zealanders. New Zealand declined to have all its missing soldiers names listed on the main memorials, choosing instead to have names listed near the appropriate battles. However Tyne Cot was chosen as one of these locations.

Lovely tree & trough tap

WINNER : BALESTRAND/NORWAY/TRAVEL GALLERY

A Victorian English railway engineer designed this, and lived there.

Under Wawel Castle by the River Vistula there is a cave which was once a medieval inn. Nowadays it is a tourist attraction during the summer, but is closed during the winter due to the dangerous icy stairs inside. In front of the entrance to the cave is a 20 feet tall, bronze statue of a dragon, erected in 1972, that exhales fire every five minutes.

According to the legend, this cave was once inhabited by a dragon who loved to devour cattle, and worse....human virgins, who it had delivered to its cave, in exchange for which it would leave the town in relative peace. Many knights came from all over the country in an attempt to slay the beast, however none was successful as it burnt them before they could draw their swords. Eventually Krakow began to run out of girls and soon the only one left would be the king's daughter. Not wanting to sacrifice her, the king promised her hand to whoever could kill the dragon.

A poor shoemaker had the idea to poison the beast. He decided to prepare a special dish for the dragon.....a sheep stuffed with tar and sulphur which he placed at the cave's entrance. The dragon greedily devoured the sheep for his breakfast. Soon he felt like his stomach was on fire and he stood on the bank of the river and started to drink water. The dragon kept on drinking more and more and his stomach grew bigger and bigger. As nothing seemed to help he kept drinking until he exploded. The shoemaker married the beautiful princess and after the king died he became the ruler of Krakow.

Strynefjell Road

Near Stryn

Viewed from the Ramberg mountain hut

Three of the impressive modern buildings that ring the skyline of the city

WINNER : PRAGUE AGAIN MAR 09/TRAVEL GALLERY

Over looking the orchard

Prague Castle & its cathedral dominate the skyline

Beautiful paintings & prints of the locality on sale here in the little Huidenvettersplein square

The appearance of the Werregarenstraat, a long alley in the centre of Ghent, changes constantly. Here street artists are free to decorate it as they please, completely covering house walls, doors, windows and garages.

WINNER : TRAVEL/AUSTRIA & GERMANY 2006/ST ANTON & THE LECHTAL GALLERY

Just a quick snap - were running late on our drive itinerary - think it's Holzgau or very nearby.

WINNER : Cornwall Gallery


Polperro harbour is unusual as it is privately owned by the Council Tax payers of the village. In 1894, an Act of Parliament sanctioned by Queen Victoria formed the Trustees of Polperro Harbour. They were the 15 eminent men of the village who bought the harbour rights. This Trust has continued down the years to the current residents

The Seekirchl is the symbol of Seefeld. It was built by the Archduke Leopold between 1629 and 1666 in the middle of an artifical lake, on a rocky island connected by a bridge to the shore. The lake was eventually drained in 1807. The building is rotunda-shaped, an unusual style for Tyrol, with an onion tower.

Part of the Grand Ducal Palace complex is on the right.

Luxembourg City

WINNER : TECHENDORF/AUSTRIA & GERMANY 07/TRAVEL GALLERY

Unusually, this village lies on both sides of the Weissensee and is connected by a road bridge over the lake

This cathedral was the coronation site of the Polish monarchs and remains Poland's most important national sanctuary. Due to its 1000-year-old history and numerous treasures, it is one of the most interesting places in the country, along with the adjacent Wawel Royal Castle. Its 14th century walls shelter a variety of objects of art from all ages. It is also the burial ground of most Polish royalty as well as national heroes, four saints and countless Krakow bishops, most of whose coffins lay in the impressive vaults beneath the cathedral.

Weissensee

WINNER : MADEIRA 2019 GALLERY


A quiet spot near Porto Moniz on the north coast, with photogenic, unique rock formations.

Banff & surroundings

WINNER : Best of 2014/15 Gallery


The first small church in Neustift was built in 1516. In 1772 it was destroyed by a fire and this impressive big church replaced it. Externally it looks quite plain. However, the interior is richly decorated. St George's Church is the Tyrol's second-largest parish church.

From front of Santa Caterina Park