It has been an uneventful couple of days here. While the days have been sunny enough, work has mostly stopped me from venturing out. I hope that this upcoming weekend will change that, since I'm more then ready to step outside of the usual 4 walls of home and office. I have already new posts planed for the start of Feburary, beginning with some winter impressions from Mostar and this region. I hope your week is going well.

Beni in his usual winter position

How are the winter days treating you?

My journey to the island Lokrum lays a few years back now, but every once in a while I like to revisit the images and go back. These were taken with my old canon camera, and maybe it's time to freshen up on this wonderful place with my 6D.

The island is located in the Adriatic Sea, about half a mile from the city of Dubrovnik. It stretches from northwest to southeast and receives regular ferry service from the city. The name Lokrum comes from the Latin, 'acrumen', meaning sour fruit. The first mention of Lokrum in writing came in 1023, in connection with the founding of the Benedictine abbey and monastery. It's a great place to explore and it's a must-stop for any traveler visiting Dubrovnik.

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The Legend of Lokrum

According to legend, Richard the Lionheart shipwrecked in 1192 after returning home from the crusades and found himself cast ashore, safe on Lokrum, and he pledged to build a church on the island indebted for the salvation, but at the plea of Dubrovnik citizens, the church was not built on Lokrum but in the City instead. That church in Dubrovnik is still there today.

Budapest is often called the Paris of the east, and as you will hopefully discover in this post, there is a big reason why it is that way. Only, one shouldn't really compare the two. There is so much beauty in Budapest, that I often wonder if Paris shouldn't be called the Budapest of the West.

In our extensive, 6-part travel series to Budapest, I pretty much showed everything that we did in the one week that we visited this amazing city. But I never really spoke about my favorite places that we saw and things that are an absolute must. In this post, which is sort of an extension of the series, I will list my personal Top 10 Things to Do in Budapest.

As our stay in the mountains came to an end, it was time to drive down into the foggy valley of the city Mostar. It was only 2 in the afternoon when we were driving back home, yet the clouds and the fog darkened the cityscapes in front of us. I'm leaving this last part without many words, I hope the images will speak for themselves. Have a great weekend and enjoy the sights ahead.

This is a multi-part series. Other parts include:
Part One: Isolation
Part Two: Inside
Part Three: Return

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A lone road going into the City:

As I looked into the deep woods that were in front of me, the fog that surrounded us kept getting thicker and thicker. It reached a point where looking into the Mostar valley was just starring into complete white. The sounds of the forest on the other hand, were more alive. I love this little spot in these mountains, and I hope you will too.

This is a multi-part series. Other parts include:
Part One: Isolation
Part Two: Inside
Part Three: Return

click on the images for a bigger view

Inside the Forest

We continued our drive through the narrow mountain road. Somewhere in these regions, far from the city of Mostar, small villages are spread throughout the landscape. But on this day, they were hidden inside the fog. I stopped my car on the side of the road and we stopped to take more images.

Finding interesting photo subjects during rainy winter days can be quite challenging. While I wrote on this subject before, I recently felt the need to act upon my own words. That's why I decided to venture out into nearby mountains. Rain had been plaguing us for a couple of days in a row. Every day, while looking out of the windows of my room, I noticed heavy fog banks rolling over the hills.

I thought to myself, rain does create a dull atmosphere, but fog doesn't. That was my main motivation to drive out. In this tree part series, I hope to show you these regions in a new light, but also reflect on life in nature during these still months.

This is a multi-part series. Other parts include:
Part One: Isolation
Part Two: Inside
Part Three: Return

click on the images for a bigger view

I have been announcing my travel images from the United States for a while now, so I guess it's time to finally deliver them. This was back in 2005, in a time where film photography was still at large, the idea of a fast internet connection a dream and mobile phones had a couple of years before becoming smart. It's interesting how things can change over the years. Revisiting these images was very strange for me. Somehow it seems unbelievable that 10 years have passed since then.

The whole trip was organized by Legacy International which is seated in West Virginia. They hosted us and payed for our whole visit. I had to pass an exam in order to get into the Legacy International program, and eventually 15 of us were invited by the organization. I spent three weeks in the USA, two in various cities in West Virginia and one of them in Washington D.C., the later of which I will be showing you today.

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United States Capitol

The United States Capitol, atop Capitol Hill is the seat of the United States Congress, the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government, completed in the year 1800. During our visit we had a chance to go inside and get a private tour. Like the principal buildings of the executive and judicial branches, the Capitol is built in a distinctive neoclassical style and has a white exterior. Though both its east and west elevations are formally referred to as fronts, only the east front was intended for the reception of visitors and dignitaries.

During a recent family gathering, my cousin and I revisited some photos in our old family albums. Some pictures were in albums, others were laying in boxes unsorted and not in a pretty shape, you know how it is. The image above wasn't in a bad shape, but I included it in this post since it's a old photo of me and my cousin (whom you had the joy of seeing on this blog a lot). 

As January is heading towards the mid-point, it's time to wrap up the travel series to Split. Split is a coastal city, but not very well known for swimming beaches. The old town center, even though located right on the promenade (which you saw in part four) is essentially a harbor, which means people have to drive to the outskirts of Split in order to go for a swim.

Our hotel was luckily outside of the city center of Split, which meant we had an opportunity to visit and enjoy the surrounding beaches. And it's with those images that I want to close out this little trip we made.

Our Travel to Split is made up of multiple parts. Other parts include:
Part One: Celebrating New Year's Eve in Split
Part Two: The Klis Fortress (Game of Thrones Location Photos 1)
Part Three: Diocletian Palace (Game of Thrones Location Photos 2)
Part Four: Visiting the Seaside Promenade
Part Five: Our Stay at the Radisson Blu Resort
Part Six: A Walk along the Winter Beach

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Start of the Day

It was around 10 o'clock when we left the hotel to take a walk. We had just finished up with breakfast, and needed some relaxation time. The weather outside was great, since the winds that had plagued us the day before were coming to a stand still. A narrow path leads you from the hotel to the beach. Through the lens of my camera it felt like summer, but the cold proved us otherwise.

During our visit to Split we stayed in the Radisson Blu Resort Hotel and Spa. It's a five star hotel and we had a wonderful time there. From the luxurious rooms, to the awesome spa, this hotel gave a lot of comfort to us, especially on New Years Day, when most of the restaurants and establishments in the city were closed. In this post I want to share some images from our stay in this hotel, with you.

Our Travel to Split is made up of multiple parts. Other parts include:
Part One: Celebrating New Year's Eve in Split
Part Two: The Klis Fortress (Game of Thrones Location Photos 1)
Part Three: Diocletian Palace (Game of Thrones Location Photos 2)
Part Four: Visiting the Seaside Promenade
Part Five: Our Stay at the Radisson Blu Resort
Part Six: A Walk along the Winter Beach

click on the images for a bigger view

Arrival

We arrived in the evening, and once we got checked in, I went up to my room. I immediately had to take my camera out as soon as I saw the dusk outside. A soft afterglow of the sunset was still lingering in the sky. The deep blue sea was in front of me, and I could hear the weaves slowly arriving on shore. We didn't have any plans right away, so I had some time to sit on my balcony and enjoy the view.