Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts

Monday, April 02, 2012

Monday Mural: Isola Bella


Staying with the mural theme for Mondays, I've been into my archives and dug out this photo of a mural on the island of Isola Bella in Lake Maggiore, Italy.

I just went round a corner and there it was. What it is I have no idea. You can read a bit more of how I discovered it on Day 4 of our 9 day coach journey through 9 countries in Europe 2002.

A contribution to Monday Murals.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

ABC Wednesday - I is for Isola Bella


Isola Bella is one of the Borromean islands on Lake Maggiore in Italy.


At the town of Stresa we were dropped off at the lakeside and led to some small boats.


The Borromean Islands consist of three islands, Isola Pescatori (Fisherman's Island), Isola Bella and the small "Lover's Island" where two is company and three's a crowd. The boat takes us around the islands. Fisherman's Island with its array of little houses, looks very inviting, but we are landed on Isola Bella.


We disembarked on to a shingle beach at one end of the island. We had to negotiate steps up to the palace. Ramps had been placed over some of the flights but not all. Those who were fit visited the palace and its gardens. The latter is on nine levels and is home to some beautiful white peacocks. Between the palace and the shore there is an area thronged with market stalls, selling all kinds of souvenirs.


A maze of little alleyways led up from the shore below the palace gardens. There were small shops, including one selling magnificent yellow-glazed pots. In these back passageways were little verandahs with cacti on display.


I also found some intriguing wall-friezes.


On the return journey boatman circles the island, allowing us a chance to get an idea of how extensive are the ornate gardens belonging to the palace.


A fuller account of our visit can be found at Europe 2002.

For more I posts visit ABC Wednesday.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

ABC Wednesday - T is for Travel

I could have gone T for Tallinn but you can see my photos and account of that lovely city here and here.

I could have gone T for Trondheim but you can see my photos and account of that lovely city here.

I could have gone T for Tenerife but you can see my photos and account of that island here.

People seem to have the impression that I am well-travelled but I have only visited 13% of the world.



This map and the others you can compile on the net are bit misleading but interesting nonetheless. For the first 50-odd years of my life apart from a week in Amsterdam in 1980 [which included a day-trip to Brussels] and one holiday in Denmark, I never left the UK. However we saw an awful lot of the UK from St Agnes in the Scillies to Unst in Shetland. Very few areas of the British Isles are unvisited.

We didn't start world-travelling until 1999 when we ventured across the sea to Ireland. Later that year we flew via Amsterdam to Los Angeles. On the visited countries map that is enough to colour in the whole of the USA from New York westwards including Alaska.

In 2001 we had our tremendous holiday of a lifetime spending a month travelling around New Zealand which puts some colour in the bottom right-hand corner. The dot representing Singapore, our only stopover in Asia barely shows up.

The following year, having had to give up driving, we took a coach holiday through Europe visiting 9 countries in 9 days. There were some highlights but, in some respects it was possibly one of our grimmest holidays. It certainly colours the map though.

It was three years before we ventured abroad again on a fabulous cruise to Ireland, Greenland, Iceland and Norway. In 2006 we went quite mad (and why not?). Firstly we had a holiday in February to Tenerife, which adds Spain to the map even though we've never seen its mainland. June saw us on our second cruise, this time to the Baltics. Although we only visit St. Petersburg, the map covers in the whole of Russia all the way to Siberia! Finally at the end of September we went to Crete, which adds Greece to the map even though we've never seen its mainland.

Our only holiday this year was a week in Southport. We have enjoyed a few day-trips to various places. The likelihood is that we won't be doing very much physical travelling in the future except for short journeys. Any regrets? Absolutely none. I travel Around the World everyday without leaving home.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Lunar eclipse


This haiga has appeared on Spring Haiku 2007

A number of people around Europe were trying to photograph the lunar eclipse last night. Here are a few:
There is another nice set of photos on the BBC news website.

The first photo was taken just before 10.30pm. This second photo was taken about two hours later. To my naked eye it looked just like a normal crescent moon. Why my camera seems to have taken a double-image is a mystery to me. I just point, shoot and hope.