2004 Europe

This carving over the main entrance to the Cathedral of St. Trophime in Arles, France shows images of the beasts mentioned in the Revelation of St. John.









This narrow cobbled street in Les Baux, France is typical of the medieval villages we saw all over Europe. They are all set on top of mountains and there's always quite a hike to get up to them.









Get a 55-gallon drum, start a fire in it, put a huge pizza pan on top, spread a thin layer of dough made from chick pea meal on it, fry the meal, slice it in strips and you've got socca. This breakfast fast food is being made in the flower market in Nice, France







The early morning flower market in Nice, France is a very colorful place. I just couldn't resist posting another picture of the place.









Here's another example of a typical medieval street. This one is in Eze, France on top of a rather steep hill, as usual.












This spice stand in Eze was not only colorful but very fragrant. The large baskets contain spice mixtures, curries etc. The basket in the front right is a mixture of various colors of peppercorn.







The Grand Prix course is pretty crowded on May 5th. It will be a much different story on the 15th.








This large camellia was growing wild in the mountains of Corsica.









The islands in the distance are the Sanguinaires. The watchtower on the hill was built by Corsicans in the 1400s to watch for approaching pirates or slavers.







This unassuming house on a side street in Ajaccio, Corsica is the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte.








The front facade of St. Martino's Cathedral in Lavorno, Italy shows that each of the columns is unique as well as the decoration in between and the decorations on the architrave above the capitals.






This brightly colored building is the church of the Holy Japanese Martyrs in Civitavecchia, Italy. It is dedicated to the 26 Franciscans who were martyred in Nagasaki, Japan in 1597. It is completely decorated inside with frescoes and mosaics by Lucas Hasegawa.





This powerline tower on the Sicily side of the Messina Strait held power lines high enough for the tallest ships to pass under. The concrete base is over two stories tall. The towers themselves are over 218 feet tall. Until the construction of the Elbe Crossing 2 towers in Germany they were the tallest in the world. The cables they supported were almost 2 miles long. Because wind oscillations put a great strain on the cable they could not use bundled copper wire and used a solid steel wire instead. This resulted in much less conductivity and the cables were replaced by a submarine system with greater capacity in the 1990s.







This flower, I'm not sure what it is, is from Dubrovnik, Croatia.










This is our Tupice cruising the Nevreta River in Croatia. The pilot provided us with local fruit and dried figs. The clear plastic bottls is locally manufactured fruit brandy distilled to the point where it is mostly alcohol.






This ancient Greek statue of Achilles wounded is the major feature of the garden at the Achilliion Palace on Corfu, Greece.










This is part of the fortress city of Valetta, Malta.









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The white marble of this statue of Mary above Horta Bay contrasting with the black basalt wall, the blue of the sky, accented by the red roses really struck me.











This is the Punta Delgada city square on the island of Sao Miguel in the Azores. The tower of the Sao Sabastiao Church is on the right. The original city gates are under the blue tarp in the center. The statue of Goncalo Velho Cabral, priest, navigator, explorer and first captain of the city, is between the two.






Tuna doesn't get any fresher than this large one for sale at the fish market in Funchal, Maderia. The most amazing thing is the price, 3 Euro a kilo, about $1.75 a pound.








This ceramic tile picture is on the outside wall of a Funchal building.









The entire building is decorated with this type of tile work. Any guesses what building it is?





It's the Funchal Toyota dealership!!







The streets of the Jewish Quarter in Seville, Spain are quite narrow. It occupies some of the oldest areas of the city and has lots of small shops and restaurants.












This is the interior of the Santa Maria Cathedral in Seville. The cathedral is one of the five places in the world that claim to have the body of Christopher Columbus.












This available light picture shows the grave of Christopher Columbus. I've ever seen one like it. It's four pall bearers carrying a casket that is the burial place. I've been to four of the five places where Chris is supposed to be interred. I hope he's here. It's the best!!








Apparently in Sintra, Portugal, when seeds drop onto your tile roof you just let them grow. Not only is the little porch of this villa covered in plants but they are sprouting from the roof tiles as well.






Lord Byron described Sintra as "this glorious Eden". It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is a very romantic place set in the granite hills of Portugal.







This is a close up of one of the panels on the painted tapestry Stations of the Cross in the Chapel of the Virgin Mary atop Monte Toro on the Island of Minorca.












This is my Fried White Bait lunch in Mayo, Minorca as mentioned in my journal. They were delicious.







Digital Nikon takes a pretty good closeup. This is about a 1:1 view unexpanded. If you click on it you'll see it jumbo sized.







This is Espana Square in Mahon, Minorca. The pinkish building in the background is the cathedral Santa Maria de Major.









Diana is pointing at the porthole for our cabin on the ms Noordam, room 711.









The Codorniu winery's main building was designed by the modernist architect Josep Puig i Cadaflach. Construction began in 1895 and was completed in 1915. It's a national historic building.








This is the front facade of the Basillica at the Monserrat monastery. You can see Christ and his 12 apostiles just above the door.












This is the view from the Monserrat monastery. In historical times it was a pretty easy place to defend, perched as it is on the side of a very steep cliff face.






(c) Rod Longenberger - 2005