Tales of a Traveler

Category: Images

  • Labro, Italy

    Last fall I spent three weeks in Italy. My primary reason for going there was to attend Italian Burning Weekend and reconnect with friends I’d met at Nowhere that summer. While at IBW, I met a lovely woman named Jane. She was supposed to head home to Australia immediately after the weekend, but decided to stay for another week so that we could spend more time together.

    One of the highlights of the week was our visit to the comune and village of Labro, in northeastern Lazio near Umbria. We went there to visit friends who run the Art Monastery Project, a “non-profit arts organization dedicated to cultivating personal awakening and cultural transformation through art, community, and contemplation”. The Art Monastery is just across a small valley from the stunningly picturesque village of Labro.

    Labro.
    View of Labro from across the valley. (Photograph by Sascha Romeo, http://sascharomeo.blogspot.com/)

    Jane and I spent an afternoon wandering through the village, and enjoyed an excellent lunch at ArcoLuna, one of two delicious restaurants in this village of 370 people. The next evening, we returned with friends from the Art Monastery for dinner at Boccondivino, the other restaurant – which is directly across from the first! Outstanding food in both places, great wine, superb service.

    Labro is well worth an excursion if you’re in the region – a good escape from the hustle and bustle of Rome, great people to meet, fairytale-pretty streets to wander, and excellent food. Do it.

    (And if you make it to the Art Monastery, tell them Stuart says hello!)

    Looking over the rooftops of Labro to Lago di Piediluco.
    Looking over the rooftops of Labro to Lago di Piediluco.

     

    Lovely pedestrian streets.
    Lovely pedestrian streets.

     

    Lovely pedestrian streets, redux.
    Lovely pedestrian streets, redux.

     

    Grassy stairs.
    Grassy stairs.

     

    Comune di Labro (with the town's symbol, the cinghiale or wild boar).
    Comune di Labro (with the town's symbol, the cinghiale or wild boar).

     

    ArcoLuna
    ArcoLuna, where we enjoyed a most excellent lunch.

     

    A mouthful of wine (a mouthful of heaven).
    A mouthful of wine (a mouthful of heaven).

     

     

  • Marrakech Medina

    Marrakech Medina

    I spent last Monday wandering through the Medina with Thomas and Alison, a couple of friends from Seattle who are currently in Morocco for a few weeks. We explored the souks, toured the Ali Ben Youssef Medersa (the largest Islamic theological school in Morocco), and enjoyed “Scenes From Daily Life”, an exhibit of photographs of Moroccan history from the 1870s to 1950s at the Maison de la Photographie, one of the only photography museums in Morocco. There was also food and tea and sunshine-basking, as there should be.

    A few photographs from the day:

    One of many beautiful doorways in the Medina.
    One of many beautiful doorways in the Medina.

     

    Reflecting pool in the center of the Medersa.
    Reflecting pool in the center of the Medersa.

     

    Student's quarters.
    Student's quarters. On display are a desk for study, a small stove and everything needed to make tea and tagine.

     

    Decorative calligraphy.
    Many surfaces throughout the medersa are covered with ornate calligraphy depicting scenes from the Qur'an.

     

  • European Street Art

    I like street art. Here’s a selection of some of the more interesting work I’ve seen recently, taken in Italy and Spain between September and November, 2011.

    (Clicking on any of the images will link you to a full-sized version.)


    All images were taken with my phone (as Chase Jarvis says, the best camera is the one that’s with you), and edited (just like my DSLR images) in Lightroom.

  • Mont Saint-Michel

    Here is a selection of images from my recent visit to Mont Saint-Michel, a fortified island on the coast of Normandy, France.

    After having just finished reading the five books so far in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, I really felt as if I’d wandered into one of the keeps of Westeros.

    I highly recommend visiting this amazing historic site if you find yourself in France – it’s about four hours from Paris, and well worth the trip.

    Mont Saint Michel, Normandy, France. (Stuart Updegrave)
    Mont Saint Michel, Normandy, France.
    Interior courtyard, Mont Saint Michel. (Stuart Updegrave)
    Interior courtyard, Mont Saint Michel.
    Detail of a forged steel door bracket, Mont Saint Michel. (Stuart Updegrave)
    Detail of a forged steel door bracket, Mont Saint Michel.
    Interior passageway, Mont Saint Michel. (Stuart Updegrave)
    Interior passageway, Mont Saint Michel.
    Sled and wheel used to haul supplies 100' up the side of the castle. (Stuart Updegrave)
    Sled and wheel used to haul supplies 100' up the side of the castle.
    Mont Saint Michel from below. (Stuart Updegrave)
    Mont Saint Michel from below.

  • Alpine Images

    For this one, I’m going light on words – just some photos from my week-long trip through the Alps, captioned for location.

    (As always, clicking on an image embedded in the post will take you to a larger version.)

    180° panorama on the approach to Oberalppass. (Stuart Updegrave)
    180° panorama on the approach to Oberalppass
    Oberalppass, Swiss Alps. (Stuart Updegrave)
    Oberalppass, Swiss Alps
    Panoramic view toward Furka Pass, Swiss Alps (Stuart Updegrave)
    Panoramic view toward Furka Pass, Swiss Alps
    The Matterhorn, obscured by cloud, Zermatt, Switzerland (Stuart Updegrave)
    The Matterhorn, obscured by cloud, Zermatt, Switzerland
    Climbers descending from the Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France (Stuart Updegrave)
    Climbers descending from the Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France
    View from the Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France (Stuart Updegrave)
    View from the Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France
    View from the Plan du Midi, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France (Stuart Updegrave)
    View from the Plan du Midi, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France

  • Requisite Eiffel Tower Photo

    When one visits Paris, one photographs the Eiffel Tower. Here’s mine.

    (Stuart Updegrave)

  • Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague

    Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague

    Yesterday I visited the old Jewish Quarter in Prague and toured the Jewish Museum, which spans multiple sites in the area. We toured the Pinkas Synagogue (built in the 16th century, now a Holocaust memorial) and the Spanish Synagogue (built in the 19th century, Moorish influenced interior, houses documents relating to the history of Jews in Prague as well as a large part of the local Jewish community’s collection of silver relics).

    The highlight of the tour was the Old Jewish Cemetery, the oldest extant Jewish cemetery in Europe. Jewish burial tradition forbids destroying Jewish graves or removing tombstones, so over the years that the cemetery was in use, new layers of soil were added periodically in order to allow more burials. This resulted in a massive jumble of tombstones, many leaning against each other or lined up like dominoes.

    Click on the photograph below for a small slideshow of images from the cemetery.

    And, a reminder – I love getting feedback! Please leave comments here directly, or on whichever path brought you to this page. Thanks!

  • Carpathian Countryside

    Looking down into the valley near Simeria, Romania after my attempt to detour around a traffic jam was thwarted by the path forking in four directions, none obviously heading the way I wanted.

    (Stuart Updegrave)

  • Floarea-soarelui

    Field of sunflowers outside Bulgarus, Romania.

     

    (Stuart Updegrave)

    (Stuart Updegrave)

  • Images of Brugge

    As previously promised, here are a few photos from my visit to Brugge:

    (Stuart Updegrave)

    A residential street close to the city center.

     

    (Stuart Updegrave)

    The smallest, narrowest alley in the city. The stairs in the lower middle go to Staminee De Garre, a delightful tavern with more than 100 Belgian beers in the bottle.

     

    (Stuart Updegrave)

    A view of the beautiful canals, with the famous bell tower in the distance.