Sofia has set this weeks Lens-Artist challenge and asks us to post images following a theme of mellow, calm and relaxing. Sofia’s original challenge post can be found here.
These Munkeh’s look pretty chilled relaxing on my garden fence. They used to give these guys away with PG Tips tea bags in the UK.
This weeks theme really is a challenge for my portfolio as conceptual photography isn’t something I’ve concentrated on in the past. The stock agency I sell with, Alamy, isn’t really that sort of place. A quick search through the Alamy database, using the word mellow, just brings back pages of images featuring branded items featuring the word mellow.
A camper van driving away from the Papagayo Beaches through Los Ajaches Natural Park. Hacha Grande is in the background, the highest peak in the south of the island. I’ve always wanted to climb it but I don’t think it’s suitable for casuals hikers like us.
We really like Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands off the coast of North Africa. Its a popular destination for Brits and other Europeans as the climate is pretty good all year round. We spent last week there having picked up a last minute, discounted, package deal. One of the benefits of being retired.
A view across to central London from Richmond Park
We were invited to visit and stay with my in-laws who live in Bournemouth, Dorset over the Easter weekend so last Thursday we drove down from Bristol to join them on the south coast. We left the planning for the weekend to David and Donna, in fact the only thing we had to do was to provide a suitable dessert for our meal on that first night!
We picked off another walk from our OS Pathfinder Book this week, taking on a 9.5 mile circular route, starting in the ‘Chocolate Box’ village of Stanton. I was expecting Stanton to be busy with Cotswolds Tik-Tok tourists but that wasn’t the case. Another surprise was a well kept, empty, free car park in the village, provided by the local Parish Council. That’s a much appreciated rarity these days.
We’re just back from a week in Cyprus. We returned to Paphos after enjoying a holiday there last March. Cyprus is popular with Brits as its usually a lot warmer than the UK at this time of year, although there wasn’t much in it this time. We landed in heavy rain and high winds although that was the last we saw of any wet weather.
It remained windy for a few days but after that we had warm sunshine. So, we packed away our fleeces and put on our walking shoes whilst the other hotel guests kicked the feral cats off the sunbeds.
We did a lot of walking on this holiday. We averaged just over eleven miles every day. It was a three mile walk in to the Old Harbour and a bit longer to reach the Paphos Old Town from the hotel, so it was easy to cover that overall distance. There is a superb bus service to everywhere local you might want to go but we chose to walk.
We’d visited some of the popular tourist sites on our previous holiday. I’ve written about that here. The Old Harbour is always a buzzy place to spend some time and enjoy a coffee. We did that several times during the week. We also visited the Kings Avenue Shopping Mall which is a really smart modern complex. It reminded me of some of the plush Malls we visited whilst we were in the states. It’s full of the usual outlets and prices were slightly more expensive than the UK.
I’ll touch on the amazing bakeries we visited at this point. I love a cake and I think Greek/Cypriot cakes are the best I’ve ever had. I particularly love Greek Orange Pie and ate my body weight of it last week. I was also introduced to Greek Chocolate Pie, and that was just as good, although I struggled to find it anywhere. No problem though as I’ve found a recipe and I’ll make my own now we’re home.
The lower right image is Cypriot Flaounes – An Easter cheese bread, only made at this time of year.
We spent two days exploring Pathos Old Town. We revisited where we’d explored last year, around Kennedy Square, but then discovered another area of alleys ways, craft workshops and the usual tat tourist shops on the opposite side of the road. A lot of the lanes and buildings were being renovated and redeveloped so getting around wasn’t always that easy. All the same, it was a pleasant way to spend a morning.
A few images from around Paphos Old Town
We spent our final full day walking out along the coastal boulevard, west of the Old Harbour, passing the lighthouse and on to a viewing point to see an abandoned ship that ran aground a few years ago. It’s been left there to rot as it’s too expensive to salvage. The boulevard is really impressive with lots of viewing points, arranged like frames, at points along the walk. I’m not sure how far out you can go along the coast, but after a few miles we took a right turn and walked back in to town.
Our week passed really quickly and we both agreed we could easily have stayed for a few more days. It’s somewhere we’ll go back to. In fact, I’ve already checked prices for next March but we’ll get a better discount if we book later in the year.
We stayed at the Louis Patheon Beach Hotel, on an all inclusive deal, with TUI. The hotel is a bit tired but the restaurant area is a new building and the food was phenomenal. The best all inclusive food choices and quality we’ve ever had. We were returning clients and we’d be happy to stay there again.
Kutubiyya Mosque, Marrakesh. You can’t go in to the mosques in Marrakesh but they didn’t seem to mind you taking pictures from outside. We timed it so we’d be near the mosque at around midday when we knew the doors would be open. This was just a quick grab shot and I had no idea what I had until I processed the image later. I could have easily filled this post with favourite images from Marrakesh.
Tina over at Travels and Trifles has led this week’s Lens-Artist’s challenge. I’ll echo everyone else and say how this was a really tough challenge. It would have been easier to duck out completely but I thought ‘No, I’m going to do it’. I’m posting late because we’ve been away.
Arlyn, pictured above, was working in this artisan bakery in Puerto Banus, Andalucia, Spain. We’re now contacts on Instagram and she travels a lot herself these days.
John has set the challenge this week with – “Pick a Word.” You must choose a word that fits your topic and select three or four appropriate photos to share.
In June 2022 we decided we wanted to get out to try a few different hikes and go somewhere that was new to us for walking. We both knew Weymouth so chose that as somewhere we’d like to visit. Back in the 1970’s, when we were growing up, Weymouth was always a summer day trip for families like us, living in Bristol. That was if my Dads Vauxhall Viva didn’t break down on the way. It did just that more than once.
One of the many beautiful sunsets from our cruise ship.
To mark my 60th birthday in December 2019 we decided to try a cruise. I’d never really thought I particularly wanted to cruise. Linda was more keen than me, but if you want a holiday in December it’s a good choice for us, here in the UK.
A visit to Andalucía wasn’t in our travel plans going in to 2024. However, we had to cancel a planned trip to Madeira after our holiday package company changed our flights. My Brother in Law, David, knowing we were disappointed and suddenly holiday-less, offered us the opportunity to share an Air BnB with him and Donna in Torrox, Spain.
Steve Hyde 