Travel Theme: Mystical

This week, Ailsa of Where’s My Backpack?, challenged readers to post photos of something that means “Mystical”…

A couple of winters ago I visited Kona, Hawai’i for the first time.  Just south of Kona is a national historical site, Puuhonua o Honaunau.  It is one of the most sacred sites in Hawai’i and the temple there, at one time, housed the bones of 23 chiefs.  It was also the home of royal grounds and a sacred place of refuge for those who broke the laws, or kapu.  These are photos of the temple site and the kii (wooden images of gods) that guarded it.  Read about the site in the link above, it’s an incredible history.  This is one place I would love to return someday!

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Travel Theme: Soft

This week’s travel theme from Where’s My Backpack is “Soft”.  I really liked this photo, as it shows the softness of something that usually can be so powerful.  It is a great image of a soft, glowing sunset and the gently lapping waves on Tampa Bay when I visited some years ago…

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Travel Theme: Texture

When Ailsa from Where’s My Backpack posted the weekly travel theme, my mind immediately rustled through the photo files and remembered a series of pictures I took when visiting Francavilla al Mare in May.  The textures one finds at the beach are some of the most wonderful to me, bringing into play all the senses in a matter of seconds.  Through this one photo I hear the waves of the ocean, smell the salt air, feel the warm, soft sand, and shells and pebbles on the beach.  I remember the walk every day from one end of the beach to the other, and see in my mind’s eye every little cabana that I passed.  It’s a great flash of a beautiful week spent with friends old and new, and I can’t wait to return next spring for a reunion!

Close-up texture from the beach ~ photo by Debbie Sarcone

Travel Theme: Silhouette

Ailsa has provided her readers of Where’s my backpack? with another challenge – provide an interpretation of ”silhouette”.  I was in Francavilla al Mare in May, and captured these photos as the sun was setting.  To me, it tells the story of summer about to begin, spending time seaside, long days and warm breezes.  Ahhh, too bad it’s end of summer already!

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Travel Theme: Secret Places

I have thought about this for a few days.  Ailsa has challenged her readers from Where’s My Backpack? to post photos of a place that is little known, unknown, or an out of the way place.  I have thought until my head hurt and I couldn’t think anymore until…

I found my Secret Place – two of them, actually.  And they are right under everyone’s nose, not only in Denver but just about any city in the world.  My secret places are the Botanical Gardens and the Zoo.  What makes them “secret” though, is the time of year I go:  I love visiting in the off-seasons, winter and fall usually.  Not many people want to walk in the cold, and most don’t find the Gardens especially inspiring when things are dying or flowers aren’t in full bloom.  Here are some photos I found from my walks through the Gardens and Zoo in Denver.  I hope you find them as enjoyable as I have!

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When I’ve traveled, I have visited Boboli Gardens (Florence) in the fall, Parco Sempione (Milan) in the dead of winter, and the Palatine “Museum” (Rome) also in winter.  I have visited Hyde Park (London) just before spring, and the National Museum (Bulgaria) in winter.  What places are secret for you that are in plain view?