Tag: travel

Mykonos

In May 2009 we celebrated our honeymoon in beautiful Greece. Our trip started in the beautiful white washed island of Mykonos. Mykonos (also called Hora) is known for not only its white buildings but also for its windmills and party like atmosphere. May is the off season so the island wasn’t packed with clubbers and it was a bit too cold to hang out at the beach. Despite the cold weather it was still a fun and relaxing vacation.

Our hotel San Marco was beautiful and relaxing. While we dined at the hotel they were filming there for a tv show. We never did look for that show. My only complaint is that the hotel was not in walking distance to the center of Mykonos and we relied on a hotel shuttle that had limited pickups, probably due to it being off season.

 

 

We received a bottle of wine upon arrival. I spent one evening with the wine while reading and watching the sunset.

 
Famous Windmills
 

 

 

 

 
Octopuses hanging to dry. We frequently saw fishermen tenderizing tentacles against rocks.
 

 

 

 
Our first Greece sunset…

 

 

 

 
One night after seeing squid on the menu we decided to order squid. I normally like squid but this squid was huge and a bit hard to eat. We ended up sharing this squid with the stray cats that were staring at us all night.
 
 

 

Little Venice
 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

Chateau De Versailles

In August 2010, my husband and I had a lovely trip to the Palace of Versailles. It is a very easy day trip by train from Paris. I tried visiting the palace once before in 1995 but had a terrible flu. July heat and unbearable crowded made it a very unpleasant day for me. My August visit was much more enjoyable. We were even able to see the musical fountains which were amazing. Looking over the photos reminded me that Rick Steves had some bad advice on how to buy tickets in his 2010 book. I have been meaning to email him about that. Ha!
Here are some photos of that day.


East End Market

One of the things I love to do when traveling is to visit the local markets. I have fallen in love with markets in Spain and Provence. In the last week my city of Orlando got a market of its own. The East End Market opened up in Audubon Park. We were lucky to visit on a rainy day before the crowds arrived. It was delightful. I can tell I will be spending much more time here.

Local Roots

Local foods and beers.

La Femme du Fromage

Houndstooth Sauce Company

Fatto in Casa

Gardens out front.

 

SkyeBird Juice Bar

I stopped by to get a tasty drink at Skyebird juice bar.
 

 

Lineage Roasting

A couple of days after my first visit I stopped by the market at 7:00 am to get some really good and strong coffee at Lineage and a tasty morning treat from Old Hearth Bread Company.

 

Rocinha

In July of 2006 we were those tourists. We had seen favelas on tv and knew that they were dangerous but still we were intrigued. While visiting Rio de Janeiro we happened upon a favela tour of Rocinha. So for the day, we treated other’s lifestyle as a tourist attraction. I am glad we went; it was eye opening. Our tour guide was very informative and we eased our guilt by learning that profits from the tour are used to help develop schools in the favela.
Our tour starts at the bottom of the hill. The tour guide hires numerous men on motorbikes to take us up to the top of the hill of the town. From the top we begin our descent down.
The first thing we notice is the power wires. This cluster is a result of generations of power “borrowing” from the utilities.

As you walk down through the favela you will notice normal people, with most of life’s luxuries. They all had tvs. They all had phones. They just lived in much smaller and more rundown houses than us.

 

 It wasn’t until later on that I notice the awkardness of this photo. We are capturing the intimate moment of a family on their back porch. They have a great view but there isn’t much privacy here.

 

  Further down the hill conditions deteriorate. The sewage flows down the hill. It is less clean. There is noticeably more trash lying around.

 

 I asked these ladies if they would mind if I took their picture and they were more than happy to pose for me.

Something striking about favelas in 2006 is that they are secured by the gangs that run them. Young men with guns (even teen boys) patrol the favela and keep the peace. The goal is to keep the police out so business is good. At first is was a bit intimidating but in realty I felt the safest there in all of Rio.