Category: Travel Creativity

portuguese azulejos

wanderessence1025 October 10, 2019

Azulejo is a form of Portuguese and Spanish painted tin-glazed ceramic tilework. The word is derived from the Arabic zellige, meaning “polished stone.” The original idea was to imitate Byzantine and Roman mosaics. There are Persian influences here in the interlocking curvilinear, geometric or floral motifs.

Silves 2013

Azulejos are found on the interiors and exteriors of churches, palaces, ordinary houses, schools, and even restaurants, bars, railways or subway stations. They are applied on walls, floors and even ceilings. Many azulejos chronicle major historical and cultural aspects of Portuguese history.

Sintra 2013

These techniques were introduced into Portugal by king Manuel I after a visit to Seville in 1503. The Portuguese adopted the Moorish tradition of horror vacui (“fear of empty spaces”) and covered the walls completely with azulejos (source: Wikipedia: Azulejo).

Braga 2018

Braga 2018

Guimarães 2018

Porto 2018

Porto 2018

Porto 2018

Porto 2018

Porto 2018

Porto 2018

Porto 2018

Porto 2018

Amarante 2018

Amarante 2018

Amarante 2018

Amarante 2018

Amarante 2018

Sintra 2018

Lisbon 2018

Lisbon 2018

Lisbon 2018

Lisbon 2018

Lisbon 2018

Lisbon 2018

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“PHOTOGRAPHY” INVITATION: I invite you to create a photography intention and then create a blog post for a place you have visited. Alternately, you can post a thematic post about a place, photos of whatever you discovered that set your heart afire. You can also do a thematic post of something you have found throughout all your travels: churches, doors, people reading, people hiking, mountains, patterns, all black & white, whatever!

In my case, my intention was to look for thematic possibilities during my trip to Morocco and was enticed by all the colorful markets (and the goods!).

You probably have your own ideas about this, but in case you’d like some ideas, you can visit my page: photography inspiration.

I challenge you to post no more than 20-25 photos (I have more here!) and to write less than 1,500 words about any travel-related photography intention you set for yourself. Include the link in the comments below by Wednesday, October 16 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this challenge on Thursday, October 17, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation, every first, second, and third (& 5th, if there is one) Thursday of each month. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

lisbon: around & about bairro alto & alfama

wanderessence1025 October 8, 2019

We shrugged off the gloom on our first full day in Lisbon and walked all over Bairro Alto and Alfama. I had been to Lisbon before, but Mike hadn’t, so I wanted to show him the neighborhoods I’d loved my first time in the city.

We started in the neighborhood where our hotel was situated, Bairro Alto, looking for a place to hear fado that evening. They all seemed too touristy, so, sadly, we ended up skipping fado altogether. Mike’s experience would thus differ from mine, as I did hear fado in 2013 in the touristy Café LUSO, a Fado House established in 1927. Bairro Alto is the party-loving side of Lisbon, a nightlife mecca, so our morning-after stroll revealed a hung-over sort of atmosphere. It was, after all, a Sunday morning, following on the heels of Saturday night revelry.

Bairro Alto

a sad-looking Bairro Alto

Adega Machado in Bairro Alto

We walked downhill, passing the famous trams along the way. I was in search of my favorite Lisbon ceiling at Basilica of the Martyrs. We made it through the theater district and slowly down to sea level, to the huge gate and plaza on the Rio Teja: Praça do Comércio, with its grand 18th century arcades and mosaic cobblestones. In 1908, anarchists assassinated Dom Carlos I and his son, and the square witnessed the fall of the monarchy. In today’s square, a Web Summit was advertised in bold letters.

Lisbon’s trams

theater district

Basilica of the Martyrs

Basilica of the Martyrs

Praça do Comércio

Praça do Comércio

Praça do Comércio

After hitting the bottom, we began to climb our way up into Alfama. Lisbon, with its seven hills, is nothing but climbs and descents.

Alfama

Igreja de Santa Luzia

Alfama

souvenir shop outside Castelo de São Jorge

Alfama

Though we’d walked up to Castelo de São Jorge the previous evening, it had been too late to go inside, so we went inside to explore. The castle’s hilltop fortifications tower dramatically above Lisbon, and offer splendid views of the red rooftops of the city and the Rio Teja. Human occupation of the castle hill dates to at least the 8th century B.C., while the first fortifications date from the 1st century B.C. Visigoths were here in the 5th century, Moors in the 9th, and Christians in the 12th. Since the 12th century, the castle has variously served as a royal palace, a military barracks, and now as a national monument and museum. It has held convicts in nearly every century.

view of the Rio Teja from Castelo de São Jorge

Castelo de São Jorge

me at Castelo de São Jorge

cannon at Castelo de São Jorge

view of Lisbon from Castelo de São Jorge

view of the Rio Teja from Castelo de São Jorge

view of Lisbon from Castelo de São Jorge

view of Lisbon from Castelo de São Jorge

Castelo de São Jorge

Castelo de São Jorge

me at Castelo de São Jorge

Castelo de São Jorge

Castelo de São Jorge

Castelo de São Jorge

view from Castelo de São Jorge

Castelo de São Jorge

view from Castelo de São Jorge

After thoroughly exploring the castle, we walked back downhill through Alfama, through alleys of gritty street art to the Miradouro de Santa Luzia, where we absorbed the sweeping views over Alfama’s coral-red rooftops to the river.

The eyes have Mike in Alfama

view from Miradouro de Santa Luzia

view from Miradouro de Santa Luzia

We decided we had to take Tram 28, which took us up and down hills through several neighborhoods, dumping us at an unfamiliar spot at the bottom of a busy commercial area. I had remembered the tram dropping me at the top of a hill when I rode it in 2013. We didn’t have a clue where we were.

tuk-tuks at the ready near the Tram 28 stop

riding Tram 28

Tram 28 depositing all passengers

Mike did what he does best, navigating us through the Baixa district, with its colorful and tiled façades, and past the Elevador de Santa Justa. This 19th century industrial age elevator whisks passengers up 45 meters from the Baixa district to the Largo do Carmo. This masterpiece is adorned with wrought iron neo-Gothic arches and geometric patterns; it was designed by Gustave Eiffel’s apprentice, Raul Mésnier. We moseyed our way through the theater district in Chiado.

tiled building in Baixa

colorful purple building in Baixa

Elevador de Santa Justa

beautiful tiled building in theater district

Teatro da Trindade

theater district

The sky was threatening rain, so we ducked into the Roman Catholic Igreja & Museu São Roque, with its dazzling interior of gold, marble and Florentine azulejos. It was the earliest Jesuit church in the Portuguese world, and one of the first Jesuit churches anywhere. After the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, the church was given to the Lisbon Holy House of Mercy to replace their church and headquarters, which had been destroyed. It remains a part of the Holy House of Mercy today. The adjoining museum displays elaborate sacred art and holy relics.

Igreja & Museu São Roque

ceiling in Igreja & Museu São Roque

Finally, we made our way back to our hotel through Bairro Alto as it started to rain, and, as it was too early for dinner, we took a seat at a cozy bar across the street, where some wine and spirits lit our dark moods. While Mike watched sports on the bar TV, I ran next door and did some shopping at my favorite store, LostIn. 🙂

Adega Machado in Bairro Alto

Bairro Alto

cozy Lisbon bar across from our hotel

self-portrait in the bar mirror

We ate dinner at a sushi buffet restaurant near our hotel. As it was pouring rain, we simply didn’t have the heart to go further afield. The meal was decidedly mediocre.

*Sunday, November 4, 2018*

*14,781 steps, or 6.26 miles*

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“PROSE” INVITATION: I invite you to write up to a post on your own blog about a recently visited particular destination (not journeys in general). Concentrate on any intention you set for your prose. One of my intentions was to use five random verbs in my travel essay each day: 1) ~~dump~~, 2) ~~shrug~~, 3) ~~differ~~, 4) ~~light~~, and 5) ~~absorb~~. √

It doesn’t matter whether you write fiction or non-fiction for this invitation. You can either set your own writing intentions, or use one of the prompts I’ve listed on this page: writing prompts: prose. (This page is a work in process.) You can also include photos, of course.

Include the link in the comments below by Monday, October 21 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this invitation on Tuesday, October 22, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

poetic journeys: let it all, all, all

wanderessence1025 October 4, 2019

let it all, all, all

~ found Poem from Elizabeth Berg’s The Year of Pleasures ~

Here it is written out:

let it all, all, all

I remember a breath,
a waterfall;
down, down,
let it all, all, all
the smell of sandalwood,
the soothing way
dust motes streamed
the veil falling away
unsticking
from self.
In dreams,
I was still.

~ Found Poem from Elizabeth Berg’s The Year of Pleasures ~

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“POETRY” Invitation: I invite you to write a poem of any poetic form on your own blog about a particular travel destination. Or you can write about travel in general. Concentrate on any intention you set for your poetry.

My intention for my Midwestern Triangle Road Trip was to write four Found Poems. I wrote one here: poetic journeys: lives moving as fast as possible. I was to write two poems based on books I read that were set in my destination. One of these books, set in Illinois, was Elizabeth Berg’s The Year of Pleasures. I found a poem on page 51 of her book.

This type of Found Poem is known as Erasure, where you choose a source and erase away most of the “text” and leave words and/or phrases and/or sentences so that what’s left says something very different from what the original writing said and is art. The end result should be something different from what the original text said.

You can either set your own poetic intentions, or use one of the prompts I’ve listed on this page: writing prompts: poetry. (This page is a work in process). You can also include photos, of course.

Include the link in the comments below by Thursday, October 31 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this challenge on Friday, November 1, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation, on the first Friday of each month. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

I am traveling from September 1 to October 4. If I cannot respond to or add your links due to wi-fi problems or time constraints, please feel free to add your links in both this post and my next scheduled post. If I can’t read them when you post them, I will get to them as soon as I can. Thanks for your understanding! 🙂

enticing moroccan markets

wanderessence1025 October 3, 2019

Some of the most beguiling things about Morocco are the markets filled to the brim with enticing and colorful decorative objects and foods. I fell prey to many of them, and came home with an extra bag stuffed with scarves, paintings, mother-of-pearl inlaid mirrored frames, Fatima hands, spices, a leather bag and two wallets, and even a rug. 🙂 I sadly never bought any ceramics because the pieces I wanted were large and cumbersome, and I would have had to carry them not only through Morocco, but through Italy as well.

Essaouira

dates in Casablanca

Casablanca

Tangier

Tangier

Tangier

Tangier

Tangier

Tangier

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Fès

We stopped at a modern grocery store in Asima on the 10-hour drive from Fès to Merzouga. Here, we bought ingredients for a picnic lunch that we enjoyed along the way.

modern grocery store in Asima on the way from Fès to Merzouga

Aït Benhaddou

Aït Benhaddou

Essaouira

Essaouira

Essaouira

Marrakech

Marrakech

Marrakech

I so wanted the purple rug shown below but would have had nowhere to put it!

Marrakech

*********************

In my case, my intention was to look for thematic possibilities during my trip to Morocco and was enticed by all the colorful markets (and the goods!).

You probably have your own ideas about this, but in case you’d like some ideas, you can visit my page: photography inspiration.

I challenge you to post no more than 20-25 photos (I have a lot more here!) and to write less than 1,500 words about any travel-related photography intention you set for yourself. Include the link in the comments below by Wednesday, October 9 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this challenge on Thursday, October 10, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation, every first, second, and third (& 5th, if there is one) Thursday of each month. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

the ~ wander.essence ~ community

I invite you all to settle in and read a few posts from our wandering community. I promise, you’ll be inspired!

Jude, of life at the edge, takes us back to summer at Heligan’s Sundial Garden.
Suzanne, of Life at No. 22, wrote a post about art in Lisbon: ARty Lisbon – A REvisit.
Sheetal, of sheetalbravon, has captured some of Venice’s fading elegance: Magical Venice!

Thanks to all of you who shared posts on the “photography” invitation. 🙂

portugal: cabo da roca to lisbon

wanderessence1025 September 24, 2019

After leaving behind the fog-engulfed hills of Sintra, we drove to Cabo da Roca and strolled across the sea cliffs near the lighthouse. Cabo da Roca is the westernmost point in Europe, further west than Cape Finisterre in Spain, which in Roman times was believed to be the end of the known world.

It was a rugged and windswept place, but not quite remote enough to escape the tourists. The tonal sing-song of hordes of Chinese tourists echoed across the high cliffs and among the ice plants. I’m not a litigious person, but I would have sued them if I could have, for disturbing the peace.

Once back in our MINI Cooper Clubman, Mike wanted to get closer to the ocean, so he veered off the paved road down a rutted dirt road that seemed to head off into the sea. The ruts were deep and, sensing we would get stuck if he continued, I insisted that we backtrack out of there.

The next thing I knew, the car began performing roughly, with a thumping noise coming from the front driver’s side. We had a flat tire. We bumped into town and parked, but, to our annoyance, found no spare in the car. We called Europcar to send a repairman or a tow truck and taxi to 3 Gomes Restaurant.

It took a good long while to sort out that incident, with a tow truck and taxi finally arriving and taking us to the closest Europcar office. We were planning to return the car anyway, as we didn’t want to take it into Lisbon, and luckily they didn’t give us much grief. They were partly at fault for not including a spare in the car.

Cabo da Roca

Cabo da Roca

Cabo da Roca

Cabo da Roca

ice plant at Cabo da Roca

lighthouse at Cabo da Roca

We took a taxi into the city, crawling through horrendous traffic jams because of the military parade that apparently had followed us from Guimarães and was now clogging the streets of Lisbon.

After settling into Pensão Londres, we went directly across the street to LOSTin Esplanada•Bar, my favorite place in Lisbon, where we enjoyed fabulous views of downtown Lisbon and the Castelo de São Jorge. Lunch was a a fusion between the East and the Mediterranean: vegetable samosas, red beet carpachio with greens & yogurt, and goat cheese pastry with blueberry compote.

Then we moseyed downhill from Bairro Alto, past the graffiti-covered Elevador de Gloria. Heading uphill again to Alfama, we bowed into Lisbon’s Sé (Cathedral) and wandered among colorful laundry strung on balconies, enticing souvenir shops, peeling and crumbling buildings, trams and tuk-tuks, street art and messy graffiti, colorful tile façades, and festive flower-bedecked windows near Castelo de São Jorge. We enjoyed the sun setting on the blushing roofs of Lisbon and the Río Tejo from Miradouro de Santa Luzia.

In Alfama, we acted as if we were dating and did a kind of bar hop for dinner, stopping first for a happy hour and bruschetta at Canto da Vila bistrô. Further down one of Lisbon’s seven hills, after passing a strange gilded busker suspended illogically in mid-air, we dipped into Bairro do Avillez, where we enjoyed several small dishes: “Linguiça” sausage bread purée with asparagus, tomato and green apple salad and “Portuguesinha,” or Portuguese cooked pie. We topped our meal off with desserts of olive oil & honey pudding with lemon zest and Taberna’s Chocolate Cake.

After our exhausting day, we switched on the TV and watched the end of Forrest Gump, which we watched until we fell asleep.

LOSTin Esplanada • Bar

me at LOSTin Esplanada • Bar

view over Lisbon from LOSTin Esplanada • Bar

Elevador de Gloria

Church

tiled façades

streets of Alfama

climbing to Alfama

church

unknown church in Lisbon

Sé de Lisboa

Tiled facades in Alfama

view from Miradouro of Santa Luzia

view from Miradouro of Santa Luzia

view from Miradouro of Santa Luzia

eyes on us in Alfama

entrance to Castelo de São Jorge

charming window in the Alfama neighborhood around the Castelo de São Jorge

bruschetta in Canto da Vila bistrô

Canto da Vila bistrô

Busker

Bairro do Avillez

*Saturday, November 3, 2018*

*15,346 steps, or 6.5 miles*

**********************

“PROSE” INVITATION: I invite you to write up to a post on your own blog about a recently visited particular destination (not journeys in general). Concentrate on any intention you set for your prose. One of my intentions was to use five random verbs in my travel essay each day: 1) ~~date~~, 2) ~~sense~~, 3) ~~sue~~, 4) ~~perform~~, and 5) ~~echo~~. √

Include the link in the comments below by Monday, October 7 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this invitation on Tuesday, October 8, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

the ~ wander.essence ~ community

I invite you all to settle in and read a few posts from our wandering community. I promise, you’ll be inspired. 🙂

Thanks to all of you who wrote prosaic posts following intentions you set for yourself. 🙂

blues of morocco

wanderessence1025 September 19, 2019

The color blue is found throughout Morocco, on buildings, boats, ceramics, tiles, and Berber robes. In the town of Chefchaouen, there are several theories as to why all the walls were painted blue. Our guide told us that the blue keeps mosquitoes away. Another theory is that Jews introduced the blue when they took refuge from Hitler in the 1930s. The blue is said to symbolize the sky and heaven, and serve as a reminder to lead a spiritual life. However, according to some locals, the walls were mandated to be painted blue simply to attract tourists at some point in the 1970s (Wikipedia: Chefchaouen).

calligraphy in Casablanca

All this time she hadn’t known that “blue” was actually seven distinct shades, each with its own names – azure, Prussian, cobalt, cerulean, sapphire, indigo, lapis. She pressed the waxy pencils on the paper, amazed by the emerging hues: the ornaments curving on the Armenian vase were lapis; the purplish contours of the Jerusalem mountains were shrouded by indigo evening clouds.
― Talia Carner, Jerusalem Maiden

eggs in Tangier

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen

Fez tiles

ceramics in Fez

Essaouira

Essaouira

Essaouira

Essaouira

Essaouira

Essaouira

Essaouira

Marrakech

*April, 2019*

*********************

You probably have your own ideas about this, but in case you’d like some ideas, you can visit my page: photography inspiration.

I challenge you to post no more than 20-30 photos and to write less than 1,500 words about any travel-related photography intention you set for yourself. Include the link in the comments below by Wednesday, October 2 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this challenge on Thursday, October 3, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation, every first, second, and third (& 5th, if there is one) Thursday of each month (I’ve now added the second Thursday). Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

the ~ wander.essence ~ community

I invite you all to settle in and read a few posts from our wandering community. I promise, you’ll be inspired!

Sheetal, of sheetalbravon, captured some regal felines in Cats of The Most Beautiful Bookstore in Venice.

Thanks to all of you who shared posts on the “photography” invitation. 🙂

decay & ruin in portugal

wanderessence1025 September 12, 2019

Part of Portugal’s charm lies in the peeling and decaying buildings that are found throughout the country. It seems I captured more of them when I was there in 2013, but I also found some in my recent visit in 2018.

Silves 2013

“Decline is also a form of voluptuousness, just like growth. Autumn is just as sensual as springtime. There is as much greatness in dying as in procreation.”
― Iwan Goll

Silves 2013

Evora 2013

Evora 2013

Take something irregular, rough-hewn, off-kilter, incomplete…
and it’s all the more desirable for its flaws.
– Oliver Burkeman

Evora 2013

Evora 2013

Evora 2013 – including a decrepit person!

Evora 2013

“Time erodes us all.”
― Meg Rosoff, What I Was

Evora 2013

Evora 2013

Evora 2013

Evora 2013

Evora 2013

me in Lisbon 2013

Lisbon 2013

Lisbon 2013

Porto 2018

Porto 2018

Porto 2018

Porto 2018

Porto 2018

Óbidos 2018

ruins near Our Lord Jesus of the Stone Sanctuary outside of Óbidos 2018

Lisbon 2018

Lisbon 2018

*********************

You probably have your own ideas about this, but in case you’d like some ideas, you can visit my page: photography inspiration.

I challenge you to post no more than 20-25 photos and to write less than 1,500 words about any travel-related photography intention you set for yourself. Include the link in the comments below by Wednesday, September 18 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this challenge on Thursday, September 19, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation, every first and third (& 5th, if there is one) Thursday of each month. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

the ~ wander.essence ~ community

I invite you all to settle in and read a few posts from our wandering community. I promise, you’ll be inspired!

Jude, of life at the edge, shared photos of industrial ruins in a picturesque location: Wheal Coates.
Ulli, of suburban tracks, wrote a post about some industrial ruins in the countryside outside of Berlin: The Modern Underworlds.

Thanks to all of you who shared posts on the “photography” invitation. 🙂

exploring horse & bourbon country around lexington, kentucky

wanderessence1025 September 10, 2019

It was a Mardi Gras kind of day when we drove to the Horse Capital of the World in Lexington, Kentucky. We rolled over frost-bitten hills lined with wooden fences under corsages of clouds. Long shadows of fences and bare-branched trees lay etched on the snow, and horses grazed in the fields. When we got out of our warm car at Claiborne Farm near Paris, Kentucky, it was 19ºF, a biting cold that pierced through our hats and jackets right through to our bones.

First Christian Church, Paris, KY

On the one-hour guided tour, Joe, the Claiborne Farm stallion manager, explained risqué details on the breeding process as we stood outside the breeding shed; in this no-frills place, stallions and brood mares have produced over 80 champion racehorses. The top rated stallion in the world, War Front, has roughly 80 dalliances per year during breeding season (January-May). War Front’s stud fee is $250,000 per shot, with a guaranteed foal. It’s estimated that the horse is worth about $80 million.

We walked the shed rows of iconic stallion barns, currently home to War Front, Blame, Runhappy, Unbridled, Easy Goer, Pulpit, Round Table, Orb, and others. We visited the cemetery of 20 champions, including the thoroughbred racehorse Secretariat. In 1973, Secretariat (1970 – 1989) became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years. His record-breaking victory in the Belmont Stakes, which he won by 31 lengths, is widely regarded as one of the greatest races of all time.

Claiborne Farm is a 3,000 acre operation which has been owned by four generations of the Hancock family. Arthur “Bull” Hancock, Jr. died in 1972; his death was discussed in the 2010 movie, Secretariat. Seth, his son, took over, syndicating Secretariat for breeding purposes; the horse stood at stud at Claiborne Farm from the conclusion of his racing career at the end of 1973 until his death in 1989.

We fed peppermints to some of the stallions, including Orb, who was “cribbing,” or gnawing on the fence. After being defeated in his first three starts, Orb won five consecutive races, culminating with a victory in the Kentucky Derby on May 4, 2013. He was retired at the end of the year to stand at stud at Claiborne Farm.

Claiborne Farm

Hall of Fame for horses

the breeding barn

barn at Claiborne Farm

famous bridles

Orb

Orb

Claiborne Farm

Orb

barns of stallions

Mike & me at Secretariat’s grave

graveyard of great horses

Claiborne Farm

We met the wildly valuable, famous and friendly War Front.

War Front

Trying to thaw out after our hour-long tour, we ate Kentucky-style lunch at Lil’s Coffee Shop — steaming chicken noodle soup for me and chili for Mike, accompanied by sandwiches of egg salad and chicken salad — in the midst of antique & used furniture at J.J. Newberry Company.

La Jarocha in Paris, KY

Lil’s Diner

The Robneel

J.J. Newberry Co.

First Christian Church in Paris, KY

It was a day of layers, frozen fingers and toes, fuzzy hats, scarves, gloves and hand warmers. A day of landscape dusted by snow, not about to melt even in the sun. It was a day of immersion in a crystallized landscape, with Amish quilts on the sides of barns, cattle huddled in small groups, and horses grazing in sprawling pastures. A day where a sign at Transylvania University reminded us we were in Amish country: God is able to make greatness out of our great mess.

Drive through horse country

Drive through horse country

Drive through horse country

barn with quilt block

cows in horse country

We drove to the Colville Covered Bridge, built in 1877, spanning Hinkston Creek. As of 1976, it was the last surviving covered bridge in Bourbon County and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Colville Covered Bridge

Drive through horse country

At the University of Kentucky library we stopped to see the Wade Hall Quilt Collection, but the small Amish quilts hung high on a tall wall in the midst of students chattering at study tables. The venue was disappointing.

mural at University of Kentucky

library at University of Kentucky

Wade Hall Quilt Collection at University of Kentucky

At Town Branch Bourbon and Alltech Lexington Brewing Co., we went on a half-hour tour of the brewery and a half-hour tour of the distillery. At the brewing company, we tasted Kentucky Ale, Kentucky Kolsch and other beers. At the distillery, we tasted bourbons. The explanation of processes were too scientifically complicated for my little brain, and the tasting did nothing for me as I’m not a fan of bourbon. Obviously, many people are fans, however, as it is a lucrative business for Kentucky. Bourbon has been featured in the Kentucky Derby’s traditional drink, the Mint Julep, for over a century. Each year, almost 120,000 Mint Juleps are served over the two-day period of Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby weekend at Churchill Downs Racetrack.

Town Branch Bourbon

Town Branch

beer tasting

Town Branch

painted barrel at Town Branch

barrels at Town Branch

We ate an early dinner at Ramsey’s, where Mardi Gras purples and greens glittered on balloons and beads; waitresses wore festive masks. Instead of bread, we were served saltine crackers with butter. I loved my chicken and dumplings, sauteed spinach, and corn, tomatoes and okra with cornbread. Mike had mac & cheese, green beans, fried green tomatoes and corn oyster. Half his meal was frighteningly deep-fried. Mine was good comfort food, warming me up after the frigid day outside.

Ramsey’s at Mardi Gras

chicken & dumplings, sauteed spinach, corn, tomatoes and okra with corn bread

Four vegetables plate: Mac and Cheese, green beans, fried green tomatoes and corn oyster

Steps: 7,089. Miles 3.0.

*Tuesday, March 5, 2019 – Mardi Gras*

**********************

“PROSE” INVITATION: I invite you to write up to a post on your own blog about a recently visited particular destination (not journeys in general). Concentrate on any intention you set for your prose. One of my intentions was to pick a theme for the day. I knew we’d be in Lexington, so I picked “horses” as my theme.

Include the link in the comments below by Monday, September 23 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this invitation on Tuesday, September 24, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

the ~ wander.essence ~ community

I invite you all to settle in and read a few posts from our wandering community. I promise, you’ll be inspired. 🙂

Thanks to all of you who wrote prosaic posts following intentions you set for yourself. 🙂

poetic journeys: a contagion of fireflies

wanderessence1025 September 6, 2019

A Contagion of Fireflies

With nonchalance, the morning flung
a flannel cloak high over the Meseta.

In wind gusts, wheat stalks fluttered and moon-faced
sunflowers sashayed in a rush of whispers.

Thistles thrashed and windmills twirled
pale arms on a distant ridge, poised to take flight.

Under the edge of the world, a thousand candles flamed
and then burst above the prairie like a contagion of fireflies.

The golden light drifted like dandelion dust to the cloud ceiling,
and a blush of peaches and fringed violets quivered over the fields.

The morning stretched out all across the plateau,
rippling across the land like the tide rushing in.

Hornillos del Camino to Arroyo San Bol

Arroyo San Bol to Hontanas 2018

Hornillos del Camino to Arroyo San Bol

*************************

One of my many intentions for my Camino was to write at least one poem inspired by Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. One of the poems I used for inspiration was his “Landscape” in his collection Federico García Lorca: Selected Verse. I wanted to capture in a poem one of the favorite landscapes I encountered one morning on the Camino: {camino day 21} hornillos del camino to castrojeriz & ruminations {week three}.

You can either set your own poetic intentions, or use one of the prompts I’ve listed on this page: writing prompts: poetry. (This page is a work in process). You can also include photos, of course.

Include the link in the comments below by Thursday, October 3 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this challenge on Friday, October 4, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation, on the first Friday of each month. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

the ~ wander.essence ~ community

I invite you all to settle in and read a few posts from our wandering community. I promise, you’ll be inspired. 🙂

Christopher, of clcouch123, wrote a beautiful poem about “small blessings” on the Camino, which he says was inspired by a post I wrote about my experience.
- Benediciónes Pequeñas

Thanks to all of you who wrote poetic posts following intentions you set for yourself. 🙂

portugal’s gritty street art

wanderessence1025 September 5, 2019

Portugal has a vivid and spontaneous street art scene; it’s one that doesn’t seem sponsored, except in a few cases. It has a certain gritty quality to it; often it is mostly graffiti that is sloppily applied to decrepit and derelict surfaces. Here’s some of the street art I found in Portugal in October and November of 2018.

Porto

Porto

Aveiro

Aveiro

Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon

*********************

You probably have your own ideas about this, but in case you’d like some ideas, you can visit my page: photography inspiration.

I challenge you to post no more than 20-25 photos and to write less than 1,500 words about any travel-related photography intention you set for yourself. Include the link in the comments below by Wednesday, September 11 at 1:00 p.m. EST. When I write my post in response to this challenge on Thursday, September 12, I’ll include your links in that post.

This will be an ongoing invitation, every first, second, and third (& 5th, if there is one) Thursday of each month. Feel free to jump in at any time. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in our community. I look forward to reading your posts!

the ~ wander.essence ~ community

I invite you all to settle in and read a few posts from our wandering community. I promise, you’ll be inspired!

Thanks to all of you who shared posts on the “photography” invitation. 🙂

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