This year we are in a high Aurora cycle. These pictures were taken during the last high period in the winter of 2004. The first pictures are from near Glennallen. The later pictures are from Earthquake Park with the lights … Continue reading Aurora, 2004 (Glennallen and Anchorage.)
We have only driven the Alaska Highway in the winter and the autumn. In the summer there is dust, there are potholes and there are mosquitoes. In the winter the potholes are filled with water and frozen over, there is … Continue reading Alaska Highway, Autumn, 2004
These pictures are all taken within the Anchorage City Limits. The first two show Anchorage on Sunday, without “termination dust” (snow) on the near mountains, the second taken on Thursday shows the termination dust has taken hold. Both were taken … Continue reading Anchorage, Sept 2013
We got to spend two days driving with our friends Dave and Carol Lam, one through the Matanuska-Susitna valley (MatSu) and one down Turnagain Arm to Girdwood. We enjoyed the last days of summer and the first of fall in Anchorage and environs. The colors up on the mountains had turned and the mountainsides were red, rust, yellow and green. When we arrived the tops of the near mountains were clear of snow. When we left “termination dust” the first snow dusting the mountain peaks, had arrived. Alaska had a hard winter and a glorious summer. When I posted pics … Continue reading Mat Su Valley, Sept, 2013
These pictures are faded. We scanned them to put on this website. March 1997 There are fine monasteries, isolated in the mountains, and of only passing interest to the Turks, so they remain. We went to Rila. It is a four story arcaded and fortified place with fine frescos that have the faces of donors to the monastery depicted as saints, and demons. I don’t know if the placement has anything to do with the size of the donation. While we happily spent hours in the monastery on one fine Sunday, it is the mountains rising around it that … Continue reading Rila Monastery, Bulgaria, 1997
This is from October 2011. We drove back to Serbia by back roads. The main attraction was to be Belogradchik, an Ottoman fort built around a series of natural red rock monoliths. In pictures they look spectacular, but we had fog down to the deck so I really can’t testify to them first hand. Now I know how cruise ship passengers arriving in Sitka must feel. We also visited the Rakovishki Monastery, which was a center for Bulgarian Nationalism against the Turks. The Turks destroyed much of the monastery in 1850 but left one chapel from the 11th century unharmed. … Continue reading Rakoivishki Monastery, Bulgaria.
My Friend Lili from Sofia asked where Bulgaria was in my blog. Here are some Archive pictures from October 2011. October 30, 2011 Sofia, Bulgaria Anyone who digs a few meters under Sofia’s the streets finds layers of history ranging from Neolithic to Ottoman with Roman, Byzantine and Medieval Bulgarian layered between. In 2004 excavations started for the hotel in which we were staying, workers uncovered a Roman Amphitheater and they had to redesign the hotel to protect the ruins and incorporate them into the design, giving the hotel a striking atrium and one of the more unique health clubs … Continue reading Sofia, Bulgaria
Freising, the town closest to the Munich Airport is a nice place to lay over between two overnight flights. Pictures here are from this winter and this summer, different views at different times of the year. It has, that it claims to be the oldest brewery in Germany, a friendly Marriott airport hotel and shops and cafes that allow for a restful stopover between flights. Continue reading Freising, Bavaria, Germany
Working in Georgia is like being on a vacation; I stay in a luxury hotel, with a spa equipped with a pool, hot tub and sauna. It has nice food and my room has a wonderful view over Freedom Square, up the hill to the Citadel and across to the Presidential Palace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. St. George is constantly in the act of slaying a dragon on a pedestal just above eye level right outside my window. On weekends I get to go to see interesting places; walled cities, monasteries, mountain scenery; and on weekday evenings I walk through … Continue reading Tbilisi from my window and other views, Sept. 2013
Sighnaghi, with only 2,100 people, is a mountain top architectural gem. Its name comes from the word siginak, Turkish for “shelter.” It was built in the 18th century as a fortified town on the frontiers of Moslem Azerbaijan and Dagestan. It main industries are wine making, carpet making and, now, tourism. The town is circled by about 4.5 kilometers of wall with 23 defensive towers. The wall winds around the mountain side. I walked along the top for about a half a kilometer between several of the towers with great views of vineyards running down the mountain. Continue reading Sighnaghi, Georgia
Bodbe, about two km from Sighnaghi, has a 5th century convent that shelters the remains of St. Nino, who converted the King and Queen to Christianity in the 4th Century. The convent was rebuilt between the 9th and 11th centuries. George tells me that all that remains from the 5th century is the foundation. It, and St. Nino’s spring, a constant source of holy water a few hundred meters away are pilgrimage points. The chapel’s frescoes are from the 1820s. The Soviets plastered them over and used the building as a hospital. Some of the frescoes have been restored. The … Continue reading Bodbe Monastery (St. Nino’s Convent), Georgia
At Alaverdi, on the other side of the pass we visited a monastery that has a cathedral within its walls. Until the new Tbilisi Cathedral it was the tallest Georgian church. It, like the Tbilisi church, has a soaring feeling of light even though the walls are decorated with frescoes. These frescoes were covered with whitewash or plaster by Moslem invaders, restored, and covered again by the Communists. A monk Joseph (Yoseb) Alaverdeli founded the cathedral. But Alaverdi has another meaning in Arabic “God Provides.” God provides good grape and Alaverdi Monastery is at the center of Georgia’s wine industry. … Continue reading Alaverdi Monastery and Cathedral, Georgia
On Sunday I took another road trip. I was the passenger in a Japanese, steering wheel on the right, Mitsubishi 4X4. So I was the one facing traffic. The pass other vehicles the driver pulled out into the oncoming lane so he could see if there was any oncoming traffic, and if needed quickly duck back in to avoid the head on. I, of course, being in the “driver’s seat” saw it all coming — head on. On broad curves to the right the driver pulled to the right to look around the truck in front. If he didn’t see … Continue reading Gombori Pass, Georgia.
I walked back to the hotel, down steep streets toward the glass domed presidential palace. A lot of the streets on my map were closed for security so I followed several dead ends but got to where I wanted to be, the upper entrance to the Rike Park Theater and Exhibition Hall. I have described this building as looking like two tubes, or perhaps jug mouths, pouring culture down into the river from just below the presidential palace. There’s been enough progress on the building that I can tell that the main entry is at the bottom of the hill … Continue reading Rike Park Theater and Exhibition Hall, Tbilisi, Georgia.
I had waited for the number 4 minibus for a long time so I decided to spend 10 times the amount and take a cab to the Sameba (Holy Trinity) Cathedral. Georgians say it is the largest Orthodox Church in the world. Serbs dispute that saying St. Sava is bigger. Sameba Cathedral has a tall tower with a gilded cupola that reflects sun in the day and floodlight at night. It dominates Tbilisi. As the cab followed the route the mini-bus would have taken I discovered the problem. Police were rerouting traffic. The mini-bus was not going to stop at … Continue reading Sameba (Holy Trinity) Cathedral, Tbilisi, Georgia
The 14th century Gergetis Sameba (Gergeti Trinity) walled monastery sits above Kazbegi and below Mt. Kazbeg at 7120 feet above sea level – and reflects light from a glacier that hangs 2,800 feet above the monastery. The monastery was a place of refuge for icons and relics from the Mksheka Cathedral (Perhaps including St. Andrew’s foot) when southern Georgia was overrun by Turks, Persians or Arabs. In 1988 the Soviets built an aerial tramway to the monastery but when Georgia broke away from the Soviet Union the residents tore it down. For them pilgrimage should not be easy. The tramway … Continue reading Gergetis Sameba Monastery, Georgia
The town closest to the Russian Border on the Georgian Military Road is Stephantsminda. Most people still call it Kazbegi. The town itself is not particularly pretty with rundown buildings, jumbles of electric wires and a jungle gym of above ground natural gas pipes typical of old Soviet towns. The natural setting makes up for the open infrastructure. It sits at the foot of Mt. Kazbeg which rises to 16,512 feet. However the town’s main attraction is not the mountain but the 14th century Gergetis Sameba (Gergeti Trinity) walled monastery that sits above the town and below the big mountain … Continue reading Stephantsminda (Kazbegi), Georgia
I rode up The Georgian Military Road 6 months ago in the March snows. The Russians built it in 1799. Watch towers on hills provide line of sight communication from the border to Tbilisi. We drove across Jvari Pass, at 7815 ft. A Soviet monument of mosaics highlights Russian and Georgian history, celebrating the military road that carried Russian troops to help protect the Georgian kingdom from Moslems, and then helped them impose Russian rule in 1801. The road was crucial to the economic development of Georgia. The road in the pass is under reconstruction. Many of the tunnels, lined with … Continue reading Jvari Pass, Georgian Military Road
tThe Georgian Military Road connects Tbilisi with the Russian Border. It was started in 1799. In 1801 Russia annexed the Kingdom of Georgia. I rode up the Georgian Military Road last March and took pictures of some of the same watchtowers, churches and mountainsides in the snow. Now you can see them in the summer. These pictures are taken south of Gudauri, which is the ski area where I traveled last March. I did not get north of the ski area. I missed a lot. The next post has pictures from North of Gudauri Continue reading Georgian Military Road in the Summer
Ananuri, a citadel used to sit on a ridge above a river that has been dammed so now sits on a point in the Zhinvili Reservoir. The town that it towered over is underwater. The Church of the Assumption was used as a barn in Soviet times and the frescos were whitewashed. Some have now been uncovered. The carvings on the outside walls of the Assumption Church include a huge cross visible from the highway and grape vines loaded with fruit. Nicholas says the reason Georgians greet guests with wine is in commemoration of the Eucharist. Each greeting is a … Continue reading Ananuri Citadel and the Church of the Assumption, Georgia
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mksheka is the mother church of Georgian Orthodoxy. St. Nino converted the King and Queen there. I posted pictures from here in May but I had no pics from inside the church. Nicholas, my cab driver, spoke good English and he arranged permission for me to take pictures if I did not use a flash. There was a service in progress. It was conducted in Russian but the choir sang Georgian hymns. Nicholas pointed out one very strange and old fresco with three concentric circles. The Trinity sat in the bull’s eye, between the inner and middle circles, the … Continue reading Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, Mksheka, Georgia
The key to overcoming jet lag is to keep pushing. I arrived in Tbilisi at 3 AM Saturday morning and was in bed by 4:30. I forced myself to get up at 11:30 AM even though it was bedtime in Sitka, (12 hour difference) and tried to figure out something that would keep me interested and awake until bedtime in Tbilisi, which is just when I would be getting my second wind because it’s time to get up in Sitka. I hopped on a marshruka (mini-bus) at Freedom Square and headed up to the lower terminus of Tbilisi’s funicular railway. … Continue reading Tbilisi Funicular Railway
Suzi and I have been attending the Winnipeg Folk Festival since 1976. It has provided refreshment to us in different ways depending on where we were in life. The first festivals came when we were struggling to get and keep … Continue reading 40th Winnipeg Folk Festival, 2013
This year Sitka hosted its second annual Highland Games as part of the Sitka Seafood Festival. The festival had a parade, marathon and booths selling fresh seafood and local crafts on the Sitka Fine Arts Camp Campus (former Sheldon Jackson College.) Continue reading Sitka Highland Games, August, 2013