Tag Archives: travel photography

54 Days at Sea — Malta; Sailing into the Grand Harbor


Prinsendam sails into Grand Harbor, Malta

The captain of the M.S. Prinsendam warned us that we best be up early for our entry into the Grand Harbor (also called the Port of Valletta), Malta, if we wanted to see one of the most spectacular arrivals of the cruise. He was absolutely correct. The sun was low on the horizon, giving the ancient Maltese fortification and city walls a soft, warm glow.

Grand Harbor (Port of Vallerta), Malta

Malta is, if anything, even more spectacular than even Santorini. So, while I try to keep destination articles down to six spread out of two weeks, looking at the number of really good shots available to me coaxed me into talking about Malta for twelve articles spread out of four weeks. I hope you don’t get bored, but there is just too much here to spend any less time on the subject.

Grand Harbor (Port of Vallerta), Malta

Indeed, just the entry into the Grand Harbor gave me a dozen worthy shots alone, which make up the images you’ll see today.

Grand Harbor (Port of Vallerta), Malta

I’ll spend the next several articles giving you a bit more of the history and flavor of this destination, but for now let’s just enjoy the view sailing into Malta:

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Fun Photo Friday — 54 Days at Sea, Santorini Favorites 2


Santorini Mule Train

Today is our last look at the colorful destination of Santorini, Greece:

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54 Days at Sea — Santorini Part 4


Santorini Donkeys heading down for more tourists

Even though today isn’t a Fun Photo Friday, I’m going to concentrate this article on color, because Santorini is practically synonymous with colorful images. Just take a look at these backyards:

Santorini backyards

Or this ceramic store with brightly colored wares on display:

Santorini ceramics on display

Below is an image I captured of a Greek Sphinx against the blue backdrop of the Aegean inside the Santorini caldera. The Greek version of this mythical beast retains the human head atop a lion’s body of its Egyptian counterpart, but you’ll note that this version includes female breasts, the wings of an eagle, and not visible in this photo, a tail consisting of a serpent:

Greek sphinx decorating a Santorini rooftop

Of course, as previously mentioned, it isn’t Santorini if you don’t capture at least some of the many blue-domed churches, and here are three:

Blue Dome and Whitewash

Santorini blue-domed church

Santorini blue-domed church

The whitewashed buildings of Santorini offer up a great background even for duller colored subjects, such as this potted cactus:

Even dull colors pop against Santorini whitewash

But whitewash isn’t the only backdrop, as noted by some of the pictures above. Here is another example of some of the more colorful façades facing Santorini streets:

Blue shop with red bicycle

While not exactly ‘colorful’, I was able to capture this night scene of Santorini from MS Prinsendam just before we sailed away:

Santorini cliffs and town at night

And finally an example of ‘local’ color rather than the play of light beyond mere black, white, and gray, is this neat door:

Santorini door

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