"Welcome to my homepage" elucas's Profile


Vicenza - Palladian city with wonderful shops.

Wishing you all the best for Christmas and 2011

We have made several trips to Italy in the last two or three years - yes, I know we keep going back, but we do love it there. In 2010 we spent a holiday at Vicenza, which is east of Verona. Vicenza is a lively, modern city - for those interested in architecture is is the home of Palladio with many beautiful buildings and a famous theatre - Teatro Olimpico. The city is also very good for shopping and on some Saturdays there is a colourful flower market held in the main square - look out for the gnomes !

One of our most recent trips was a few days in Prague, Czech Republic. The visit was brief and arranged at very short notice, but was certainly worthwhile. Prague is a handsome city and has many buildings decorated in the graceful Art Nouveau style which was very popular at the start of the 20th century. One of the most beautiful sites are the 20th century windows by Mucha in St Vitus's cathedral. We will certainly go back one day.

We spent a few days in Salzburg, Austria in February. Salzburg is famous for the great fortress which towers above the city, its Baroque churches build by the ruling Prince Archbishops and for the music of the city's most famous son, Mozart. I have completed an introductory page to the city and have added some tips.

We had a short break in Lisbon in October, which proved to be an interesting and characterful city, and far enough south in Europe to be warm and sunny late in the year !

A total of about 70 VT members and their guests gathered on the beautiful island of Santorini (Thira) in Greece for the 3rd European VT meeting in June 2007. It was lovely to meet friends old and new and a great time was had by all. Many, many thanks to Galatea and Janet for all their planning and hard work - these big meetings don't just happen by themselves. More details and photos to come. Yes, I have finally done something about this and have added some tips on Fira, Oia and Pyrgos to my travelogues

A meeting was arranged as Horscheck (Holger) was coming to London. We met in the Kings Arms – a place with lots of character in Southwark, had a long, lively and enjoyable lunch, before exploring this fascinating part of London. For more details and photos see my album called Southwark, London, 2007 - and now another for 2008 when Holger returned, this time bring Sonja (YumYum) with him.

Apart from Santorini, the latest tips and photos to be added are on Jerez de la Frontera in SW Spain including information and photos on the greatest event in the year in Jerez - The Feria del Caballo - a real Andalusian Fiesta.

Thank you for "calling in" at my home page. Quite a few of you may know my husband, Andrew, who is an established member of VT. Photographs taken before Autumn 2006 are mostly "borrowed" from Andrew's pages - with his agreement ! However, Andrew now has, courtesy of his office, a serious digital camera, so now we both take pictures - and try not to take the same view from the same angle too often !

The pictures in the seasonal albums called "Spring","Summer" and "Autumn" have been mostly taken quite near to home. Yes, I know the main "reason to be" for VT is travel photos, but I feel that sometimes there can be a subject that is interesting or beautiful not far away. The album called "Colour" is a small selection of my favourite holiday photos.

It was great to meet so many new and interesting people in Marbella over three enjoyable days at the VT meeting in May 2006. Very many thanks to Stace and Carmen for all their hard work and planning over quite a long period of time.

Santorini (Thira), Greece - June 2007

We spent a week in Santorini in total - a very beautiful island formed by a very dramatic history. The "caldera" is the rim of the volcano which is what remains after a massive eruption in ancient times destroyed a great part of the island. The whitewashed villages are clustered on the rim of the caldera. Seen from the air they look like a scattering of shells on cliffs hundreds of feet high.

The town of Fira, Santorini

This picture shows Fira clustered on top of the volcano rim. The people used to live in little cave like dwellings built into the hills and linked by a network of narrow lanes and mule paths. There are many tiny churches dotted about - and, not surprisingly with these slopes, numerous steps to climb !

Andalucia - Spain - May 2006

After we left Marbella we travelled north east through the hills, past the city of Granada backed by the snow-capped Sierra Nevada. You could hardly tell where the clouds ended and the mountains began.

We continued our journey on very good and mostly quiet roads, passing hundreds of thousands of olive trees, until we reached our destination, the handsome city of Ubeda, in north east Andalucia.

Places we visited included this magnificent castle at Banos. The castle was constructed in 968 on the orders of the Caliph of Cordoba to protect the entrance to al-Andalus from Christian invasion - this was frontier country then ! The castle is just north of the town of Bailen, not far from Linares.

We like to sightsee and we spent several days exploring towns, castles, fortresses and churches. Sometimes, however, we simply sat in a square beneath the orange blossom or admired the roses which are in full bloom in southern Spain in May, with a glass of wine or a cerveza (beer) and “watched the world go by”.
Cazorla lies east of Ubeda, close to the Sierra de Cazorla and on the edge of a national park.

We returned to Jerez in time for the annual "Feria del Caballo", where it was good to meet Stace and Carmen and Hansi and Lori once more. The Feria is unforgettable – a real Spanish Fiesta, with girls in flamenco dress, a great parade of horses and carriages, and dancing in the canestas (stands). At night the whole parade ground is lit by elaborate lighting so bright that night seems to become day. Andrew, (alucas) has produced a lovely collage of pictures of the Feria.

Summer

I took this photo at a rambling farm on one of those hot sultry summer days that now seem so very distant. There is a large gaggle of geese and ducks which regularly wander from the farm across a country lane - and you have to slow right down as geese especially are not timid. On this day I could see their reflections, but not them, they must have thought they were hidden !

Irises

Some of my favourite flowers. When Andrew and I moved here we brought a few plants from my parents' home. Now we have loads of them and have bought a few different ones from a nursery.

An uncle of mine not only used to grow them, but being a very serious gardener, he tried to "cross" them to create a new flower. His garden was full of irises which were all tagged and named - that is, until my sister, then a little girl of about four, decided to "pick some flowers"!

  • Intro Updated Dec 19, 2010
  • Report Abuse

Comments (63)

Post a Comment   Submit Comment  
  • travelfrosch's Profile Photo
    travelfrosch Dec 12, 2011 at 4:31 PM Report Abuse

    Happy Birthday from chilly Boston! :)

  • connectingrod's Profile Photo
    connectingrod Dec 11, 2011 at 2:59 AM Report Abuse

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
    MAY ALL YOUR DREAM COMES TRUE THIS YEAR

  • Waalewiener's Profile Photo
    Waalewiener Dec 10, 2011 at 7:57 PM Report Abuse

    Hi Liz Happy early Birthday .Have a wonderful day..

  • Suet's Profile Photo
    Suet Dec 19, 2010 at 9:05 AM Report Abuse

    Hiya Liz, we are snowed in again. The road is impassable and we had another two feet dropped on us this morning and afternoon. Not going anywhere.....

  • Belsaita's Profile Photo
    Belsaita Dec 14, 2010 at 11:08 AM Report Abuse

    Hola Liz, happy belated birthday,I hope you had a great day!! Hugs, Isa

  • ricky52's Profile Photo
    ricky52 Dec 10, 2010 at 5:43 PM Report Abuse

    Happy birtday Liz. Have a great day. Don't be a stranger :o)

  • nhcram's Profile Photo
    nhcram Jul 25, 2010 at 4:14 AM Report Abuse

    Hi Liz Can you please send me your external email address?

  • a2lopes's Profile Photo
    a2lopes Dec 11, 2009 at 5:16 AM Report Abuse

    Hi Liz. Happy birthday. Wishing you a great day with cakes and friends. Greetings from Lisbon

  • uglyscot's Profile Photo
    uglyscot Dec 11, 2009 at 1:43 AM Report Abuse

    Hope you have a lovely day.

  • LoriPori's Profile Photo
    LoriPori Dec 10, 2009 at 3:41 AM Report Abuse

    Hello Liz: I see you haven't logged in for a while. Hope all is well. Here's wishing you Liz a very "Happy Birthday" and hope you have a fun day celebrating with family and friends. Lori

Share your travels with the world!

Join Now!
elucas's Profile Photo

elucas

“Always leave something to go back and see”

Online Now

Female

Top 5,000 Travel Writer
Member Rank:
0 1 9 3 2
Real Name
Liz
Location
England, United Kingdom
Member Since
Apr 12, 2006

Badges & Stats

  • 69 Reviews
  • 379 Photos
  • 29,228PageViews
  • 5 Countries
  • 10 Cities

Latest Activity

See All Activity

Travel Interests

See All Travel Interests (4)

Top hotels

Paris Hotels
26629 Reviews - 52009 Photos
New York City Hotels
19521 Reviews - 30170 Photos
London Hotels
26555 Reviews - 43845 Photos
Orlando Hotels
3820 Reviews - 5652 Photos
Las Vegas Hotels
9801 Reviews - 16221 Photos
Rome Hotels
14030 Reviews - 24808 Photos
Dubai Hotels
2643 Reviews - 5927 Photos
Sharm El Sheikh Hotels
1513 Reviews - 2285 Photos
Myrtle Beach Hotels
387 Reviews - 422 Photos
Barcelona Hotels
11814 Reviews - 20924 Photos
Kuala Lumpur Hotels
7102 Reviews - 12693 Photos
Goa Hotels
2324 Reviews - 3734 Photos
Panama City Beach Hotels
219 Reviews - 281 Photos
Istanbul Hotels
8966 Reviews - 18403 Photos
Bangkok Hotels
11758 Reviews - 20955 Photos