Fuerteventura is a dry pretty barren place at the best of times. When people built themselves a new life in The Canary Islands it was very tough. Abandoned houses and farms leave traces of the lives of the settlers and, as they say, every picture tells a story...
It have traveled on many occasions to southern Morocco when tour leading and have never had much time to explore the mud villages built literally from river mud. Here at Ait-Benhaddou the place is just fantastic and the craftsmanship is outstanding. Raw materials in the raw...
Near where we live is the town of Arcos de La Frontera stands out as a defensive town occupied for over 700years during the Moorish conquest. A great place to watch Lesser Kestrels in early summer!
This is our local beach in October. Get there before the crowds...
Camels are fascinating mammals and their very sensitive sense of smell legendary. Why is it then that they don't react to the whiff that they emit?
I took this photo on the island of Corsica. One of the islanders was taking part in an 'old timers' rally and his Citroen just looked splendid in the soft evening light.
Corn Buntings are very special seed feeders and their numbers have crashed in N Europe, possibly due to farming practices which are becoming more intensive and much more industrialized, aiming to achieve the highest possible level of production in limited areas combined with the use of chemicals.
There was a lighthouse when the Battle of Trafalgar took place over 200 years ago along this stretch of coastline in Cadiz province. In fact the Phoenician's were the earliest settlers and Cadiz city is believed to be the oldest city in Europe.
Fighting Bulls. Actually they are very docile creatures here seen together in Cadiz province scratching each other. It is an almost natural scene out in the Andalucían fields but when they are deprived of food and water before the 'fight' having had sacks of sand dropped on their shoulders to 'soften their muscles and to keep their head hanging low to present a better target.... then goaded and tormented and subsequently tortured to death. Why must this go on?
I captured this photo of a single Glossy Ibis scratching it's chin just as the sun was going down.
Zahara de La Sierra, Andalucía
A Griffon Vulture passes over the beach at Bolonia, Cadiz province.
The Millennium Monument in Heroes Square Budapest has an interesting history. Completed in 1900 Hungary was at this time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the original statues contained figures of the Habsburg dynasty. During WWII the monument was damaged and when rebuilt the Habsburgs were removed. The mounted figures in the photo represent the Magyar chieftains who led the Hungarian peoples out of the Carpathian basin.
Little survives in the
historical record about these individuals and both their costumes and
their horses are considered to be more fanciful than historically
accurate.
The Eglesia de Santa María la Coronada, Medina-Sidonia, Cadiz province, Andalucía. Originally built as a Mosque after the Moorish conquest by Musa ibn Nusair in 712ad it was transformed to Christian church after the reconquest by Alfonso X of Castille in 1264. The town of Medina-sidonia is built upon a 5 million year old compressed sand dune.
This was a digi-scoped view of the Moon's surface and mountain ranges (bottom left) taken with a little compact camera through my birding telescope.
Evening market in the central square at Marrakesh
A Moroccan Patera or flat bottomed large rowing boat lies abandoned and broken up by storms on the beach of La Yerbubuena, Barbate, Cadiz province, Andalucía, Spain. These boats are especially built for illegal immigrants to cross the narrow stretch of water that separates Africa from Europe along The Strait of Gibraltar.
In Extremadura, central-western Spain lies the wonderful medieval town of Trujillo within Cacares province. This is a bronze statue of Fransisco Pizarro the Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire in the 16thc. Modern Peruvians understandably blame Pizarro and Spain for the destruction of their indigenous culture, language and religion.
One of the iconic raptors that lives on the Iberian peninsular and beyond is the graceful Short-toed Eagle, a specialist reptile hunter - hence the short toes!
Isolla delle Femmine in Sicily.
Windswept wild olive trees or Acebuche as they are known in Spanish.
