Category Archives: landscape

Camino: to the End of the World

On my last day of exploring the Camino de Santiago as it travels through Galica, Spain, I felt like I really began to see the Galicia that I had imagined: the misty, green country that hugs a rugged Atlantic coastline. And stone hórreos everywhere — those built-for-all-time granaries that I had also longed to see. This one was at one of our first stops of the morning, Ponte Maceira, where there was also an ancient stone arch bridge marked with the scallop shells that show the pilgrims the way.

Another hórreo in the Galician countryside:

And then we came to the Atlantic. The Nosa Señora da Barca (Our Lady of the Boat) Church in Muxia has to be one of the most spectacularly situated buildings I’ve ever encountered. On days of rough seas I was told that the surf actually crashes through the church’s doors.

This is my kind of coastline. I know most prefer a sunny beach, but this is the kind of place that I could spend hours. But we had one more stop — Cape Finisterre, “the end of the world,” and the 0-mile mark for those pilgrims that continued on past the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. You can’t continue further west from here on foot, that’s for certain.

Many of the images that have appeared in my recent posts on the Camino — and many not shown here — appear in my latest addition to the “Journals of a Travel Photographer” book series, “Spain 6: Six days exploring Galica and the Way of St. James.” Here are a few snapshots of the book. You can see a larger preview and order copies over at my Blurb bookstore. I hope you enjoyed the journey!

The Camino, last stops on the French Way

This rustic door welcomed us to another important and impressive site along the French Way in Galicia, Spain: the Church of Vilar de Donas, built in the 12th century.

Inside, gothic frescos showed the passage of time. It was a cool respite from a day that was rapidly growing warmer, but we were soon out on the Camino again, following yellow arrows and shell markers on our way toward Santiago de Compostela.

This simple stone bridge was a great surprise. I had walked such a short section of the Camino that I can only imagine what other similar surprises it holds.

Arriving at the Albergue de Ribadiso da Baixo, we had a chance to see how the pilgrims cooled off on such a warm day. This swimming hole was adjacent to affordable lodging and restaurants for the weary travelers who were nearing their final destination.

Monte do Gozo, the Hill of Joy, is the spot where pilgrims on the French Way get their first view of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. This statue commemorates that moment and you can see the three spires of the Cathedral just to the left of the figures. In the next post, we’ll explore the Cathedral itself and see what awaits the pilgrims at the end of this epic journey.

The Camino – the French Way

My first full day in Spain’s Galicia region began where pilgrims first enter Galicia when taking the French Way route of the Camino de Santiago. If they started on the French side of the Pyrenees mountains, they have already walked (or biked, or ridden horseback) hundreds of miles. The view from the entry point at O Cebreiro is quite a reward:

The small village is home to the Church of Santa María la Real (above) and provides services for pilgrims to rest, grab a sandwich, spend the night, and just enjoy the welcoming view of this green corner of Spain.

Next stop for me was the Monastery of St Julian of Samos. The building burned in 1558 and again in 1951 but was rebuilt both times and remains an active Benedictine monastery.

The hallways are covered in murals painted in a variety of styles and the gardens, at the time of my visit in July, were filled with blooming hydrangeas.

In the next posts, we’ll visit the town of Sarria and several other important sites the road toward Santiago de Compostela.

Birding in Extremadura, Spain

Spain is a great place for anyone with an interest in birds and Extremadura’s birdwatching fair, FIO, will be held from February 24 through 26 this year. I was fortunate enough to get to attend the 2016 event last March and I had a great time. While I’m no bird expert, I do enjoy photographing a wide range of subjects — birds included — and it’s always great to hang around with a bunch of people who are passionate about something. Plus, spending a great deal of time in the Extremaduran countryside ain’t bad either. For those unfamiliar, Extremadura is a beautifully wild region of Spain lying west of Madrid and east of Portugal.

We started our bird-watching experience at the Castillo de Monfrague in Monfrague National Park, which offers panoramic views and a great platform for watching the large raptors that inhabit the area.

Much of the surrounding landscape is what is called “dehesa,” a kind of pastureland with widely dispersed trees — typically oak. The overhead view provided by the Castillo’s high perch helps illustrate what it looks like:

As the air begins to warm in the morning, various large raptors — including Griffon Vultures — begin riding the thermals. Again, the castle provides a perfect viewing platform as they spiral upward and overhead. I had the opportunity to photograph them from below, from eye-level, and from above as they would swoop back down to their nests in the cliffs below.

As large and close as these birds were, I was still happy to be testing out the then-new Tamron 150-600mm lens. A second generation has since been released, but I found little to fault with my original version and I especially appreciated the Vibration Control that allowed me to hand-hold all of these shots.

Down in the valley, we also spotted Black Storks. I can’t think of many creatures I’ve seen that look more prehistoric than these colorful birds.

And, of course, we would see plenty of White Storks as well. These inhabit nests found on many of the rooftops and chimneys in Extremadura and are hard to miss due to the clattering sound they make with their bills.

Not all of the birds were large. There were also plenty of smaller varieties, too. Below are a Thekla Lark, a pair of Crag Martins, and a European Goldfinch. I hope I have these names right — if not, it’s no reflection on my very knowledgable guides but my own inability to retain information!:

To be honest, the smaller birds were much harder to capture at the pace at which we were traveling. Their movements were much swifter and it is really best to wait out in a spot and let them come perch near you. Still, we managed to log quite a few different species as we roamed the countryside.

That’s a few of our gang of birders, photographers, and birding tour operators on the lookout for the next bird-of-interest. I truly enjoyed hanging out with these folks and learning more about the birding opportunities in Extremadura. The fair (FIO) comprises a sort of “tent village” with stands that feature information about birding in the area, gear for birders and even birding-related arts and crafts. There was a very impressive show of bird photography as well. It’s a great event for those with such an interest.

I’ll never see the landscape of Extremadura in the same way again, now that I know that it is home to so many diverse species of birds. I now notice that the sky is seldom empty in this part of Spain and my eyes will continue to glance upward to see who is overhead. I’ll leave you with one more landscape shot of the region we were exploring, and I’ll follow with a post about some of the villages we encountered along the way.

Mount Emei

On my last day in China I awoke at the beautiful Emei Shan Hongzhushan Hotel located on this serene pond. After a quick breakfast we boarded a bus for the first leg of our journey up Mount Emei. The bus ride took hours, with two breaks: one presumably to use the restroom (but also to shop) and one to buy tickets for the next leg of the ride up the mountain.

The ride was extremely winding and steep. A word of warning to those of you who might take this journey as well — they hand out “sick bags” on the bus for a reason. As the bus wound its way up the mountain, I saw several poor souls make use of theirs. Repeatedly. Thankfully I’m pretty resistant to motion sickness but I could certainly see where this ride could cause problems. The destination proved worthy of the suffering, however. (Easy to say when I wasn’t the one suffering!)

We’d been told the night before not to keep any food on our persons, or to even carry anything that would look like it might have food in it. The reason was the monkeys that frequented the final bus stop. One of the first women I saw get off the bus was carrying a plastic bag and — in no time — I saw it ripped from her hands by a monkey who immediately rummaged through it for a snack and off he went. They were staking out the place pretty good.

We were walking a steep path now, punctuated by worn, stone steps at irregular intervals. The monkeys gradually grew fewer and we could see our next mode of transportation in the distance through the low-hanging clouds — a small, 4-6 person cable car:

More tickets purchased, we were soon climbing swiftly through the mist in our cable car, looking back at what had been our most recent rest point:

We got off the cable car and started hiking upward again. We passed a few restaurants and souvenir booths and eventually came to the grand staircase flanked by white and gold elephant sculptures.

Incense and candles were being lit at various altars as we made our way up the steps in the thin, cool air.

Finally at the top, we could finally make out the enormous, golden, chedi-like statue of Buddha sitting atop several elephants. I don’t know how to describe it better than that, but it was spectacular. Golden temples surrounded it. I wish I could have photographed the interiors but it was not allowed to make images of the Buddhas within.

We paused to rest our legs and have some lunch from the snacks we’d picked up the day before in Leshan. I now understood why we needed wrapped and sealed items as they had successfully made it past the monkeys undetected.

Then, it was time to start back down the mountain. It was a shame that the low clouds prevented us from seeing what I’m sure was a stunning view from atop Mount Emei, but it’s one more reason to return some day.

Above: we pass a few of the food stands that exist above the “monkey line” so that they aren’t prone to raids.

More monkeys awaited as we descended. This one had apparently had quite a good snack, judging by the mess on the ground around him.

I bid farewell to the monkey, and the next morning I bid farewell to China. I look forward to the next time we meet.

Giant Pandas, a giant lunch, and a giant Buddha

My next-to-last day in the Sichuan province of China was a big one. Giant, even. It started with a trip to Chengdu’s Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding where I got to see everyone’s favorite living plush dolls. The babies were especially cuddly, but were unfortunately kept behind glass and visitors were ushered past fairly quickly as they were being fed their breakfasts:

The bigger fellas were all busy eating or hanging out and napping in trees:

There were also Red Pandas in attendance:

Hard to watch all those critters eat without getting a little famished yourself so, after a decent drive to Leshan, lunch was our first stop. We’d had a lot of buffet meals on this trip so it was nice to have a more traditional meal (although we still didn’t order for ourselves — come to think of it — I don’t think we ever did). Several items were brought out, including:

some kind of a hot bun filled with a melty, brown-sugary filling that was simply amazing,

barbecued beef,

Kung Pao chicken (I was surprised to find out this was an actual thing in China and not an American invention akin to the fortune cookie),

and a sweet and sour chicken that was much more complex than anything I’ve ever encountered in a Chinese restaurant in the States. I think this may have been my favorite meal of the trip and I stuffed myself accordingly.

That’s Leshan, above. The restaurant where we ate was just about on the right edge of the frame in this photo, overlooking the river.

We were in Leshan to see the 233-foot-tall Giant Buddha which, according to Wikipedia, “is the largest stone Buddha in the world and it is by far the tallest pre-modern statue in the world.” The Buddha is carved from a cliff overlooking the river on the far side from the city of Leshan. To view it, we would take a tourist boat out. The boats make a quick pass down-river, then come back up where they take a position just across from the Buddha so that tourists can have their photos taken with the Buddha in the background.

If I ever get back to Leshan, I want to take the time to visit the Giant Buddha from land and explore the trails and stairs that encircle him. This time the river view would have to do, though, and I think it was a good way to take in the scale for a first visit.

Boating back to Leshan:

From here we would be heading for Mount Emei, the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. We’d be staying in a hotel at the base, but spending the better part of our last day in China making our way to the top. Before leaving Leshan, we visited the markets to lay in a supply of snacks for our hike:

I love markets like this and especially enjoyed seeing this man with his bicycle modified to haul an oven for roasting sweet potatoes on the back:

One more day in China, and it would be another big one.

Back to Chengdu, China

It rained during most of the bus ride from Yibin back to Chengdu, China. The low-hanging clouds made for a beautiful effect as we crossed valley after valley.

Once back in Chengdu, three of us said goodbye to our bus and the large tourism festival group and joined our local guide for a walk through an area known as the Wide and Narrow Lanes.

Throughout this area, sculptural vignettes told the story of what had been here in the past.

The area reminded me of Jinli Ancient Street, which we had seen on our first day in Chengdu, but it was a little more open, less crowded, and a bit less touristy (although it obviously still catered to tourists).

I had heard about these ear-cleaning — or ear massage — stations but this was the first one I’d actually run across. A little disconcerting to have wires and brushes twirled around in your ear perhaps, but the customers looked happy enough.

Time for a short refreshment break at Ding’s Coffee, overlooking a street with a photography exhibit on display.

And everywhere you turned, more snacks. Of all varieties.

Bamboo forest

The drive to the bamboo forest in China’s Sichuan Province was another long one. Our bus convoy took one break — dropping us off at a highway rest area — so that they could go refill their gas tanks. It seemed a bit odd that they hadn’t gassed up before picking us all up, but it was a good chance to stretch my legs and get a few photos like the one of the river above and this one of one of our omnipresent traffic police:

I often wondered just how many of these guys were posted for us — or were there maybe just a few that kept scooting ahead of us to be waiting at the next stop?

Eventually we arrived at the bamboo forest (famous as one of the locations used in the film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) but the tour was once again very rushed due to the long drive times. We moved through this first set of trails very quickly. I would have loved to have spent more time and explored further, but this glimpse would have to do for now.

It was beginning to rain a bit harder when we made our second stop, but the bamboo forest just seemed to get more beautiful the wetter it became.

Back on the buses, we made the long drive back to Yibin. I’ll leave you with one more shot from my hotel room window, showing the variety of architecture that filled the skyline:

Stone Sea and Karst Cave, Sichuan, China

Next stop, the Stone Sea — a strange collection of rock formations, surrounded by a stunning landscape — and a quick visit to a Bo village re-creation in the same park. We must have been running late at this point because the pace of the tour kept increasing until it was mostly “drive-by tourism” from our little open-air shuttles.

Finally off the shuttles, we took a glass elevator down the side of a cliff to arrive here:

We didn’t take this trail, but instead entered the cliff that we had just come down and found ourselves in one of the larger caves I’ve seen:

That’s looking back toward the entrance once I had finally arrived to a flat surface again. Not until I was half-way down did I realize that I could have slid down that giant, two-segment ramp that you see in the distance. Visitors were given a rugged wrap to sit on before they were sent zipping down the polished trough to the bottom of the cave. Once there, of course, there were more laser lights:

Thankfully, after that long descent, we learned that this would be a one-way, “through-hike” and we wouldn’t be retracing our steps back up the entrance. However, that did not mean that this would be a short trek. This was one large cave:

We eventually boarded small boats to ride the rest of the way to the cave’s exit — which turned out to be the very cave where we had had lunch! We had basically made our way through a mountain to arrive back where we had started.

Back to the buses, and back to Yibin. Time to rest up for another big day tomorrow, when we would visit the bamboo forests used in the filming of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Best. Factory tour. Ever.

Sorry! Long post ahead. Day Two of my adventure in China’s Sichuan province started with checking out of my Chengdu hotel and finding my bus assignment for the core of the 2015 Sichuan International Cultural Tourism Festival. Bus 23 would be my home for the next few days.

Literally hundreds of tour operators and travel journalists had been invited to the festival and would all descend on the city of Yibin to learn what the region has to offer to travelers. The scope of the event became apparent as my bus joined a motorcade of buses that never stopped as they made their way toward Yibin. (I eventually saw vehicles numbered as high as 99 but I’m guessing that the total number of vehicles in our motorcade was well over 100 at times. In some places, people were lining the streets to watch it roll by.) Whenever we went through a town, every intersection was controlled by traffic control police so that we could make our way unimpeded. It was surreal to see the manpower that had been brought out and to see the efficiency of the workforce. Quite amazing.

So these first two shots were literally taken through the bus window as we hurtled through the countryside. The landscape was amazing and I saw many areas that I would have loved to have lingered but we were obviously on our way somewhere, and the schedule was out of my hands. The itinerary had been changing frequently and every morning we were verbally given the most recent updates. Today, apparently, we would be stopping for lunch at a distillery.

You’d think I’d have learned by now, but — when in China — always expect something bigger than you would first imagine. Though I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes yet, this is the distillery that we would be visiting: the Wuliangye alcoholic beverage company.

The complex is enormous and — yes — one of the buildings is shaped like a large bottle of alcohol. My head was swimming a bit but I believe I recall them saying that there were over 65,000 employees.

My first sight of the “campus” was actually in what I would assume is the visitor center area as well as the corporate offices. Our parade of buses rolled to a stop and we got out here:

I love the architecture.

The buildings, the landscaping, the sculptures…

I’ve been to a lot of distilleries in my life (don’t judge) but I honestly wasn’t prepared for anything like this. I loved the grandeur and the spectacle of the place.

We had a quick buffet lunch and were then given a tour of several galleries showcasing the products and accomplishments of Wuliangye. There was a “3D” film in an IMAX-style theater that assaulted you with flyovers of the Chinese countryside. There was a presentation on the history of Wuliangye, how it was developed and how it became the incredibly popular and successful product that it is today.

That’s right. A history presentation. Anywhere else in the world, this probably would have been done via a quirky, stiff industrial video. But not here. Not in China. We experienced a live-action history presentation in a giant, domed structure with a cast of colorfully costumed performers.

I’m tempted to stop here and let you all catch your breath. Maybe save the rest for a “part 2” post but, no, I’ll just keep going so that you can enjoy the full ride just like I did. Enjoy the show:

After the show, we boarded our buses again, but we weren’t finished at Wuliangye. We made two or three more stops — one with a marching band at a pagoda, one with the big overlook of the entire factory complex I showed before, one with a showroom of many specialty bottles of Wuliangye sporting price tags that were difficult to comprehend.

Back on bus #23, we were told our next stop would be at a historical village. It was clear that we would be continuing our tour of the incredible land of contrasts that is China. More on that, next time…

Michael C. Snell photography blog

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