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Travel Photos – Zurich, Switzerland

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Today I am back with another entry in my travel photos series.  This time the pictures are from Zurich, Switzerland during a trip I took in May, 2010.  I am going to pass on making comments on the pictures this time as Switzerland just did not interest me as much as other places and I honestly do not remember the names of the buildings/river/streets in the pictures.  Zurich is a very nice, clean city but it lacks the charm of other European cities, at least to me. (It is also much more expensive)  This is not to say I recommend avoiding Zurich, it is just that I would not value time there as highly as I would most other cities in Europe.

All of that being said, please do enjoy the pictures as Zurich is a very picturesque city.

Travel Photos – Greece (Athens/Delphi)

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Given what is currently happening in Greece, I felt it would be a good time to offer up a post on the beautiful aspects of the country.  I visited Greece in 2005 while still in college with my parents and we spent 7 days in the country, 2 in Athens and the rest driving around the country in our rental car.  It was a memorable experience and now looking back it is easy to see how the country ended up in its present condition.  Regardless of your political viewpoint it is sad to see a country of such beauty go down this path.

Alright, enough commentary, please enjoy these pictures of my time in Greece:

The Acropolis in Athens (***** – Must Visit)

The Greek Flag Flying on top of the Acropolis

(As a side note, I did not have any decent pictures of the Parthenon so unfortunately it will not be included in this Travel Photos post)

The Temple of Olympian Zeus (***** the scale of the columns alone is worth the visit)

(Looking down from Acropolis, also note behind the temple is the stadium from the first modern Olympics held in Athens in 1896)

Temple of Hephaestus (**** – Almost fully intact temple with smaller crowds than the Parthenon, below the Acropolis hill)

Poseidon Temple ***** (South of Athens on Cape Sounion)

As a side note, there is a very cool hotel just down the coast at the base of the hill the Poseidon Temple is located on.  You can see the temple from the balcony of each room and the hotel has some nice beach access.

The Oracle at Delphi (***** – Worth going far out of your way to see)

Another picture (wide-angle)

Looking up the hill towards the remaining ruins at Delphi.  

The Treasury at Delphi

As a travel note, try to not plan to eat in the area surrounding Delphi as the prices are very high and the food quality low.  For a good lunch, continue on to the coastal town of Itea for an authentic experience. See below for the view looking down towards Itea and Olive Farms.

I hope y’all enjoyed these photos from my trip to Greece a few years ago, as you can probably tell from the pictures we were there during an off-peak travel period so the crowds were considerably smaller than in the summertime.  Look for another entry in the travel photos series next week, until then, enjoy the weekend!

Travel Photos – Verona, Italy

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This week’s featured destination in the Travel Photos series is Verona, Italy.  Verona is one my favorite destinations in Italy and has wonderful historical sites with smaller crowds, what’s not to love?

I guess I should start with the Arena in Verona, which happens to be one my favorite Roman Ruins in Italy.  It is so amazing to me that it still holds events to this day.  (Update:  I wanted to add in a helpful tip for parking near the arena.  It is the Park Cittadella and it is literally less than a 5-minute walk to the Arena.  I have included the link (in Italian) for any who are interested.) http://www.apcoa.it/it/parcheggi/informazioni/veneto/verona-parcheggio-cittadella.html

Closer View

Interior (You can see the updated seating that is installed in the Arena for events)

Piazza Bra (Piazza outside of the Arena.  The cafes here may look nice and have a great location but to get better food I would suggest heading at least 1-2 blocks into the city away from the Arena)

Via Mazzini (Pedestrian only street leading from Arena to Piazza delle Erbe)

Juliet’s House (With supposed balcony pictured)

Piazza delle Erbe

One more from Piazza delle Erbe

 If you have the chance to visit Verona I would highly recommend taking advantage of it.  It is a great city with interesting and unique sites.  Hope you enjoyed this edition of the Travel Photos series.

Travel Photos – San Francisco, California

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I am switching it up this time and going with photos from the most recent (domestic) trip my wife and I took.  We went to San Francisco over New Year’s and really enjoyed spending some relaxing time in the city while burning some Hilton points.  We lucked out getting 2 of 3 perfectly clear sunny days with highs in the mid-60’s.  Couldn’t have been better!  Enjoy!

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from close to Fisherman’s Wharf (Sight – ***).

View of Alcatraz from near Lombard St.

View of Colt Tower (Colt Tower – ** – just for the views) from near Lombard St.

My wife and I in front of Lombard St. (Apparently we took a bunch of pictures up there) (Lombard St. – **)

This picture is looking towards downtown from Columbus Ave. (Notice the Hilton Financial District Hotel peaking over the tops of some buildings on the right-hand side.  I will give a brief review below)

To complete the pictures portion of this post I had to throw in the requisite picture of Chinatown.  It is very touristy but still fun to walk through. (Chinatown – ****)

I do want to give a brief review of the hotel we stayed in during our trip to San Francisco.  We were there over New Year’s Eve and the prices to pay for rooms out-of-pocket were pretty prohibitive so I decided to use some Hilton Honors points to book us a room.  I searched and there are three options for Hilton’s in the city: Fisherman’s Wharf, Union Square and Financial District.  The Union Square and Financial District hotels are pretty close together and I liked the fact that they were in less “touristy” sections of the city so the choice was down to those two.  I selected the Financial District Hilton based upon the reviews on tripadvisor.com, which were extremely helpful.  I think the hotel was redeemed for approximately 40,000 Hilton Honors points per night which isn’t the greatest deal in the world, but isn’t awful for the what the rooms were selling for over New Year’s.  (Price Rating – $$$$$)

The hotel itself was updated, clean and had a newer feel to it even though from the outside you could tell it was older.  Hilton has done a superb job of keeping this hotel in good and updated condition.  The check-in was efficient, even arriving when we did at 1 AM, with the staff welcoming me as a Diamond Member and explaining the Executive Lounge.  The room itself was clean but had an odor of stale cigarettes that we could not get rid of. Other than the smell, we had no complains with the condition of the room/bathroom.

Overall, I would recommend this hotel to someone traveling for leisure or business as it has a fairly convenient location (Very close to Chinatown) and the rooms are what you come to expect from Hilton.

Hope you enjoyed this post!  Since I am traveling this week I might be able to press out one more so do look forward to that!

Travel Photos – Florence, Italy

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After completely failing to deliver a post last week I am finally back up with a new post in the travel photos series.  I have been extremely busy with work and other activities but that should not be an excuse if I want this to be a successful blog.  Hopefully, I can deliver one more post this afternoon. In the meantime, here are some photos from one of my favorite cities in the world – Florence, Italy.  Enjoy!

The first photo in this series is a view from the Piazzale Michelangelo above the beautiful city of Florence (well worth the hike up the hill).  This picture shows the bridges in the old town crossing the River Arno. The bridge most in focus is the Ponte Vecchio.

This photo was also taken from Piazzale Michelangelo looking out over Florence.  The Duomo is centered in this photo and the immense size, when compared to the other nearby structures, really stands out.

One of the things I would recommend when traveling through Florence is to make sure and visit the bridge to the west of the Ponte Vecchio as the sun sets.  The views of the city and the Ponte Vecchio, specifically, are spectacular at this time.  This photo was taken on our first day in town after a long day of travel from New Orleans to Florence.

Did I mention this trip to Florence was for our honeymoon?  I guess I would be remiss if I did not include one picture of myself and my wife.  This was taken on the Ponte Vecchio looking to the east.

This next photo is of the view from our room overlooking the Piazza Santa Mario Novella.  It was such a beautiful view to wake up to each morning. We stayed at the Hotel Santa Maria Novella for 4 nights and I would highly recommend the hotel to any potential travelers.  It is not the best for budget sensitive travelers but it is worth the splurge due to the location and quality of rooms.  It is about a 5 minute walk from the Santa Maria Novella train station (very easy even with large suitcases).

A photo of the interior of our room at the Hotel Santa Maria Novella.

This last photo is of a neat, boutique bookstore that we found on a side street in the heart of Florence (my wife is standing in front).  We bought a leather-bound photo album with our last name stamped onto the spine manually.  The man who stamped the book for us did it completely by hand, without the aid of a straightedge, and made it look beautiful.  It was not cheap but I would recommend it to anyone looking to have a lasting memory of Florence made with beautiful craftmanship (~60 euro).

I hope you enjoyed this series and as I mentioned above I hope to post one more entry this afternoon. Wish me luck!