As I have promised last week, here are some more night photos from Krakow’s old city center:
Statue next to St Mary's Basilica
Krakow - Town Hall Tower and Eros Bendato sculpture
I think next week we are headed back to Croatia during the summer, so keep posted (RSS or email) .
Yes, this is another ‘by night’ post. And so will be the next one too. That’s because I have to work more and more during my trips. (let the money pour in…)
St Mary’s Basilica in Krakow, Poland, has got to be one of the most opulent churches one can ever visit, in the world. Ever. It is simply grandiose. I have included several bad photos just to create the sense of magnitude:
St Mary's Basilica, Krakow, Poland
Huge Altar, St Mary's Basilica, Krakow, Poland
Detail, Huge Altar, St Mary's Basilica, Krakow, Poland
Suspended Cross, St Mary's Basilica, Krakow, Poland
Suspended cross, St Marys Basilica, Krakow, Poland
To find more about this wonderful church, here’s it’s Wikipedia Page (starting point for documentation). Please stay tuned (RSS or email) for more pictures from this trip.
PS: it was actually almost evening when we got in and night when we came out, that’s why the title…
Yep, THAT Stanford. I was just in the US, again in the boring capital of Silicon Valley, for a 3 day Cisco Learning Partner top execs meeting. Luckily, I did get in contact with a colleague on the masini.ro forum and he took me to Palo Alto where I did get these shots. Mind you, I was only able to take 8 frames the entire trip 
Stanford statues by night, (1080p format)
Stanford tower, by night
Spring fountain @Stanford, by night
There are more photos here from San Jose (from my previous trip there), but I think we will soon be returning to summer photos from Croatia, so stick around (RSS or email)!
I continue the series of posts about the summer (wishful thinking, I know) with a photo of a signally winter item, stranded in the beauty, warmth and color of summer:
Stranded in the middle of summer
If you are into colorful pictures about beautiful places (in Romania or abroad), you, my friend, have come tot the right place 
If you, like me, are bigger fans of summer than winter, I think this will make you dream a bit:
Summer, sea, mountains (in HD 1080p)
This picture was taken last summer in Croatia. There are more from that trip. Check them all out here. And stay tuned for more (RSS feed or subscribe to email updates)
No, there is no ‘the’ missing in the title. It refers to the cit of Split, in Croatia. Here are a few night pictures from the tourist promenade.
TIP 1: DO NOT eat there. Incredibly bad food (!) to compensate for the location.
TIP 2: get a cab, ask the guy to take you to where he would take his friends. There are some great restaurants ‘hidden’ from the tourists.
Split by Night
Split by Night
Split by Night
If you like these pictures OR are interested in Croatia, stick around (use the RSS feed or subscribe to get free email updates) . They are a part of a longer series about Croatia that will be published gradually. Here’s what has already been published.
On January 24th 2010, I joined the X3M Offroad Valcea crew for a relaxing cruise in the mountains near Valcea. We took a 7 hour, 50 kilometers long stroll in a completely untouched area. As you will see, the snow was pure, clean and shiny white. “The warm sun” we enjoyed refers to the white balance only, because the highest temperature we encountered was -8 degrees Celsius.
I will start off with a few pictures of ‘action’ but will end this post with much more pictures of the beautiful winter scenery we were lucky to encounter:
The official thread of this trip is posted here.
As you have probably noticed, some photos are in the 1080p full-HD format. I would be honored if you used them as wallpapers.
By now, any visitor of this blog should already be aware of the existence of technical methods to automatically receive new posts: the RSS feed or via email.
Actually, it’s more like 2+9 . Have a look for yourself:
Extra Reason to visit Dubrovnik #2
Extra Reason to visit Dubrovnik #1
Balancing the need to not discriminate with my inability to actually observe good looking men was tough, so I apologize to the female readers of this post, but the ‘actual’ list is sensibly longer:
Reason to visit Dubrovnik #9
Reason to visit Dubrovnik #8
Reason to visit Dubrovnik #7
Reason to visit Dubrovnik #6
Reason to visit Dubrovnik #5
Reason to visit Dubrovnik #
Reason to visit Dubrovnik #3
Reason to visit Dubrovnik #2
Reason to visit Dubrovnik #1
PS 1: I know I generally show the inanimate beauties of the places I visit, but I somehow feel that everyone will agree that the lively atmosphere is a great point of attraction to Dubrovnik .
PS 2: There are more posts about Dubrovnik coming next week, so be sure to stay tuned (via RSS or email)
Great photographers wake up when others sleep, remain on location when others go home, go out when others stay in. So on January 1st, i just HAD to be out taking photos. This post shows that just going out when others stay in does not make you a great photographer 
. On the bright side, I do have some very awkward photos to show :
During A.D. 2009 the powers that be decided to asphalt Transalpina. Letting aside the discussions on the real (hidden) reasons, the practicality of the idea (given the fact that snow is meters high from November until May !!), what this means for us is THE END of Transalpina as we knew it.
Transalpina used to be this hidden gem of a national road, higher than Transfagarasan, but unpopulated by the famous Romanian Buffalo . It used to be a road for ‘aficionados’, for people that love the adventure and nature, beyond the love for their cars or their image. You would see Fiat Pandas, Citroen BXs, Daewo Matizes et al trying their best not to fatally hit the underparts of their cars, just to be able to enjoy the extraordinary landscapes. It was not a road for SUVs (I have not seen X5s, GLs and the likes), for manelists and barbecue eaters.
All that is gone now, with the advent of asphalt and ‘civilization’ . I have personally vouched to search for alternative roads for those who would appreciate them (there are rumors about a passage between Curmatura Oltetului and Vaideeni). But until I find them, we do still have one option in the area: the Strategic road.
Like Transalpina this was built by ‘ze Germans’ during the second World War. It is approximately 60kilometers long, on the top of the Latoritei mountains. It is perpendicular on Transalpina, which it crosses in the Saua Stefanu. That is one end of the Strategica. The other is in Valea Macesului, between Brezoi and Voineasa. This end is well hidden, as well it should be:
Where from
When you see this sign, stop the car and start looking for an un-obvious ascent into the forrest:
Hidden Gem
Hidden Gem
In my opinion this is were your adventure should start, because the first 4 kilometers are literally tough for ‘normal cars’ (non offroaders). So I’d rather have the difficult part in the beginning of the day, with gas, energy and time ahead of me. For real offroad cars, when dry, it’s a walk in the park. If rainy, it could become tricky (lateral inclination, no trees, ruts, mud, etc).
When dry, the ascent has been done with cars as ‘low’ (offroad-wise speaking) as the Audi Allroad or the Subaru Outback. They DID however struggle (had to push, burn the clutch, etc). Enough with the small talk already, let’s look at some pictures:
Plaiul Poienilor, Obstea Mosnenilor
Plaiul Poienilor, Obstea Mosnenilor
This is the reason you want to get on this road: it’s so high that you actually look DOWN on eagles:
Where eagles dare
I made an inspired “stop” :
How Land Cruisers are meant to be used
and what I mean by “Inspired Stop” is that I chose the best damn place to take this LC picture, toghether with the fact that I did actually stop 3 meters from the abyss:
View from the top
You can notice the road from Valea Macesului to the Galbenul and Petrimanul lakes on the bottom on the valley!
After this, the road is easy, clear and simple (you can make mistakes, but they are correctable: if the road disappears or becomes to difficult, you took a wrong turn )
As you can see, somebody is taking care of this road:
Clear Road
This is the biggest danger to offroad cars on this road:
Very Useful to have MT tyres
which means that there is a lot to enjoy on this road:
Busy Bee
Real Help
There are some ugly things going on in the area, like the forest clearing on the road from the lakes to Curmatura Oltetului:
Say WHAAAT?
Forest Clearing
Forest Clearing
These photos are a dedication to those who say that offroad cars disturb the environment…
Oh, since we are having a parenthesis about destruction, here’s how the Muntinu Stairs died:
Say Whaaatt, take 2
“shooting works”
If anyone is still not convinced to make this trip, I end this post with a bang (actually what I hope to be a memorable photo of the area):
What you can see
PS 1: I have to mention the fact that the road passes through two peasant yards. So you have to stop the car, get out, open the gate, pass, get back out and close the gate, so that the animals don’t get out…
PS2: if you like these photos, and trust me when I say there are more coming about beautiful and interesting places in the world, then you might want to stay tuned (via RSS or email )
