Nova Scotia Lighthouses
As a long island like peninsula in Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia’s coasts have been protected for centuries by several faithful lighthouses. These historic buildings are now touristic landmarks. When you go there you shouldn’t miss the Lighthouse Route – you will not regret.
As I have an affinity to Nova Scotia, I visited quite a few, if not all of them… Here they are… * BTW I uploaded all this pictures to my Fine Art America gallery, where they are available as art prints. Just click on them for a larger format and to be amazed of the variety of prints:
#1. Sandy Point lighthouse at low tide in the fog. Shelburne, Nova Scotia (South East of the peninsula)
#2. Pubnico, Yarmouth area
#3, Digby on the Bay of Fundy: a lighthouse that has been transformed into a restaurant. This was the place where we took a small Ferry to go East. I gave to this one a painterly look in the digital media.
Briar Island
#4. A red and white striped lighthouse Briar Island. This is a small beautiful island North-West of Digby on the Bay of Fundy.
… And here is another lighthouse on Briar Island, Nova Scotia, overlooking Fundy Bay:
Cape Breton
#5. Cape Breton is a big island on the East side of Nova Scotia, with many places to visit and things to see.
#5a. The lighthouse of Louisburg. On the South-East part of Cape Breton this lighthouse has helped the sea navigation to the Fortress of Louisbourg. It has been destroyed several times during the battles between French and English during 1730 and 1758. I photographed it in a sunny September day.
#5b. The lighthouse at Gabarus, Cape Breton. Gabarus is a small fishing village South-East of the island
I really liked this one, so I made an enhanced version of it:
#5c. Regatta time in front of the lighthouse in Baddeck, Cape Breton, on Bras D’or Lake. * Bras d’Or is the largest inland sea in Canada and it’s 1/3 of the Cape Breton island area. I made this photo painterly as well. * I really like to play with my photos in the digital media 🙂
Halifax Area
#6. Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse – You can also see in my other (linked) post, along with a few more…
All this photos are available as art prints in my FAA gallery of Nova Scotia
Today’s Word: Affinity
Acapulco beaches make one of the nicest places for a vacation in Mexico. I uploaded some of these images to my Fine Art America gallery, and they are available as art prints.
My husband and I have been there two times and stayed in several hotels. Great memories, happy times! 🙂 * In 2008 I only had a small Canon PowerShot camera, but I tried my best.
Almost all hotels there are on the water around the famous Acapulco bay. BTW: Acapulco is the largest beach resort city in Mexico and it has a nice balmy climate.
Are the Acapulco beaches safe for swimming?
Well, if you only want to cool of from the heat of the sun, it’s great. At the shore, in front of big hotels, the water is clean and shallow. However, some more adventurous swimmers have reported drop-offs on the seafloor, which can be very dangerous…
The cliff divers show is a different story – “don’t try this at home” – so to say 🙂 nor in your Acapulco vacation…
Go instead into safe waters:
Many hotels in Acapulco have beautiful swimming pools overlooking the splashing ocean surf. Here you will not get the vendors with mangoes and limes. You will receive instead the full attention of the hotel personnel ready to serve you with all the goodies they have in stock 🙂
I took this photo from our room balcony of the – Mexican Fiesta hotel. At this place the ocean water is very turbulent, so tourists prefer to stay by the pool.
Grand Mayan
... And talking about pools, at the Grand Mayan hotel resort you can swim in what is literally the longest swimming pool in the world.
The pool goes all around the whole resort property, which is not small…
Grand Mayan hotel in Acapulco is a deluxe resort and its beach is the largest and most beautiful of all Acapulco beaches. Well, in our passed good times we had a timeshare exchange here for one week. (I do not recommend timeshares though – you can ask me why)
** BTW: I sold a 12″ x 8″ print of Low Tide in Acapulco from my FAA gallery 🙂 Just click on it to see more:
I also took a picture of the beach at sunset, and made it as a watercolor painting in the digital media. You can see it better in my FAA gallery:
If you like horseback rides, independent Mexicans are more than happy to have you onboard. I just loved to photograph the horses – They were so nice and patiently waiting for the clients in the hot sun…
Chapel of Peace
But, there are many more places to see and things to do in Acapulco… And here is the view of the city and Mexico Bay from one of the surrounding hills.
On this hill you can visit the Chapel of Peace (Capilla de la Paz) – This place was built in the memory of two brothers who played an important role in the development of the city. They unfortunately perish in a tragic airplane accident. The chapel and monuments were built by their family.
Here you can see the famous sculpture of the two right hands joining together signifying brotherhood. In Spanish it is called “Las Manos de la Hermandad”
How safe is Acapulco to visit?
In the last years Acapulco has become a place known for organized crime due to the war on drugs. However the United States Department of State considers that the populated tourist areas are relatively safe. It is a good idea not to adventure out yourself at night on back streets or in bars and casinos situated out of the main touristic places.
Bottom line: if consider taking a winter or spring vacation this year at one of the Acapulco beaches, do it in a safe touristic place!
All these photos and many more, can be seen in a larger format and purchased in my Acapulco gallery. The watermarks will not appear on the final product.
For the fun of challenges, I posted it to:
Word of the day: Balmy | Tuesday Photo Challenge – Memories | Sunday Stills: Water
Freshly roasted coffee in Ajijic Mexico
Ajijic is a small but very picturesque town on Lake Chapala, state of Jalisco, Mexico a mecca for many people coming from the North of the continent for a vacation or to retire.
I will make another post about this beautiful town later. For now, I want to bring to your attention some photos on freshly roasted coffee in Ajijic.
This image is from a downtown coffee shop. As you can see, here they will spoil you with all kinds of coffee from Mexican areas like Oaxaca, Veracruz or Green Mountain (I don’t know where that is…)
The tables are decorated with coffee beans covered by glass,
… and on a wall I saw a very informative collage of illustrations on the coffee production process:
Talking about freshly roasted coffee, what I liked most was that we could buy it for a very low price at the nearby market (mercado). Oh, that market running once a week was a real dream for the long-term visitors 🙂
The freshly roasted coffee at the local market was a big seller and if you were not there early enough, you were risking going home without…
I think that the (typical) rusted primitive tools for grinding and weighing made the whole experience more exiting – ha, ha… The coffee was very good tasting though.
… and here is a close-up on the coffee grinder 🙂
Posted in my Photo Blog Challenges for:
November 2018 WitsEnd Inspirations: Coffee | Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Week 5 Photo – Coffee | Tuesday Photo Challenge: Scene