Look Up Look Down: Salamanca Cathedral

A couple of months back, when my friend Noelia and I spent the weekend in Salamanca visiting friends, we trudged all the way up to the top of Salamanca cathedral. The neverending and, at times, devilishly narrow staircases were regulated by a traffic light system to avoid collisions. To my great surprise, everybody seemed to heed the green and red lights. Which proves that the Spanish can follow rules after all 😉

I thought  these pics would make the perfect contribution to travelwithintent’s weekly Look Up Look Down photo challenge.

View of Salamanca from the top of the cathedral

View of Salamanca cathedral from the Roman Bridge

Look Up Look Down: Shell House, Salamanca

I thought that La Casa De Las Conchas (House Of The Shells), a 15-th century gothic building in the centre of Salamanca, would make a nice entry for travelwithintent’s Look Up Look Down weekly photo challenge.

Looking up at the shells… the building’s facade is decorated with 350 of these.

Looking up from Shell House’s interior patio, you can see the ornate towers of Salamanca Cathedral

Looking down one of the beautifully carved banisters

Look Up Look Down: The Legs Of La Latina

Spotted on Sunday in Madrid. There’s always something going on in La Latina! Perfect for travelwithintent’s Look Up, Look Down challenge, I thought 😉

What is this monstrosity, you wonder…

Now it makes a bit more sense. Or not…

La Latina is also the part of town that host an enormous market, El Rastro, every Sunday. There will be a post coming up on this shortly.

Look Up Look Down: Key West Lighthouse

What on Earth, I was asking myself, am I going to do about travelwithintent’s Look Up Look Down photo challenge while stuck on an island as flat as a pancake?

Then I spotted the lighthouse. And for ten bucks, they let you go up there. So I did.

A window on the way up. Needed to catch my breath.

Zooming in (through the window) on one of those cruise ships. Looks like a toy!

I’m at the top! The wind is nearly ripping my ears off.

Strange how the sky in this direction is so completely different from the blue skies on the other side. I quite like the moodiness, though.

Typical Key West house from above

This is Hemingway’s house

[I visited Hemingway’s house, and his famous six-toed cats. If you’re a kitty lover and you missed this post, click here.]

Which Way? Harbour, Aquarium, Airport

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an entry for Cee’s Which Way? Challenge. This series of shots comes from the Iberian Peninsula, which I currently call my home. Although, I’m many miles from there right now, on a houseboat in the sunny, sultry “Floribbean”. There will be a rash of posts from Key West over the next few weeks, just so you’re prepared 😉

Taken inside Lisbon Harbour terminal. The warm glow of the sunset is casting an intriguing pattern onto the walls and metal beams

A walkway connecting two buildings at the Lisbon Aquarium. Taken on horrid day with lashings of rain and wind. You can see how wet the path is, despite being covered by a roof. I got totally soaked crossing it.

Madrid Airport

Lovely Lisbon Windows

Lisbon’s windows are full of character. I had to stop myself from taking thousands of window pictures. Here’s a small selection of them, each one very different:

Cute 🙂

Elaborate and detailled!

Creative!

Crumbly…

Very 70’s

…and typical, with the decorative tiling.

Linked to Dawn’s “A Lingering Look At Windows” challenge.

Lovely Lisbon: Look Up, Look Down

Lisbon is a city that seems custom-built for travelwithintent’s weekly Look Up, Look Down challenge. And here’s proof:

There HAD to be a tram picture 🙂

…and a sea view

…and the castle

Entrance to Lisbon Botanic Garden

Weird Hanging Baskets Morph Into Wondrous Christmas Lights

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself Looking Up at some peculiar hanging basket contraptions that had suddenly appeared all over Toledo.

In the dark, they turn into alien space ships!

Linked to travelwithintent’s Look Up, Look Down weekly photo challenge. She’s also chosen Christmas lights this week 🙂

Which Way? There Once Was A Bridge… And Some Pretty Cakes…

For Cee’s Which Way photo challenge this week, I’m offering up the remnants of a bridge that once led across the river Tagus in Toledo.

The black specks on the ruins are cormorants sunbathing

I took the pic above on Tuesday, which was a special treat day for me, enjoyed in the lovely company of Debbie from travelwithintent, who came up to spend the day in Toledo.

To my great delight, I was amply compensated for my hap-hazard tour guiding services:

Three guesses as to Which Way these delectable little beauties went…!

Let’s just say they’ve a lot in common with the bridge… only remnants remain.

Toledo’s Autumn Glow

This week’s entry for travelwithintent’s Look Up Look Down photo challenge heralds from Toledo once again. (I don’t get out much.) I took this pic looking down one of its many steeply inclined narrow little streets.

And of course, there’s street lamps 🙂