The Landscape
Read More[USA.ARIZONA 27984] ’Hiker in The Wave.’ The hiker who enters "The Wave" in the Coyote Buttes nature reserve (part of the Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness) may think he is stepping into a sticky red fluid with white stripes, something like sour cream stirred into pumpkin soup. But this geological wonder actually consists of 200 million years old fossilized sand dunes. Photo Paul Smit.
[USA.ARIZONA 28012] ’Coyote Buttes nature reserve.’ The strange landscape of Coyote Buttes nature reserve (in the Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness) is made up by a 200 million years old geological formation called Navajo Sandstone. It is composed primarily of wind-blown sand from a vast ancient desert. Minerals of iron oxide, deposited by groundwater after the accumulation of the sand, have created red, orange and yellow colours. The light dome-like structures in the foreground are locally called "Brains Rocks". Photo Paul Smit & Mick Palarczyk.
[FRANCE.PROVENCE 10930] ’Sous le Pont d'Avignon.’ Of course the famous song goes like this: "sur le pont . . ." But that doesn't tally with the historical facts. People didn't dance on the bridge but on the bank of the river in the shade of the arches. The nicest view of the famous bridge and the walled town of Avignon with its papal palace can be enjoyed from the opposite bank of the river. To get there you have to use a little ferry because the bridge was partly devoured by the Rhône during a catastrophic flood in 1669. Photo Paul Smit.
[ITALY.LOMBARDIA 01811] The Santa Caterina hermitage is built on a breathtaking spot halfway up a cliff over Lago Maggiore. Here a hermit once retreated in a cave. He helped people with spiritual advise and medical care. Asking what he wanted in return he said "a chapel." Later a church and small monastery grew from it, still occupied by several lay brothers and sisters plus one friar and open to visitors. Photo Paul Smit.