Tripbase, a travel blog, is uniting travel bloggers and spreading the word about great travel blogs in a creative way! I've been nominated by fellow blogger Darley Newman of Darley's Travel Blog in the Tripbase Challenge. The challenge is to pick seven of my past blog entries of various topics. I also am nominating five other bloggers to participate...so hopefully you'll enjoy this break from my normal posts!
While driving along Dakar's Corniche in the high heat of the rainy season, I was left breathless by this stunning sunset. So incrediably lucky to have had my camera on me. Quite possibly the most beautiful thing I have seen in Africa.
This one completely surprised me as it was one of very few posts I did on Bulgaria, but it continues to be the runaway most popular post. I spent an afternoon wandering around downtown Sofia with two wonderful friends I hadn't seen in a year and who were just as confused as I was when we stumbled about those Buddy Bears!
While the post itself is not controversial, the monument, set on one of the largest hills in Dakar, is very controverisal for many reasons: it is taller than New York's Statue of Liberty; North Korean-designed, the North Koreans brought their own workers into Senegal to build it; some question when the African Renaissance occurred; many Muslims interpret building the monument as to be controversial in regard to their faith; and lastly, it cost over 27 million US dollars to build.
Senegalese artist Alpha Dio was one of the nicest men I've ever met. Not only were his paintings beautiful, but he was so sweet--including playing marbles with some children on the floor while we visited. He created all the artwork in his house---from paintings to mosaics to murals---which appeared like a colorful oasis in the middle of a very dusty and sandy village. Why is this the most helpful? Because of the post, people reached out for his contact information to buy some of his paintings. I like when that happens and the Senegalese benefit from my postings. It happened with my post on Les Liqueurs de Warang too!
I had the chance to visit Juffureh, The Gambia, featured in Alex Haley's novel Roots. It was such an incredibly interesting place, primarily because it reminded me of so many West African villages I've visited. I suspect that curiosity after watching the Roots miniseries or stumbling upon the novel is why this post continues to be popular.
It's hard not to love Peles Castle--situated so perfectly in the snow-capped mountains of Transylvania in Romania. It was breaath taking and you can instantly imagine every little girl who visits thinking she's a princess. One of its claims to fame? The first palace with indoor plumbing!
For some reason, I found this series of shots difficult to shoot, possibly because I was distracted by the beauty of Saint-Louis, Senegal. Either way, I loved this first shot of the post, my favorite photograph from an excellent weekend trip driving up the coast of Senegal.
And to keep the challenge going, I nominate the following blogs in no particular order:
