Envelope / Develope

Photo by Braden Jarvis on Unsplash If you read the biography of Freeman Patterson you will be puzzled his first call of what to do with his life was not photography. The man has a Master in Divinity degree and a bachelor in philosophy. He worked as a photographer for some newspapers as a temporary job and then decided to pursue photography full time. It is an interesting life trajectory to veer from seriously thinking in God to dream in banal images! You will find many photographers who will show an interesting image but will not have the inner structure to explain the thought process or whether it represents more than a fantasy. The scaffolding process on reaching a certain image, which reflects an emotion, a thought or just life, is appealing when you read Patterson's books about photography. If you juxtapose the education with his images, some of them have an eerie feeling, something that gives you pause and wonder what is a photo for human psyche. Yes, he is fro...

The taxi boat  for Saleccia beach was a retirees business, a pair which found a new way to stretch their money. If you were a fan of the Netflix movies showing Brits moving down south, that would be a perfect example.    We arrived one hour earlier just to stroll San Florent (San Firenzu) and visit the stores close to central plaza. I ordered an artisan gelato for Emma while I was tasting some Corsican peaches. I don't know why the hype with the beach, maybe because the color of the water and the gentle entry, no rocks and many boats anchored not far from the shore. The boat ride was speedy and bumpy (they wanted to carry as much people to the beach). I was concerned because Emma was the only kid in the group and everyone was grabbing the bars in order to keep their balance. No hats or flying scarfs were allowed and Emma's hair was getting a blow, which she liked it. Reaching the shore we jumped in the water and walked to the beach.Just from the visit to Carrefour, ...

We started today with the intention to go to the beach of Saint Fleurent and discovered that all boat taxis were very busy. You cannot book for the same day a taxi boat or even an ATV to reach Salecchia or Lotu beaches.    I made reservations for 21st of August (next day) to be taxied to the Salecchia beach in a 2pm to 7pm slot. Then I decided to go to another beach, on l'ile Rouse - Bodri beach. The drive was less than an hour along the west coast of Corsica with beautiful images along the way. Bodri beach, although public, has two different access points, one is from a private camping site, the other is 200 meters down the road, barely marked at the street level. You descend on a gravel road to get to the beach. There is a paying parking lot which becomes public after 5 pm. The beach is 20-30 meters wide, with a few trees making shade for the unprepared visitors (not having umbrellas or beach tents). Emma loved the water and stayed mostly at the edge of it, sometime...

After a memorable drive to reach Col du Prato, I was looking for a board sign telling me the starting point for one of the nice peaks of Corsica. There are in fact two starting points: one is a parking lot before the small village, on the right side, bordering a sheep ground. There is a path crossing the sheep ground and joining a gravel road. The real path starts across the church, besides a restaurant. It is marked with an orange band. Following the road, pay close attention because it splits at some point and you have to follow the right side. I followed the left side and managed to wander for 3 kilometers before correcting my mistake. The good part of the hike has a slow slope and is mostly through a forest, keeping you a cool temperature and shade. You may encounter cows or pigs or goats or sheep herds. It is not a strenuous hike with the exception of the last 30 minutes. Pay attention to the orange band, the path is well marked. Although we passed close to a few streams (...

Another Corte trip,  having with the intention to combine it with a dip in the waters of Tavignano stream. Searching the internet about the entry point for Tavignano gorges will give you mixed starting points. At the end of the citadel, close to the parking lot, there is begining of the trail. As always, I had a hard time to find it and started very close to the stream, following a path used by the locals to enjoy the pools along the gorge. At some point we were forced to climb up and join the marked path. It was a steep ascent and only seeing other people on the normal path gave me confidence we corrected a wrong starting location. The funny thing is that many tourists like us were doing the same mistake and "suffered" an abrupt ascent at some moment.    One of the problems was that we needed time to be at the starting point and I did not want to wake up Emma very early, still. We always managed to be at the beginning of the trail before 11 am, and all days were in 3...

We  were stationed in Lucciana, one hour south of Bastia and all our hikes were around Corte, another 50 minutes south west. Both lakes - Melu and Capitellu - are famous due to the Restonica gorges, people are coming to enjoy the small pools along the stream.  I searched for Restonica gorge and the car's navigation system just had it as POI.  The first shock, off Corte town, was the small road leading to Restonica gorges, were you have to carefully drive and negotiate the curbs with incoming traffic. There is one lane and a half and from place to place spaces where to cars can pass along each other. I haven't yet met obnoxious drivers in Corsica, all of them are trying to accommodate to the road conditions. Once we have reached the paying parking lot, the signs were showing one hour and forty-five minutes for lake Melu. I hiked in many countries, but this trail was busy like a side-walk to supermarket. The last part of the hike to reach the platform of the lake Melu...

As it happens with any traveler, I am using the big four trip booking companies - Booking, Expedia, Trip Advisor, AirBnB or Canadian equivalents. Over the years, I discussed with many hotel/lodging owners and everyone is saying they are not happy with the way they are represented and the cut the brokers are getting for only providing an interface and a common entry point for travelers. The broker companies offer convenience and service aggregation, a unique marketing platform and convenience for the user. It is a warehouse for a service (lodging), but many of the reviews are fake, misrepresenting the  reality. I realized there is competition about reviews, many companies are trying to get more and also veto the ones outside "reality". It is better to read the more recent ones. Companies like Google, Yelp (with many question marks), Trip Advisor are vying for people posting their last impressions or even their vacation photos. The reality is that the algorithms to promote t...

Milan, 15 August 2019, day 2 A full day in Milan was scheduled for visiting Il Duomo, Castello Sforzesco and the Last Supper. I booked the tickets from Toronto and the first visit was scheduled for 8 am. I fumbled with the metro directions and we were there at 8:20 based on my watch. The whole plaza was empty and the cathedral was close. Then I realized I didn't change the time from Romania (one hour in advance) and started to take pictures of the plaza and of the nearby market - Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Emma was sleepy and I promised her that after visiting the dome we will find something to eat.Il Duomo has the cornucopia of the same personages and themes of the church. I was impressed with the large stained glasses, the navel raised on long columns with human sculptures at the top. Were they real personages in life or fictional characters?   Walking the church, in the insets in the wall, a few sculptures impressed me - three black marble characters, one man and two wo...

We traveled many times by train in Italy and didn't have trepidations. In getting to Bastia (in Corsica) we took the train to Livorno and then the ferry from Livorno to Bastia. The only unknown was getting from the train station to the Moby ferry port entrance in Livorno. Many people are not traveling using a car and I googled intensively to find my options - how can you reach the ferry terminal from the train station in Livorno? But before that, a few impressions from the train trip. Italians are using trains a lot and the system is very well organized. You can buy tickets online and present them to the train controller. I bought second class tickets during the week and the compartment was packed. The train passed through Cinque Terre, Spezia and a few places with colored beaches. Liguria's beaches still have the color of 50-60s Italian movies. Small patches of sand with colorful umbrella and chaise-longs. Brown bodies layered as sardines and capturing sun with the believe ...

Milan, 14th of Aug 2019 I just arrived and was confused about how to find the hotel. Although it was close to the train station, somebody just helped me to find the right directions. In hindsight I should have used Here for pedestrians.   The hotel (Soperga, ranked three stars, yes I don't splurge on lodging) looked very neat and the room was larger than what we've seen previously in Italy (2017). I got out with Emma and dined to a nearby restaurant with owners from Middle East. I got a mussel soup, Dorado fried fish and salad. More than I usually eat for dinner. Emma got shrimp, langostino and fries. I even tried their house wine but the fermentation was spoiling it.   The whole experience was not bad and the prices were decent. I was surprised by the richness of the mussel soup. Emma ate at least half of the mussels from my appetizer. It was a nice restaurant with table cloth, men servers and people smiling when talking to you. Romania has a long way to go in that rega...

Mes projets de voyage ne se font pas du jour au lendemain, simplement parce que je veux me détendre ou décompresser. La plupart du temps, je vois des endroits dans des documentaires ou des films ou je lis à leur sujet, puis je commence à dessiner un plan. Quand une graine est plantée, je récupère des informations et j'essaie de comprendre s'il ne reste plus que mon impulsion à me rendre sur place: si elles ont des endroits incroyables à photographier ou des paysages aux caractéristiques uniques, mieux c'est. Aujourd'hui, je dévoilerai mon plan de visite en Corse. Je suis un grand fan de TV5, la chaîne de télévision française qui au fil des ans m'a présenté de nombreux endroits incroyables à travers leurs documentaires: Thalassa, Des racines et des ailes, Passez moi les jumelles. Dans l'un des documentaires, une jeune guide ( Magali Vermeglio ) a été filmée lors d'une randonnée au GR20 et à la beauté du paysage et à la rugosité des sommets moi a commenc...

Photo by Gabriel B, My travels plans are not happening overnight, just because I want to relax or decompress. Most of the time I see places first in documentaries or movies or read about them and then I start to sketch a plan. When a seed is planted I dig information and try to understand if there is more than my impulse of getting to the place: if they have incredible places to photograph or scenery with unique characteristics, the better. Today I will unfold my plan to visit Corsica. I am a big fan of TV5, the French broadcasting channel which over the years introduced me to many amazing places through their documentaries - Thalassa, Des racines et des ailes, Passez moi les jumelles. In one of the documentaries, a young tour guide lady ( Magali Vermeglio ) was filmed while hiking GR20 and the beauty of the landscape and the roughness of the peaks just gotten me started. The only problem is that we are a family of two - dad and daughter (8 years old). Can we manage GR20, to...