R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 44

Mediterranean Cruise 2022 — Murcia, Spain; Casa Consistorial and Catedral de Murcia

After our tour left Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fuensanta, our next stop was the nearby city of Murcia, Spain. And our first sight in Murcia after alighting from the bus was the Murcia Town Hall (Casa Consistorial de Murcia). This rather impressive edifice was built over a two-year period beginning in 1846. Stretched before the Town Hall are a fountain and flower garden, as you can see above and in these next two photos:

Murcia Town Hall fountain Murcia Town Hall flower garden

The ground...

Fun Photo Friday — Mediterranean 2022; Our Lady of Fuensanta Favorites

Next week I will begin showing you Murcia, Spain. Until then, here is today’s Fun Photo Friday favorites of this magnificent church and its surroundings:

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)

Mediterranean Cruise 2022 — Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fuensanta

Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Fuensanta

Continuing Monday’s article on our 18 May 2022 arrival into Cartagena, Spain. As you’ll recall, we met up with our tour group and headed to an overlook high above Murcia and the surrounding Segura river valley. Dominating the top of this hill to the south of Murcia are Casa del Cabildo (also: Casa del Sacristán — House of the Sacristan), a Benedictine monastery, and the early 18th century Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Fuensanta (Sanctuary of Our...

Mediterranean Cruise 2022 — Arriving Cartagena; Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Fuensanta

Vision of the Seas in Cartagena, Spain — 19 May 2022

Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas left Ibiza on 18 May 2022, and we arrived at our next destination the following day. What you will view this week and for the next several weeks (I estimate the next four) is Cartagena, Spain. Yes, five weeks is a long time to spend on one destination, but we did a lot during this stop. As I mentioned previously, this particular cruise offered up a fairly unusual itinerary featuring many destinations ...

Fun Photo Friday — Mediterranean 2022; Ibiza Favorites 3

Is it Winter? Not Here, and Not Now!

Today’s Fun Photo Friday completes my series on Ibiza from May of this year. Next week I move on to Cartagena, Spain. Until then, enjoy:

Mediterranean Cruise 2022 — Ibiza; More views of Dalt Vila, then back into Eivissa

Portal de ses Taules

After our view atop Dalt Vila’s fortification, we began the trek back down the steep hill and into Eivissa’s Old Town section. I’m going to post photos in sequential order and captioned with the street where that scene was located staring with:

Carrer de la Sant Creu at Plaça de Vila Bar Es Cafeti, Carrer d’Ignasi Riquer at Carrer del General Balanzat Carrer de la Santa Creu Museum of Contemporary Art, near Carrer de la Santa Creu Carrer de Bisbe Torres Anoth...

Mediterranean Cruise 2022 — Ibiza; Entering Eivissa’s walled Dalt Vila (Old Town)

Dalt Vila (High Town; Ibiza Old Town)

Now that the Christmas holiday is over, and I’ve completed an eight-day run of past Christmas articles, it’s time to return for one more week’s worth of touring Ibiza. And today we start with touring the walled Dalt Vila, otherwise known as Old Town Eivissa (Ibiza City). As you head south toward the main Portal de ses Taules gate leading into Dalt Vila you’ll notice that the skyline is dominated by the belltower of Catedral de Santa Maria de la Neu de Vil...

Fun Photo Friday — Christmas Lights of San Jacinto Plaza

San Jacinto Plaza decorated for Christmas

One thing I neglected to tell you about this week’s photographs is that they were not taken with my trusty, but aging, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1000. They were instead taken with my iPhone SE. I still much prefer a camera, but I guess this thing will do in a pinch. What do you think?

Ursula Enjoying San Jacinto Plaza

Straight out of the iPhone the images weren’t bad, but they did require a bit of postprocessing on the computer.

San Jacinto Plaza ...

Christmas Lights — San Jacinto Plaza, El Paso, Texas Part 2

As you’ll recall from Monday, this week I’m taking you on a tour of El Paso’s annual Christmas decorations in the historic San Jacinto Plaza. This was between venues, starting with dinner at Gonzalos G&R and culminating with this night’s Broadway in El Paso show at our magnificently restored Plaza Theatre. We’ll get to that in a moment, but first let’s continue with the San Jacinto tour:

Another Christmas “tree” in San Jacinto Plaza — This one changes!

Ever strolled through a Christmas ...

Christmas Lights — San Jacinto Plaza, El Paso, Texas Part 1

It was date night for Doug and Ursula on a comfortably cool 6 December 2022 evening in El Paso, and the main event was to be at the incredible Plaza Theatre. But before showtime we decided to start early with dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, followed by a stroll among the Christmas decorations adorning downtown El Paso’s historic San Jacinto Plaza. So, first stop was Gonzalos G&R at the corner of Nevada Avenue and Kansas Street (401 E. Nevada). I had my usual favorite, the ...