Regardless of where we travel to, whenever we see a beautiful flower we tend to take a close-up picture of it. We have been to many tropical locations, which have amazing flowers, but we see beautiful flowers in the hearts of cities as well. Obviously we also see wild flowers along the trails during our hikes. What we love about the close-up pictures is how it often captures the contrasting colors within the flower petals. We have included many of our favorite flowers here. Do you take photographs of flowers that you come across during your travels?
Taking a boat out to visit Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) and Isla de la Luna (Island of the Moon) on Lake Titicaca in Bolivia is truly fascinating. The islands have many interesting ruins that pre-date the Inca empire and have been dated back to as far as 300 BC. The ruins are mostly of temples, but people lived on the islands as well. Island of the Sun is the larger of the two islands and there are even hotels where you can spend the night if you would like. If you just want to tour the islands and return to the town of Copacabana on the same day, it will take you about four to six hours.
View of Copacabana and Lake Titicaca
Entrance to a Ruin on Isla de la Luna
Impressive Ruins on the Island of the Moon
Looking Down at Our Boat on Isla del Sol
More of the Ruins on Island of the Moon
We did a three day tour from La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, where we first visited the ruins of Tiwanaku before continuing on to Copacabana where we stayed at a hotel that overlooked the Lake Titicaca. The following morning we rose early to take a rented boat out to visit the islands. We visited Isla de la Luna first where we were greeted by some local women selling souvenirs as well as a very friendly llama. The views of the ruins with the lake in the background were simply amazing. We were able to walk through the ruins and see them first hand, which made the experience even more interesting.
One of the Women Setting Up a Table to Sell Items
Happy Llama
Iconic View from Isla del Sol with Isla de la Luna in the Background and a Ruin in the Foreground
Climbing Through the Ruins on Island of the Moon
Our Boat Ride Out to the Islands
From Isla de la Luna, we continued on to Isla del Sol where we continued to tour ruins that are in excellent shape considering their age. Inside of one of the temples, there were coca leaves left on an altar by people hoping to receive blessings from the gods. Looking back towards the Island of the Moon from the shores of the Island of the Sun, its smaller size becomes quite apparent. We did not stay the night on the island, but instead returned to Copacabana, but we understand that they do reenactments of the Incan ceremonies on the island at night if you do decide to stay.
Ruins on Isla del Sol
Coca Leaves Left Inside of a Temple
Grass Growing on Top of the Ruin on Island of the Sun
Sunset from Our Hotel in Copacabana
Another Ruin Wall on Island of the Moon
We saw many different ruins during our time in Bolivia, but certainly the ones on Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna were among the most interesting. It was also a refreshing break from the busy city to stay a couple of nights with beautiful sunsets and wonderful views. It took us about eight hours to reach Copacabana from La Paz, but that included a couple of hours touring Tiwanaku and a stop for lunch. It also included a ferry ride across part of Lake Titicaca in order for our van to make its way to the lake. It was definitely one of our favorite tours while we were in Bolivia.
We love finding interesting street art in cities around the world, and Budapest was certainly no different. We find it interesting that there are often sites now where you can find maps of all of the street art in a city, which is great for people that enjoy seeing all of the variations of street art that a city has to offer. Much of the street art in Budapest is located in the Old Jewish Quarter where trendy restaurants and shops are now really popular. We didn’t use a map during our trip, so the art we found, we found somewhat randomly. As with most street art, it was colorful and sometimes whimsical. Here are a few of our favorites.
It Almost Looks Like She is Peeking Through the Trees
