There are certain parts of the world that simply cry out: Road Trip! You know the requisite ingredients: rugged cliffs dropping into blue ocean waters, waves crashing against rocky outcroppings, and pockets of white foam shooting into the air. Roads wind, barely two lanes wide, cars hug mountain turns. Drivers and passengers crane their necks to catch a glimpse — the glimpse — over the next cliff, wanting to pull off for the perfect photo.
The whole thing sounds cliché, perhaps, but maybe that’s just because that’s the way it really is. There are a few drives in this world that deliver on all of this. And Chapman’s Peak Drive in Cape Town happens to be one of them. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Panorama, South Africa by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
2 Comments | 16 May 2013
“If you look up, at just the right time, you’ll see a peacock on the ceiling,” our guide, Javad, explained as he walked us under the gilded and tiled dome of Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque in Isfahan, Iran.
We craned our necks, searching for just the right angle. With the aid of sunlight passing through a nearby window, an image of a peacock — previously unseen, now tail shimmering — was revealed to us brush strokes. Intermittent cries of “Oh!” indicated when everyone in the room “got it.” Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Iran, Middle East, Panorama by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
13 Comments | 28 January 2013
In a typical European medieval town, its castle lay at its heart. In Edinburgh, however, its castle is its head — the head of a fish, to be more precise. The Royal Mile, the main thoroughfare of Edinburgh that spills from the castle forms a sort of spine of the fish to which many closes (alleys) are connected.
And although Edinburgh has evolved over the centuries, much of the Old Town looks like one imagines it might have centuries ago, like something you might have even seen in Harry Potter. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Panorama, Scotland by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
10 Comments | 6 January 2013
A long horizon, inky waters and waning light. What is it about all this that delivers a sense of peace and perspective, of one’s small place in this world? The rhythm of the waves serves as a sort of meditative mantra, keeping petty stresses and worries in their place, at bay.
We recently arrived at this spot on Nicaragua’s Pacific Coast, and ended our first day at Morgan’s Rock gazing out over this. Open up the panorama below to full screen to enjoy a bit of this experience at home. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Nicaragua, Panorama by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
18 Comments | 2 December 2012
Antarctica, uninhabitable in the truest sense of the word. No human can survive it naturally. So what is it that draws us in, makes us want to visit, explore, push the boundaries, and place it on the bucket list?
Open up the panorama below from Detaille Island, just south of the Antarctic Circle, for a clue. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Antarctica, Panorama by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
13 Comments | 23 November 2012
Dawn breaks in a village above holy Lake Khecheopalri in Sikkim, a semi-autonomous state of northeast India tucked into the Himalayas. In the early morning, children stumble half asleep through the village to the Buddhist monastery school as the sun rises over the nearby mountains. Our reason for rising early on the morning this photo was taken: to grab a glimpse of the elusive peak of Mount Kangchenjunga, the world’s third highest. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: India, Panorama by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
8 Comments | 16 November 2012
Up until our recent travels into the heart of port wine country, and despite countless glasses of the stuff under my belt, I was still tempted to consider port as a heavy drink that was quaffed by older British men with a cigar after a pot roast dinner.
Then we traveled deep into the Douro Valley in northern Portugal, the epicenter of port wine. And there, things opened up to me. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Panorama, Portugal, Wine by: Audrey Scott
12 Comments | 3 October 2012
Ever go to a market expecting one thing, only to find something refreshingly different? That’s how it was with our visit to the Saturday morning market near Pont de l’Alma in Paris’ 16th arrondissement. It’s only a stone’s throw away from the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysee and a handful of Paris top ten sights. Given all this, we figured the market fancy, polished, and full of tour groups.
It wasn’t. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Europe, France, Panorama by: Audrey Scott
14 Comments | 11 September 2012
The Louvre Pyramid. Love it or hate it? Continue Reading »
Filed Under: France, Panorama by: Audrey Scott
16 Comments | 28 August 2012
Just outside the big city bustle of Tokyo lies little Kamakura, once the political and cultural capital of Japan during the 12th to 14th centuries. Kamakura is one of those places whose city map paralyzes the indecisive, for every few blocks is another Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple, many of which run 700-800 years old.
So where to get started? Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Japan, Panorama by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
22 Comments | 27 July 2012
