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Betws-y-Coed (“Prayer house in the wood”) is a village and community in the Conwy valley in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It has a population of 534. The name Betws or Bettws is generally thought to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon Old English ‘bed-hus’ – ie. a bead-house – a house of prayer, or oratory. The earliest record of the name is ‘Betus’, in 1254.

Notes:
Title from the Detroit Publishing Co., catalogue J–foreign section. Detroit, Mich. : Detroit Photographic Company, 1905.

Subjects:
Wales–Betws-y-Coed.
Wales–Snowdonia National Park

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The ultimate urban metropolis, this is Tokyo, Japan. This photo was taken in the Shinjuku district on a rather busy weekend night. I had seen several jaw dropping photos of Tokyo over the years and couldn’t wait to see all the amazing neon lights and mega skyscrapers. After finally getting to experience the city in person, it was far more unbelievable than I had ever imagined! You’ll have to view it large to fully appreciate all the detail, I can literally stare at this scene for hours.
For this shot, I combined 9 bracketed exposures together to bring in all the color and light in the scene. Because it was so bright, I actually had to adjust my exposure balance by 2 steps as well as use my ND filter combined with a long enough exposure to capture all of the traffic motion. I actually waited through 9 lights in order to complete the set and capture all the lights from the cars whizzing by. At one point, a guy started coming toward me and I thought for sure he was security or something official and would ask me to get out of the street. Instead, it was a fairly intoxicated tourist that began dancing in circles in front of me while saying “take a picture of me, take a picture of me!” As I was in the middle of my set and didn’t want to touch my camera, I pretended to take a picture of the man, while laughing hysterically. That did the trick and off he went, likely to drink some more sake in this very popular party area via: Surrealize

Tour 4 Free Tagged: asia, city, hdr, japan, night, photo, tokyo

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Bodiam Castle is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, England. It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II, ostensibly to defend the area against French invasion during the Hundred Years’ War. Of quadrangular plan, Bodiam Castle has no keep, having its various chambers built around the outer defensive walls and inner courts. Its corners and entrance are marked by towers, and topped by crenellations. Its structure, details and situation in an artificial watery landscape indicate that display was an important aspect of the castle’s design as well as defence. It was the home of the Dalyngrigge family and the centre of the manor of Bodiam.

Possession of Bodiam Castle passed through several generations of Dalyngrigges, until their line became extinct, when the castle passed by marriage to the Lewknor family. During the Wars of the Roses, Sir Thomas Lewknor supported the House of Lancaster, and when Richard III of the House of York became king in 1483, a force was despatched to besiege Bodiam Castle. It is unrecorded whether the siege went ahead, but it is thought that Bodiam was surrendered without much resistance. The castle was confiscated, but it was returned to the Lewknors when Henry VII of the House of Lancaster became king in 1485. Descendants of the Lewknors owned the castle until at least the 16th century.

By the start of the English Civil War in 1641, Bodiam Castle was owned by John Tufton. He supported the Royalist cause, and sold the castle to help pay fines levied against him by Parliament. The castle was subsequently dismantled, and was left as a picturesque ruin until its purchase by John Fuller in 1829. Under his auspices, the castle was partially restored before being sold to George Cubitt, 1st Baron Ashcombe, and later to Lord Curzon, both of whom undertook restoration projects at Bodiam. The castle is protected as a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Monument. It has been owned by The National Trust since 1925, donated by Lord Curzon on his death, and is open to the public.

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“According to a legend which stayed with the people, the temple of the ancient Slavic goddess Živa, once stood in the place of the current Baroque church. Priest Staroslav and his daughter Bogomila guarded it when ?rtomir came to the island. The temple disappeared during battles between the followers of the pagan religion and Christians, who destroyed the altar and built a church. Bogomila stayed in the new church with her father, while ?rtomir, after his baptism near the Savica waterfall, went to Aquilea and became a missionary of the Aquilean patriarch among Slovenes. On the Bled island, archeologists have discovered traces of prehistoric (11th to 8th centuries B.C.) and Slavic (9th to 10th century) settlements. In the early Middle Ages there was a pre-Christian, probably Old Slavic cult area in the location of the present day church. 124 graves with skeletons from the 9th to the 11th century were found. The foundations of a pre-Romanesque chapel which was built during the process of Christianisation, also date from approximately the same period – this is probably the only discovered example of a cult building from those times on Slovenian territory.”

According to written sources, the first masonry church on the island, a three-naved Romanesque basilica, was consecrated by the Aquilean patriarch Pellegrino in 1142. In the 15th century, it was rebuilt in the Gothic style: a new presbytery, a freestanding bell tower and the main altar were built. The renovated single-nave church was consecrated in 1465 by the first bishop of Ljubljana, count Žiga Lamberg. In 1509 it was so damaged by an earthquake that it required thorough renovation, and this was carried out in the Baroque style. Only the frescoes in the presbytery and a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary, which probably adorned the main altar, are preserved from the previous Gothic church.

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Jeruzalem in the Hormoz (or Ormaz, as it’s better known internationally) area of Slovenia. This is the center of Slovenian wine production and heart of Slovenia’s wine country.

Ormož is a town and municipality in northeastern Slovenia. It lies on the left bank of the river Drava and borders with Croatia on the opposite bank of the river.

The parish church in the town is dedicated to Saint Jacob. It is first mentioned in written sources dated to 1271. It was rebuilt on a number of occasions in the 16th, 17th and 18th century. It contains frescos from the 14th and 17th centuries.

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Fisher Towers Moring Sunrise on the River

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Fisher Towers at Noon at the Peak

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Fisher Towers at Night Star Light Star Bright

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Tours 4 Free Tagged: fisher, night, photos, towers, fisher-towers

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View from Chimney Rock in North Carolina.
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Chimney Rock is a village in Rutherford County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 175 at the 2000 census. The village takes its name from a large granite outcropping located on a summit above the village itself in Chimney Rock State Park.

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thanks to @MissKit for the new Chimney Rock State Park and North Carolina Lake Lure tour location.

A surfer‘s paradise and a beach lover’s bliss, Hawaii attracts millions of visitors a year and why wouldn’t it when even the name conjures up dreamy images of picture perfect tropical islands.

Photo of Hanalei River Valley Kauai Hawaii

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Big Sur Cliffs of Fog and Rocky Hills

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Coastal Highway 1 Big Sur, CA Beach Hillside

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BigSur Marine Fog Layer Rolling In the Meadow

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Coastal Highway 1 – Big Sur, CA

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Big Sur Froth and Fog – Surf Like Snow

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Big Sur’s Long Foggy Road

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Big Sur Marine Fog Layer on the Rolling Hills

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Big Sur Foggy Meadow – Deep Green and Pretty Flowers

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Big Sur Terrace Beach – Foggy Top Mountain

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Big Sur Coastline – Fog Layer Rolling Over Beachfront Prairie

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Description of California’s Famous Big Sur

Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the central California coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. The name “Big Sur” is derived from the original Spanish-language “el sur grande”, meaning “the big south”, or from “el país grande del sur”, “the big country of the south”. The terrain offers stunning views, making Big Sur a popular tourist destination. Big Sur’s Cone Peak is the highest coastal mountain in the contiguous 48 states, ascending nearly a mile (5,155 feet/1571 m) above sea level, only three miles (4.8 km) from the ocean.

Although Big Sur has no specific boundaries, many definitions of the area include the 90 miles (145 km) of coastline between the Carmel River and San Carpoforo Creek, and extend about 20 miles (32 km) inland to the eastern foothills of the Santa Lucias. Other sources limit the eastern border to the coastal flanks of these mountains, only three to 12 miles (4.8–19 km) inland.

The northern end of Big Sur is about 120 miles (193 km) south of San Francisco, and the southern end is approximately 245 miles (394 km) northwest of Los Angeles.

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