Foto Friday – Pubs & Castles
Posted on June 2, 2017
There is a castle and pub next to a river bridge on the road between Shannon Airport and Limerick City in the west of Ireland at a village called Bunratty. The castle takes it’s name from the village – Bunratty Castle, where you can book into one of the castle banquets that take place there most nights during the tourist season as far as MB is aware. The pub is one of Ireland’s oldest at almost 400 years old and has the great name of Durty Nelly’s. If you want to check out who Durty Nelly actually was, you can read it on the pub’s website She was certainly a character.
Even amongst natives, the pub is renowned for the quality of the Guinness beer served within. A number of years back, MB and English friend Pete, who liked his Guinness in the pubs of London, stopped off for a tipple having landed at Shannon Airport only a short while before. “Well Pete, how do you like our Irish Guinness served in Durty Nelly’s” enquired MB, Pete having taken a swallow that made almost half the contents of the pint glass disappear on the occasion of his first visit to Ireland. Pete closed his eyes, leaned back on his bar stool and uttered the immortal reply -“It’s like strawberries and cream on a summer’s day MB”. And so it was.
MB took the below shots on his trip home last week on a bright sunny day as he passed through the village:
Weekly Photo Challenge – Friend
Posted on May 31, 2017
MB remembers the love his two sisters had for horse riding in their younger days. Like most young girls who share that same pastime, MBs sisters always considered their horses a close friend. The horse friend was/is very often treated with far more TLC than, for example, a brother!
MB saw this guy as he drove on the road from Lough Gur lake to HX last week when he was home, and stopped to take the shot.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Evanescent
Posted on May 26, 2017
For all the thickos like MB out there who do not understand the meaning of the word ‘evanescent’ – it means: soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading or disappearing. Ergo, a moment in time, sort of thingy!
MB was around the Lough Derg area of his homeland in recent days and captured a number of shots of the locality. The below, in particular, seems to capture a moment in time for the two individuals in question. A minute or so after taking the shot, the guy at the back of the boat gunned the engine into life and the boat purred off into the distance, the moment in time gone forever.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Heritage
Posted on May 17, 2017
When you grow up in Ireland, your heritage is all about you, and you are immersed in it from the moment you leave the womb. Sport. Music. Dance. Drama. Language. Literature. Castles. Prehistoric monuments. The list is endless.
In the Middle East, it’s a totally different kettle of heritage fish. And a totally different heritage. One similarity in the heritage of both locations, however, is ancient exploring and explorers.
Did you know that it was not Christopher Columbus who ‘discovered’ America. It was an Irishman who did so – St Brendan the Voyager, hundreds of years before ‘Columbus the Pretender’. Google it guys – discover the truth!
The Arabs have a similarly famous voyager – Ibn Battuta. MB has mentioned in past posts that there is a shopping mall in Dubai called Ibn Battuta Mall – with each section of the mall themed on the different geographical locations explored by IB – China, Persia, North Africa, etc.
MB took this shot of some Arabic boats (dhows) at a heritage market in Qatar, December 2016; miniature models of the real thing.
Foto Friday – Stables
Posted on May 12, 2017
Just round the corner from Souq Waqif in Doha, there’s a camel and horse stables complex. Horses often sleep in the standing position. These three had just dozed off when MB captured them.
SONY DSC
Weekly Photo Challenge – Reflecting
Posted on May 10, 2017
If ever you wish to turn water to wine, or you require the secret alchemist recipe to turn mercury to gold, or you wish to turn a simple semicircle to a full circle – just ask MB. He will have the answer.
This incredible semicircle to full circle reflection-shot is taken from MB’s photo cave – one of his Amsterdam trip with daughter MB2 shots in November 2016.
Wicked shot MB. Thanks lads!
Foto Friday – Limerick
Posted on May 5, 2017
MB’s home city Limerick, had it’s Great Limerick Run last weekend with some 12,500 participants. Lots of nice pics appeared on facebook, for those of us on distant shores.
The following is an MB ‘Limerick’ shot of St John’s Castle, taken from Patrick St.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Danger!
Posted on May 3, 2017
If HX followers ever find themselves stuck between a Crusader army and an Ottoman army, MB suggests that you make yourself very scarce, pronto. One doesn’t want to get caught in the carnage.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threw out the Crusader mentality insult last week to those Turks who were suggesting that he had stolen the election; which many Turks suspect, from all that MB has heard from a number of Turkish friends. He won the election by some 1.5M votes, but there were almost 3M (mysteriously) unstamped votes included in the count, which were mostly in Erdogan’s favour. And many districts had allegedly more votes than voters. The old Irish cry of vote early and often seems to have been adopted with gusto!
MB took this shot through a shop window in April 2014, in a market in the historical Istanbul old town, from where many an Ottoman soldier, no doubt, set sail to do battle against the Western Crusaders in the holy land, back in the day. The Crusaders generally came off on the wrong side of those battles, from all that MB has read. Dangerous days in the past for the Crusaders. Dangerous days in the present for many Turks.
Foto Friday – Landscape
Posted on April 28, 2017
The Arabian gulf is primarily flat desert landscape. So on trips elsewhere, anything other than ‘flat’ tends to be a visual assault on the brain of MB.
During a work trip to Switzerland in 2015, MB took a train trip to Montreaux to take in the sights. Switzerland is anything but flat, and some of the scenery is quite spectacular.
The below shot shows one of Switzerland’s most visited attractions; Chateaux De Chillon, which is walking distance from Montreaux town centre, some 45 minutes along the shore of Lake Geneva.
Weekly Photo Challenge – Wanderlust
Posted on April 27, 2017
Around the end of March each year, many an expat in the Middle East (and beyond) gets that wanderlust feeling and heads to Dubai for the richest horserace in the world; the Dubai World Cup. The DWC is the last race on the last night of the 4-month Dubai horse racing festival which starts in early November. The night must be experienced to be believed, with much on offer besides the racing. The Meydan Racing Stadium itself is a 1.2km mesmerising modern structure which contains a 5-star hotel within, and resembles an invading mega-spaceship of ultra-high luminosity, in the midst of the death-dark desert on the outskirts of Dubai city.
In addition to the attraction of the racing, one can also avail of the sport of ‘people watching’, as it’s also the biggest day of the year for ladies fashion and corporate entertainment. Think ‘ladies day at Ascot’ on steroids. The event overall is an eclectic mixture of multiple nationalities, and income levels from princes to paupers, with various ticket prices to suit. The after-racing concert this year (there’s always one) featured Aussie pop star, Sia.
So here’s 2 x MB shots from DWC night, 29 March 2014:
“You really are the greatest MB” – Sia
Sunday Shot – No Comment
Posted on April 23, 2017
MB will henceforth give a regular ‘Sunday Shot’ to followers, which will be slightly abstract in nature. He will say no more.
Foto Friday – Black & White
Posted on April 21, 2017
MB saw this guy sitting across the street, as MB sipped a beer outside a cafe in Istanbul, March 2015.
HX Report 