Tag Archives: castle

New Town, Edinburgh

New Town, Edinburgh
“New Town, Edinburgh” — The New Town area of Edinburgh, viewed from the Edinburgh Castle.

This photograph overlooks the section of Edinburgh, Scotland known as “New Town.” To an American visitor, who might think a town is “old” if it has been around for a couple of centuries, it might be surprising to find out that New Town arose (next to the much older Old Town) roughly 250 years ago. In places with such deep history, 250 years is not that long! New Town features a lot of fascinating Neo-Classical and Georgian architecture and, in fact, it does seem a lot newer than the “Old Town” near Edinburgh Castle.

Speaking of the Castle, that is my camera position for this photograph — the foreground structures are part of it. The castle is on the top of an imposing ridge and its summit provides expansive views. Here we look across New Town to the shores of the Firth of Forth and then to more distant areas of Scotland across the water.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Souvenir Vendor, Lisbon

Souvenir Vendor, Lisbon
Vendor in front of his shop along a street below the Sao Jorge Castle, Lisbon.

Souvenir Vendor, Lisbon. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Vendor in front of his shop along a street below the Sao Jorge Castle, Lisbon.

We walked a lot during our 2023 visit to Lisbon, Portugal. Hey, walking is what we do when we travel! It may limit the distance you can cover a bit, but we think that we see a lot more of the places we go to when we walk. Lisbon is an interesting walking city. It is easy to walk many places, though there are two things to think about. First, it is a big city, and some of the more far-flung attractions are far away. (There is decent transit however.) Second, there are a lot of hills! Some are steep enough that even going down them can be a test.

On this day our goal was the St. George Castle, on the top of one of the hills overlooking the city. From our lodgings we walked down to central Lisbon and then started up the climb on the other side. Soon, as we reached the base of the hill we were to ascend, we encountered lots of ways to avoid the climb — if you were willing to pay for a lift up the hill. We pondered for maybe five seconds and then decided to walk. Walking is harder, for sure, and it is slower. But the latter is actually a benefit. When walking we see lots of things that we would miss on a tram or a tug-tuk ride. I photographed this little souvenir shop along the walk toward the castle.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Heidelberg Altstadt

Heidelberg Altstadt
Heidelberg Altstadt and the Neckar River, from the Heidelberg Castle

Heidelberg Altstadt. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Altstadt Heidelberg and the Neckar River, from the Heidelberg Castle

Before I write about this photograph, a little story. I have been posting daily photographs for close to fifteen years straight now. (I need to dig into the archives and determine the exact date — there may be an anniversary coming up.) I do this partially as a matter of discipline related to my music background… where we refer to this as “practice.” Generating a continuous flow of photographs, even if not every one is a masterpiece, is more a matter of exposing this process of practice. But I almost missed today! I had several photograph ready to post, but just before dinner I realized that I had not yet posted one for today! Close call, but here it is.

I made this photograph from the Heidelberger Schloss (castle) nearly a decade ago on one of our several visits to this city. (We’ve come to think of Heidelberg as home base for Europe visits as we have relatives who live there.) The photograph looks out across the old town (Altstadt) of Heidelberg toward the Neckar River and the flatlands in the distance.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Schloss Heidelberg and Karl Theodor Bridge

Schloss Heidelberg  and Theodor Heuss Bridge
Looking across the Neckar River toward Heidelberg Altstadt, Theodor Heuss Bridge, and Schloss Heidelberg (Heidelberg Castle)

Schloss Heidelberg and Karl Theodor Bridge. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Looking across the Neckar River toward Heidelberg Altstadt, Theodor Heuss Bridge, and Schloss Heidelberg (Heidelberg Castle).

As predicted earlier, this is another straight-ahead travel photograph. The photograph looks across the Neckar River at the Theodor Heuss Bridge, over Altstadt Heidelberg (the “old town”), and up to Schloss Heidelberg (Heidelberg Castle).

Heidelberg is a home base when we travel to Europe, as Patty’s brother and his wife have lived in that area for a long time. We’ve stopped in there on each of our past three trips “across the pond,” so we have had time to get to know the parts of the city that are within walking distance of their place. And this scene is within that distance — up a hill, along a path, down some steps, and across the river, and we are there!


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | FacebookEmail

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.