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Marty’s photo of the day #3076: This is the tiny village of Lesponne in Southern France. When Deb and I were in France, working on the Europe chapter for my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, we didn’t have a GPS or hotel reservations. We basically roamed, with the only goal […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3064: Since I’m in New York all week, presenting Around the World in 90 Minutes at colleges, all my pictures this week will be from that show. Today I have two photos. The first is my wife, Deb, standing on the roof of an old abandoned castle in western Spain. […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3036: I took this photo in a tiny town in western Spain. The below excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, explains the significance of the shot—and how a simple request can offend an entire country and get you fired: We ambled back to […]
Marty’s photo of the day #3030: This is one of the many mountain villages Deb and I drove past while exploring northern Spain for the Europe chapter of Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. If I remember correctly, we were lost when I took this photo. Then again, we just needed to make […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2957: Last night Deb and I were reminiscing about how much fun we had working on the Europe chapter for my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. We explored Spain, France, Switzerland, and Andorra, without any real plans. We had no GPS, no hotel reservations—just a […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2854: What happens if you are a Spanish aristocrat and your first castle gets sacked? You build another one right next to it. (Photographed somewhere along the back roads of Spain.)
Marty’s photo of the day #2852: Having visited Spain, France, Switzerland, Andorra, and Italy, I have to say that I enjoyed Spain the most. The reason is that Spain feels less touristy, and it’s easy to get into rural areas, away from the crowds. Also, you can be driving a back road and all of […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2829: Several years ago, on our anniversary, Deb and I watched this sunset on the Bay of Biscay in northern Spain. Then we went to dinner at a fancy restaurant, making sure we had a window table so we could enjoy the view of . . . a very dark […]
Marty’s photos of the day #2756: This week I’m featuring Catholic-related photos I shot in Italy and Spain. While visiting both countries, I thoroughly enjoyed all the opulent Catholic sights. That being said, how can a religion based on a book whose main character railed against the rich, turn around and waste so much money […]
Marty’s photos of the day #2755: With this being Christmas week, I’m dedicating it to Catholic-related photos I shot in Italy and Spain. While visiting both countries, I thoroughly enjoyed all the opulent Catholic sights. That being said, how can a religion based on a book whose main character railed against the rich, turn around […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2754: The Catholic religion perplexes me. In high school, one of my girlfriends was Catholic, and her favorite song was “Only the Good Die Young” by Billy Joel (though she wasn’t any more inspired by Joel’s lyrics than Virginia was). Additionally, I’ve had many Catholic friends over the years, and […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2753: One shock for Americans visiting countries like Spain and Italy is that you can’t always eat when you want to eat. I love that different countries have diverse traditions and cultures. Still, I have to admit to getting frustrated wanting to eat dinner at five or six o’clock and […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2620: It’s “Animals A thru Z Month.” Each day in August, I will post an animal I’ve photographed—somewhere in the world—in alphabetical order. I is for Ibex. I photographed these two young ibex in Spain. Once a plentiful species, the IUCN classifies Spanish ibex as “near threatened.” As with so […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2558: I will let a short excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, explain this shot from Spain: If medieval real estate agents existed, they would have listed the Castillo de Monfragüe as a “starter castle.” Built in the fifteenth century, it was much […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2528: You’re looking at a section of art on the side of a church in Spain. And you can’t tell me that some of the priests aren’t checking out the boy’s ass! Spanish churches are amazing, but they also demonstrate the political aspect of religion that puts money and power […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2465: Sorry, I don’t know what kind of plant this is. All I can tell you is that I photographed it while exploring western Spain in 2003. Whatever it is, it’s pretty cool.
Marty’s photo of the day #2350: With Spain in the news so much lately, I thought I’d share with you a fun excerpt from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. Drunk shopping: After several days of conversing only between ourselves, Deb and I relished the opportunity to speak with someone […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2118: My favorite part of visiting Spain were all the castles that we could just walk up to, and sometimes go inside. This decomposing castle was one of my favorites. We were just heading into Spain from France, when we spotted it in a wide valley, miles in the distance. […]
Marty’s photo of the day #2114. This is the Castle of the Sad Countess in Arenas de San Pedro, Spain. While working on my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet, I pieced together, through various sources (all in Spanish), a story of an amazing woman who resisted the Crown’s repossession of her castle after her […]
