Though I have been in California several times already, I never had a chance to visit San Diego before. A couple of my friends are from the area and they always spoke of this city in superlative terms. Good climate, nice neighborhoods, comfortable life. Last January, I finally had an opportunity to fly there and see it with my own eyes. San Diego is indeed quite an interesting place to visit with a lot of activities to do and sights to see. Things which I enjoyed the most were Gaslamp Quarter, Balboa Park, Downtown, and the USS Midway and Maritime Museums.
San Diego and the surrounding areas also offer a lot of nice locations for sunset, wildlife, and urban photography. Most notable were La Jolla with its beaches and sea lion coves, Sunset Cliffs Natural Park, Mount Soledad, Point Loma with its Lighthouse and Cabrillo National Monument, as well as Coronado Island with its bridge and seaside promenades.
April 16, 2015
Pictures from my trip to Puerto Rico last week. Finally got to visit the Caribbean. Here are some of the most interesting places (in my opinion) from the list of what to see in Puerto Rico. Old city San Juan with two Spanish fortresses, caves (Cueva Ventana is especially amazing), rainforest (El Yunque National Forest), waterfalls, as well as majestic beaches and cliffs (Cabo Rojo, Playa Puerto Nuevo). They also have bioluminescent bays in a couple of places along the coast. Water will glow during dark nights there due to water microorganisms emitting light. However, the light is too weak to make a good photograph of the whole bay.
March 11, 2015
Here is my photo gallery about some of the fortifications of Vladivostok Fortress. Mostly built just before World War I, it used to be one of the largest coastal fortresses in the world, designed to withstand massive attacks from both sea and land. It was built to protect Russian interests in Far East region, mostly to prevent Japan from invading that distant part of Russian Empire. Due to the interruption by World War I and subsequent October Revolution in Russia it was only completed to about 2/3 of its initial plan. However, even incomplete it was very well fortified. Taking over it would require enormous offensive power, long blockade, and simultaneous assault from both sea and land. Some historians speculate that the fortress was the main reason why Japan never invaded Far East of Russia during World War II, unwilling to take heavy losses which almost certainly would have resulting from such offensive campaign.
With the invention of nuclear weaponry, military fortress importance greatly diminished and nowadays it is partially conserved as historic site and partially abandoned.
