Folksy Travel by Bill Smale • Page 8 of 54 • Click on "Menu" below to search Country or City (wait 30 seconds after clicking) or to see Country Guide

January 22, 2025January 22, 2025

The Sutherlands’ Dunrobin Castle in Highlands

The Sutherlands’ Dunrobin Castle is representative of the wealth, status and power of that family. It was these people who took over alot of the Highland areas for sheep farming and displaced the population to either working for them or moving outside of the sheep herding areas often to the seasides where they had no skills and where the farming was often impossible. Many of those people got on boats and left for the US, Australia and Canada and never looked back. It was a very sad time in the history for Scotland but it was a great time for the countries they went to since they brought their traditions and especially their music which became an important and integral part of what we now call “American music”. This castle is one of the nicest ones I’ve ever seen and it is extremely well-maintained. If you are in this area it’s one of the places you really must visit.

The castle Drive — The drive up to the castle

Of view from the garden — The castle from the garden

The Sutherland code of arms — This French motto means “fearless”. In fact the Sutherland family came from France and is most likely of Viking descent, as I was told by the historian in the castle

The pool table — This is about the largest pool table I have ever seen

Autograph photographs — Autographed photographs with the Duke of Windsor, Edward VIII, in the center

Castle Center, Courtyard — The center courtyard

Children's bedroom — The children’s bedroom

The outfits — The display of the various robes and outfits

Dunrobin Castle Garden — A view of the garden from the castle

The Sutherlands collection of rhubarb — Giant rhubarb plant growing

An amazing cloud — This looks like an alien ship. It was an amazing cloud

January 22, 2025January 22, 2025

Orkneys out and about

When you travel to Scotland try to make time to visit the Shetland Islands and the Orkney Islands. When you’re out and about in the Orkneys you will find some really beautiful landscapes and you will also I think be surprised by how many ancient people travel to this windy and cold series of Islands. The weather is very difficult but it is a very fertile, geologically ancient with bountiful seas. But when you visit you should have a car since local transport is not really adequate for short intensive visits.

Orkney rabbits — potential dangers everywhere

Beautiful vegetation — The wonderful clean waters and vegetation

Rainy weather — The reason it’s so beautifully green and lush is because there is so much rain

The castle ruined — There are many old ruins and castles here

And or a buddy — Your potential next buddy

The Orkney ferry — The way to get to the Orkneys in comfort

The dog lounge — In case you bring your dog

Out and about with the geology — The amazing geology

Cold and windy weather — It was cold and windy on the boat

Craggy Beachside — Just a beautiful craggy beach side

A treasure trove inlet — A small inlet. Maybe there was buried treasure here

A nice Citroen on the Orkneys — Some lady and her dog had a very nice Citroen

A nice beach — One of the very nice beaches

Old marking stone from the Vikings — This was the actual old stone

January 22, 2025January 22, 2025

Prague is a most beautiful city

Prague is the most beautiful city so if you were looking for a city in Europe with history, beautiful streets, beautiful buildings, ancient history told through what you see and a place you can get around easily and not get tired of looking around for at least a week then Prague is your city. So look through these photos with Bill Smale Adventures.

A water closet — It’s nice to know there was one around

Most beautiful display — It was permanently displayed on a light pole

Prague Cathedral — A main cathedral in the city

Crazy building — The wildest building there

Prague sculpture — Sculpture and art is everywhere

Beautiful borscht — A great borcht and a very tasty cabbage salad

Excellent restaurant — Highly acclaimed and really excellent

Trams and buses — There are trams and buses everywhere

Old Prague alchemy — The ancient alchemy lab

A new ice cream idea — The famous ice cream on a rolled a pancake which is a fairly new idea in the Czech Republic

Making the dough — This is how they make the dough for the ice cream cone

A beautiful Prague clock — An old universal clock

Beautiful Prague architecture — Everywhere you go you see beautiful architecture and designs

Beautiful old Prague car — These old cars are fixed up to take touristS slowly around the city

The Jewish center and synagogue in Prague — This is the synagogue and the Jewish center with pictures of the people who were taking hostage and killed in Israel

January 21, 2025January 21, 2025

Walking the beautiful beach side of Budva

Walking the beautiful beach side of Budva you will find a place that is growing to become a mini Riviera in Montenegro. This town and the area around it has tourist attractions including some ancient Roman ruins, some churches and beautiful ocean views. I found it to be one of the two places in Montenegro I really enjoyed and decided to extend my stay partly because the accommodations had this beautiful view you can see below and it was just very relaxing. Enjoy the photos with Bill Smale Adventures.

The apartment view — The view from the apartment which was also very nice inside with everything I needed to clean cook and just relax.

Rainy Budva — There was quite a bit of rain in December but still it was nice being here. You can see the rain over by the hills.

Is this hotel Garibaldi? — I should’ve checked to see if, in English, this hotel was named “Hotel Garibaldi”. That would be interesting since it is just across the Adriatic from Italy add 2000 years ago this area was controlled by the Romans.

A beach side Churchill cigar — There was a cigar shop on the first floor of this apartment complex so I took advantage and found a Churchill

A smooth cigar — This is a very nice smooth smoke

Budva Cats — There are cats everywhere which seems to be a thing in the Balkans, maybe a really good effort to keep the mice in check.

The local beach side — The beach is not really beautiful sand filled areas but the water is so clear and beautiful. While you are eating at the restaurants looking over the water you can see the fish.

Walking on the beach side — Taking a walk along the beach side

A lot of building in Budva — There is a lot of building going on but there are not enough hotel rooms for touristS so you will find most of the accommodations are through booking companies as private apartments

A beautiful day at the beach side — People enjoying the break from the rain on a beautiful day outside

Short walking distance in Budva — It’s a rather small bay so you can see from one end to the other and do the walk-in about 25 minutes

Roman office ruins — a former Roman administrative building

Old church — There is a very old church here

Ruins from the Romans — Newly uncovered ruins

Walking near the fortifications — Walking in the old part of Budva

An entertainment submarine — Definitely not a military submarine

A cigar with A Campari spritz — This was the first Camacho cigar I ever had and it was very nice. It went well with the Campari spritz

Fortifications in Budva — The city fortifications

The south Beachside — The south side of the Riviera

A rainbow — I think there was a pot of gold buried in this marble

Beef and vegetable vegetables stew — A very nice stew with beef and vegetables

My apartment view — My apartment looking out

Radar controlled area — I think you can figure out what this means

Whirlpool is in Budva — It was interesting to find whirlpool here

January 20, 2025January 20, 2025

Wonderful old town Skopje with Bill Smale Adventures.

Wonderful old town Skopje of North Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia and after they broke up with the other parts of the republic they named their country Macedonia which raised the anger of the Greeks sense Macedonia was the kingdom of Alexander the great who was physically occupying an area south of Macedonia which is now in Greece so the Greeks forced them to change the name to North Macedonia. That’s an interesting turn on the litigations against names which extended to “champagne”, “Parmesan cheese” and “, “camembert”, oh and not to forget “Budweiser”. Skopje is the capital and is famous for its old town and large buildings proclaiming it’s history and culture.

Wonderful dogs — the dogs are very friendly, seemed to be homeless but are very clean, well fed and they have a tag in their ear for identification.

Flying to Skopje — Flying from Belgrade you can see the mountainous Kosovo

Wonderful sea of clouds — The sea of clouds

Wonderfully bad food — I don’t often put negative things in my Phlogs but this was one of the worst meals I’ve ever had. The beef was bad and it was almost all bones, fat and grizzle. I was told it was a very good place for grilled food but I was way overcharged for things I didn’t order and for things they didn’t say they were going to charge for so it was a good experience in a tourist trap which I really don’t need but I guess you can’t avoid all of them.

Skopje dog — Another buddy who I met every day

Bad Skopje hotel name — Not a name you would give a hotel in the US

Quality Skopje food — This local restaurant provided some language difficulties but they were very nice people and the food was for local inhabitants and was really nice and very good quality. Kebapcilnica Rio 1990

https://maps.app.goo.gl/La3LaCE7Xhzexq9h7?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

Wonderful menu — Of course they have an easier to read menu

A quiet Skopje drinking area — A nice place to just duck into and have an aperitif

Wonderful coffee and cheesecake — Coffee and cherry cheesecake is wonderful

Military shopping — The military also goes shopping

Ancient clothing — An antique store with some heritage clothing

Skopje Shopping area — The old shopping area

Antique phones — In case you need a new phone

Empty seating area — There is a lot of outside seating for restaurants and coffee shops but it was very cold

Wonderful Skopje Jewelry shops — Gold and jewelry shops and ladies beautiful dresses are on display all over this old town. I counted more than 50 jewelry shops

Wedding dresses — There is even a wedding dress store

Typical Shop — Just a typical small shop

The local Skopje bazaar — This is at the end of old town and is where the local people go shopping in their bazaar. You can find a lot of of name brand but very cheap products. I even found a shop that was selling secondhand fake Rolexes

The indoor portion — The indoor part of the local bazaar

Albanian souvenirs — There is a very large population of Albanians which I was told were kicked out of Kosovo by the Serbian and now live in North Macedonia.

Beautiful dresses — More beautiful dresses

A famous old warrior — I wasn’t really interested enough to check who this was

Park on the sidewalk — If the street has no parking you just park on the sidewalk which creates some difficulties for pedestrians

Building artwork — Artwork on a large building

Abandoned business — This used to be a working restaurant or coffee shop I guess

The wonderful Skopje river — The main river in scoop J

The bridge of famous people — This is the bridge with statues of fairly recent famous people

Of floating restaurant — This is a restaurant but was not open at the time. You can see the Macedonian flag

The Skopje bridge of civilization — Read the plaque below which explains the figures

A replica sarcophagus — This of course is a replica and I didn’t ask which Alexander this was for. I was under the impression the remains Alexander the greatare still in some unknown place but maybe I am confused with something else.

Ancient mosaic — Rebuilding an ancient mosaic

Beautiful glass creation — I just thought this was really beautiful

Ancient salt mine — This salt mine competes in ancient history with the Celtic salt mines in Salzburg Austria

Explanation of the mine — As you know salt was very important to preserve food and to provide minerals for the body

Alexander the great statue — Of course Alexander the great Hase to show up

Phillip's statue — Alexander’s father Philip

Alexander's mother fountain — The fountain memorializing Alexander’s mother

Wonderful Skopje cappuccino and toffee cake — A wonderful cappuccino with a toffee layer cake

Wonderful north Macedonian food — I was back at my favorite local restaurant I showed you above and I got a whole assortment which was really delicious but a little bit too much food. But I just had to try the variety and get an idea of some north Macedonian food.

Cooking on TV — And while I was eating this woman was doing some cooking on TV

January 20, 2025January 20, 2025

Investigating the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

Investigating the Blue Mosque in Istanbul is one of the top things on the list of tourist attractions you really need to see. It is free to enter and you might really enjoy just finding a place to sit and looking at all the beautiful artwork and calligraphy for which mosques are famous. You can visit here now with Bill Smale Adventures.

Nighttime view in Istanbul — At night time the lighting is pretty dramatic

Gate script — Beautiful script on the gate

Scripted circle in blue mosque — Arabic can certainly be used very artistically

Arab script — Look how the script is used here

Beautiful window in blue mosque — A beautiful window

The inside lighting — Proof I was inside also

Next to the praying area — The circle area with lights is where believers come to pray

Center dome — Looking up the center dome

Investigating touristS — People just keep floating in

January 17, 2025January 17, 2025

Enjoy scouting out Belgrade with Bill Smale adventures

Frankly, Belgrade was a little bit of a disappointment. I was expecting a much more interesting atmosphere with more old town feel. Plan your trip in advance so you get the more interesting sites all at once.

Tesla's suit — The absolute one thing the servers are proud of is Nikolai Tesla. There is a museum of his innovations and his possessions which I highly recommend you visit because they do some demonstrations showing some of the great things he envisioned and accomplished.

An alien land — The view from the airplane from Sarajevo to Belgrade looks almost like an alien land

Holiday celebrations — Pre-Christmas celebration assembly in the Square

A Christmas concert — A big concert celebrating a few days before the orthodox Christmas which occurs on January 7

Guinness is everywhere — I was happy to find a Guinness

Scouting out granny Smith — It was interesting to see granny Smith apples

The street in Belgrade — The typical Street

Selling oak leaves in bundles which are burned on Christmas day

A political commentary in Belgrade — A political commentary relating to the 1990s war

Local market — The local open market is much bigger than what you see here. It extends all the way back down this walkway and then in both directions to the left and right. They sell almost everything in this general area.

Enjoy scouting out the Vegetable market — The vegetable area of the market

An observance — This was some kind of observance in the middle of the intersection which stopped the traffic, people facing One Direction for at least 15 minutes and waiting for a loud horn to end the grouping. It was a gathering I wish I had asked someone about. It was very well organized

Enjoying the absent cars at the Chinese dealership — The sign is for a Chinese automobile manufacture but they weren’t selling automobiles here just parts

An empty entertainment Square — this has the name of what I understood to be the old town area but there was nothing going on. This was just an entertainment Square that was not being used

Free transport needs repair — The city transportation is all free but a lot of the transporters are in need of repair as you can see

Marble tofu (麻婆豆腐) at the nearby Chinese restaurant. It is completely Chinese flavor and way too much SANSHOU (山椒)

Geared to Chinese touristS — You can see this restaurant is geared towards Chinese tourists. In the two days I visited here I was the only non-Chinese and I doubt the owners speak even Serbian, definitely no English. Customers needed to translate some things for me.

Interesting little car at the café — I couldn’t see the make of the car but it looks a little bit too interesting to be aYugo

Old trams — The free trams are a little old

Garbage truck in Belgrade — That’s a big garbage truck

Tesla's things — Tesla’s personal things

The label inside Tesla's hat — This is a label inside the hat. It seems he bought it from the hotel shop. He probably lived there for a while.

father's honorary certificate — Tesla’s father’s honorary certificate from the emperor of the Austro-Hungarian empire

Windows presentation — You can see what they use to do the presentation which was actually very good and very interesting. It was well worth the fee which was nominal

Transformer demonstration — A demonstration of the transformer Tesla invented

Wireless electricity demonstration — Demonstrating wireless electricity

Tesla's mother's creation — Hand created by Tesla’s mother

Old town Street — Seemingly the only Street which comprises the “old town”

January 15, 2025January 15, 2025

Explore ancient Dubrovnik with Bill Smale adventures

Explore the ancient city of Dubrovnik while relaxing around Clearwater in the bay and the ocean nearby. This is a really enjoyable city to walk around. When you first get here you don’t immediately see the ancient city inside the fortress. That is the real draw of Dubrovnik. The transportation is very good so it’s easy to get around at that means you can stay some distance from the old town. So explore ancient Dubrovnik with Bill Smale adventures.

Explore ancient ship — This remake of an old ship is probably available for tours during the high tourist season

Map of attacks — Sites where there were attacks on the city in the 1990s

Fortification walls — The city from fortification walls

Yacht Harbour — It’s also an extensive yacht Harbour

Explore the castle — Part of the castle from the end of the fortifications

Old town of Dubrovnik — A church in the old town

The main square in the old town getting ready for Christmas celebrations

Explore the steps — The old town has a lot of steps

Narrow streets — This old town was definitely made for walking and for delivery carts pulled by people

Explore up the steps — Walk up the stairways and explore the apartments for rent and the dwellings behind the main area of the old city. It’s amazing how many of the buildings here are for short term rent.

Nice place for coffee — A nice place to eat or have a coffee when it’s warm

Energy efficient drying — Of course you have to dry your clothes. There were no drying machines in ancient times

Explore the many steps — You might think I’m a little obsessed with steps but I was just amazed how this city is built on layers

A view from above — A few of the fortress from higher up

Explore the castle monastery — The courtyard of the Franciscan Church and monastery

An ancient church — I think some parts of a saint were buried here

Fortress walls — The fortress walls are a beautiful clear ocean

My own spaghetti — I made my own spaghetti with the ingredients I had which included eggplant and onion

Christmas decoration In Dubrovnik — A Christmas cresh

Tour limousine — That is a significantly long car

Beautiful ocean — The beautiful ocean side

War scars — Scars from the 1990s fighting

My veranda Dubrovnik — It was too cold to relax outside but this was my more than ample veranda

January 12, 2025January 12, 2025

Walking around fascinating Istanbul with Bill Smale Adventures.

Walking around fascinating Istanbul on my first two daysI thought was going to be a little bit complicated but the transport system, once you figure it out, is actually pretty easy so it helps with the walking tour. You can easily get to the attractions you want by yourself if you have time. Of course you want to go to the main attractions but just walking around people will talk to you trying to get you to buy things but in a pleasant way and if you could pass for someone who lives here people will ask you for directions or some kind of assistance. so you can just take your time and just relax, stop and have a cup of coffee, get something to eat, etc.

Istanbul city walls — You can see the old city walls in different parts of Istanbul

Walking at the Bosphorus strait — This is the Bosphorus strait where all the black sea ships need to pass. And you can see the cats are guarding the city. People here love cats and wild they seem to be everywhere walking around they are clean and they generally behave themselves but they get fed by everybody

Seabream Dinner — Seabream with nothing but part of an orange for sauce so not much character. But it was good quality food. I wasn’t quite sure about that quarter of an onion but it was actually much sweeter than most onions, almost as sweet as a Maui onion.

The restaurant by the strait — This was the restaurant which seems to be frequented by local people

Cats control the cars — It seems pretty clear cats are the preferred automobile alarm system and of course they control car parking

Walking street view — Nice buildings in the area nearSuktanahmet

Old building — Maybe not worth refurbishing

Building art — A local art display on a building

German fountain in Istanbul — German fountain near the blue mosque

A restaurant I want to try — I wanted to go here in the Fatih area of town but it opened up 30 minutes later than when I wanted to eat

UYGHUR/chinese food — So I tried this one instead because it was open and recommended. This is fried noodles with vegetables YAKISOBA (焼きそば). This is in the UYGHUR section of the city where half of the restaurants are considered UYGHUR cuisine and the other half are presenting themselves as Chinese food restaurants. The people at this restaurant seem to be a mixture of Chinese and tutkic peoples features while others looked just Turkic. The language spoken didn’t seem to be all Chinese but it was a language I’ve never heard. The food was very good.

Coffee and pastry — After the noodle lunch I came to this coffee shop for a cup of coffee and a pastry which was not sweet and had cheese in the middle. It was very tasty.

Farting building — You can see the large black tube coming out of the green mesh on the lower left side which attracted my attention and I was thinking to myself maybe it is so the building can fart.

The fish market — In the morning I went to this fish market to eat something at a highly recommended restaurant right there but it wasn’t open. But of course the cats were in control and under control, if you can figure out what that means.

Exchanged €400 — I exchanged €400 and look what I got.

January 9, 2025January 9, 2025

Exploring Mostar History and Relaxation. Mostar with Bill Smale Adventures.

Mostar was definitely the most interesting of the two cities which included Sarajevo. There was a lot of destruction in the city and you can see some bombed out large complexes and a modern Marriott hotel which for some reason has been abandoned. The city is very relaxing to walk around and people don’t seem to be as busy as in a large city so it’s a nice place to hang around and there are a lot of good restaurants. The old town is another post I put up with photos so you can click on “old town” to get the link to it and see what kind of interesting an ancient city has left there. I would recommend at least three days here and if you want to get a hotel on the river or in the old town you might wanna stay a few more days and just relax, enjoy Bosnian and coffee and good Bosnian food. So take a walk around Mostar with Bill Smale adventures.