Runner up

Recently we visited the Spanish mountain village of Guadalest. It is famous for its reservoir and the village itself which is located at the top of a steep mountain.

 

The reservoir looked wonderful from above the village square and the village was full of tourists as it was one of the warm, sunny days of late summer. Though we liked the view a lot, I have to say it comes in the second place for me (spoiled, I know!). For I will never forget the experience we had when we discovered Peyto Lake along the Icefield Parkway in Canada some years ago... do you know this feeling, when everything that comes after such an experience seems to be a kind of 'surrogate'. I remember that when making a trip in a hot air balloon, which in itself of course is pretty cool, then and there a similar thing happened to me. In that particular summer I had seen the south rim of the Grand Canyon and my heart was still full with that wonder...

 

In this case I am not sure yet if this was just caused by the lake itself, or the very, very touristic atmosphere in the village...

 

My compliments go to the National Park Service of the USA and Parks Canada and the governments of course, for they have succeeded to keep these beautiful landscapes saved from any commercial business and therefore you can truly enjoy nature like it is, without human influences

 

 Peyto Lake, Alberta, Canada

 

 Guadalest reservoir, Alicante, Spain

 

On another note: in the village I spotted a poster where art of Joan Vidal was being announced. The picture below comes from that poster, I cropped it out and just wanted to show it here because I was so glad to finally see something art related... and I got very happy with his use of colours. More of this Spanish painter can be found here

 

 

This was it for today. Renovation update to follow soon...

 

Thanks for visiting,

 

Regina