Above Cassis, a rocky cliff looms with a Castle. Far above that, looms an even greater cliff face – The highest sea cliff in France, soaring 394 m (1,293 ft) above the sea below.
I’ve taken quite a few pictures of this cliff already, from various vantage points in or around Cassis… but I’ve never actually driven up to it. Clearly, that needed to be remedied.
And so, after a lovely day of relaxation and some light adventure, my Mom, Steve, and myself piled into the car and headed up the winding roads above Cassis to see what the fuss was all about.
Well.
I…
I see the draw of Cap Canaille. I do indeed.
(With many thanks to Iris and her friend, two random folks who we met up top having an evening smoke and watching the sunset, for letting me do an impromptu photoshoot)
That’s what the sunset looked like from the van, sometime a little bit before I started thinking about heading to bed. Pretty, and definitely worth photographing, but… you know, nothing too crazy.
What it looked like from the air, though… that’s a different story.
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Those two are the best of the rest.
And when I say that they’re the best… I am staggered by how well they turned out. The rest are amazing in their own right, but these two… these are getting printed for my new apartment in Dublin, no doubt in my mind.
Monday, 13-May-2024, a bit of Tuesday, 14-May-2024, and a little bit more on Friday, 17-May-2024
Silfra Fissure isn’t the only thing to see in Þingvellir park.
I know, shocker right?
After my friends had headed out to get checked into their hotel, I took a bit of time to wander around and take in the scenery of Þingvellir. I walked the nature trails, looked at signs, and appreciated the views and the lovely (absolutely staggeringly lovely) weather. It was cool (but not cold) and sunny (but not overly bright), and thankfully there weren’t too many tourists clogging the trails.
I’ll let the placards speak for themselves, but the summary is this: Þingvellir means “Assembly area” in Icelandic. Which makes sense, since it’s where the Icelandic chieftains would assembly for their annual parlament, the Alþingi. Pronounced, vaguely, “Allthingy”.
I’ll include a wikipedia link at the bottom, but the short summary that I learned is that the Chieftains would convene for as long as it took to discuss laws, review cases where laws had been broken, and pass judgement. They’d trade during that time, or their followers would, and they’d reside in smallish houses that they’d build each year for that express purpose.
Not even considering the history, it’s an absolutely beautiful park. Adding that history in, and… well, that’s really cool.
(Yes, I was able to fly the drone around a bit! Drone flights are limited to before 9am and after 6pm, though, so… thanks to Iceland for forcing me to fly at golden hour!)
