Why Winter Is the Best Time to Visit Venice

The magical city of canals and bridges will come to life at nighttime with the illumination of the bridges and boats all dressed up in colourful lights & lanterns. At this time of year, you can also enjoy a romantic stroll along the banks of the canal as you enjoy breathtaking views of the Grand Canal.

There are fewer tourists at this time of year as the summer crowds have left, and the restaurants and shops are less crowded.

You will get a much more authentic experience of the city, especially if you're planning on visiting one of the museums and sights, as they generally have fewer visitors during the winter months. It is also cheaper and more convenient to find accommodation as it is off-season and many hotels are much cheaper during this time.

The city becomes even more romantic at night with live music from the cafes and small bars.

The weather during winter in Venice will be a bit cold (average temperature of 38°F (3°C) in January and 41°F in February), but visiting Venice in winter is quite enjoyable. Always keep yourself warm and dry during your stay in Venice.

Winter in Venice is generally between December to February, but months such as November and March can feel wintery in Venice as well. Winter in Venice means Christmas decorations and Carnival, a foggy fairy-tale world, and the occurrence of snow and lesser crowds to fight. The skies are clearer, which means you can see beautiful sunsets over the canal.

Venice is also beautifully decorated in winter, with beautiful Christmas lights and decorations throughout the city. Some many shops and cafés are open year-round, where you can relax and enjoy the Christmas atmosphere.

A visit to Venice during the winter can be very relaxing and enjoyable as you don't get as many tourists, and it can be very easy to escape the tourist areas and explore parts of the city that are usually closed to the public in summer

Elizabeth

The Queen is one of the world's most iconic and well-known figures. She has been the monarch of England for over sixty years, and during that time, she has seen many changes.

These are my favourite images of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,

Colour Photozine on Amazon with 90gr Paper

You can find it now on our website here: Elizabeth or ETSY. both 150gr Paper

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Queen Elizabeth II - Portraits

Few of my portraits of HM Queen Elizabeth II

Photographing Fall Foliage

Fall is one of the most beautiful times of year and photographing it can be a joy. There are so many different types of fall foliage to photograph, and the best place to find it is often just around the corner. Here are just a few ideas to get you started on your autumn photography journey.

Where is the best place to photograph fall foliage?

The best places to photograph fall foliage are always nearby (usually only a few miles) from where you live. The further you travel to get to a park or scenic location, the less likely you are to get great shots – especially if you're on a family vacation or other vacation.

A popular place to photograph fall foliage is The Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. It contains plenty of woodlands and has views of the surrounding hills. Another good option is Joppa Flats in Maryland, which is surrounded by picturesque woodlands and farms. Try visiting these locations during golden hour for the best light conditions.

Brown also suggests visiting nearby small towns that have more scenic overlooks and are less crowded. Some of my favorites are Stone Mountain in Georgia and Pawtuckaway State Park in New Hampshire. Stone Mountain has a large, rocky outcropping covered in trees that gives a great view of the surrounding area. Pawtuckaway State Park has lots of open fields for fall foliage photos.

Another great idea for photographing fall foliage is to get off the beaten path and visit an out of the way park or local hiking trail. These places often have better views than popular spots like parks and trails in cities and other tourist destinations. Brown also suggests getting low and close to your foreground subjects. This can give your pictures a unique perspective and create a stronger composition. Make sure you watch out for distracting elements in the background when shooting. For example, if your subject is a tree, make sure there aren't other trees behind it taking up space in the frame.

"Show the subject in its environment."

Many photographers make the mistake of composing their shots in such a way that nothing interesting appears in the photo except the subject itself. A good example of this is the classic portrait of a person sitting in front of a beautiful mountain scene. When looking at this photo, all you can see are the person and the mountain, with nothing particularly interesting in the foreground. Brown suggests pointing the camera down slightly so that the subject is framed by the environment. This can make your photos more interesting and help draw attention to the subject.

Best camera setting to capture autumn foliage is Aperture Priority mode on a DSLR camera. This allows you to set your camera's aperture based on the type of shot you want to create and the lighting conditions in your scene. For example, Anne McKinnell suggests setting your camera to Aperture Priority mode, selecting an aperture of f/8 and a shutter speed of 1/500th second in bright lighting situations. This combination allows you to blur out the background and create an image with strong contrast between the subject and its background.

References

1. 10 Tips for Shooting Autumn Foliage (https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/10-tips-for-shooting-autumn-foliage.html)

2. Photographing Fall Foliage: Prediction Maps, Locations, & Tips (https://enviragallery.com/photograph-fall-foliage/)

3. The 20 Best Places to See Fall Foliage in the United States (https://www.marthastewart.com/2123839/best-destinations-fall-foliage-united-states)

4. Stone Mountain Park (https://discoveratlanta.com/things-to-do/outdoors/stone-mountain-park/)

5. 15 Tips for Photographing Fall Colors (https://www.maxfosterphotography.com/gallery/tips-for-photographing-fall-colors/)

6. How To Take Better Vacation Photos: 15 Composition Tips (https://www.travelawaits.com/2687170/how-to-take-better-vacation-pictures/)

7. Get Low and Aim High – How to Use Low-Angle Photography to Great Effect (https://digital-photography-school.com/get-low-and-aim-high-how-to-use-low-angle-photography-to-great-effect/)

8. Photographing Fall Foliage (https://digital-photography-school.com/photographing-fall-foliage/)

How to spot fake photos online

Sometimes the internet is full of so much information that it can be hard to know what is real and what isn’t.

This is particularly true in delicate times like the present days.

When it comes to news stories, sometimes they are just not true. However, sometimes photos can be used manipulated to make it look as though a story is real, even when it isn’t. Today we are going to look at some tips you can use to spot fake photos online in seconds.

A picture that is currently widely shared and that made me write this post is the following one

As photojournalist, I have quite few brave colleagues at the moment in Ukraine documenting the war, when I saw this image so many things did not feel right. so the result is that

it was not taken in these recent days. This picture was part of a photoshoot for the Ukrainian army celebrating 27 years.

It is probably a real picture but staged and edited.

The photographer Dmitry Muravsky was dismissed by the Ukraine Defence Minister in 2016 over staged photographs.

It is being shared as a current photo on Twitter and other Social Media outlets.

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This is another image went viral in these hype times.

• The picture is nearly 2 years old

• The gun is a toy (see label)

• Image was staged

How to spot fake photos online

You can spot fake photos online in seconds if you know what to look for. The majority of the time, fake photos are used for a comedic effect. However, sometimes people will use fake photos to prove a point that is not true and make it appear as though it is true.

The first thing you should always do when you come across a photo that looks suspicious is doing a reverse Google image search. This allows you to see where the image has been used before and will often show you if it is real or fake. If you manage check for the Metatada.

• Google : https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en

• Yandex : https://yandex.com/images/

While it is easy for people to create fake images today, there are also ways you can spot them. Here are some tips you can use to spot fake photos on the internet:

1. The first thing you are going to want to do is to look at the image itself. Images that have a resolution that looks too high, or too low can be a sign of a fake photo.

2. The next thing you are going to want to look at is the background. If it looks too ‘perfect’, this could be a sign that something is wrong with the photo.

3. Now we are going to look at the foreground of the image. Look for things that might not look right or objects that might have been copied and pasted into the image in order to make it seem more interesting.

4. Now we are going to look at any text in the image, do they look like they were added by a human or was there some sort of text generator used? If it looks like the text was added in an unprofessional way, then this is most likely a sign that the image has been faked.

5. If you see an image that has things such as lens flare or other special effects in them, see if they seem too perfect or not real enough to be true, sometimes these effects can be manipulated online using software, so if it doesn’t look quite right, then it’s probably fake!

6. Look for shadows and reflections, do the match? Is there continuity??

Finally think from a photojournalistic and news point of view. If is to perfect and it looks staged it is probably staged.

NFTs for Photographers I

The world of photography is rapidly changing. When you think about it, a photo is really just a bunch of information—a ton of metadata. And that means it can be tokenized and sold in new ways.

The power of the blockchain means that photographers, in theory, can take control of their images and make them into NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. It means they can set the rules for their photos, including how many times they're allowed to be licensed, how much money they're worth in real-time, how long each license lasts, and so on.

More importantly, it means that photographers can finally say goodbye to the big platforms and agencies that've been taking huge cuts from sales for years.

Now, with the Ethereum blockchain, there's no gatekeeper to pay off. All the profits can stay in your pocket—and all the power stays in your hands.

Imagine what could happen if a photography startup built a blockchain-based marketplace? Photography lovers could buy, sell, protect and track their photos.

What are NTTs

Non-fungible tokens (NFT) are a digital representation of a single, unique asset. It can be a collectable, like a CryptoKitty, or ownership in a house or artwork. The great thing about NFT is that they are cryptographically secure and easy to use.

Projects like CryptoPunks have created the first wave of NFT assets, and we've seen them proliferate across games like CryptoKitties. This is just the beginning of what this new asset class will allow us to do online.

NFTs redefine digital art as something unique and irreplaceable, like a photographic print or a painting. Now there is the greater reason to own artwork as an NFT; digital media is no longer just a source of entertainment or stimulus, but a repository of value and an object of scarcity. For the artist, this means more money to be made from each piece of art produced, and vastly increased viability for digital art as a business or career.

Wallets

There are 3 main types of crypto wallets: hot wallets, cold storage, and hardware wallets. For this post we will concentrate on Hot Wallet

Creating a wallet is easy. It can be as simple as installing a browser plug-in. Creating and securing your wallets (including backups) is the responsibility of each user. If you lose your private key, you lose your bitcoins. So be sure to keep it secret and secure, and don't share it with anyone.

The following wallets can be used on multiple platforms and devices, including iOS and Android systems:

• Coinbase Wallet – Best for Beginners.

• Electrum – Best for Bitcoin.

• Mycelium – Best for Mobile.

• Ledger Nano X – Best Offline Crypto Wallet.

• Exodus – Best for Desktop.

• Metamask (Is the one I use regularly) and Being both a browser and mobile-based wallet, is hugely popular among crypto admirers.

Here are some of the best NFT marketplaces right now.

1. OpenSea. OpenSea is the leader in NFT sales. ...

2. Axie Marketplace. Axie Marketplace is the online shop for the video game Axie Infinity. ...

3. Larva Labs/CryptoPunks.

4. NBA Top Shot Marketplace.

5. Rarible.

6. SuperRare

7. Foundation.

8. Nifty Gateway.

How To Create Moody Monochrome Landscapes

Moody monochrome landscape photography is an art. With just a change in how you see the landscape, through your eyes and through the camera lens, you could get some great black and white photos of the outdoors. This article will give you tips on how to capture those magical moments for making the best out of all kinds of outdoor photography. We will look at techniques, equipment, and other important factors for creating timeless masterpieces in monochrome.

Monochrome photography is one of the more challenging types of photography to master. Even with the right gear, it can be difficult to get the proper depth of field that helps create a moody and compelling image. In this blog post, I'll share my tips and tricks for shooting in monochrome, so you can learn how to create your own moody landscapes in no time.

Monochrome photography can be a great niche for your e-commerce photography business. It's not very common to see monochrome product photography, and people often have a hard time imagining what it looks like. But monochrome is a versatile and interesting style that lends itself to a variety of photographic applications.

The most striking thing about monochrome images is their simplicity. There's no color to distract you from the subject. Whether it's a person or an object, all you see is black and white, which makes it easy to imagine the subject as it really is — something quite different from the way you perceive it in colour.

Monochrome pictures tend to be gloomy and serious, but they can also be quite cheerful. In fact, one of the benefits of shooting in monochrome is that you don't have to choose between warm tones and cool tones, because there are no warm tones at all. Any colour tone in the scene will look good with black and white, so you don't have to worry about "matching" one tone with another.

Black and White is an effective strategy to create your own style. When shooting in monochrome, the composition is the most important aspect of a photo. It's not about whether you use colour or not, it's about how you see the world as a photographer and how you capture that vision with your camera.

Tone and mood are very important when shooting in black and white because it changes the way people perceive a scene. For example, if your goal is to create a dark and moody atmosphere, then different elements need to be emphasized within your frame.

Below are some tips to achieve this particular look:

Forecasts that include the proportion of cloud and rain, the wind speed and direction, and the temperature become crucial. A forecast indicating a 50% chance of rain and a wind speed of 15 to 20 miles per hour can be encouraging. Essentially, seek out sunny spells punctuated by periodic showers.

Clearing (or approaching) storm clouds against a deep blue sky with dark patchy shadows scudding across the terrain are photographers' dreams, yet such dramatic settings come at a cost. By definition of desiring storm clouds, the likelihood is that you may become wet, chilled, hit by hailstones, or perhaps snowed on, but trust me on this one, it will be worth it.

Days with fog, low clouds, rain or snow could be perfect for Black and White photography

The more contrast on an image, the darker it looks. If you have a lot of light areas in your photo, then it will tend to look brighter than if there aren't any bright spots in the image at all. Shadows can add a lot of contrast to an image, so if there aren't any shadows present in your scene, try adding them with artificial light sources or reflectors.

Because brightness values are inverted when converting from colour to black and white, you can use your camera's exposure compensation function (often found under the "manual" mode setting) to make scenes brighter or darker in post-processing.

Creating moody images is about creating drama, and you can do this with filters such as gradients. When you're shooting in monochrome, you can use these filters to darken a scene, by introducing more shadow. You can also use them to brighten a scene if you want more light contrast. One of the most popular monochrome filters is a three-stop graduated neutral density (GND) filter: these come in a circular shape and darken skies evenly. A six-stop GND filter is also available, which allows you to darken skies even more. Another popular filter for landscapes is an 81B warm-up filter; this adds warmth to the sky, which can be useful when shooting in overcast conditions or at twilight.

Possibly the best-known software for creating black & white images is the superb Nik Silver Efex Pro. It is a very creative and powerful program with many presets but it too has its limitations. It can be a very aggressive piece of software so you need to check your images carefully for any deficiencies and imperfections that it may create.

Taking a B&W photo means choosing which colours are important enough to preserve and which ones to discard. This isn't hard if you're taking a picture of something like a red barn with a blue sky behind it. The blue sky is irrelevant and the red barn becomes the subject of the photo. But take a landscape photo where every detail is equally important — for example, an image shot in soft light with a lot of subtle colours — and you'll have a lot more decisions to make about what stays and what goes.

Black and white photos appear timeless because they work with the viewer’s imagination. You see the value of a black and white photo very quickly and easily, while color often distracts us. The fact that no one has created the same image before you will free you up to create your own vision.

How to Photograph Your Winter Landscape

Winter presents a photographer with a unique set of challenges and opportunities. The cold temperature and lack of sunlight in winter can make it hard to take good photos, but they also create some beautiful effects. Snow reflects the light differently than other subjects and brings out the contrast in your images.

Take advantage of the low light and contrast of a snowy scene

If you're brave enough to go outside, you can capture some breathtaking scenes. Here are some tips that will help you photograph your winter landscape: Use the right equipment. When it's cold out, it's important to protect your camera from the cold. Bring along a protective cover for your camera and use gloves or hand warmers when handling your gear. Even if you don't feel like it's that cold, keep in mind that your fingers will get cold and start to lose feeling after just 15 minutes of exposure at 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Setting up a tripod is important because camera shake is more prevalent during very low-light situations and will result in blurry pictures that you don't want to have to deal with later on. Work fast. The only real way to capture winter light is right at sunrise or right at sunset, so work quickly when shooting those times of the day. If possible, try to time your shoot so that there is still some light left in the sky while

Play with shadows

Lighting is what makes landscapes special. There is something about the way a camera sees these natural scenes that is different from how the naked eye perceives them. The difference between a landscape photo and any other photo is the way light plays on the scene. It can be harsh, or soft, but it is always special. The most important part of photographing a landscape is getting the exposure right. This means making sure there isn't too much light or too little light on your subject. You measure this by using your camera's histogram to see if the image has bright areas, mid-tones and dark areas all in proportion to each other. While you are at it, check your overall composition as well. Try taking several photos of your subject with different exposures (your camera will do this automatically) and then choose which one looks best.

Be patient with your camera

There are a few ways to photograph the winter landscape: some more complicated than others. The following tips will help you get great winter pictures of your surroundings in any season. The first thing to remember is that with a digital camera, you can take as many pictures as you want without paying for film or worrying about whether you have enough room on your card. It's easy to shoot several frames of the same scene, and then choose the best one when you're done. Be Patient With Your Camera If you're just starting out with taking pictures, it can be tough to get everything lined up perfectly on the first shot. When photographing the winter landscape, it might be tempting to walk around the area until you have everything framed the way you want it - but if it's windy out and there isn't much snow on the ground, that could be dangerous. Be patient, and try to get everything lined up as well as possible before pressing the shutter button.

Go wide

Going wide is a photography term meaning, "zoom out." It's the opposite of getting in close. And in landscape photography, it is often the way to go. When you're photographing mountains or valleys or any other expansive vista, you want to get as much of it in your frame as possible. You want an environment that feels big and open and full of possibilities. Going wide gives that to you. The best way to do this (if you're using a standard point-and-shoot camera) is to simply zoom out all the way, which will probably put your lens out of its normal focal range. That's fine—you can switch back and forth between that and the zoomed-in view on your LCD screen until you find the combination that works for you. If you're using an SLR camera, there are a couple of extra things you can do: Stack lenses: If your lens has a smaller focal length than what you want, you can use an additional telephoto lens with it to get closer to your subject while maintaining the wide-angle view. You just have to make sure both lenses are compatible before buying them.* Use a wide-angle lens and shoot at a longer focal length: This is particularly handy

You don't need a lot of gear to take great photos of your winter landscape

There is nothing quite like a winter landscape. Trees and bushes are covered in snow and the ground is blanketed with pure white powder. It's a magical time of year, and you'll want to capture this beauty for future enjoyment. There is a lot you can do with your camera to make the most out of your winter landscape photos. You don't need a lot of gear to take great photos of your winter landscape, but there are some tricks that improve the quality of pictures significantly.

Hotels etc My New Favorite Travel Website To Save Money

Hotel etc is a travel hotel club reservation system, which will provide you with the most comfort and maximum discount. You never have to worry about prices.

Once you become a member, we will offer you the best hotels around the world at great prices for every occasion.

Hotel etc is also a worldwide travel club, which offers its members the following benefits:

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I use Hotel etc travel hotel club reservation system. I have been able to get maximum discount on city hotels, flights and rent a car. It is easy to use service, with no hidden costs, just great deals. I advise everyone to visit Hotel etc website and join this wonderful club of travellers!

I am a frequent traveller and I always love to book my hotel using their system. This is the best travel hotel booking website that offers the maximum discount on its services.

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Ljubljana: Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Ljubljana is tonight going to sleep covered in a soft mantel of snow!

You can check the small gallery below, making it a full size and scrolling through the images with the side arrows.

Catching the Social Media Wave

For many years I have had what I consider a strong and successful presence on Social Media:

• I have more than 50,000 Followers

• All my Social Media Accounts are Verified

• Most of my sales happen through Social Media in different forms and way

• I am Ambassador for quite a few brands

• I have several Paid Posts/Adverts per month

• My yearly turnover is above 100,000 per year

I am often asked what is the best way to succeed in Social Media so I decided to prepare a few posts .

Getting yourself set up online with social media is now becoming an absolute necessity for any business, whether based in a physical location or explicitly online. This article will show you how to effectively market your company using this new marketing outlet. It's not as hard as you might think it is.

This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission but come at no extra cost to you.

To use social media marketing successfully you must be creative. The same material, sales, offers, and content will ultimately annoy your customer base to the point that they remove you from their page. Keeping things fresh and interesting makes sure they keep coming back for more, which means more sales.

To get a leg up on the social media marketing of competitors, embrace all forms of social media. Many companies assume that social media has matured and think they only need presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to cover their bases. Savvy social media marketers remember that MySpace is still out there. Use it plus rising newcomers like LinkedIn, SlideShare and Google+ to expose yourself where other players are not.

Respond with care to tweets that contain rude or hateful messages. Everything you tweet is a reflection of your business. It may be tempting to shoot back a sarcastic tweet but, that will harm you in the long run. Remain professional and calm when you respond. Remember, the whole world has access to what you tweet.

When deciding how to implement your social media marketing strategies, it is important to take into consideration the nature of your products and services. For example, if purchasing your products is something that most of your customers would prefer to keep private, then do not put Facebook-like buttons right next to the buy buttons! Eventually, someone will click it accidentally and then get angry at your business.

Make sure that your business social media content is fun, interactive, and interesting to read. People who engage in social media sites want to feel compelled to share information that they find. If they share your information, it is to your company's advantage. This is a great way to find new customers and keep the old ones coming back for more.

Keep your Facebook posts regular and consistent. People will look for new content from you when they check in on their Facebook page. If they don't see it regularly, they're likely to forget about you quickly. There are many businesses out there who do post regularly and those businesses are getting the attention of consumers. Make your business one of them.

Run fun and interesting polls on your Facebook page. This is a great way to engage your audience and involve potential consumers. Facebook has an easy to use a feature that can help you with creating polls, so take advantage of it. Polls don't have to be about information directly related to your business. They can be fun, interesting, and involve current events. The point of the poll is to keep consumers interested.

As you can see from this article, while social media can seem intimidating for someone who hasn't spent much time on it, it is really quite simple. As far as marketing goes, social media is actually something that is free and simple enough to do yourself without having to hire a professional.

There are several apps I use on Social Media but two that I use all the time and I would not be able to work without them:

• Social Pilot : It is a social media management tool that helps you manage all of your social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest and many more. It is the software I use several times a day for my Social Media.

  Social Pilot helps you schedule posts to your social networks with a quick setup. You can even create recurring posts for certain days or times so that you never have to worry about it again. You can check it out here

• IQHastags: Skyrocket your Instagram profile! The most frequently used tool for Instagram hashtags and analytics. IQhashtags is the latest, complete tool for creating the most effective hashtags on Instagram. Avoid shadowban on Instagram - find banned hashtags that you use, You can check it out here

Social Pilot: n1 software to succeed in Social Media!

Social Pilot is a social media management tool that helps you manage all of your social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest and many more. It is the software I use several times a day for my Social Media.

Social Pilot helps you schedule posts to your social networks with quick set-up. You can even create recurring posts for certain days or times so that you never have to worry about it again.

As a beginner, you should not be worried about the technicalities of your social media platform. It's better to concentrate on the campaigns and promotions you want to run.

There are a lot of tools available to help you do this, but few are as effective as Social Pilot. Social Pilot is a social media management platform that helps you automate your social media marketing campaign in a way that lets you monitor and manage them from one centralized dashboard.

Social Pilot offers a variety of features to help beginners start their social media marketing efforts. It has built-in analytics tools, which provide real-time data for monitoring the performance of your posts using Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics.

You can also create custom reports from these data. You can also schedule your posts in advance to maximize their reach and impact among your target audience.

With Social Pilot's bulk posting feature, you can schedule up to 500 posts at a time. Social Pilot also offers an RSS feed importer that imports content from various websites into your newsfeeds for posting purposes. The RSS feed importer also saves you time by allowing you to import multiple RSS feeds at once .

Social Pilot's integration with Buffer allows you to add new content quickly from within Social Pilot or post automatically from RSS feeds using Buffer .

This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission but come at no extra cost to you.

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The Beautiful Life!

Leen and Wouter moved to Rönök from Belgium 9 years ago, wanting to settle in an area that would allow them to live close contact with nature, which they love and respect, and live a self-sufficient life.
They bought land in the area, and for a brief time, they rented to tourists some of the buildings on the estate, but soon they decided to concentrate all their efforts in making it the perfect environment for raising animals, cows and chickens, and grow vegetables. They also started building their own house, with traditional methods and using stray and clay, and wood and the pretty-as-a-picture building is almost finished. Now they happily share their land with a herd of 9 beautiful Jersey cows, who happily graze in the fields in spring and summer, with a rotation system that allows them to access a fresh patch of grass every day. The rich milk produced by the girls, how Leen and Wouter call them - and of course, they call each one of them by their names - is then transformed with patient labour and lots of love into different varieties of cheese, highly regarded by their many regular customers.
Three years ago, Leen and Wouter welcomed their first child, Emil, and a new baby is now on the way....

Hungarian 🇭🇺

Leen és Wouter 9 évvel ezelőtt költöztek Belgiumból Rönökre, olyan helyen szerettek volna élni, ahol az általuk annyira tisztelt és imádott természettel szimbiózisban lehetnek és önellátó életmódot folytathatnak. Vettek egy földterületet, ahol az ott található épületeket turistáknak adták ki, ám nem sokkal később áttértek az állattenyésztésre. Olyan környezetet szerettek volna kialakítani, ami tökéletes élőhely lehet a marháknak, csirkéknek és különféle zöldségek termesztésének, teljes figyelmüket ennek a célnak szentelték. Saját otthonuk építésébe is belefogtak, amelyhez kizárólag tradicionális módszereket és alapanyagokat használtak fel, többek között fát és vályogot, mostanra az mézeskalácsház már majdnem elkészült. A birtokukon boldogságban együtt élnek a 9 gyönyörű Jersey tehénből álló csordájukkal, akik a tavaszi és nyári időszakban a vetésforgónak köszönhetően mindig találnak maguknak legelhető területet friss fűvel. A ‘Lányok’ - ahogyan Leen és Wouter általánosságban hivatkozik a tehenekre (fontos, hogy mindegyiknek saját neve is van) - rengeteg tejjel látják el őket. Ebből időigényes és bonyolult technikák alkalmazásával és sok-sok szeretettel különféle sajtokat készítenek, majd ezeket eladásra kínálják, számos törzsvásárlóval büszkélkedhetnek. A párnak három évvel ezelőtt született meg az első gyermeke, Emil. Hamarosan pedig a negyedik családtag is megérkezik. 

Slovenian 🇸🇮

Leen in Wouter sta se v Rönök iz Belgije preselila pred devetimi leti, saj sta se želela ustaliti na območju, ki bi jima omogočalo tesen stik z naravo, ki jo ljubita in spoštujeta, in hkrati samozadostno življenje. Na tem območju sta kupila zemljišče in za kratek čas turistom oddajala nekatere stavbe na posestvu, vendar sta se kmalu odločila, da bosta ves svoj trud usmerila v to, da bi na tem območju ustvarila popolno okolje za rejo živali, krav in piščancev, ter pridelavo zelenjave. Začela sta tudi graditi svojo hišo, in sicer po tradicionalnih metodah in z uporabo brezdelja in gline ter lesa, pri čemer je zgradba, lepa kot slika, že skoraj končana. Zdaj si zemljo z veseljem delita s čredo devetih čudovitih krav Jersey, ki se spomladi in poleti z veseljem pasejo na njivah po sistemu rotacije, kar jim omogoča vsakodnevni dostop do sveže trave. Bogato mleko, ki ga pridelajo dekleta, kot jim pravita Leen in Wouter - in seveda vsako od njih kličeta po imenu -, se s potrpežljivim delom in veliko ljubezni predela v različne vrste sira, ki so zelo cenjene pri njunih številnih stalnih strankah. Pred tremi leti sta Leen in Wouter pozdravila svojega prvega otroka, Emila, zdaj pa je na poti nov....

You can find them here https://www.facebook.com/szedervirag/

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A Dream Come True

In the heart of Vendvidék, in Örseg National Park, in Apátistvánfalva, Adam and his family-run since 11 years the beautiful Apát Panzió and Etterem.
It had always been his parents' dream to open a tourist accommodation in a beautiful area of the Country.
During a visit to the area in 2008, they were struck by its beauty and decided that this was the perfect place.
They bought an older building already in use for guests, and after a lengthy refurbishment in 2010, Apát Panzió in 2010 was opened.
Adam ran it with his wife Kinga for a few years, then his brother Zoltán and his wife Kati joined what is now a thriving family enterprise and a reference point for tourists and locals alike.

Hungarian 🇭🇺

Az Őrségi Nemzeti Park szívében a vendvidéki Apátistvánfalván Ádám és családja 11 éve üzemelteti az Apát Panziót  és Éttermet. A gondolat, hogy az ország e varázslatos szegletében saját panzió kerüljön felépítésre valójában Ádám szüleiben fogalmazódott meg, ők szerettek volt egész életükön át ide költözve maradandót alkotni. Egy 2008 táján tett látogatás során, teljesen magával ragadta őket a hely szépsége és úgy érezték megtalálták a tökéletes helyet álmaik valóra váltásához. Megvettek egy már korábban is vendégházként funkcionáló, öregebb épületet és hosszas felújítási munkálatokat követően kapuikat 2010-ben nyitották meg. A panziót kezdetben Ádám és felesége, Kinga vezette, majd néhány éve a testvére Zoltán és felesége Kati is csatlakozott a csapathoz, így vált mára egy valódi virágzó családi vállalkozássá. Mára a helyiek és a turisták számára is meghatározó jelentőséggel bíró szálláshelyről beszélhetünk. 

Slovenian 🇸🇮

V osrčju Vendvidéka, v narodnem parku Örseg, v kraju Apátistvánfalva, Adam in njegova družina že 11 let vodijo čudoviti Apát Panzió in Etterem. Od nekdaj so bile sanje njegovih staršev odpreti turistično nastanitev na čudovitem območju dežele. Med obiskom tega območja leta 2008 ju je osupnila njegova lepota in odločila sta se, da je to popoln kraj. Kupila sta starejšo stavbo, ki se je že uporabljala za goste, in po dolgotrajni prenovi leta 2010 odprla hotel Apát Panzió. Adam ga je nekaj let vodil z ženo Kingo, nato pa sta se mu pridružila še brat Zoltán in njegova žena Kati, zdaj je pa uspešno družinsko podjetje in referenčna točka za turiste in domačine. 

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Zsuzsi

Zsusi learned to make pottery when she was very young, after finishing elementary school, from both of her grandfathers.
Her great-grandfathers were also potters in the same village. She is now the fourth generation and the only member of her family who continues the family tradition and skills.

She is a highly talented potter. In addition to the traditional shapes and colours associated with Orseg, she has developed a "red" line of pottery: her recipe for the most exquisite shade of red has been dubbed "Zsuzsi red" locally.

Hungarian 🇭🇺

Zsuzsi még gyerekként két nagyapjától leste el a fazekasság csínját-bínját. Ugyanabban a faluban a dédapái szintén fazekasok voltak.

Negyedik generációs kézművesként, mára ő az egyetlen a családjában, aki a birtokában van a kerámiakészítés hagyományának és tovább viszi a családi örökséget. Kimagasló tehetségű keramikus.

Ráadásul, az Őrségben hagyományosnak számító formák és színek mellett, létrehozott egy speciális vörösben pompázó kerámiairányzatot is: ezt a rendkívüli piros árnyalatot a helyiek egyszerűen “Zsuzsi vörösnek” hívják.  

Slovenian 🇸🇮

Zsusi se je lončarstva naučila že zelo zgodaj, po končani osnovni šoli, od obeh dedkov. Tudi njeni pradedje so bili lončarji v isti vasi.

Ona je že četrta generacija in edina članica svoje družine, ki nadaljuje družinsko tradicijo in znanje.

Je zelo nadarjena lončarka. Poleg tradicionalnih oblik in barv, povezanih z Orsegom, je razvila "rdečo" linijo keramike: njen recept za najbolj prefinjen odtenek rdeče barve so poimenovali "Zsuzsi red".

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Two camping sites on the Adriatic Sea in Croatia

Legend has it that Croatian campsites are some of the best in Europe

The most famous and visited campsites in Croatia are probably Plitvice Lakes National Park, Krka National Park and the islands of Cres and Lošinj. But there are plenty more where you can find peace and quiet in beautiful surroundings, away from the crowds.

Here's an overview of two campsites in Croatia, one south of Senj and one on the Island of Krk

RAČA EUROCAMP

The Campsite Rača in the Kvarner area of Croatia is a superb place to stay if you are looking for a quiet and clean campsite with good facilities and close to the sea and town centre.

The campsite is in a great location in a beautiful setting with two beaches nearby and only few kilometers from Senj and the town of Crikvenica.

The whole site is very well maintained and had an excellent onsite bar and restaurant, good WiFi access and even a small shop selling snacks and drinks all at very reasonable prices. The owners are also lovely people who were very helpful and will help you out with anything you need.

The pitches are spacious, flat, level and grassy with a good amount of shade from pine trees on some pitches. All pitches had an electrical hook up point but there was plenty of space between each pitch so it didn't feel crowded or cramped at all.

The toilets were spotless with plenty of hot water for washing up after meals or showers.

It is much easier to enter the campsite from the South entrance

CAMP GLAVATOK

The campsite Glavotok is located in a protected bay of the island Krk, by a sandy beach. It is known for its crystal clear sea and long pebble beach. The campsite is an ideal place both for an active holiday and for relaxation in a family environment. The camp offers rich services and accessories for its customers.

The campsite has a spacious parking area in front of the terrace, from where you can walk to the beach or to the restaurant. In the surroundings of the camping, there are many walking and bicycle paths that run through untouched nature.

Camping Glavotok has installed a modern system of water supply with drinking water from the fresh source, so you can enjoy this water during your stay at the camping. The campsite also has two playgrounds for children and several sports fields, which can be used by adults and children.

At the campsite Glavotok there is an indoor/ outdoor restaurant that offers fresh fish and seafood dishes prepared on a wood fire. There is also a shop where you can buy your daily needs, has fresh bread and lovely croissants,

Pitches are flat, great view, often with some trees for a nice shade. Toiles and showers are spotless!

A Photographic Excursion to Omišalj, Croatia.

Omišalj (Castel Muschio in Italian) is a coastal municipality in the northwest of the island of Krk in Croatia. The population of Omišalj itself is 1,868 (2011), while the municipality also includes the nearby village of Njivice, bringing the total up to 2,983 people. Omišalj is best known in modern times for hosting the Rijeka Airport as well as Port of Rijeka oil terminal.

Omišalj is located close to one of the oldest settlements on Krk, dating from the 1st century, when it was built by the Romans and named Fulfinum. The town was built on the cliff overlooking the bay of Kvarner, some 80 meters above sea level. It is the site of an early Christian basilica. The town was referred to in the 12th century as "Castri musculi": this is from the Latin Ad musculi meaning "the place of shells".

The land between the castles of Dobrinj and Omišalj, as well as the areas in and around Dubašnica and Poljica, were settled by Vlachs and Morlachs (originally Romanians who later diverged into Istro-Romanians) by Ivan VII Frankopan during the second half of the 15th century. They formed a community on the island of Krk that would last until 1875, when the last speaker of the Istro-Romanian dialect of the island died.

Andrea and Zoltán

Andrea and Zoltán have been together for 15 years, and five years ago, they visited Orseg to conduct house viewings. Immediately fell in love with an uninhabited house in the pretty village of Szaknyer, necessitating quick action.

Thus, they returned home, painted their house, listed it for sale, and sold it! Finally, they were ready to buy and move with their kids.

They had been designing and creating gifts for a long time, and they continued to do so here. After renovating the house, they decided to retain an older room and convert it into a high-end gift shop with a fairy tale atmosphere.

They enjoy becoming involved in a variety of activities concurrently. They now have goats, sheep, pigs, hens, ducks, rabbits, and two Shetland ponies in their yard!

They realised a long-held dream in the summer of 2019 when they transformed the old shed into a vibrant, bohemian space where they serve visitors freshly roasted coffee made from coffee beans imported worldwide.

Hungarian 🇭🇺

Andrea és Zoltán 15 éve vannak együtt, 5 évvel ezelőtt pedig ellátogattak az Őrségbe, hogy megnézzenek egy házat. Mondani sem kell, hogy a kedves kis faluban, Szaknyéken található elhagyatott parasztházba azonnal beleszerettek. A látogatást pedig azonnali cselekvések követték. Ahogy hazatértek, kicsinosították az otthonukat, eladásra kínálták, majd gyorsan meg is váltak tőle! Így végül készen álltak arra, hogy a gyerekeikkel Szaknyékre költözzenek.

A család már régóta foglalkozott ajándéktárgyak tervezésével és készítésével, ezzel a tevékenységükkel itt sem hagytak fel. A megvásárolt ház felújítását követően, úgy határoztak, hogy az egyik régi szobát, elegáns, tündérmesék hangulatát idéző ajándékbolttá alakítják át. 

Ezzel párhuzamosan, a legkülönbözőbb projektekbe is szeretnek belefolyni. Jelenleg több kecske, bárány, malac, csibe, kacsa, nyúl büszke tulajdonosai, ezenkívül két Shetland póni is van az udvaron! 

2019 nyarán egy másik régóta dédelgetett álmukat is valóra váltották, a régi pajtából egy élénk, bohém kávézót varázsoltak, ahol a világ minden tájáról származó kávészemekből, frissen helyben pörkölve készülnek a csodálatos italok.  

Slovenian 🇸🇮

Andrea in Zoltan sta skupaj že 15 let, pred petimi leti pa sta obiskala Orseg na ogledu hiše. Takoj sta se zaljubila v nenaseljeno hišo v lepi vasici Szaknyer, ki je zahtevala hitro ukrepanje. Zato sta se vrnila domov, hišo pobarvala, jo dala na prodaj in jo prodala! Končno sta bila pripravljena na nakup in selitev s svojimi otroki.

Že dolgo sta oblikovala in ustvarjala darila, kar sta nadaljevala tudi tukaj. Po prenovi hiše sta se odločila, da bosta ohranila starejšo sobo in jo preuredila v vrhunsko trgovino z darili s pravljičnim vzdušjem.

Uživata v tem, da se hkrati ukvarjata z različnimi dejavnostmi. Zdaj imata na svojem dvorišču koze, ovce, prašiče, kokoši, race, kunce in dva shetlandska ponija!

Poleti 2019 pa sta uresničila dolgoletne sanje, ko sta staro lopo spremenila v živahen, boemski prostor, kjer obiskovalcem postrežeta s sveže praženo kavo iz zrn, uvoženih z vsega sveta.

Check their website here https://www.vadregenyes.bolt.hu/

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Ralf and Kati

Ralf was born in Germany and is a former policeman In 2009 he decided to change his life and move to the Orseg area.

Six years ago, he met Kati, and they have been happily together since.

A few years ago, the local Restaurant asked them to prepare some Langos for an evening. Since that time, they have been serving excellent langos to the local community every Friday evening.

They also run a lovely buffet every day during lunchtime, and they prepare Kürtőskalács on Wednesday.

It is nice to have excellent traditional street food at your doorstep

Hungarian 🇭🇺

Ralf Németországban született, és egykor rendőr volt.
2009-ben úgy döntött, hogy megváltoztatja az életét, és az Őrsébe költözik. Hat éve találkozott Katival, és azóta boldogan élnek együtt.

Néhány évvel ezelőtt a helyi étterem felkérte őket, hogy készítsenek egy estére Lángost.
Azóta minden péntek este kiváló lángost szolgálnak fel a helyi közösségnek. Emellett minden nap ebédidőben egy kellemes büfét üzemeltetnek, szerdánként pedig Kürtőskalácsot készítenek.

Jó érzés, hogy kiváló hagyományos utcai ételeket kapunk a küszöbünkön!

Slovenian 🇸🇮

Ralf se je rodil v Nemčiji in je nekdanji policist. Leta 2009 se je odločil spremeniti svoje življenje in se preselil na območje Orseg. Pred šestimi leti je spoznal Kati in od takrat sta srečen par. 

Pred nekaj leti ju je lokalna restavracija prosila, naj za en večer pripravita nekaj langašev. Od takrat vsak petek zvečer lokalni skupnosti postrežeta z odličnimi langaši. Vsak dan v času kosila pripravljata tudi čudovit samopostrežni bife, ob sredah pa pripravljata Kürtőskalács. 

Lepo je imeti odlično tradicionalno ulično hrano pred svojim pragom! 

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Reto and Gisella

Reto and Gisella are from Switzerland but have been coming to Orseg for many years. Now they are an active part of the Velemer community. They have been renovating their house for quite some time, making it a cosy home for them.

Hungarian 🇭🇺

Reto és Gisella Svájcból származik, de már évek óta járnak az Őrségbe. Mára Velemér közösségének aktív részeseivé váltak. A házuk felújításán dolgoznak egy ideje, hogy meghitt otthont teremtsenek maguknak.

Slovenian 🇸🇮

Reto in Gisella prihajata iz Švice, vendar se v Orseg vračata že vrsto let. Zdaj sta aktivna člana skupnosti Velemer. Svojo hišo obnavljata že kar nekaj časa, tako da jima je postala prijeten dom.

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