Vancouver: Capilano Suspension Bridge

I used to be terrified of heights, but have been overcoming my fear with rollercoasters, rock-climbing and now, traipsing over the Capilano Suspension Bridge in British Columbia (also the longest and highest suspension bridge in the world)!

It was a lot sturdier than I thought, and our little introductory tour of the site helped...especially knowing that it's no longer made out of hemp rope and cedar planks!

The Capilano (First Nations name Kia'palano, meaning "beautiful river") bridge crosses over the Capilano River, 70 metres (230 ft) above and 140 metres (460 ft) across, and has since been rebuilt with steel cables anchored into 114 tons of concrete. They say it can carry 1333 people. 

But it still sways. Very much, so.

(Too bad Instagram video didn't exist a couple of weeks ago, that would have been perfect!)

The new edition to the other end of the bridge is the Treetop Adventure, various smaller suspension bridges created in 2004 that allow you to trek through the trees with a birds-eye view of all the beautiful age-old greenery that Vancouver is known for. It started raining a little, but we couldn't even tell for the lush canopy overhead.

August: Art to Inspiration

This month's A2I post features artist Lara Harwood's "...now imagine all the thick birdsong thick as a forest"

Harwood's watercolour paintings are sublime, the type of work that could enhance any space with their bright, vivid colours, illustrative nature and minimal subject matter.

This jungley image from Harwood's sketchbook of watercolours from India, 2009, is a piece that really took me back to my own journey through Kerala's backwaters in Feb 2010.

The composition of heavy greenery vs the simple silhouette encapsulates the very nature of Kerala's scenery.

Today, Harwood's watercolour has inspired me to reminisce...

Last month's Art to Inspiration featured my own work (thanks Sups!): July

Want to join Art to Inspiration? Just click here!

Greece: Santorini, Skaros Rock

Certainly one of the most unique places to stay would be inside a cave, wouldn't you say?

Hotel Sunny Villas, with its incredible caldera and sunset views, was one such place and with it being situated in front of the famed Skaros Rock, it was an ideal location for a morning hike.

Now, I'm not a hiker, and not an adventure seeker, either, so seeing a well-trodden path on Skaros made me feel confident about this type of hike.

Then we met a group who had just done the hike and were resting at the foot of it, amongst them was an older lady with a cane.

They told us that there's a hidden CHURCH on the other side of Skaros Rock, that is only accessible if you hike over some fallen rocks, which, when you approach them, appear to be the end of the road. However if you hike OVER these trecherous rocks (with a sheer drop on the other side) the path continues on down to the church. With an incredible view. 

And a closer view of Heaven I thought, if I slipped.

BUT.

The old lady did it.

So we gave it a go, and of course at the pile of fallen rocks, the camera was put away, but you can see that they were right.

Totally worth it.

Heaven, on earth.

Greece: Santorini, Green + Blue

How about throwing in some green in there for a change?

Greece: Santorini, Cactai

OH! Hai!

Greece: Santorini, A Gander

Literally within seconds of putting our luggage down at our hotel, we were off to explore the island that is Santorini. Here's what we found along the way.

Greece: Santorini, Sunny Villas

What's it like living in a cave, you ask?

I was dying to stay at Sunny Villas after my endless research on hotels in Santorini. The idea of staying in a CAVE was appealing. In real life, it was a difficult hotel to get to, but I imagine many of the hotels on Santorini to be the case, as the town is built on the side of a volcanic caldera, not to be confused with a crater. And it's STEEP, y'all! Hotel Sunny Villas had incredible caldera and sunset views from the terrace, but the actual cave-like habitat was rather claustophobic, for us. Still, it was incredible to be situated right in front of the Skaros rock, which used to be a medieval fortress, that we hiked on the last day of our trip (more on that later). For now, this.

Greece: To Santorini

Time for another ferry ride, this time to Santorini! That was the littlest truck we'd ever seen!

Greece: Mykonos, The Wind Mills

Oh, the famed Wind Mills of Mykonos.

As we turned around a narrow and crowded corner, this was our first glimpse of the wind mills. The timing couldn't have been better; with the sun just starting to drop it created the most gorgeous light.

Most of the cafes facing the water boasted the "best sun set view", but expensive cocktails at over crowded cafes like Scarpa didn't make sense, especially when the sun set could be viewed from anywhere. So, this is what we did, instead.

Breathtaking, to say the least. See how these windmills compare to Zaans Shans, in Amsterdam.

Greece: Mykonos, The Town

The next day we took the shuttle bus into downtown Mykonos. What an incredibly stunning place Mykonos is. Would love to go back, it's absolutely gorgeous. Blue and white paint? Check. Churches? Check. Narrow cobblestone walkways? Check. But who knew about the stray cats? So cute!

Greece: Athens, Theatre of Dionysus

After the mating turtles, we finally came to the Theatre of Dionysus. The sun was starting to descend, creating a beautiful light across the seats.