kimbofo

On the waterfront

Place: Ischia Ponte, Italy.
Date: Saturday August 31, 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

Our last night on Ischia and we wandered into town for a meal. Before taking our table at our new favourite seafood restaurant we decided to walk down to the waterfront to admire the setting sun for one last time.

We dug out our cameras and snapped away under rapidly changing light conditions. Standing on a small concrete pier, I looked back towards the waterfront and admired the backdrop of pink and gold buildings framed by the street lights and the little fishing boats bobbing on the navy-blue water.

I didn't want to leave.

The bridge at night

Place: Ischia Ponte, Italy.
Date: Saturday August 31, 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

Mid-way through our trip to Italy we noticed that the fishing village of Ischia Ponte, where we were staying, had suddenly become adorned with special decorative lights. They were put up in the space of an afternoon, left unlit for a day or so, and then switched on to reveal a dizzying display of shapes and colour that glowed stronger and stronger as the purple twilight became replaced by an inky blackness.

I particularly liked the overhead arches that spanned the stone bridge that links the island to the fortress of Castello Aragonese. They created a beautiful archway that seemed to stretch into affinity.

But trying to take a decent photograph to capture this illusion proved incredibly difficult without a tripod to keep the camera steady in lowlight conditions, but this one (above) seemed to have turned out remarkably sharp given the constraints. I can almost feel the balmy summer heat of the evening emanating from the frame...

The fortress that overlooks Ischia Ponte

All pictures taken: Ischia, Italy.
Date: August 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

So this time last week we were busy enjoying our last evening in Ischia. It seems like a lifetime ago now.

The holiday was wonderful. I came back feeling relaxed and refreshed and with my batteries recharged, but I do wish we'd been able to stay longer. We simply did not see enough of the island's many sights, although it was never our plan to explore much further than the hotel's pool or the local restaurants.

We did, however, make a special effort to visit the island's most famous landmark: the brooding, picturesque Castello Aragonese (Aragon Castle) that sits atop a large rock formation overlooking the fishing village of Ischia Ponte (where we were based) and is linked to the island by a 220m long bridge built in the 15th century.