 |
| From 2025 09 17 Khiva |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the ruins of Toprak-Kala (1st-5th century CE). A thousand years before Marco Polo journeyed the Silk Road, ancient cities like Toprak-Kala flourished. Wikipedia calls it "an ancient palace city and the capital of Chorasmia in the 2nd/3rd century CE, where wall paintings, coins and archives were discovered." The city was built from sun-dried mud bricks (adobe).
Bonus photos are after the jump.
 |
| From 2025 09 15 Tashkent |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from an underground train station in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The trains are clean, frequent, and fast, one of the good legacies of Soviet times.
Bonus photos are after the jump.
 |
| From 2025 09 15 Tashkent |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the kitchen at a luncheon in Tashkent at a Hilol-house, a Tashkent-based "Eastern house" offering traditional Uzbek cuisine, as well as master culinary workshops for national dishes.
 |
| From 2025 09 15 Tashkent |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Chorsu Bazaar in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It has everything. Nuts, and fruits and vegetables, meats, bread, and plov, Uzbekistan's legendary national dish.
Bonus photos are after the jump.
 |
| From 2025 09 15 Tashkent |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Chorsu Bazaar in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. According to Wikipedia, "it's a traditional bazaar located in the center of the old town. Under its blue-colored domed building, all daily necessities are sold. The modern building and the characteristic blue dome were designed in 1980, as a late example of Soviet Modernism style."
 |
| From 2025 09 15 Tashkent |
Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Hazrati Imam complex in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In one of the courtyards of a madrasa were a couple of racks of clothes, where a colorful, reversible jacket caught Ellen's eye.
Bonus photo after the jump.
 |
| From 2025 09 15 Tashkent |
Come with us as we walk through the doorway. This photo-of-the-day is from the Hazrati Imam complex in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It consists of a mosque, a couple of madrasas, and a mausoleum. The complex dates back to the 16th century. It houses the Caliph Usman Quran. Written on deerskin, it's one of the oldest Qurans in the world, maybe the oldest.
Bonus photo after the jump.
 |
| From 2025 09 15 Tashkent |
This first photo-of-the-day from a new destination is of the tourist information desk in the Tashkent, Uzbekistan, airport. Flying into Uzbekistan might sound like the end of a long trip, but it was nothing compared to the travels of Marco Polo in the 13th Century. He traveled the Silk Road of central Asia on his epic journey lasting 24 years. And to think he did it without once coming across a tourist information desk.
 |
| From 2025 06 03 Oaxaca |
The tourist bus says, "Traveling through Mexico is taking you towards adventure." As we leave one adventure waypoint, we are invited to "Come Back Soon" ("Vuelva Pronto"). This photo will serve as our last photo-of-the-day in Mexico, at least on this visit. Next stop: Uzbekistan.
A bonus photo is after the jump.
 |
| From 2025 06 03 Oaxaca |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken in the town of San Pablo Villa de Mitla in Oaxaca, Mexico. According to Wikipedia, "The main attraction is the ruins of the pre-Hispanic city of Mitla, which is best known for its buildings decorated with mosaics of small flat stones that fit together to create designs, especially fretwork." Of course, there's a Christian church built on the ruins.
Bonus photos are after the jump.
 |
| From 2025 06 03 Oaxaca |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of a mural on the wall of the Distileria Espina Mezcal, a traditional, artisanal Oaxacan mezcal brand produced by a family-run operation, known for its authentic, craft methods.
A bonus photo is after the jump.
 |
| From 2025 06 03 Oaxaca |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of El Árbol del Tule, a Montezuma cypress in the church grounds in the town center of Santa María del Tule in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Its trunk is reputedly the largest in the world, at an estimated diameter of 31 feet. Its age is estimated at 1,500 years.
"Silent giant stands
In the town's quiet center.
Time rooted in bark."
— h/t ChatGPT
 |
| From 2025 06 03 Oaxaca |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken in central Oaxaca, Mexico. It shows a mural on the wall of Galeria de Arte Jesús Villafan. If this draws you into the gallery, you won't be disappointed by the artwork for sale inside.
"Bright paint on the wall.
Oaxaca's vibrant spirit.
Magic in the sun."
— h/t ChatGPT
 |
| From 2025 06 03 Oaxaca |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken in Mercado Benito Juárez, in Oaxaca, Mexico. Google describes it as a "bibrant covered marketplace with vendors selling produce, prepared foods, crafts & textiles." Some of those "prepared foods" are insects.
"Beneath the high roof,
Vendors call to passing crowds,
Life in every stall."
— h/t ChatGPT
 |
| From 2025 06 03 Oaxaca |
Today's photo-of-the-day was taken in Monte Albán, near Oaxaca, Mexico. According to UNESCO, "Monte Albán is the most important archaeological site of the Valley of Oaxaca. Inhabited over a period of 1,500 years by a succession of peoples — Olmecs, Zapotecs and Mixtecs — the terraces, dams, canals, pyramids and artificial mounds of Monte Albán were literally carved out of the mountain and are the symbols of a sacred topography. The grand Zapotec capital flourished for thirteen centuries, from the year 500 B.C to 850 A.D."
Bonus photos are after the jump.
 |
| From 2025 06 03 Oaxaca |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of a random street in Oaxaca, Mexico. MULT is an abbreviation of Movimiento de Unificación y Lucha Triqui, an organization working for unification, human rights, and justice for the Triqui people of Oaxaca.
"In Oaxaca streets,
Triqui struggles paint the walls.
Hope marching mutely."
— h/t ChatGPT
 |
| From 2025 06 03 Oaxaca |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of a random street in Oaxaca, Mexico. It's a colorful city. That is all.
 |
| From 2025 06 03 Oaxaca |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of a random street in Oaxaca, Mexico. It's a colorful city. That is all.
 |
| From 2025 06 03 Oaxaca |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of graffiti in Oaxaca, Mexico. I am not an expert on Mexican political movements, but when I see "8M" alongside phrases like "Fuimos todas," "No es no," and "Oaxaca feminicida," I think it signals that the graffiti is connected to the feminist mobilizations that take place annually in Mexico on International Womens Day, March 8 (shorthand: "8M"). The graffiti says the protests were large ("We all went"), they were against violence against women ("feminicida") and they signaled demands for justice, safety, and equality. I might be male, I might be American, but I'm feeling solidarity as I read this cry for justice in a foreign land.
P.S. Today is March 8 all over the world.
"Read the foreign words.
The meaning crosses borders.
Justice has no flag."
— h/t ChatGPT
 |
| From 2025 06 03 Oaxaca |
Today's photo-of-the-day is of La Malinche volcano in Mexico, outside Puebla, if you can call any volcano "outside" a city if it presents this view to the neighborhoods at the foot of the mountain. I personally find it scary, but it's probably less likely that a resident of Puebla will die in a volcanic explosion in their lifetime than a resident of, say, Richardson, Texas, will die from a tornado. I wouldn't be reassured by Wikipedia calling it an "inactive" volcano. That plume of smoke suggests to me that could change at any time.
"They say 'inactive,'
yet smoke braids the morning air
as summit exhales."
— h/t ChatGPT