A Genoan watchtower continues its centuries-old vigil over a Sardinian sunset.

Italy's islands and mainland coasts are dotted with watchtowers just like this. They were built in a time when Italy was made up of several city states constantly at war with one another and when the Mediterranean was frequently a battlefield.

I plonked the tripod down for this one (a rare occurrence) and exposed for around 30s to get the water to look the way it does.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L IS

Tags:   italy sardinia oceanscape sunset square longexposure Canon1740mm SixteenByNine camera:canon_5d2

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Spotted while exploring the maze of tiny streets in the small town of Burgos in central Sardinia.

While driving in between legs on our week-long stay in Sardinia we spotted an interesting tower on the horizon. Since we were ahead of time that day we decided we could afford a quick detour to determine what exactly it was shimmering on the horizon.

A quick estimate of where it was on the GPS and were heading down small roads towards the tower. As we go closer we saw that the tower was sticking out of a large hill surrounded by flat plains. Draped over the hill and surrounding the tower was a small cluster of ochre buildings that turned out to be the small town of Burgos.

After finding a place to park (which was surprisingly difficult for a town of just 1000 people) we began the trek up the remaining slopes of the hill towards the tower. This photo was taken as we navigated the maze of haphazard and organically laid out streets. I use 'navigated' losely here as we were lost most of the time! This photo was taken on a lane that had a large amount of art stores displaying the works of unknown artists in the region.

Random discoveries like this are what I love most about exploring Europe. Spotting something interesting on the horizon and then simply going there to discover that the town that surrounds the tower is more interesting than the tower itself. Wandering through roads that were formed by people walking on them rather than by urban planning. Learning the town's history over the years and how its fortunes rose and fell on the whim of kings in other countries whose decisions shaped a town they likely never visited.

I didn't know this town existed before we made that detour, and I doubt I'll visit again, but as we drove off it felt as though I knew it very well.

Sardinia, Italy, 2012

Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L

Tags:   square italy museum art street sardinia sardegna burgos f:ultrawide Canon1740mm camera:canon_5d2

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Sardinia's Cala Goloritze has the most scenic setting of any Mediterranean beach I've been to.

With its setting on the East coast of Sardinia means that the best time to photograph this beach is early in the morning. If you leave your arrival till too late in the day, the sun is blocked by the cliffs to the right of the photo and only the beach gets direct sunlight. To complicate things you can only get to this point by boat or by a short but steep hike.

On the bright side, the walk to the beach is very scenic and largely downhill. All the way along the hour long hike down you get more an more visibility of the beach and the iconic stone stack that makes the beach special. We did our best to drive out to Altoplano del Goglo and becgin the hike but could only manage to get there at midday.

This was the best I could do with the rather flat light at this time of day -- a quickly taken stitch of three vertical images taken at 17mm as the sun was muted behind a cloud.

Sardinia, Italy, 2012

Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L

Tags:   sardinia italy beaches f:ultrawide waterscape stack camera:canon_5d2

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What remains of a 16th century coastal lookout tower dominates the highest point of this Sardinian coast just West of Alghero.

During our week long trip around Sardinia, we'd seen small defensive towers all along the coastline. At the end of the trip, while driving around Capo Caccia heading to Cala D'Inferno (a dramatic cove) we spotted this tower at what appeared to be the highest and most remote point along the cliff.

After seeing the cove, we decided to simply continue along the coast until we reached the tower. Given that there were no high trees and all we had to do was follow the edge of the cliff it should have been an easy trip. We were wrong! The short bushes that carpet the cliffs in this region are sharp and stiff and being waist height meant that wading through them was a painful necessity due to the lack of paths. Given that I was only wearing shorts and trainers (the walk to the cove was easy) this soon turned into a bloody affair. To make matters worse, we were turned around a few times and so by the time we were back on track the sun had already set and we had to turn back.

The next day we canceled our prior plans and decided to try and reach this unnamed tower again. This time I wore appropriate clothing and paid attention with the navigation. It still took us longer than we'd expected and since we ended up being there near sunset we decided that we may as well wait for the day to end before making the trip back in the dark. The views we got as the sun took the sky through the different shades of sunset was worth the difficult trek back down in the dark.

Sassania, Sardinia, Italy, 2012

Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon 17-40mm f/4L

Tags:   italy sardinia island coast tower defense cliffs sea sunset hike genoan history panorama f:ultrawide SixteenByNine camera:canon_5d2

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