https://www.lukemagnan.com/home daily 1.0 2023-10-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/a4095056-07ca-41d7-9047-635725523a03/L1000904.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/c546704c-09ad-4231-9f39-83bfc2ab4761/DO01000130.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/41a264f7-860c-400b-aaa3-f390f8ff8a37/L1000833.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/b982af9e-bb57-429c-bb42-b9250b09329e/DO01000163.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/891d7ad9-fb68-4872-9c34-843677aa324f/L1000860.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/ec54d174-1eb7-45da-b249-96362c146a3f/DO01000192.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/639480af-f5d1-4c12-99be-3e935efd8eca/L1000865.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/1c3fc600-3f23-401e-a548-51e6022b6bc3/DO01000225.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/d03f4d9d-6987-41f5-9679-2b5a65e27242/L1000924.jpg Home https://www.lukemagnan.com/belgrade daily 0.75 2023-10-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/10f1f90d-2df0-4672-8f04-0914963e5793/L1000904.jpg Belgrade St. Sava temple taken from the restaurant “Pizza and Beer”. I call this “Photo spot for Americans”. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/200bca49-6558-4bf2-bb89-a1294f0cdd75/L1000855.jpg Belgrade This gentleman could not WAIT to sit down. He’s glaring at me, right? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/c9c18460-9fd9-4b6f-8b0e-42cd0c221cc9/L1000827.jpg Belgrade Republic Square. I like the two guys in red in the bottom right corner. I assume those are uniforms but I like to think these two friends just randomly wore the same all red outfits for a day out on the town. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/a7e34300-8af5-4091-a55a-9e14ac204637/L1000865.jpg Belgrade This was an amazing mural and my photo didn't do it justice. The colors stretch much higher. It's on a busy street and it's honestly hard to pay attention to anything but this. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/e5094b99-ae5c-42db-81ab-e236496c345a/L1000832.jpg Belgrade A morning routine I can get behind on that middle terrace. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/11f2ae0e-6307-4576-b811-12d5ba69257d/L1000844.jpg Belgrade These folks were opening the store for the day. There were more bookstores in Belgrade’s city center than anywhere I’ve seen. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/18882d9c-7bae-485e-8f0a-d80db2934b37/L1000833.jpg Belgrade This guy is one of the lucky ones. He gets to hang out by the cafes where all the best people watching is. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/7a8fc22c-42f7-40e9-b313-2602c46f0190/L1000927.jpg Belgrade This was in the courtyard of the hotel I stayed at. I liked how there were birds in the air above the mural of a woman with a bird. The photo is mediocre at best, but the light was perfect. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/89ca9fb7-d55e-4665-8038-a1106d408a4a/L1000841.jpg Belgrade A beautiful building with amazing statues framed by the rubble of a side street that is presumably under construction? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/241a0c96-c6cb-482e-841a-a9d6bbdcf664/L1000834.jpg Belgrade I took this photo because I was fascinated why they put a bird on his arm. Did he have a bird friend in real life? Only after looking at the picture I took on a computer did I realize it was, in fact, a real bird. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/c5490636-7311-4415-8492-e2f7476f5e6d/L1000903.jpg Belgrade A sepulchre in Saint Sava's Temple. It was in the basement. I was hoping someone would come and open it, but after a few minutes of waiting it didn't feel like that was going to happen. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/9b24b35b-8340-4d37-aa37-d492bcdd3f65/L1000910.jpg Belgrade The color on this bus really popped. Photo taken through the open window of a moving car. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/6bbeba4d-0bb5-4c30-8aa2-37ca1dec954f/L1000908.jpg Belgrade The weakest picture I have here, but I like the juxtaposition of the fountains with the light showing through the water and the underexposed traffic. That's also a pretty cool Landcruiser there on the left. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/7dc4e85f-70f6-45bc-9628-78beee4e4c64/L1000925.jpg Belgrade The best picture I took on the trip. Cafe life personified. The light was perfect. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/c6e4304f-2f13-4d6c-999b-84e7b3c7f0da/L1000861.jpg Belgrade I KNEW this was a real bird, but I liked it anyway. The indignity! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/ba10856e-c38d-46d4-b389-afa6ab847b6d/L1000898.jpg Belgrade Part of the ceiling at Saint Sava's Temple. The interior of the temple actually did take my breath away. It was amazing. This is just one small piece of it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/8577e8c4-77a9-4372-a11d-5164ffe2be05/L1000928.jpg Belgrade The photographer in reflection. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/20551c14-1751-4e75-8980-add142dc86b7/L1000913.jpg Belgrade This was a very cool statue with an amazing patina in an area that was a bit run down on the river. I liked how green the patina had gotten. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/134a3890-615c-4fe3-b5c0-8ee1412431ac/L1000881.jpg Belgrade I liked the pop of color in this, as well as the different textures in the stone and the wood. Also, "hope" being front and center is nice. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/f0555eed-54b5-434b-98e0-d243e7777080/L1000921.jpg Belgrade From a fortress in the middle of the city, looking out at an example of the amazing green space Belgrade offers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/d4c88fd2-9d62-4765-aea7-e4c240ea454c/L1000917.jpg Belgrade There’s a section of the river with all these house boats converted for various things. This was by far the “funkiest”. I don't know what everyone's doing there but I mostly wish I could have been a part of it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/51b3fdd8-27d2-46d7-bf33-3875d014c8cc/L1000860.jpg Belgrade This served as the "ceiling" over the outdoor seating section of a cute cafe. The sun was too high for good pictures of most things, but I thought this worked. You can also see some of the grander architecture of the city poking through in the top right. https://www.lukemagnan.com/tblisi daily 0.75 2023-10-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/1d361052-6524-44d5-9f3e-d5332dc6d1d3/DO01000117.jpg Tblisi The famous freedom monument, with St. George at the top. Conveniently located right outside the hotel I stayed at. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/ae39582a-c4b4-4a09-877b-996f584fc14c/DO01000192.jpg Tblisi A beautiful landscape just right off of a highway. We just stopped and stepped out and this was there to photograph. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/de5e89ab-5ab0-4878-a771-821770265fcc/DO01000123.jpg Tblisi At the top of this photo you can see what was introduced to us as "Georgian Snickers"; dates and grapes dried and stuffed with nuts. They are delicious and healthy and I wish I had more right now as I type this. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/7a88dda0-d115-4b22-904a-ea850ebfe9f0/DO01000130.jpg Tblisi Tblisi is like a fairy tale city. Cafes below a castle, what more could an American want? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/ddf17a14-2144-4fac-9285-560aa199d5cc/DO01000189.jpg Tblisi It's hard to make interesting photos of castles, which is crazy because castles are so interesting! This was one of lots and lots of castles in the countryside. You can just imagine the bandit peering out that window, looking for the unwary merchants on the Silk Road so they could go levy their "taxes". https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/c62681c2-765c-4954-82c1-e55890ebb5ff/DO01000133.jpg Tblisi Khachapuri could teach pizza a trick or two. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/8940e906-6e41-4849-a186-0ea9dffdb4b0/DO01000132.jpg Tblisi We sat and drank beers and ate delicious food in a cafe after a day of walking and all I really felt at the time that this guy looked like he had everything figured out. What more do you need? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/85a28f16-448a-4a35-ae99-b91ab311ec0a/DO01000226.jpg Tblisi This is a view from a countryside restaurant we stopped in where I had the best meal I've ever had in my life. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/4ef202ea-d9a5-4494-a1d4-f72d672364cc/DO01000198.jpg Tblisi I saw this pig and (presumably) its feet in a market. It's not going to go in food that *I* want to eat (probably) but sure made for a fine picture. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/620b11e0-fd0f-41c5-abf4-f84ee05a67a9/DO01000139.jpg Tblisi We climbed a lot of hills, but there was always a surprise around the corner that kept you climbing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/8f6e67b2-b0e5-40f8-bb98-e3c610bbb13c/DO01000181.jpg Tblisi In a castle there was a small shrine with this beautiful Icon backlit by the window. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/23ea1edd-a520-42b8-b760-8c061a2c51bc/L1000878.jpg Tblisi Khinkali (dumplings) are delicious and serve as an amazing cure for hangovers. You bite a side and drink the soup within, then eating the rest. This picture doesn't do them justice. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/ea5227aa-0f07-47ea-9888-aaaa941c991d/DO01000151.jpg Tblisi Feral cats abound in the city, almost always seen curled up on cafe seat cushions during the day. Not a bad life. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/41b7345d-0c3f-4e45-a4aa-9a126b2c1c16/DO01000184.jpg Tblisi More religious artifacts in windows. It was still and quiet and you could feel a weight of centuries of belief. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/95ac09a2-9cd0-4ae4-b3d6-b37dd8349e34/DO01000155.jpg Tblisi There was a lot of very cool street art. I liked how this one was framed by the architecture. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/6e86f8ce-984c-42f4-9cbd-9e29b8e6c035/DO01000162.jpg Tblisi At a bar in the evening this stranger saw my camera and insisted I take a photo of him making a toast. The translation for the standard Georgian toast is, "To our Victory", which I think is pretty fantastic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/321166ba-1208-4bca-abad-7bd338bcbe9b/DO01000158.jpg Tblisi A restaurant we went to for dinner one night. Everything that could be outdoors, was outdoors in Tblisi, and at night with the lights everything looked magical. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/ad3a130a-55b2-47dd-8ade-78533c4d2453/DO01000197.jpg Tblisi A market way outside the city. It was bustling and everything was fresh and it was easy to imagine making a quick trip there every day to gather the ingredients for dinner. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/b7234ee7-3402-454a-a72e-3a0bf2a1bd4e/DO01000163.jpg Tblisi So much of Tblisi is built into the hills, so there's a view like this pretty much everywhere you. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/82451db1-ceda-42cd-a651-cf2238d9010d/DO01000210.jpg Tblisi We stopped at a winery and there was a manor house to tour with amazing art from centuries of Georgian history. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/b820cf74-b8ee-4352-97e7-caaad66bdc90/DO01000225.jpg Tblisi Our then driver, now friend, Georgi drives us through the countryside where we often had to slow down for Shepards and their flock. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/5ce715f2-d273-461f-865e-e6deab85efb9/L1000877.jpg Tblisi A roadside Khimkali place, where the cooking was done in a central kitchen in a courtyard and everybody got to eat in little private rooms. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/1f1c18c1-b019-4b23-82bc-aa66d81f067d/DSC05399.jpg Tblisi A long-exposure photo I did in the mountains at night. That blaze of light is a little temple. Beyond those mountains, Russia. https://www.lukemagnan.com/about daily 0.75 2023-10-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6519c3e4885dd2239ba6417c/070969bd-bef5-4e0a-b314-6f3c696fe008/L1000437.jpg