2018: The Year in Photos

Last year was a year of firsts for us.

In 2018, we visited a few old haunts such as Rome and Florence. We took a fantastic bike trip through Puglia with BikeTours.com. But most of the year took us to some new countries (at least new for us.)

Together, we got to go dogsledding and skiing in northern Sweden, cruise the Waterways of the Tsars with Viking river cruises in Russia, and enjoy tiger safaris and Himalayan hiking in India. Kris went by herself to Karpathos, Greece. And I went alone back to northern Sweden to walk part of the Pilgrimage route of Saint Olav. I also made my first trip to sub Saharan Africa for a wildlife research expedition. Somewhere in there, we fit in a break in the resort town of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

More of the details of our year are here in Kris's yearly roundup post.

And here are my 50 photos out of the thousands I shot. I could have probably picked 50 different ones, but one has to wear the editor's hat now and then.

I hope you like them.

Snow near Ostersund sweden
Deep snow, near Östersund, Sweden

1Our first trip of the year was to northern Sweden, which was not much of a change for us native Minnesotans, except the snow was deeper and, believe it or not, it was warmer than Minnesota.

dogsledding are sweden
Dogsledding, Åre, Sweden

2Something I never thought I'd try turned out to be the one of the most fun things I think I've ever done. The dogs were amazing, the snow was deep, the wind was fierce, and I managed to hang on to the sled with one hand and shoot this with the other.

trondheim cathedral norway
Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim, Norway

3We were in a lot fewer churches than normal this year, but I think this one was sort of special to us. It's the terminus of the pilgrimage of Saint Olav across Sweden and Norway. The saint is buried here.

crypt of saint olav trondheim norway
Crypt of Saint Olav, Trondheim Norway

4The actual crypt of Saint Olav is quite a simple endeavor, and, I think, quite lovely.

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Picasso sculpture Kristinehamn, Sweden

5You don't expect to see an enormous sculpture on the lakeside in Kristinehamn, Sweden. But there it is. Stranger things have happened.

umbrellas myrtle beach south carolina
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

6Myrtle Beach was not really on our radar, but we ended up visiting there for a few days of spring respite. Really a nice area, and, as the name suggests, a spectacular wide beach.

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Fisherman, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

7I don't fish myself, but I do like to watch other people fish. Really. It's fascinating.

saint peters basilica reflected in the tiber rome italy
Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome

8When you walk around Rome at night, you often get the nicest views of churches reflected in the Tiber River.

dusk matera italy
Dusk, Matera, Italy

9Our second big adventure this year was biking for a week in southern Italy. We loved Matera so much that we returned to the town for a few days after the bike trip ended.

field near otranto italy
Field near Otranto, Italy

10Puglia was generally hilly and provided some challenging biking. But it also featured long stretches of meadows where the biking was easy and the views green and inviting.

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Gallery, Bologna, Italy

11After our bike trip, we trained up to our old friends Florence and Rome, and we visited two places we'd never been in Italy as well. Bologna is home to the oldest university in Europe, and hundreds of covered walkways that are nearly as old. You don't need to mind the rain in Bologna. A pedestrian friendly town, thanks to the foresight of their rulers hundreds of years ago.

couple on street florence italy
Couple on the street, Florence, Italy

12Of course, the first thing you think of when you think of Florence is the art. But, let's not forget, Italy is for lovers.

church of saint clare assisi italy
Church of Saint Clare, Assisi, Italy

13Saint Francis is the most famous denizen of Assisi, but let's not forget the Saint Clare, Francis's friend, and also the founder of a religious order. Her church is up the hill from Francis's and is the first thing you see as you enter the city on foot from the east.

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The ruins of Ostia Antica, near Rome

14What would a trip to Rome be without hours spent in the ruins of the ancient empire. Unlikely in our case. Ostia, the ancient port of Rome, is nicely preserved It's easily reached by local train.

statue hadrians villa tivoli italy
Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli, Italy

15Hadrian's Villa, at Tivoli, is also reached easily by train from Rome. Add a short taxi ride from the nearby Tivoli gardens and you can see how the emperor who presided over the greatest expanse of the Roman Empire lived and worked.

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Sun dog, at Hadrian's Villa

16Every now and then, nature puts on a show. You just have to remember to look up while you're walking among the ruins.

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The Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

17However much time you think you should spend in The Hermitage, you should at least double it. It's huge, and the art is extraordinary. The czars who collected it weren't all bad.

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The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia

18Just in case you were wondering how bit The Hermitage is, this might give you sort of an idea.

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The palace of Catherine the Great, Saint Petersburg, Russia

19Catherine's taste was a bit over the top, but she made up for it by being a collector of extraordinary art.

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The Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood, Saint Petersburg, Russia

20A photo can't really do justice to this church, built on the site of the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. These aren't frescoes. They're mosaics. And the luminance is spectacular.

state museum saint petersburg russia
The State Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

21There's some great Russian modern art in this museum. Kandinski, Chagall, and more. But the most interesting stuff is the couple of rooms housing the monumental Soviet art featuring Lenin and Stalin.

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Volga River, Russia

22We cruised from Saint Petersburg to Moscow on the rivers, lakes and canals that link the two capitals of Russia. Sometimes the forest came right up to the shore.

kizhi russia
Kizhi, Russia

23One of our stops on the Russia cruise was in the island village of Kizhi, a Unesco World Heritage site, and a town that doesn't operate too differently than it did in the 19th Century.

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The market, Yaroslavl, Russia

24I always try to visit the food markets in whatever city we're visiting. So much more interesting usually than the tourist attractions. One can only take so many churches or museums.

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Soviet monument, Yaroslavl, Russia

25As I said above, the Soviet art scattered over Russia is always monumental, and more interesting than the churches.

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Folk singers, Uglich, Russia

26Lovely costumes, and lovely voices. Worth a few rubles in the bag, no?

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Church of the Transfiguration, Uglich, Russia

27Sometimes you just get lucky with the light and the right time of day and the sun breaking through the overcast. Russian churches almost never have free standing sculptural pieces, but this one does. So, I was doubly lucky to see it lit like this. Almost as if they planned it.

metro station moscow russia
Metro station, Moscow, Russia

28We've been in a lot of Metro stations around the world, but Moscow is unique in that nearly every station is artistically decorated. This station paid homage to the citizen soldiers, men and women, who endured the horrible hardships inflicted on the Russian people during World War II.

kremlin view moscow russia
View of the Kremlin, Moscow, Russia

29The communist rulers of Russia destroyed most of her churches, but had the good sense to preserve the ones in the Kremlin. Maybe they, like the rest of us, just liked the view the domes provided.

kremlin church square moscow russia
The main square, the Kremlin, Moscow, Russia

30One of the few places you can walk around at random in the Kremlin. If you get too close to where the government works, soldiers blow whistles and shoo you back within the lines. But at least the old churches are pretty much open to wandering, if you have the right ticket.

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Line to get into the Kremlin, Moscow, Russia

31Speaking of the right ticket for the Kremlin, you'll have to wait in line to get it. Sometimes in the rain.

lakeshore sweden st olavs way
Lakeshore near Selånger, Sweden

32I visited Sweden a second time in 2018, this time doing a lot of hiking along the old pilgrimage route called The Way of Saint Olav. A lot of views of water like this along the route. In fact, this part of Sweden looks surprisingly like northern Minnesota.

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View from the mountaintop, Åre, Sweden

33There's a hotel outside Åre called Copperhill. They have a gourmet restaurant, a spectacular spa, comfortable rooms, and views like this.

Malawi Vwaza elephant eating
Elephant, Vwaza Preserve, Malawi

34My first trip to sub Saharan Africa was to Malawi with Biosphere Expeditions. Our camp in a game preserve was the perfect spot to observe baboons, hippos, and elephants, who occasionally walked right up to our camp and helped themselves to our trees.

Malawi Vwaza hippo on land
Hippos rarely come on land during the day

35We spent several days hiking around the lake near out camp and counting hippos in the water. We only saw a couple on the shore in the twelve days I was there. Keep your distance is the best advice when it comes to hippos.

Malawi Vwaza bat
African bat, Malawi

36One of the most fascinating aspect of my trip to Malawi was participating in research on bats. The bats, captured in ingenious traps, were measured, sexed, identified, and released.

Malawi Vwaza adult baboon village close
Baboons wandered freely though the nearby village, Vwaza Reserve, Malawi

37A big part of the Malawi expedition was observing baboons. It wasn't difficult as they passed impertinently through our camp and the village just up the hill. Absolutely not afraid of humans.

Malawi Vwaza village boys 7
All the kids in this Malawi village wanted me to take their picture.

38On our “day off” from animal research, we visited a nearby Malawian village. As I passed through the village with my cameras, darn near every kid came up to talk to me…and to pose.

Malawi Vwaza woman and child 1
Village woman with infant, Vwaza, Malawi

39The saddest bit about Malawi is that the country has one of the highest AIDS infection rates in the world. When we visited the nearby village, the number of orphans was apparent. Many of the young adults had died and left the children in the care of the older women of the village.

Malawi Vwaza sunset 7
End of the day, Vwaza Reserve, Malawi

40One of the benefits of being in the Malawi bush is that the constant dust of a dry climate produces spectacular sunsets.

harvesting water chestnuts orchha india
Harvesting water chestnuts near Orchha, India

41On our way to Orchha, India to see the temples, we happened across what we thought were fishermen on the lake. It turns out, they were collecting water chestnuts. I wanted to try one, but eating something out of an Indian lake is really not a good idea for people who don't have the immunity of a native.

tiger in bush bandhavgahr national parkindia
Tiger in the bush, Bandhavgahr National Park, India

42Our first five days in India were spent jeeping around three national parks in search of tigers. In general they were a bit shy and didn't show themselves too easily. But we did get a prolonged look at this guy as he lay down for a mid morning nap.

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Tiger in the open, Kanha National Park, India

43Of course, we did get the occasional look at the big guys as they came out of the trees to have a look at us.

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Indian blue roller, Kanha National Park, India

44Tigers weren't the only objects of our attention in the national parks. There were lots of deer, monkeys, elephants, and spectacularly colorful birds, like this Blue Roller.

villager ranchha india
Villager, Ranchha, India

45This guy, from the village of Ranchha in Madhya Pradesh, India was happy to pose. Especially because he asked me after I took this shot for 10 rupees. I figure the equivalent of 15 cents was worth it.

shepherd girl ranchha india
Shepherd girl, Ranchha, India

46This lovely young lady was a little skeptical, but she posed for me anyway. And she didn't ask for any money. She wouldn't smile for the photo, but she did so when I showed her the shot on the screen of my camera.

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Denwa River, Satpura National Park, India

47One early morning was spent rowing the calm Denwa River looking for birds. We photographed lots of them, but I like this shot the best.

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Man waiting for a bus, Jahlari Pass in the Himalayas, India

48As we were driving through the Himalayan mountains on our way to some hiking spots, we stopped in the tiny village at the Jahlari Pass for tea. This guy and his friend were waiting for the bus to the next village. I told him I liked his hat.

hazy Himalaya mountains india
All of India is hazy, even high in the Himalayas

49India has the worst air pollution in the world, some of which is caused by the extensive use of wood for cooking and heating. Even far out of the big cities, the haze is constant. Even at 11,000 feet up in the Himalayan mountains. But, sometimes, the smoke makes for a pretty photo.

taj mahal agra india
The Taj Mahal in early morning, Agra, India

50If you want to shoot the Taj Mahal, get there early when the sun is still low, and the crowds haven't overwhelmed the site yet. It's a small window of opportunity, but worth getting up for.

We've done a year-end photo post since we started Travel Past 50 in 2013. Here are links to all the annual photo posts: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.

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16 thoughts on “2018: The Year in Photos”

  1. Wow Tom! Looks like you and Kris had a great year. Thanks for sharing your beautiful shots. Hope 2019 brings more adventures! Cheers

    Reply
  2. What a beautiful travel year! I like retrospectives like this. They make me feel like watching a movie. You have some gorgeous pictures here. All the best to you in 2019.

    Reply
  3. Stunning pictures! Thanks for sharing them with us. It must be great to travel to so many places. I’m looking forward to see were you are going to go next.

    Reply

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