La Albufera. Valencia
The Albufera is a freshwater lagoon and estuary on the Gulf of Valencia coast of the Valencian Community in eastern Spain. It is the main portion of the Parc Natural de l’Albufera (“Albufera Natural Park”), with a surface area of 21,120 hectares (52,200 acres).
La Albufera
The natural biodiversity of the nature reserve allows a great variety of fauna and flora to thrive and be observed year-round. While once a saltwater lagoon, dilution due to irrigation and canals draining into the estuary and the sand bars increasing in size had converted it to freshwater by the seventeenth century.
Resting after the walk
Walking is simple, free and one of the easiest ways to get more active, lose weight and become healthier.
It’s underrated as a form of exercise but walking is ideal for people of all ages and fitness levels who want to be more active.
Regular walking has been shown to reduce the risk of chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, stroke and some cancers.
Resting after walk is mandatory. Getting enough rest after exercise is essential. Do it, and as our woman in the photo, you can take off your shoes and stretch your feet and toes… you’ll feel better.
Partners. “Castellers”
This is my contribution to this Week Photo Challenge: Partners
These are a group of “castellers”, that is, a group of people who build human “castles”. I think this perfectly reflects the concept of partners.
A castell (castle) is a human tower built traditionally in festivals at many locations within Catalonia. At these festivals, several colles castelleres (group of people who do these towers) often succeed in building and dismantling a tower’s structure. On November 16, 2010, castells were declared by UNESCO to be amongst the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Castellers
A castell is considered a success when stages of its assembling and disassembling, can be done in complete succession. The assembly is complete once all castellers have climbed into their designated places, and the enxaneta climbs into place at the top and raises one hand with four fingers erect, in a gesture said to symbolize the stripes of the Catalan flag. The enxaneta then climbs down the other side of the castell, after which the remaining levels of castellers descend in highest-to-lowest order until all have reached safety.
Castellers
Aside from the people who climb to form the upper parts of the tower, others are needed to form the pinya, or bottom base of the castell, to sustain its weight. Members of the pinya (most often men) also act as a ‘safety net’ if the tower structure collapses, cushioning the fall of people from the upper levels. It is not uncommon—when not in competitions—for other colles to assist in the pinya when a small colla is attempting a specially demanding structure in terms of people needed.
More info: Wikipedia
Queensboro Bridge, Manhattan
The Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge – because its Manhattan end is located between 59th and 60th Streets – and officially titled the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City that was completed in 1909. It connects the neighborhood of Long Island City in the borough of Queens with Manhattan, passing over Roosevelt Island. It carries New York State Route 25 and is the westernmost of the four East River spans that carry a route number: NY 25 terminates at the west (Manhattan) side of the bridge, which once carried NY 24 and NY 25A as well. The bridge is flanked on its northern side by the freestanding Roosevelt Island Tramway. The bridge was, for a long time, simply called the Queensboro Bridge, but in March 2011, the bridge was officially renamed in honor of former New York City mayor Ed Koch.
More info: Wikipedia
World Trade Center
New York City, the most populous city in the United States, is home to 6,125 completed high-rises, 109 of which are 600 feet (183 m) or taller. The tallest building in New York is One World Trade Center, which rises 1,776 feet (541 m). The 104-story skyscraper also stands as the tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and the sixth-tallest building in the world. The second tallest building in the city is 432 Park Avenue, standing at 1,396 feet (426 m), and the third tallest is the 102-story Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan, which was finished in 1931 and rises to 1,250 feet (381 m), increased to 1,454 feet (443 m) by its antenna.
One World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center
Santiago Calatrava designed the World Trade Center Transportation Hub (its main asset being the PATH station) to replace the old World Trade Center station. The Transport Hub will connect the PATH station and 1 New York City Transit Authority subway train to the ferry terminal, the World Financial Center and One World Trade Center on the west and the 2 3 4 5 A C J Z N R New York City Transit Authority subway trains through the Fulton Center on the East. One will be able to walk most of the way across lower Manhattan. The Port Authority will cool the new station, as well as the September 11 Memorial and Museum, via a heat exchanger fed by four pipes carrying water from the Hudson River. The cost for the transportation hub is estimated at $3.44 billion
Transportation Hub
More info in Wikipedia
World Trade Center
The World Trade Center site, formerly known as “Ground Zero” after the September 11 attacks, is a 14.6-acre (59,000 m2) area in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The previous World Trade Center complex stood on the site until it was destroyed in the September 11 attacks. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Silverstein Properties, and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation oversee the reconstruction of the site according to a master plan by Studio Daniel Libeskind. The site is bounded by Vesey Street to the north, the West Side Highway to the west, Liberty Street to the south, and Church Street to the east. The Port Authority owns the site’s land (except for 7 World Trade Center). Developer Larry Silverstein holds the lease to retail and office space in four of the site’s buildings.
“Reflecting Absence”
“Reflecting Absence”
A memorial called “Reflecting Absence” honors the victims of the September 11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The memorial, designed by Peter Walker and Israeli-American architect Michael Arad, consists of a field of trees interrupted by the footprints of the twin towers. Pools of water fill the footprints, underneath which sits a memorial space whose walls bear the names of the victims.
World Trade Center and Lower Manhattan
Soon after the September 11 attacks, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Governor George Pataki, and President George W. Bush vowed to rebuild the World Trade Center site. On the day of the attacks, Giuliani proclaimed, “We will rebuild. We’re going to come out of this stronger than before, politically stronger, economically stronger. The skyline will be made whole again.”
One World Trade Center (previously coined the “Freedom Tower” by Governor Pataki) is the centerpiece of Libeskind’s design. The building rises to 1,368 feet (417 m), the height of the original World Trade Center north tower, and its antenna rises to the symbolic height of 1,776 feet (541 m). This height refers to 1776, the year in which the United States Declaration of Independence was signed.
World Trade Center and Lower Manhattan
One World Trade Center
More info in Wikipedia
The Empire State Building
The Empire State Building views from the Rockefeler Center.
The Empire State Building is a 102-story skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet (381 m), and with itsantenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 feet (443 m) high. Its name is derived from the nickname for New York, the Empire State. It stood as the world’s tallest building for nearly 40 years, from its completion in early 1931 until the topping out of the original World Trade Center‘s North Tower in late 1970. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building was again the tallest building in New York, until One World Trade Center reached a greater height in April 2012. The Empire State Building is currently the fifth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States and the 29th-tallest in the world. It is also the fifth-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas. When measured by pinnacle height, it is the fourth-tallest building in the United States.
The Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is an American cultural icon. It is designed in the distinctive Art Deco style and has been named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The building and its street floor interior are designated landmarks of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and confirmed by the New York City Board of Estimate. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. In 2007, it was ranked number one on the AIA’s List of America’s Favorite Architecture.
The Empire State Building and Downtown Manhattan
The building is owned by the Empire State Realty Trust, of which Anthony Malkin serves as Chairman, CEO and President. In 2010, the Empire State Building underwent a $550 million renovation, with $120 million spent to transform the building into a more energy efficient and eco-friendly structure. The Empire State Building is the tallest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified building in the United States, having received a gold LEED rating in September 2011.
More in Wikipedia
The Empire State Building and Downtown Manhattan
Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal, New York
Chinatown
New York
New York
Flying beyond
Happy are those who dream…
Leon J. Suenes was a wealthy industrialist, playboy, and philanthropist. Witnessing the murder of his parents as a child, Leon trained himself both physically and intellectually and donned a bat-themed costume in order to fight crime in gotham.
Flying beyond
Black power
Black power
Photography taken in New York City this summer.
Three beautiful black girls are walking Broadway street under the gaze of the other pedestrians.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City‘s five boroughs, with a Census-estimated 2,621,793 people in 2014. It is geographically adjacent to the borough of Queens at the western end of Long Island. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, the most populous county in the State of New York and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, after New York County (Manhattan). With a land area of 71 square miles (180 km2) and water area of 26 square miles (67 km2), Kings County is the fourth-smallest county in New York State by land area and third-smallest by total area, though it is the second-largest among New York City’s five boroughs.
The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of “Breuckelen” on the East River shore of Long Island, grew to be a sizable city in the 19th century, and was consolidated in 1898 with New York City (then confined to Manhattan and part of the Bronx), the remaining rural areas of Kings County, and the largely rural areas of Queens and Staten Island, to form the modern City of New York.
More info: Wikipedia
Brooklyn
train
A train is a form of rail transport consisting of a series of vehicles that usually runs along a rail track to transport cargo or passengers. Motive power is provided by a separate locomotive or individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Although historically steam propulsion dominated, the most common modern forms are diesel and electric locomotives, the latter supplied by overhead wires or additional rails.
Other energy sources include horses, rope or wire, gravity, pneumatics, batteries, and gas turbines. Train tracks usually consists of two, three or four or five rails, with a limited number of monorails and maglev guideways in the mix.
The word ‘train’ comes from the Old French trahiner, from the Latin trahere ‘pull, draw’.
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bCL Photography 