More Daily Detour photos from Reynolds
Tossa del Mar, about 60 miles north of Barcelona on the Costa Brava, was gobbled up by mass-market tourism in the 1960s, leaving seaside kitsch on every side. But in the middle of that stands the Vila Vella, remnants of a genuine medieval town with walls and parapets and all, built between the 12th and 14th centuries. I took this picture in late 1999. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
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The Simpson House Bed & Breakfast is a 15-unit Victorian mansion (and barn) on Arellaga Street, a genteel residential area that’s a short walk from downtown’s restaurants and shops. If you’re spending freely for a honeymoon or anniversary, the room you want is the Hayloft, here, upstairs in the property’s 1870s carriage house. It costs a fortune, but you’ll remember it for a good while. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
I went to Iran in 1998, when there was a brief thaw between the Iranian and U.S. leaders. Lodgings like this one, the Homa Hotel in Mashhad, still bore signs of earlier hostilities. Yet the guy in the hat was eager to welcome me and take my bag. Not sure when I’ll get back there. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Lake Arrowhead Village, an affluent niche in the San Bernardino Mountains, includes docks and, frequently, ducks. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
About 60 miles west of the capital city of Ljubljana, the mountain-fed Soca River takes a fetching bend at Most Na Soci. This landscape is worth exploring, as is the country -- you know, just east of Italy and south of Austria. Since I was there in 2000, I’ve been eager to get back. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
On and off since 1983, the good ship formerly known as the “Spirit of Endeavour” has explored islands near La Paz in the state of Baja California Sur. (Some people insist those waters should be called the Gulf of California, but doesn’t Sea of Cortez just sound better?) Since I took this photo in 2000, the 232-foot ship has changed owners, been renovated, rechristened Safari Endeavor and put on a steady diet of Alaskan cruises. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
In the heart of Prague stands the Old Town Hall Tower, which you can climb, the better to capture pictures of Old Town Square and its historic architecture. Or stand below and look at the tower and its astronomical clock, which dates to the 15th century and features a kinetic display every hour. Photo taken in 1999. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
The Mammoth Mountain resort, coming off a rotten snow season in 2011-2012, got a nice, big storm to open the 2012-13 season, and these snowboarders were there to take advantage. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
One summer day in 1997, my wife and I were circling the island of Moorea in a small tour boat. First we saw a pod of dolphins. Then came a blast of mist from the surface, beneath which loomed... a humpback whale. No, two humpback whales. Perhaps 15 yards from the boat. But I couldn’t manage to fit both of them into a single picture, so no, it wasn’t quite a perfect day. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
John Smith could be just another retired guy living near Lombard Street, the most famously crooked street in the U.S. But for the last 12 years, he has been the voluntary keeper of the street’s gardens, which sit on city land. Smith is the third resident to shoulder the unpaid responsibility since the gardens were planted in 1948. Neighbors pitch in to help cover costs. And the city? “They let us plug into the fire hydrants for water. Which is very helpful,” says Smith, who might want to consider diplomacy for his next career. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
For about six centuries, travelers have been making their marks in the sandstone cliffs at El Morro National Monument, near Grants, N.M. -- more than 2,000 names, and notes in various languages. But now, as you might guess, the National Park Service would like the scribbling to stop -- so that rangers can better preserve the oldest scratchings. (Be sure to take the hike to the blufftop. The vista stretches for miles.) Photo taken in 2008. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Kevin March and Rachelle Williamson of Hamilton, Ontario, were touring the West with a truly cool set of world-map luggage. I bumped into them at a Union Square hotel as they prepared to drive down the coast. So, I asked, what’s been good and bad? The cable cars, Williamson said, “are not as cool as I thought they’d be. They’re slow. And I thought that there’d be more of them. And it’s cold.” But she loved petting a pigeon on Union Square and riding a bike across the Golden Gate bridge. March said he got a kick out of Alcatraz. “The hospital area is very creepy at night,” he said in tones of high approval. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
