Capturing the Colors of Europe from Amsterdam to Venice

Thanks to my fellow travel writers: Marlys and Michael from Easyhiker.co.uk, Matt from Landlopers.com and Heather from TravellersPlayground.com—among others, I was nominated to participate in a photo contest in which travel bloggers submitted up to five photos expressing their interpretation of Green, Yellow, Blue, Red and Green. Here my EuroFav selects.

Through my post of many colors, we'll travel from Volendam, The Netherlands, in the north thanks to my Viking River Cruise experience; then to Amsterdam for the Christening Ceremony of the new Viking River Cruses' longships; to The Hague—home to "Girl with Pearl Earring;" to the sublime Loire Valley in France; and finally to the seductive and timeless city of Venice, Italy. I hope you enjoy your tour through the Colors of Europe.

Yellow

A tasty stop at a tiny cheese shop in Volendam, The Netherlands. All photography is the property of EuroTravelogue™. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

Not only does this picture capture the vibrant yellows of the various cheeses in this tiny shop in Volendam, you can practically taste the creamy yellow flavors of the many varieties sold here.

Red

Thousands of red and white balloons festooned each of the Viking River Cruises' longships at the Port of Amsterdam on Christening Day. 

To celebrate the Christening of four brand new Viking River Cruises longships in Amsterdam, each of the Viking ships in port, including mine, "Viking Odin," were festooned with hundreds if not thousands of brilliant red and white balloons encircling the "Sun Decks" on all of four ships. Certainly this day remains one of my most memorable moments abroad!

White

Modern as well as classic Dutch architecture dominates many a Dutch skyline including this scenic view of The Hague.

Dominating the skyline in The Hague as well as cities throughout The Netherlands, the skyscraping architecture often juxtaposes the modern with the classic Dutch styles. I captured this image while touring through The Hague en route to the Mauritshuis Museum, home to one of my favorite portraits in the world, "Girl with Pearl Earring."

Green

A slimy green skin covers this "babbling brook" en route to Chateau de Chenonceau. 

On my very first overseas adventure to Europe, we spent half of our time touring France including a day tour to the magnificent Chateaux of the Loire Valley. My green portrait is from the Chateau de Chenonceau, about three hours south of Paris. We encountered this babbling brook—not, on our way down the wooded lane to Chenonceau. I just couldn't believe how congealed the surface of the water was, even with the little ducks swimming nearby.

Blue

Torre dell’Orologio in Venice, Italy, not only displays the current time, but the dominant zodiac and moon phase as well.

This electric blue clock face of the Torre dell'Orologio or "clock tower" chimes the times away in the Piazza San Marco in Venice! I couldn't get over the striking contrast [pun intended] of the glittering golden astrological symbols with the emblazoned blue clock face. Not only does this stunning and elaborate clock work keep time, it displays the dominant zodiac sign as well as the current phase of the moon.

I hope you enjoyed your tour through the colors of Europe and my interpretations for Capturing the Colors.

As part of my obligation to fulfill the requirements of the contest, I hereby nominate these travel writers, for purely selfish reasons; I have fallen in love with the spectacular images of Europe in so many of their posts.

• DestinationEurope.net
• EuropeanTravelista.com
• EuroTripTips.com
• MonkeysAndMountains.com
• JDombsTravels.com