A-Z Blogging Challenge 2024: X is for eXteriors

Looking back through my travel photos I see that in many places we visited there was, on our agendas, an Abbey, Cathedral, Chapel, Church, Convent, Monastery, Mosque, Pagoda, Synagogue, Temple or other place of worship. As we travel along the road I often take snaps of God's houses we pass by. These buildings range from ordinary to ostentatious. 

For the Blogging from A to Z April 2024 Blogging Challenge my theme is Gods' Houses. During April I invite you to join me for an online tour of Gods' Houses from my digital albums. 

As we look at these Exteriors we see that Gods' Houses come in all shapes and sizes and from modest to magnificent. Images of mosques will be missing from this post as I have already exhausted my supply of those images in my M is for Mosques and Minarets post. 

Night time at St Stephen's Basilica - in Budapest, Hungary

Old Kilchoman Parish Church - Abandoned in the Isle of Islay, Scotland

Christian Church, Da Nang, Vietnam

LDS in Toronto, NSW, Australia

Cathedral of Lucca -  Lucca, Italy

Hólskirkja Church - Bolungarvik, Iceland

Modern Church near Cijin Beach - Kaohshuing, Taiwan

Curtea Veche - Bucharest, Romania

Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens - Amiens, France

Phuoc Kien Assembly Hall - Hoi An, Vietnam

Seventh Day Adventist Church - Samana, Dominican Republic

Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center - Miami, Florida, USA

Basilica of Notre Dame of Fourvière - Lyons, France

St Patricks Church - Waroona, Western Australia

Jade Buddha Temple - Shanghai, China

Berlin Cathedral - Berlin, Germany

Moravian Church - Gomersal, England

Basilica of the Holy Trinity - Fatima, Portugal

Church of the Conception - Agaete, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Black People - Salvador de Bahia, Brazil

Somewhere in Ecuador

Wat Chalong - Phuket, Thailand

Betania Baptist Church - Honningsvag, Norway

Open Day at LDS Temple - Provo, Utah, USA

Metropolitan Cathedral - Liverpool, England

 Local church in charming village - San Pantaleo, Sardinia, Italy

Hallgrímskirkja - Reykavik, Iceland

The Spanish Synagogue - Prague, Czechia

Here comes the Bride

Our poor guide had trouble managing our group yesterday on our Mount Fuji tour when we came across a traditional Japanese wedding at a shrine we were visiting. We all ditched the guide to snap the wedding party.

Blown away by Borobudur

I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't heard of the World Heritage site of Borobudur until I saw it on the list of excursions for this cruise. As I take every opportunity to visit World Heritage sites I put our names down for today's trip.

We had a hairy ride to the site as we were provided with a police escort to assist us to get through the traffic. I thought I was lucky being seated towards the front of the coach with a good view but my nerves took a beating as we weaved our way through the traffic following the red police car. We were often on the wrong side of the road.

On arrival I was blown away by the magnificence and majesty of the site. After a short orientation we were let loose to explore. Robert climbed right to the top while, scared off by the steep stairs, I stuck to the lower levels. The detail of the many carvings was amazing and in good condition. We went a bit crazy taking photos some of which follow.

This is definitely a site worth visiting.

First glimpse

It was a long way up

And a long way down

Our last view 

Following our visit we were treated to a delicious lunch and a performance by a group of local dancers and musicians. Our return journey was just as hairy as our journey to the temple. We were pleased to get off the coach but were so pleased we took the trip.