Juneau, Alaska

The Little Capital of Greater Alaska


Bubble Hunt
Humpback whales carry out attack a shoal in group
Arm of Sea
The Alaskan Gastineau Canal in which the state capital was housed.
Red Dog Saloon
Customers mingle at the Red Dog Saloon, Juneau's historic and iconic bar-restaurant.
Meeting point
Seaplane slides to Juneau dock, after mooring in Gastineau canal.
tight ride
Passersby pass by on a shopping street lined with Juneau jewelry stores.
Mount Roberts Tramway
Gondola lift climbs the steep slope of Mount Roberts, already high above the Gastineau Canal.
Mendenhall Lake & Glacier
View of the Mendenhall Glacier from this side of the homonymous lake to which it originates.
Orthodox legacy
Orthodox chapel proves Alaska's Russian past, also in Juneau.
Landing more handy
Sea lions rest on a buoy lighthouse at the exit of the Gastineau Canal.
In the Taste of Time
Long glacier flows from the gigantic Juneau ice field that stretches into British Columbia.
Juneau by Ares
Two paragliders hover on the projection of the slope of Mount Roberts.
Thunder Mountains
Snowy top of the Thunder Mountains. Across its summits, the Juneau Ice Field is hidden.
Public Submersion
Baleia sinks before a boat full of enthusiasts.
flight over deck
Seaplane flies alongside a huge cruise ship moored in Juneau's main dock.
From June to August, Juneau disappears behind cruise ships that dock at its dockside. Even so, it is in this small capital that the fate of the 49th American state is decided.

There's always room for another boat in Southeast Alaska.

Isolated between the Pacific Ocean and the vastness of British Columbia, the region is fragmented by countless channels and fjords.

From them rise the Coast Mountains, a coastal range next to Tongass and one of the largest forests in the United States.

Alluvial Valley, Juneau the Little Capital of Greater Alaska

The Alaskan Gastineau Canal in which the state capital was housed.

This rude nature makes the construction of roads unfeasible. With the exception of Skagway, Hyder and Haines, the local villages still lack a road connection to the outside.

The route of choice is, therefore, the Alaska Marine Highway, a kind of maritime highway that starts in the distant Aleutian port of Unalasca/Dutch Harbour.

And that goes through the interior passage of the «frying pan» to Bellingham or Prince Rupert, north of Vancouver.

We become your frequent flyers.

On one of several marine voyages, we boarded the “M/V Malaspina” in Skagway, bound for the Alaskan capital.

Alaska Marine Highway Down, Toward Capital Juneau

During the winter, practically no tourists arrive. Juneau lives a genuine life. State lawmakers entertain themselves here with their lobbies and political confrontations.

They meet daily to work at the Capitol and City Hall. Then, due to lack of space and supply, they socialize together in the few streets, restaurants and bars of the city.

Tight Ride, Juneau the Little Capital of Greater Alaska

Passersby pass by on a shopping street lined with Juneau jewelry stores.

From 2006 to 2009, the protagonist of this circle was the Republican governor Sarah Palin. Born in Idaho, she moved with her family to Alaska at a young age.

It didn't take him long to become attached to the state and to Juneau, where he has a poorly protected roadside mansion that he almost never inhabits, to the detriment of the original, in Wasilla.

But the Republican was not as fond of it as expected.

Twenty-two years after placing third in the Miss Alaska pageant, just days after taking office, Palin angered the people of Juneau by telling her commissioners that they didn't have to move to the capital.

Orthodox Chapel, Juneau the Little Capital of Greater Alaska

Orthodox chapel proves Alaska's Russian past, also in Juneau.

The truth is that few politicians like the prospect of being besieged in the miniature capital, condemned by a dismal weather and hours on end in front of the television. Even so, the governor's sincerity was excessive.

In August 2008, Sarah Palin left the state capital to strengthen John McCain's candidacy for the White House.

The result was not what the Republicans expected and the objective of the presidential election was defeated.

Lower 48 Americans' Surprise at the Capital of Greater Alaska

Summer has always brought changes to Juneau. "This is it??" people just disembarked from summer cruises ask over and over again.

Juneau has the ability to leave many of the Lower 48's compatriots in disbelief. Its small size seems like a joke to them.

Seaplane Mooring, Juneau the Little Capital of Greater Alaska

Seaplane slides into Juneau dock after mooring in Gastineau Canal

Especially when the shipping companies are present with several of their huge cruise ships, part of the city is “stuck” between the monstrous ships and the shops at the base of Mount Juneau.

The squeeze generates the same consumerist stimulus that governs Skagway, but suffocates the city.

Visitors with wide views and full wallets monopolize the few possible escapes.

From the ends of S Franklin Street, a cable car ascends to the summit of Mount Roberts.

Mount Roberts Tramway, Juneau the Little Capital of Greater Alaska

Gondola lift climbs the steep slope of Mount Roberts, already high above the Gastineau Canal.

From the same top, we unveil, in panoramic format, the townhouse in the city and the contiguous liners.

The long channel of Gastineau, furrows the dense forest.

We see it transformed into a busy airstrip, such is the number of seaplanes taking off to fly over other scenarios in the surroundings:

snowy mountains, lakes, the Mendenhall Glacier and the vast ice field that slips.

Glacier, Juneau the Little Capital of Greater Alaska

Long glacier flows from the gigantic Juneau ice field that stretches into British Columbia.

The latter are the region's great natural attractions, plagued by waves of outsiders throughout the summer.

Whenever the weather permits, helicopters after helicopters rise from the capital's airport to the icy domain of the Juneau Ice Field. where huge Dog Mushing camps await them.

On these expensive tours, cruise passengers combine divine scenic flights with quick baptisms on dog sleds.

Full Dog Mushing

The Breathtaking Visits of Orcas and Bossa Whales

Juneau attracts other visitors. As Alaska's warm months approach, huge colonies of humpback whales and other species arrive from tropical waters like those around the Hawaiian archipelago.

In about 30 days, they travel almost 5000 kms until they reach the frigid, krill-filled sea around Juneau.

With another marine menu in mind, hundreds of orcas follow.

Whales, Juneau the Little Capital of Greater Alaska

Baleia sinks before a boat full of enthusiasts.

As might be expected, its sighting has become one of the most popular activities in the region.

Contrary to what happens in other places as or more remote, it is simple and almost guaranteed.

We boarded at a busy marina in the immediate vicinity of Lake Auke.

Sea Lions, Juneau the Little Capital of Greater Alaska

Sea lions rest on a buoy lighthouse at the exit of the Gastineau Canal.

We set sail for the open waters of Auke Bay. We're on our toes from repeated night trips but we barely have time to grieve.

With just a few minutes of navigation, we find ourselves side by side with an opportunistic herd of orcas. Shortly thereafter, we detected the tails of another of these sinking mammals.

Soon, we are gifted with the main show. A group of humpback whales is positioned in an almost circle.

In a flash, they produce huge bubbles around them that disorient and force a large number of fish from the target school to emerge.

Whale Hunting with Bubbles, Juneau the Little Capital of Great Alaska

Humpback whales carry out attack a shoal in group

Once the fish are close to the surface, it is the whales themselves that emerge with their huge mouths gaping open, eager to swallow as many fish as possible, harassed by hungry and fearless seagulls.

Passengers, a little in disbelief, rejoice in the phenomenon, in most cases, only witnessed by them in television documentaries.

Or never seen.

The American-Alaskan Way of the Short Juneau Summer

With the customers satisfied and the scheduled time running out, the crew returns the boat to the dock. From there, they take you to an international get-together picnic lunch.

Fresh salmon and root beer blend well in the cool of the hillside forest where we found ourselves.

Soon, a chauvinist American couple sits at our table. “Portuguese?

We don't have many there in Texas. And they have already decided in which part of the United States are they going to stay alive?” the plump, ruddy husband asks us as if nothing else in the rest of the world could ever matter.

We abbreviated the meal. We return to Juneau's waterfront, which is always flooded with passersby. It is unusually hot for these latitudes and we only dress up after sunset.

On that day, at that hour, we surrender to curiosity.

Killed by an Alaskan Amber beer that we hadn't drunk since Skagway, we entered the Red Dog Saloon, a bar, now considered by many to be in bad taste, famous for having opened in the days of the Alaskan gold rush.

Red Dog Saloon, Juneau the Little Capital of Great Alaska

Customers mingle at the Red Dog Saloon, Juneau's historic and iconic bar-restaurant.

The establishment maintains the old formula of live music.

DJ entertainers update it who, still at the piano but equipped with much more technology and a huge tip bottle labeled Viagra, take spectators to ecstasy.

“Anyone here from New Orleans?” the bald white musician asks the crowd indulging in home-cooked meals. "I'm going to take off my cap." You can see why I won the Louis Armstrong lookalike contest.

He grabs a kind of language from his carnival mother-in-law, husks his voice as hard as he can and starts a sort of euphoric Blues recital.

Key West, USA

The Tropical Wild West of the USA

We've come to the end of the Overseas Highway and the ultimate stronghold of propagandism Florida Keys. The continental United States here they surrender to a dazzling turquoise emerald marine vastness. And to a southern reverie fueled by a kind of Caribbean spell.
Ketchikan, Alaska

Here begins Alaska

The reality goes unnoticed in most of the world, but there are two Alaskas. In urban terms, the state is inaugurated in the south of its hidden frying pan handle, a strip of land separated from the contiguous USA along the west coast of Canada. Ketchikan, is the southernmost of Alaskan cities, its Rain Capital and the Salmon Capital of the World.
Anchorage to Homer, USA

Journey to the End of the Alaskan Road

If Anchorage became the great city of the 49th US state, Homer, 350km away, is its most famous dead end. Veterans of these parts consider this strange tongue of land sacred ground. They also venerate the fact that, from there, they cannot continue anywhere.
Maldives

Cruise the Maldives, among Islands and Atolls

Brought from Fiji to sail in the Maldives, Princess Yasawa has adapted well to new seas. As a rule, a day or two of itinerary is enough for the genuineness and delight of life on board to surface.
Mount Denali, Alaska

The Sacred Ceiling of North America

The Athabascan Indians called him Denali, or the Great, and they revered his haughtiness. This stunning mountain has aroused the greed of climbers and a long succession of record-breaking climbs.
glaciers

icy blue planet

They form at high latitudes and/or altitudes. In Alaska or New Zealand, Argentina or Chile, rivers of ice are always stunning visions of an Earth as frigid as it is inhospitable.
sitka, Alaska

Sitka: Journey through a once Russian Alaska

In 1867, Tsar Alexander II had to sell Russian Alaska to the United States. In the small town of Sitka, we find the Russian legacy but also the Tlingit natives who fought them.
Talkeetna, Alaska

Talkeetna's Alaska-Style Life

Once a mere mining outpost, Talkeetna rejuvenated in 1950 to serve Mt. McKinley climbers. The town is by far the most alternative and most captivating town between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
Prince William Sound, Alaska

Journey through a Glacial Alaska

Nestled against the Chugach Mountains, Prince William Sound is home to some of Alaska's stunning scenery. Neither powerful earthquakes nor a devastating oil spill affected its natural splendor.
PN Katmai, Alaska

In the Footsteps of the Grizzly Man

Timothy Treadwell spent summers on end with the bears of Katmai. Traveling through Alaska, we followed some of its trails, but unlike the species' crazy protector, we never went too far.
Valdez, Alaska

On the Black Gold Route

In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker caused a massive environmental disaster. The vessel stopped plying the seas, but the victim city that gave it its name continues on the path of crude oil from the Arctic Ocean.
Skagway, Alaska

A Klondike's Gold Fever Variant

The last great American gold rush is long over. These days, hundreds of cruise ships each summer pour thousands of well-heeled visitors into the shop-lined streets of Skagway.
Rhinoceros, PN Kaziranga, Assam, India
Safari
PN Kaziranga, India

The Indian Monoceros Stronghold

Situated in the state of Assam, south of the great Brahmaputra river, PN Kaziranga occupies a vast area of ​​alluvial swamp. Two-thirds of the rhinocerus unicornis around the world, there are around 100 tigers, 1200 elephants and many other animals. Pressured by human proximity and the inevitable poaching, this precious park has not been able to protect itself from the hyperbolic floods of the monsoons and from some controversies.
Hikers on the Ice Lake Trail, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 7th - Braga - Ice Lake, Nepal

Annapurna Circuit – The Painful Acclimatization of the Ice Lake

On the way up to the Ghyaru village, we had a first and unexpected show of how ecstatic the Annapurna Circuit can be tasted. Nine kilometers later, in Braga, due to the need to acclimatize, we climbed from 3.470m from Braga to 4.600m from Lake Kicho Tal. We only felt some expected tiredness and the increase in the wonder of the Annapurna Mountains.
Music Theater and Exhibition Hall, Tbilisi, Georgia
Architecture & Design
Tbilisi, Georgia

Georgia still Perfumed by the Rose Revolution

In 2003, a popular political uprising made the sphere of power in Georgia tilt from East to West. Since then, the capital Tbilisi has not renounced its centuries of Soviet history, nor the revolutionary assumption of integrating into Europe. When we visit, we are dazzled by the fascinating mix of their past lives.
The small lighthouse at Kallur, highlighted in the capricious northern relief of the island of Kalsoy.
Adventure
Kalsoy, Faroe Islands

A Lighthouse at the End of the Faroese World

Kalsoy is one of the most isolated islands in the Faroe archipelago. Also known as “the flute” due to its long shape and the many tunnels that serve it, a mere 75 inhabitants inhabit it. Much less than the outsiders who visit it every year, attracted by the boreal wonder of its Kallur lighthouse.
Camel Racing, Desert Festival, Sam Sam Dunes, Rajasthan, India
Ceremonies and Festivities
Jaisalmer, India

There's a Feast in the Thar Desert

As soon as the short winter breaks, Jaisalmer indulges in parades, camel races, and turban and mustache competitions. Its walls, alleys and surrounding dunes take on more color than ever. During the three days of the event, natives and outsiders watch, dazzled, as the vast and inhospitable Thar finally shines through.
Hiroshima, city surrendered to peace, Japan
Cities
Hiroshima, Japan

Hiroshima: a City Yielded to Peace

On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima succumbed to the explosion of the first atomic bomb used in war. 70 years later, the city fights for the memory of the tragedy and for nuclear weapons to be eradicated by 2020.
Meal
Margilan, Uzbekistan

An Uzbekistan's Breadwinner

In one of the many bakeries in Margilan, worn out by the intense heat of the tandyr oven, the baker Maruf'Jon works half-baked like the distinctive traditional breads sold throughout Uzbekistan
Kigurumi Satoko, Hachiman Temple, Ogimashi, Japan
Culture
Ogimashi, Japan

An Historical-Virtual Japan

"Higurashi no Naku Koro never” was a highly successful Japanese animation and computer game series. In Ogimashi, Shirakawa-Go village, we live with a group of kigurumi of their characters.
Swimming, Western Australia, Aussie Style, Sun rising in the eyes
Sport
Busselton, Australia

2000 meters in Aussie Style

In 1853, Busselton was equipped with one of the longest pontoons in the world. World. When the structure collapsed, the residents decided to turn the problem around. Since 1996 they have been doing it every year. Swimming.
New South Wales Australia, Beach walk
Traveling
Batemans Bay to Jervis Bay, Australia

New South Wales, from Bay to Bay

With Sydney behind us, we indulged in the Australian “South Coast”. Along 150km, in the company of pelicans, kangaroos and other peculiar creatures aussie, we let ourselves get lost on a coastline cut between stunning beaches and endless eucalyptus groves.
Bride gets in car, traditional wedding, Meiji temple, Tokyo, Japan
Ethnic
Tokyo, Japan

A Matchmaking Sanctuary

Tokyo's Meiji Temple was erected to honor the deified spirits of one of the most influential couples in Japanese history. Over time, it specialized in celebrating traditional weddings.
Rainbow in the Grand Canyon, an example of prodigious photographic light
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 1)

And Light was made on Earth. Know how to use it.

The theme of light in photography is inexhaustible. In this article, we give you some basic notions about your behavior, to start with, just and only in terms of geolocation, the time of day and the time of year.
Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul, Travel Korea, Color Maneuvers
History
Alone, South Korea

A Glimpse of Medieval Korea

Gyeongbokgung Palace stands guarded by guardians in silken robes. Together they form a symbol of South Korean identity. Without waiting for it, we ended up finding ourselves in the imperial era of these Asian places.
Windward Side, Saba, Dutch Caribbean, Netherlands
Islands
Saba, The Netherlands

The Mysterious Dutch Queen of Saba

With a mere 13km2, Saba goes unnoticed even by the most traveled. Little by little, above and below its countless slopes, we unveil this luxuriant Little Antille, tropical border, mountainous and volcanic roof of the shallowest european nation.
ala juumajarvi lake, oulanka national park, finland
Winter White
Kuusamo ao PN Oulanka, Finland

Under the Arctic's Icy Spell

We are at 66º North and at the gates of Lapland. In these parts, the white landscape belongs to everyone and to no one like the snow-covered trees, the atrocious cold and the endless night.
José Saramago in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain, Glorieta de Saramago
Literature
Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain (España)

José Saramago's Basalt Raft

In 1993, frustrated by the Portuguese government's disregard for his work “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ”, Saramago moved with his wife Pilar del Río to Lanzarote. Back on this somewhat extraterrestrial Canary Island, we visited his home. And the refuge from the portuguese censorship that haunted the writer.
Cahuita, Costa Rica, Caribbean, beach
Nature
Cahuita, Costa Rica

An Adult Return to Cahuita

During a backpacking tour of Costa Rica in 2003, the Caribbean warmth of Cahuita delights us. In 2021, after 18 years, we return. In addition to an expected, but contained modernization and hispanization of the town, little else had changed.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Aurora lights up the Pisang Valley, Nepal.
Natural Parks
Annapurna Circuit: 3rd- Upper Banana, Nepal

An Unexpected Snowy Aurora

At the first glimmers of light, the sight of the white mantle that had covered the village during the night dazzles us. With one of the toughest walks on the Annapurna Circuit ahead of us, we postponed the match as much as possible. Annoyed, we left Upper Pisang towards Escort when the last snow faded.
Serengeti, Great Savannah Migration, Tanzania, wildebeest on river
UNESCO World Heritage
Serengeti NP, Tanzania

The Great Migration of the Endless Savanna

In these prairies that the Masai people say syringet (run forever), millions of wildebeests and other herbivores chase the rains. For predators, their arrival and that of the monsoon are the same salvation.
View from the top of Mount Vaea and the tomb, Vailima village, Robert Louis Stevenson, Upolu, Samoa
Characters
Upolu, Samoa

Stevenson's Treasure Island

At age 30, the Scottish writer began looking for a place to save him from his cursed body. In Upolu and the Samoans, he found a welcoming refuge to which he gave his heart and soul.
Cargo Cabo Santa Maria, Boa Vista Island, Cape Verde, Sal, Evoking the Sahara
Beaches
Boa Vista Island, Cape Verde

Boa Vista Island: Atlantic waves, Dunas do Sara

Boa Vista is not only the Cape Verdean island closest to the African coast and its vast desert. After a few hours of discovery, it convinces us that it is a piece of the Sahara adrift in the North Atlantic.
Composition on Nine Arches Bridge, Ella, Sri Lanka
Religion
Yala NPElla-Kandy, Sri Lanka

Journey Through Sri Lanka's Tea Core

We leave the seafront of PN Yala towards Ella. On the way to Nanu Oya, we wind on rails through the jungle, among plantations in the famous Ceylon. Three hours later, again by car, we enter Kandy, the Buddhist capital that the Portuguese never managed to dominate.
The Toy Train story
On Rails
Siliguri a Darjeeling, India

The Himalayan Toy Train Still Running

Neither the steep slope of some stretches nor the modernity stop it. From Siliguri, in the tropical foothills of the great Asian mountain range, the Darjeeling, with its peaks in sight, the most famous of the Indian Toy Trains has ensured for 117 years, day after day, an arduous dream journey. Traveling through the area, we climb aboard and let ourselves be enchanted.
Police intervention, ultra-Orthodox Jews, Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel
Society
Jaffa, Israel

Unorthodox protests

A building in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, threatened to desecrate what ultra-Orthodox Jews thought were remnants of their ancestors. And even the revelation that they were pagan tombs did not deter them from the contestation.
Casario, uptown, Fianarantsoa, ​​Madagascar
Daily life
Fianarantsoa, Madagascar

The Malagasy City of Good Education

Fianarantsoa was founded in 1831 by Ranavalona Iª, a queen of the then predominant Merina ethnic group. Ranavalona Iª was seen by European contemporaries as isolationist, tyrant and cruel. The monarch's reputation aside, when we enter it, its old southern capital remains as the academic, intellectual and religious center of Madagascar.
Ross Bridge, Tasmania, Australia
Wildlife
Discovering tassie, Part 3, Tasmania, Australia

Tasmania from Top to Bottom

The favorite victim of Australian anecdotes has long been the Tasmania never lost the pride in the way aussie ruder to be. Tassie remains shrouded in mystery and mysticism in a kind of hindquarters of the antipodes. In this article, we narrate the peculiar route from Hobart, the capital located in the unlikely south of the island to the north coast, the turn to the Australian continent.
Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii Wrinkles
Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

Hawaii's Dazzling Wrinkles

Kauai is the greenest and rainiest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is also the oldest. As we explore its Napalo Coast by land, sea and air, we are amazed to see how the passage of millennia has only favored it.