Stairway to heaven

Well that's a posh fence, Herb, and definitely not local to your area. I love the colours and the composition.
HFF and have a good weekend.

Thanks Amelia. It struck me too as a rather superior fence -perfect for the HFF group. The muted rose colour is so delicious I could lick it (sic). Glad you like the composition too. Did you give any thought to the quandary here? (see comments below).

HFF and have a good weekend too. Herb

Excellent! HFF!

Thanks a lot my friend.

HFF and have a good weekend too. Herb

HFF Herb

HFF and have a good weekend too Dan. Herb

Le sens de la composition en action !

Yes composition is king here. Thanks for the call Jean-Luc.

HFF and have a good weekend. Herb

HFF Herb, have a nice weekend.

HFF and have a good weekend too. Herb

Very beautiful composition and color!

HFF, Herb!

Thanks Dida.

HFF and have a good weekend too. Herb

Excellent rendu avec cette diagonale ... HFF.

Another to wet your taste-buds Malik. My thanks.

HFF and have a good weekend. Herb

Perfectly composed with stairs as diagonal! I love the colour too.
HFF and a happy weekend Herb

Cheers Adele. . Did you give any thought to the quandary here? (see comment below).

HFF and have a good weekend too. Herb

Herb !!... that's great !!.... here's a wild guess........................
... 'the steps look strange'.. because they are ''painted onto'' the wall and not really there ?
Right or wrong........ do have a ''HFF'' and a fine weekend...
Cheers from David J'.

You might get the prize David, but there is only one problem with your solution -take a look at the PiP I have just added. The lady is definitely behind the fence and stood on the steps - is she not? And, no, I have not done anything to this photo at all, other than crop. Glad you liked it.

HFF, enjoy the Autumnal weekend. Herb

That's great ! Clear lines, nice colors and a fine diagonal ! HFF, Herb ! Wish you a very nice weekend !

My thanks Ulrich. Glad you liked it. -See comment below.

HFF and have a good weekend too. Herb

Hi Herb nice ornate fence painterd on the wall ?????? nicely captured and composed.
HFF have a great weekend.
TOZ

You might get the prize too my friend, but there is only one problem with your solution -take a look at the PiP I have just added. The lady is definitely behind the fence and stood on the steps - is she not? And, no, I have not done anything to this photo at all, other than crop. Glad you liked it.

Enjoy this Autumnal weekend. Herb

Many thanks for your persistence here Toz, in finding an earlier photo that almost resolves the puzzle: ....You sent me an older found photo of the same thing on the internet that more clearer shows the original 'real steps' and 'real fence' -I think. Therefore the water effect maybe is a plastic sheet covering over new concrete? Take a look as big as you can -near the bottom of the first
page.

I would say a mural on this wall in Crete... great find Herb, and HFF.

Good to see you Christa. Can I bring to your attention to my comments to Dave and Toz, above.

HFF, enjoy the weekend. Herb

A great composition and wonderful colours, the steps look like a long waterfall I think it's a reflection HFF Herb I hope your weekend is a good one

Ha ha, the puzzle gets deeper Peter. A reflection - I had not thought of that. See other comments here.

HFF and have a good weekend too. Herb

Well I am stumped Herb! It looks like something fairly fluid on the stairs, but it can't be as it would go everywhere. I have studied the PiP but still cannot solve it....I look forward to the solution :)
A lovely shot though with beautiful colours.
HFF and wish you a good weekend. Rosa.

Hi Rosa. I was there -I took the photo (in fact three) and I am still puzzled too. It was only when I looked at the full edit for posting did I realise something amiss. I have shown the originals to other relatives at its full 6000x4000 and it is still a puzzle. Unfortunately, unless someone has actually been to this house and studied the fence and steps up close we will never know the reality. Well it makes a good talking point. So glad you enjoy it and tickled you.

HFF and have a good weekend too. Herb

My guess is that the staircase is painted on the wall, but the railing is actually applied to the wall and extends beyond it to what would be the normal "post" level. Either way, it's a clever creation and you've done it proud with your images, Herb. HFF and best wishes for the weekend.

Hi George and in that solution, there are real possibilities. We have to admire the person who did all this. Perhaps a local artist? Anyway, very glad that you enjoyed my rendering of it. In fact I have a vertical one that includes a rather attractive upper window too -posted on my Flickr HFF group.

HFF and have a great weekend. Herb

Update: see my latest response to 'Toz' above.

Herb, eine wundervolle Kombination!
I like it !!! HFF!

Thanks so much Grobi.

HFF, have a great weekend. Herb

I thought the same as George. Very clever and elegantly done.

Good to see you again Sarah. Great minds think alike :)

Glad you liked it.

HFF, have a great weekend. Herb

HFF and have a nice weekend.
A beautiful image. Great composition, lines and colours. Also wonderful details!

Thanks Rainer. Glad that you enjoyed this. Did you read my description?

HFF, have a great weekend. Herb

Beautiful stairs and colours, Herb. When I have been in Crete I was in Rethymno. I visited other places , but not Chania. It was in August '90, almost 30 years. have you been to Knossos?

Thanks Daniela. No we have not been in Rethymno nor Knossos in Crete but we were once in Ag Nikolaos. I think you have not read or understood my puzzle re the stairs here - look closely - is everything as it seems? :)

HFF, enjoy your weekend. Herb

Not in Knossos? What a pity.
Yes I have read and I searched, but I only can see that the steps are strange, they seems fishes. But I should see the original, this is not clear enough.

Thanks again. I know that Crete has many beautiful places. Sorry about my puzzle picture not being that clear on your computer. -The steps seem not to be real, and the fence looks too perfect too.

Cheers, Herb

what a beautiful find, HFF

Extraordinary for sure Mario.

HFF, enjoy your weekend. Herb

HFF, Herb! It's a great composition. I like the pattern of the banister and the way how the banister leads diagonally through the picture.
Have a nice weekend!

Thanks Susanne. The banister and steps are, as you say, just perfect - do you not think maybe -a little too perfect :) (see other comments, description and PiP) :) Cheers for the visit and comment.

HFF, enjoy your weekend. Herb

Very elegant and nicely composed Herb,
HFF and a nice weekend.

Thanks Roger.

HFF and enjoy the weekend too. Herb

I think the banister is real, but set only a few inches off the wall. I also think the steps are painted on the wall. The small window doesn't look real either - but the door seems OK.

Whatever is going on this makes a superb image...........I love the composition and the colour of the wall (I'll definitely leave the wall-licking to you though)!

I've checked out the PiP - and it doesn't affect what I think about the steps etc.

My fave fence of the week Herb! It's got the old brain cells working.........but I need a drink now! :-)

Hi Keith -so many comments and big replies to this shot that I am now behind. Firstly, many thanks for enjoying this with me. I appreciate your brain throbbing on this and it certainly has left us puzzling. _ I now think the puzzle has been solved though -due to the persistence of our friend 'Toz' above, who sent me an older found photo of the same thing on the internet that more clearer shows the original 'real steps' and 'real fence' -I think. Therefore the water effect maybe is a plastic sheet covering over new concrete? Take a look as big as you can -near the bottom of the first page.

Belated HFF, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Herb

As clear as mud now..........off to have another drink!

Fine stairway. HFF!

Thank you Cammino.

Belated HFF, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Herb

wonderful image, HFF, Herb!

My thanks for this Berny.

Belated HFF, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Herb

Hi Herb

I really like this puzzle, one of the best I've seen for a long time!

Looking carefully, as you might imagine, I notice that in the PiP the lady is behind the railings, but there is hardly any wall behind her, and her arm is clearly squashed into the space. Hence I conclude (as others have done) that the fence is very close to the wall.

The grey is clearly painted on. Blowing it up very big shows the brush strokes. Maybe it is supposed to be a waterfall, not a stair carpet. The accuracy of the painting does not match the accuracy of painting the stones / steps.

I see no evidence to say the railings are not real, but the absence of any shadow behind any of it suggests it is close to the wall. Those on the door cast a shadow.

I have an open mid about the stair treads. I simply can't tell if they are real stones built n the wall, or paintings. I do notice that the pale pink paint has some gaps where white shows through just under the stair treads. Perhaps a quick (and sloppy) repaint..

As for the images, as ever superb colours and great great composition.

Thank you for exercising our brains!!

Postscript to the thinking..

As originally built this was a genuine stairway to another room(s).
Later, more building was done, including a new wall actually built on the stairs, (and a new entrance to where the steps went) which of course would have had to me more or less above the wall beneath, so as not to put the masonry of the steps into tension. Then it was painted.
Recently the wall below the stairs was re-painted, and to cover up the join between old and new, a waterfall was painted running down the old steps.
Finally, Herb comes and takes a photo, and most of ipernity don't think about it for more than a few nano seconds!

Best Wishes, HFF, and a good weekend
Peter

Well Peter -this has certainly given you much food for thought, as me too. Very happy that you enjoyed my two renditions of this here. Your conclusions here mirror my own and one or two others too.
I now think the puzzle has been solved though -due to the persistence of our friend 'Toz' above, who sent me an older found photo of the same thing on the internet that more clearer shows the original 'real steps' and 'real fence' -I think. Therefore the water effect is maybe a plastic sheet covering over new concrete? Take a look as big as you can -near the bottom of the first page. - It still looks like a painting though...but.........

Belated HFF, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Herb

Interesting to see the steps get a blue shadow painted on the back wall to make the steps stand out making the strange look. I do love the colours and the fence. HFF from down under.

Hi Steve, good to see you here. admiring this very puzzling scene. I think we are all agreed that it ended up a nice capture here with these harmonic colours and lines.
As for the puzzle of 'real' or 'painted', I think this has now been solved by our mutual friend Toz (above), who sent me an older found photo of the same thing on the internet that more clearer shows the original 'real steps' and 'real fence' -I think. Therefore the water effect is maybe a plastic sheet covering over new concrete? Take a look as big as you can -near the bottom of the first page. - It still looks like a painting though...but.........

Belated HFF, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Herb

HFF :-)

Cheers Proxar - I see you have also seen Toz's original wall too.

Belated HFF, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Herb

I have no idea but it certainly makes an attractive image and HFF Herb. Have a god weekend

Just glad that you enjoyed it Carol. See my return comments to Steve, just above.

Belated HFF, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Herb

So elegant. I love the colors.

It really makes me wonder about those stairs...

HFF to you, Herb! :)

Thanks Karen. Good that you enjoyed these stairs. See my replies to Toz above for possible solution.

Belated HFF, enjoy the weekend. Herb

I also thought it might be painted but not after viewing the PiP. I'm still not quite sure what is causing the effect but this is a fun puzzle, Herb. :)

An absolute beauty, Herb.
Reminds me a bit of some of your harbour wall steps photos!

Good to see you my friend. I hope the weather is still nice for you over in Spain. yes, these do look like a few others of mine and I recognise my Scarborough steps here too:


Belated HFF, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Herb

HFF and a good weekend Herb

Thanks a lot Frank.

Belated HFF, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Herb

Fantastic diagonal compo! HFF, Herb!

Glad you liked it my friend.

Belated HFF, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Herb

Delicious picture Herb !
Enjoy a great weekend my friend.

I thought so too Jose.

Belated HFF, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Herb

Hi Herb,

It was made me wonder, and I thought about a while!! Now I see your return comments and the old picture. So the puzzle has been solved! I enjoyed it.
I love the colours and the composition also!
HFF and have a great weekend!

Best wishes
Füsun

Hi Füsun, great that you have followed the tale here. Yes, the final external old image seems to set the record straight. So glad that you enjoyed the on-going discussions and my images here.

Belated HFF, have a great weekend. Herb

Belle matière

My thanks for this visit and comment Biscotte. ~ Herb

Magnificent