diff --git a/src/main/node/infrastructure/service/instance.js b/src/main/node/infrastructure/service/instance.js
index a55a324a94f41989aaf566ca3644e13253d4e47e..57df8ce0fc61b648acaf06d41dc652b5ecba3f93 100644
--- a/src/main/node/infrastructure/service/instance.js
+++ b/src/main/node/infrastructure/service/instance.js
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ class Instance {
 
   buildRequestOptions(req) {
     let pathname = `${this.basePath}${req.path}`.replace('//', '/');
+    let responseType = this.determineResponseType(req);
     let answer = {
       url: url.format({ protocol: this.protocol, hostname: this.host, port: this.port, pathname: pathname, query: req.query }),
       method: req.method.toLowerCase(),
@@ -65,7 +66,12 @@ class Instance {
           acc[header[0]] = header[1];
         }
         return acc;
-      }, {})
+      }, {}),
+      // https://gitlab.com/codesketch/ipa/issues/5
+      // as a defuault set responseType as arraybuffer so the we get the result as is,
+      // see https://github.com/axios/axios/blob/ccc78899bb6f595e3c44ec7ad6af610455859d78/lib/adapters/http.js#L197
+      // that means the response can be trated as utf8 string only if needed meaning that the response is json, xml, etc. 
+      responseType: responseType
     };
     if (['post', 'put', 'patch'].includes(req.method.toLowerCase())) {
       answer.data = req.body;
@@ -73,6 +79,17 @@ class Instance {
     logger.debug('request options', JSON.stringify(answer));
     return answer;
   }
+
+  determineResponseType(req) {
+    let answer = 'arraybuffer';
+    if (req.headers.accept) {
+      const match = /.+\/(.+)/gi.exec(req.headers.accept);
+      if (['javascript', 'json', 'plain', 'csv', 'xml', 'css', 'html',].some(st => match[1] == st)) {
+        answer = match[1];
+      }
+    }
+    return answer;
+  }
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/main/node/infrastructure/service/service.js b/src/main/node/infrastructure/service/service.js
index 581941d89d12b9b60363b88172a0861638865565..d198871537e30fa9f494ae16c6553542358f1a47 100644
--- a/src/main/node/infrastructure/service/service.js
+++ b/src/main/node/infrastructure/service/service.js
@@ -111,9 +111,28 @@ class Service {
    * @private
    */
   propagateResponse(clientResponse, serverResponse) {
-    clientResponse.status(serverResponse.status);
-    Object.entries(serverResponse.headers || {}).forEach(entry => clientResponse.set(entry[0], entry[1]));
-    clientResponse.send(serverResponse.data);
+    try {
+      // https://gitlab.com/codesketch/ipa/issues/5
+      // identity the response type based on the response content-type and decide what to do with the response.
+      let responseData = this.extractResponseData(serverResponse);
+      clientResponse.status(serverResponse.status);
+      Object.entries(serverResponse.headers || {}).forEach(entry => clientResponse.set(entry[0], entry[1]));
+      clientResponse.send(responseData);
+    } catch (e) {
+      logger.error('unable to handle response', e);
+      clientResponse.status(500).json({ message: 'Internal Server Error' });
+    }
+  }
+
+  extractResponseData(res) {
+    let answer = res.data;
+    if (res.headers['content-type']) {
+      const match = /.+\/(.+)/gi.exec(res.headers['content-type']);
+      if (['javascript', 'json', 'plain', 'csv', 'xml', 'css', 'html',].some(st => match[1] == st)) {
+        answer = answer.toString('utf-8');
+      }
+    }
+    return answer;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/main/resources/routes.yml b/src/main/resources/routes.yml
index d4a62cac5612446f3a09ffc8a22efc4050b66697..7948d229c7e927b081db6d232a00d9b04828c997 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/routes.yml
+++ b/src/main/resources/routes.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,42 @@ info:
 servers:
   - url: http://localhost:3030
 paths:
+  /images/places/{placeId}:
+    get:
+      summary: Retrieve the image for a place
+      operationId: getPlaceImage
+      backend:
+        $ref: "#/backends/images"
+      authentication:
+        $ref: "#/authentications/api-key"
+      policies:
+        - $ref: "#/policies/spike-arrest"
+        - $ref: "#/policies/quota" 
+      tags:
+        - images
+      security:
+        - ApiKeyAuth: []
+      parameters:
+        - name: placeId
+          in: path
+          required: true
+          description: The identifier for the place to retrieve
+          schema:
+            type: string
+      responses:
+        '200':
+          description: Place image
+          content:
+            image/png:
+              schema:
+                $ref: "#/components/schemas/Image"
+        default:
+          description: unexpected error
+          content:
+            application/json:
+              schema:
+                $ref: "#/components/schemas/Error"
+  
   /uuid:
     get:
       summary: Get a UUID from httpbin
@@ -51,7 +87,7 @@ paths:
       cache:
         - $ref: "#/cache"
       tags:
-        - pets
+        - anything
       security:
         - ApiKeyAuth: []
       parameters:
@@ -88,6 +124,10 @@ components:
       name: Authorization
   
   schemas:
+    Image:
+      type: string
+      format: binary
+
     UUID:
       required:
         - uuid
@@ -116,6 +156,9 @@ backends:
     protocol: http
     service: places
     port: 3030
+  images:
+    type: webDiscoveryService
+    target: https://api.prod.daphne-trails.com/api/
 
 authentications:
   api-key: