If you have never travelled down the coast of Turkey in a Gulet - you are missing the experience of a life time. For most of us who can't afford to go boating with the rich - this is a taste of the high life at a price we can afford
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Gulet Memories
If you have never travelled down the coast of Turkey in a Gulet - you are missing the experience of a life time. For most of us who can't afford to go boating with the rich - this is a taste of the high life at a price we can afford
Toronto Canada March 2008
This is the picture of a suburban street in Toronto Canada in March 2008My correspondent from there was trying to suggest to me in the nicest possible tone that Global Warming had not yet reached his street and that Spring had not yet sprung from the grip of winter.
Meanwhile, in Australia on the SAME day we were experiencing 31+ degree Celsius heat in the National Capital and we are heading into Autumn!
Only the Americans have an expression that really suits this scenario: Go figure!
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Vorosmarty Ter
These few shots of the Vorosmarty Ter in the heart of Budapest just up the road from what used to be the "Shopping Street" during the former Communist era.
Friday, November 30, 2007
This is the entrance to one of the more famous restaurants in Budapest - it is called the Százéves which literally means that it is called the Hundred Years Restaurant. At one point it was in fact one hundred years old and now has actually surpassed the date of its foundation and so has a name that is no longer as reflective of its history as it once was.None the less the last time I visited in 2005 it was still a great place to have a meal - although the prices had shot through the roof and it had of course become far more touristy than it used to be back in the 1970s.
Moszkva Tér
This is Moszkva Tér one of the central hubs of communication in Budapest Hungary. It is located on the Buda side of the Danube and contains the main terminal for trains heading to the east of Hungary and internationally. It also has both bus and subway lines connecting to it and a great little shopping area both in the underground area and of course around the entire square.It has changed considerably over the years but during former times it is the location of most of the troop trains that came in from Russia and parts east - it was also the place from whence people were taken to the concentration camps in Poland and the Ukraine during the Second World War
Friday, July 06, 2007
A test for the all knowing traveller
Where and when was this photo taken?It's all very well to know the where, but the WHEN is of more crucial importance!
The Parthenon
This is what it looked like in 1996. It's now 2007 and I guess it's not all that different from what it looked like when it was commenced in 447 BC.What I learned on my visit there was that if you want something you have built last then turn to a Greek builder - those guys knew how to build things to last!
Kostas
In the heart of the Plaka in Athens there used to be a fast food joint called "Kostas". A picture of this appears at the left. It used to serve the best gyros and souvlakia in town.I suspect that since this picture was taken the Plaka has changed and Kosta - who was no spring chicken then is probably no longer with us and it is highly unlikely that this hole in the wall will be there either.
Still, someone has to give praise to what I think of as a real historical monument.
Thanks to Kostas gyros and souvlakia I managed to eat well and cheaply. I wonder what has become of him and his hole in the wall store?
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Alice Springs Telegraph Station
Telegraph operators typing up a received message and sending a reply!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Travel within Australia
I have often thought about the size of this country, but have never truly appreciated it before I travelled to the "Centre" and then on to Darwin returning to Canberra via Brisbane.
What struck me first was the fact that we actually experienced two films en route and also that the size of the aircraft used was similar to those used internationally for short to medium hops!
A Boeing 737 is common enough on a domestic route but a Boeing 767? That's a major increase in size and distance.
On previous occasions when I have travelled outside of Austalia I was often dimly aware that for a say an eight hour flight to Singapore the actual journey involved a lot of hours in the air over Australia and indeed the concept that we were actually in the last leg of the flight when we crossed the Australian mainland and entered the Timor Sea was something that only dimly registered.
This time flying from Darwin to Canberra with a required stop over in Brisbane simply set the scene in a way that could no longer be denied - this place is BIG!
Anyway - enough of musing about travel in planes!
Central and northern Australia is something that simply has to be seen to be believed. I have one correspondent who has remarked that the pictures I have posted elsewhere are for him reminiscent of Arizona and Utah in the USA.
I am afraid that having been to both those areas in my past travels I could not disagree more!
I am absolutely in agreement about some things, Arizona surely has some majestic canyons and plenty of red ochre colours. Utah has it's salt flats. However it is here that the comparisons end - at least in my view. Utah's salt flats are surrounded by mountains that are often covered in snow and their mountain streams rage with torrents of water in the spring. The "mountains" of Northern Australia are millions of years older and are way too small to be covered in snow and ice during the winter. In addition they are so incredibly different in look and feel. The vegetation alone, such as it is, would be staggering for someone who had only experienced vegetation in the Northern Hemisphere.
These days of course we are not only blasé about such things - having seen them in photos or in paintings. However I just have this fantasy sometimes about the early white explorers of the continent as they set out and found nothing that was really similar to anything they had heard of before or seen for themselves in their wanderings around the other half of the world.
I suspect that even today - one of the reasons that people come to the Northern Territory is to see a landscape that completely unlike anything else that they have seen - and all from the comfort of their five star hotel.
Bargain!
What struck me first was the fact that we actually experienced two films en route and also that the size of the aircraft used was similar to those used internationally for short to medium hops!
A Boeing 737 is common enough on a domestic route but a Boeing 767? That's a major increase in size and distance.
On previous occasions when I have travelled outside of Austalia I was often dimly aware that for a say an eight hour flight to Singapore the actual journey involved a lot of hours in the air over Australia and indeed the concept that we were actually in the last leg of the flight when we crossed the Australian mainland and entered the Timor Sea was something that only dimly registered.
This time flying from Darwin to Canberra with a required stop over in Brisbane simply set the scene in a way that could no longer be denied - this place is BIG!
Anyway - enough of musing about travel in planes!
Central and northern Australia is something that simply has to be seen to be believed. I have one correspondent who has remarked that the pictures I have posted elsewhere are for him reminiscent of Arizona and Utah in the USA.
I am afraid that having been to both those areas in my past travels I could not disagree more!
I am absolutely in agreement about some things, Arizona surely has some majestic canyons and plenty of red ochre colours. Utah has it's salt flats. However it is here that the comparisons end - at least in my view. Utah's salt flats are surrounded by mountains that are often covered in snow and their mountain streams rage with torrents of water in the spring. The "mountains" of Northern Australia are millions of years older and are way too small to be covered in snow and ice during the winter. In addition they are so incredibly different in look and feel. The vegetation alone, such as it is, would be staggering for someone who had only experienced vegetation in the Northern Hemisphere.
These days of course we are not only blasé about such things - having seen them in photos or in paintings. However I just have this fantasy sometimes about the early white explorers of the continent as they set out and found nothing that was really similar to anything they had heard of before or seen for themselves in their wanderings around the other half of the world.
I suspect that even today - one of the reasons that people come to the Northern Territory is to see a landscape that completely unlike anything else that they have seen - and all from the comfort of their five star hotel.
Bargain!
Monday, May 14, 2007
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