Ok, let’s start by you, dear reader, throwing out all of your preconceptions about Serbia – preconceptions undoubtedly fostered by a drumbeat of negative news reports from the 1990s depicting the Serbs as grim genocidaires… A news vacuum in regard to Serbia since that time has, unfortunately, done little to alter that bloodthirsty impression forged … Continue reading
On a recent visit to the British Museum with my Italian interpreter, a temporary exhibition caught my eye. I share it below: The Tree of Life The four artists who created the Tree of Life are Adelino Serafim Mate, Fiel dos Santos, Hilario Nhatugueja and Christavao Canhavato (Kester). The Tree of Life is meant to … Continue reading
The longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall that I am aware of is known as the East Side Gallery and is located in the former East Germany. This section, 1.6 kilometers long, is described as the largest open air art gallery in the world and features 106 paintings by artists all over the world. … Continue reading
Not much is known about Mr. Tumbus (the statue below)… He is located just outside the village of Tumbus and this was an area of Nubian civilizations. Tumbus itself housed an important granite quarry in the Pharaonic era. Not much is known beyond that. Supposedly, an effort was made to relocate Mr. Tumbus to the … Continue reading
Before even trying to get into Sudan, make sure you have your visas in order and give yourself plenty of time to get them. The Sudanese visas proved to be the most difficult and time-consuming visas that my Italian interpreter and I have yet obtained – and we have been to a lot of weird … Continue reading
Ahhhh, Topkapi Palace. Topkapi Palace was built between 1459 and 1465 by Mehmet II shortly after his conquest of Constantinople. Rather than a single building, it was conceived as a series of pavilions contained by four enormous courtyards, a stone version of the tented encampments from which the nomadic Ottomans had emerged. It is difficult … Continue reading
Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) and interior The New Mosque The Blue Mosque The Grand Bazaar and The Spice Bazaar – the ultimate medieval “shopping center,” with over 4000 shops There’s an informal bazaar outside that is possibly even more interesting because of characters like this: And lots of cats Basilica Cistern – Beneath Istanbul lie hundreds … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 