August 31, 2014

Denpasar, ora locala 11:49

 Jakarta, ora locala 19:42

Kuala Lumpur, ora locala 23:04

Cât așteptam avioanele malaeziene printre altele îmi aminteam involuntar de Lost și de faptul ca am tot amânat de cel puțin 15 ani lectura unor cărți de supraviețuire :))

 Istanbul, ora locala 06:15

August 11, 2014

Bucuresti, ora locala 07:03

 Deja vu... :P

Aproape treizeci de ore de calatorie. Cinci aeroporturi, patru avioane, ore lungi de asteptare între zboruri sau usoare emotii pentru a prinde urmatoarea conexiune. Cea mai placuta supriza a fost AirAsia, auto-intitulata low cost dar cu servicii si promtitudine care pot depasi alte linii vest-europene.

Yogyakarta, ora locala 15:40.

Sincer, o data ajuns aici si cât de diferit parea totul la prima vedere, mi-am pus întrebarea: where the ... I am now?

Din pacate nu am reusit sa fac o poza clara fara sa fiu observat, si pare-se ca chiar trebuia sa stau chill, aveam ore bune de asteptare pâna la transferul la hotel.

May 5, 2009

Coffee time :D

I looked many times this building from Brussels's Grand Place, but this is the first time (maybe it's new, who the frak knows :P) I noticed that this little fellow is handling a sword like in SoulReaver; the other guys, the monsters, the angels around and the way it's looking, with those wings... it's like I heard already that music and that voice: "I know you Raziel..." So fraking cute, I loved it!

If you're in Belgium, then it's a must to have some "moule et frittes" (mussels and chips) and a pint of local beer in Brugge :D I really like this town, my preferate in Belgium, very good preserved and a delightful medieval atmosphere :)

In the Notre Dame church is this sculpture made by Michaelangelo himself, the reason this piece of art is still here is because the guys who ordered it didn't pay when it was ready for delivery or something like that.

In this basilisk there is a legend that here is kept a relic containing the holy blood of Jesus Christ. The church itself has two levels, the lower chapel and the upper chapel, where the relic is.

Legend has it that after the Crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathea wiped blood from the body of Christ and preserved the cloth. The relic remained in the Holy Land until the Second Crusade, when the King of Jerusalem gave it to his brother-in-law, Count of Flanders Diederik. The count arrived with it in Brugge around 1150 and placed it in a chapel he had built on Burg Square. The real story seems to be that it came from Constantinople, which had an extensive collection of relics including one of the Holy Blood.

The town of Brugge is unique. Everything seems to be the same after one hour, but is not. The weather is changing, the light is changing, colors are different... Nowhere in the Netherlands (they are quite envious because this town is in Belgium), one will find a spot that has preserved its former look in a such a striking way, a great number of magnificent buildings are reminiscent of the unsurpassed flowering during the middle ages. The place is older though, Vikings established a fortified place or "brygghia" here. During the time, foreign merchants offered goods for sale, local artisans prospered, and so they formed guilds. Battles came up, but in the 14th century was Brugge's Golden Age, many independent tradesmen were responsible for the flowering of the cloth industry, foreigners and artists alike established here, and the town became the foremost center of commerce, and the most important money market of Northern Europe.

May 4, 2009

Having a flight in the afternoon with a "Tangerine Dream" soundtrack could be a very pleasant experience :D Indeed, those two are really really fitting up...

Frankfurt sky... "Tangerine Dream" still on... Dream on, as they used to say... You're just enjoying the sounds, the light, the view and the present itself. Nothing else to fantasize on, you have more than you need :P

Climbing down through the Brussels sky... And believe it or not, it was sunny that day!

November 2, 2008

Short but unexpectedly refreshing day in Istanbul.

Topkapı Palace's initial construction started in 1459, ordered by Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Byzantine Constantinople. The palace is a complex made up of four main courtyards and many smaller buildings. At the height of its existence as a royal residence, the palace was home to as many as 4,000 people, formerly covering a larger area with a long shoreline.



Topkapı Palace gradually lost its importance at the end of the 17th century, as the Sultans preferred to spend more time in their new palaces along the Bosporus, being considered "the best example of ensemble of palaces of the Ottoman Period".

The palace complex is located on the Seraglio Point (Sarayburnu), a promontory overlooking the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara, with the Bosphorus in plain sight from many points of the palace. The site is hilly and one of the highest points close to the sea.





The Sultan Ahmed Mosque (turkish: Sultanahmet Camii) is the national mosque of Turkey, and is a historical mosque in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey and the capital of the Ottoman Empire (from 1453 to 1923). The mosque is one of several mosques known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior. It was built between 1609 and 1616, during the rule of Ahmed I.



The design of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque is the culmination of two centuries of both Ottoman mosque and Byzantine church development. It incorporates some Byzantine elements of the neighboring Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture and is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period. The architect has ably synthesized the ideas of his master Sinan, aiming for overwhelming size, majesty and splendour, but the interior lacks his creative thinking. During the rule of Ahmed I, Sultan Ahmet mosque was built between 1609 and 1616 CE. Designed by architect Sedefkar Mehmet Aga, the Sultan Ahmet Mosque is considered to be the last example of classical Ottoman architecture.
















Best part of the day: Hagia Sophia. Impressed us a lot. This is a former patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, now a museum. Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture.


It was the largest cathedral ever built in the world for nearly a thousand years, until the completion of the Seville Cathedral in 1520. The current building was originally constructed as a church between A.D. 532 and 537 on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, and was in fact the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to occupy the site (the previous two had both been destroyed by riots). It was designed by two architects, Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. The Church contained a large collection of holy relics and featured, among other things, a 50 foot (15 m) silver iconostasis. It was the patriarchal church of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the religious focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly 1000 years.



In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Mehmed II ordered the building to be converted into the Ayasofya Mosque. The bells, altar, iconostasis, and sacrificial vessels were removed, and many of the mosaics were eventually plastered over. The Islamic features — such as the mihrab, the minbar, and the four minarets outside — were added over the course of its history under the Ottomans. It remained as a mosque until 1935, when it was converted into a museum by the Republic of Turkey.
For almost 500 years the principal mosque of Istanbul, Hagia Sophia served as a model for many of the Ottoman mosques such as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque of Istanbul), the Şehzade Mosque, the Süleymaniye Mosque, and the Rüstem Pasha Mosque.


Although it is sometimes referred to as Saint Sophia (greek for wisdom), the Greek name in full is Church of the Holy Wisdom of God, and it was dedicated to the Holy Wisdom of God rather than a specific saint named Sophia.












SuperŢeavă. Techno frateee...