Dolmabahçe Sarayi - Istanbul ( Constantinopole), Turkey

Dolmabahçe Sarayi - The Guard, originally uploaded by spdd.

The Dolmabahçe Palace was built between the years 1843 and 1856, ordered by the Empire's 31st Sultan, Abdülmecid I, at a cost of five million Ottoman gold pounds, the equivalent of 35 tonnes of gold. Fourteen tonnes of gold in the form of gold leaf were used to gild the ceilings of the 45,000 square metre monoblock palace, which stands on an area of 110,000 m².
Hacı Said Ağa was responsible for the construction works, while the project was realised by architects Garabet Balyan, his son Nigoğayos Balyan and Evanis Kalfa.

Dolmabahçe Palace
The Dolmabahçe Palace was home to six sultans from 1856, when it was first inhabited, up until the abolition of the Caliphate in 1924: The last royal to live here was Caliph Abdülmecid Efendi. A law that went into effect on March 3, 1924 transferred the ownership of the palace to the national heritage of the new Turkish Republic. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey, used the palace as a presidential residence during the summers and enacted some of his most important works here. Atatürk spent the last days of his medical treatment in this palace, where he died on November 10, 1938.
The world's largest Bohemian crystal chandelier is in the center hall. The chandelier, a gift from Queen Victoria, has 750 lamps and weighs 4.5 tonnes. Dolmabahçe has the largest collection of Bohemian and Baccarat crystal chandeliers in the world, and one of the great staircases has bannisters of Baccarat crystal.
The site of Dolmabahçe was originally a bay on the Bosporus which was reclaimed gradually during the 18th century to become an imperial garden, much appreciated by the Ottoman sultans; it is from this garden that the name Dolmabahçe (Filled Garden) comes from, dolma meaning "filled" and bahçe meaning "garden." Various summer palaces were built here during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

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Piwnica Świdnicka, Wrocław, Poland

Piwnica Świdnicka, originally uploaded by Klearchos Kapoutsis.

the Polish restaurant "Piwnica Świdnicka" at Wrocław... is one of the oldest restaurants in Europe...
more info at:

http://www.piwnicaswidnicka.com/

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The Highlands, Scotland U.K

The Highlands

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The Rise, Burj Khalifa, Dubai U.A.E.

The Rise, originally uploaded by KhayaL.

VISIT THE BURJ KHALIFA
THE TALLEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD

We invite you to begin your Dubai sightseeing with Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
The Burj Khalifa skyscraper is a world-class destination and the magnificent centerpiece of Downtown Dubai , Dubai's new urban masterpiece.
The world's tallest building is surrounded by hotels , must-visit shopping destinations and a world of entertainment options.

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Heera Mandi, Lahore, Pakistan.

BAZAR: Loved by every class of the society; famous Heera Mandi Lahore Pakistan., originally uploaded by Wrgzee-Wrok Sons.

BAZAR: Loved by every class of the society; famous Heera Mandi Lahore Pakistan.

'Hira Mand چکلا (literally "Diamond Market"), also known as Shahi Mohalla (meaning: The Royal Neighbourhood), is a red-light district in Lahore. The women here offer traditional and classical dances and was originally the center of the city's tawaif culture in the Mughal era. Today, it is a centre of prostitution in Lahore under the veil of dances, such as mujra, a branch of classical South-Asian sensual dancing. While many Hijras also frequent the area and are involved in this dance culture.
Hira mandi is located in the northwest corner of the Walled City of Lahore, next to Roshnai Gate, Badshahi Masjid, Lahore Fort, and Hazuri Bagh. During the day the place is much like other Pakistani bazars and is also known for its good food, Khussa (shoes) and the shops for musical instruments.

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The origins of the original Lahore are unspecific. According to carbon dating evidence of archaeological findings in the Lahore Fort, the time period may start as early as 2,000 B.C.E. Lahore had many names throughout its history. Mohallah Maulian represents one of the two most probable sites of the original Lahore. Sootar Mandi (the yarn market) inside Lohari Gate, had been called Mohallah Chaileywala Hammam located in Machli Hatta Gulzar, just off Chowk Chalka, Lahore's original red-light area.
As late as 1864, the Lohari Mandi area had been known among the old folk of the Walled City as kacha kot, the mud fort, a name derived from the gradient of the land, the water flow, and the formation of mohallahs, kuchas, and kattrahs. The curve of Koocha Pir Bola merges with Waachowali Bazaar, the Lohari Bazaar merges with Chowk Lohari Mandi, and Chowk Mati merges with Papar Mandi, giving a sense of a mud fort. Along Lohari Bazaar, a short distance from Chowk Chakla, the street opens slightly, revealing a half-buried archway of pucca bricks and mud.
The famous mud fort may have been built by Malik Ayaz, the first Muslim governor of Lahore. Lohari Gate served as the main entrance to Ayaz's mud fort. Chowk Sootar Mandi constituted one important center of Kacha Kot. The lay of the streets also suggest the boundaries. At the time of Mughal Emperor Akbar, the original wall of the Walled City of Lahore stood, on the western side, to the right of Bazaar Hakeeman in Bhati Gate. On the eastern side to the left of Shahalam Gate, curved eastwards and formed a "kidney-shaped" city that depended on the flow of the curving River Ravi. Thus the Lahore of the kacha kot era has continued to expand in three major leaps of expansion, each with an almost 400-year gap. The eras of Raja Jaipal of Akbar and of Maharaja Ranjit Singh mark the high points of that expansion.
The expanding of the mud fort had its origins in three factors:
the way the Ravi has flown and how and when it has been changing its course,
the existence of the Lahore Fort and how power has flowed from the rulers, and
the manner the population and economy of the old original Walled City has changed over time, grown, or even shrunk, depending of invasions, droughts and famines in the countryside.
The story of kacha kot has been determined by those factors. The oldest buildings in the entire Walled City exist in this area, among them the old exquisite mosque known even now as Masjid Kohana Hammam Chaileywala. A huge hammam may have stood during the kacha kot period. The tomb of Pir Bola (Gali) still exists. Little remains of the original mud fort.

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
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Rooms with a view, Santorini, Greece

Rooms with a view, Santorini, Greece, originally uploaded by Vic Sofras, vsofras@loyno.edu.

Rooms with the world's most beautiful views. From my trip to Santorini, Greece, July 2009. I had stayed here back in 1988 with a bunch of crazy Australians that I had met on the ship from Pireas. I came back in 1999 and everything was exactly the same, maybe the sign was new!

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Palm Islands, World Islands, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Palm Islands, World Islands, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (NASA, International Space Station Science, 01/13/10), originally uploaded by nasa1fan/MSFC.

Man-made archipelagos near Dubai, United Arab Emirates are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 22 crew member on the International Space Station. The municipality of Dubai is the largest city of the Persian Gulf emirate of the same name, and has built a global reputation for large-scale developments and architectural works. Among the most visible of these developments -- particularly from the perspective of astronauts onboard the ISS -- are three man-made archipelagos. The two Palm Islands (Palm Jumeirah and Palm Jebel Ali) appear as stylized palm trees when viewed from above. The World Islands evoke a rough map of the world from an air- or space-borne perspective. Palm Jumeirah and the World Islands are highlighted in this view. Palm Jumeirah (lower left) was begun in 2001 and required more than 50 million cubic meters of dredged sand to raise the islands above the Persian Gulf sea level. Construction of the Palm Jumeirah islands was completed in 2006; they are now being developed for residential and commercial housing and infrastructure. Creation of the 300 World Islands (upper right) was begun in 2003 and completed in 2008, using 320 million cubic meters of sand and 37 million tons of rock for the surrounding 27 kilometer-long protective breakwater. Also visible at the lower edge of the image is another notable built structure -- the Burj Tower (white rectangle at lower right and inset image). The Burj Tower -- or Burj Khalifa -- stands 800 meters high, and is currently the world's tallest structure. The photograph captures enough detail to make out the tapering outline of the building as well as its dark needle-like shadow pointing towards the northeast.

Image/caption credit: NASA

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-22/html/iss022e024940.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/CEO.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/index.html

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
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City´s reflections Aveiro - Portugal

City´s reflections, originally uploaded by mallice.

Aveiro is sometimes called "The Portuguese Venice", because of its canals and boats that remind one of the Italian city of Venice, as the city faced similar problems when it tried to conquer the water.
The city dates back at least to the 10th century when it was known by its first Latin name of Aviarium, literally, "a gathering place or preserve of birds." The Moors invaded and then held it until the 11th century, after which it became popular with Portuguese royalty.
In the winter of 1575, a terrible storm closed the entrance to its port, ending a thriving trade in metals and tiles. The same storm also created a reef barrier at the Atlantic Ocean.

Aveiro is known in Portugal for its traditional sweets, the ovos-moles and the trouxas de ovos, both made from eggs.

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Aveiro (Portuguese pronunciation: [aˈvɐjɾu]) is a city in Aveiro Municipality in Portugal, with a total area of 199.9 km², a total population of 73,559 inhabitants, and 59,860 electors (2006). It is the second most populous city in the Centro Region of Portugal, after Coimbra. However, the city of Aveiro together with neighbouring Ílhavo, make one conurbation which has a population of 113,908 inhabitants, making it one of the most important by population density in the Centro Region.

from Wikipedia..

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facade El Albayzin, Granada Andalusia, Spain

fachada...., originally uploaded by maria...( slowly).

El Albayzín (also Albaicín or El Albaicín) is a district of present day Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain, that retains the narrow winding streets of its Medieval Moorish past. It was declared a world heritage site in 1984, along with the more famous Alhambra.

It rises on a hill facing the Alhambra and many tourists journey into the Albayzin primarily for the spectactular views of the Alhambra from the viewing point by the church of San Nicolas.

Highlights within the area include the remains of an Arab bath complex, Granada's archeological museum, and the church of San Salvador, built on the remains of a Moorish mosque. The Albayzin also contains some original Moorish houses and a wide-range of restaurants, including several streets whose eateries are inspired by North Africa.

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Iglesia de San Marcos-León, Spain

Iglesia de San Marcos-León, originally uploaded by davizoom.

The convent of San Marcos in León, Spain, currently a luxury parador hotel, also contains a consecrated church and museum, and is one of the most important monuments of the Renaissance in Spain. It is one of the greatest architectural jewels of León, together with the Cathedral, the Basilica of San Isidoro and la Casa Botines. It has a highly ornamental plateresque facade.

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
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The Dragons of Chesapeke Bay USA

The Dragons of Chesapeke Bay, originally uploaded by Nimo Photography.

The Chesapeake Bay (pronounced /ˈtʃɛsəpiːk/, CHESS-ə-peek) is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia.
The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers 64,299 square miles (166,534 km2) in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.
More than 150 rivers and streams drain into the Bay.
The Chesapeake Bay is approximately 200 miles (300 km) long, from the Susquehanna River in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south. At its narrowest point between Kent County's Plum Point (near Newtown) and the Harford County shore near Romney Creek, the Bay is 2.8 miles (4.5 km) wide; at its widest point, just south of the mouth of the Potomac River, it is 30 miles (50 km) wide.
Total shoreline for the Bay and its tributaries is 11,684 miles (18,804 km), and the surface area of the bay and its major tributaries is 4,479 square miles (11,601 km2).
Depth of the bay is 46 feet (14 m) and maximum depth of bay is 208 feet (63 m).
The bay is spanned in two places. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge crosses the bay in Maryland from Sandy Point (near Annapolis) to Kent Island; the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in Virginia connects Virginia Beach to Cape Charles.
The word Chesepiooc is an Algonquian word referring to a village "at a big river." It is the seventh oldest surviving English place-name in the U.S., first applied as "Chesepiook" by explorers heading north from the Roanoke Colony into a Chesapeake tributary in 1585 or 1586.
In 2005, Algonquian linguist Blair Rudes "helped to dispel one of the area's most widely held beliefs: that 'Chesapeake' means something like 'Great Shellfish Bay.' It doesn't, Rudes said. The name might actually mean something like 'Great Water,' or it might have been just a village at the bay's mouth."
In contrast with many similar bodies of water, such as Delaware Bay or San Francisco Bay, the Chesapeake Bay is almost always preceded by the article the in usage.

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
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The Upper Reservoir of Guangzhou Pumped-Storage Power Station

The Upper Reservoir of Guangzhou Pumped-Storage Power Station, originally uploaded by shenxy.

though the upper reservoir and the lower reservoir are very close to each other (horizontal distance is 4km), the difference of their elevations is 500m!

Guangzhou (simplified Chinese: 广州; traditional Chinese: 廣州; pinyin: Guǎngzhōu; jyutping : Gwong²zau¹; Yale: Gwóngjàu), in English and other European languages also known asCanton (which was first romanized from the Cantonese pronunciation of Guangdong by the Portuguese) and also known as Kwangchow, is a sub-provincial city and the capital of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the People's Republic of China.

It is a port on the Pearl River, navigable to the South China Sea, and is located about 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Hong Kong. As of the 2000 census, the city has a population of 6 million and an urban area population of roughly 11.85 million, making it the most populous city in the province and the third most populous metropolitan area in China. The provincial government's official estimate of the metropolitan area's population at the end of 2006 was 9,754,600. Guangzhou's urban land area is the third largest in China, behind only Beijing and Shanghai.

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
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Dubai UAE timelapse

Room with a view: Dubai timelapse tests from Atlantis hotel from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
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Canale veneziano, Venice Italy

Canale veneziano, originally uploaded by Vesuviano - Nicola De Pisapia.

Venice (Italian: Venezia listen (help·info), IPA: [veˈnεttsia], Venetian: Venesia) is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 (census estimate 1 January 2004).
Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area (population 1,600,000). The city historically was the capital of an independent nation. Venice has been known as the "La Dominante", "Serenissima", "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Bridges", "City of Canals" and "The City of Light".
Luigi Barzini, writing in The New York Times, described it as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man". Venice has also been described by the Times Online as being one of Europe's most romantic cities.
The city stretches across 118 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers.
The population estimate of 272,000 inhabitants includes the population of the whole Comune of Venezia; around 60,000 in the historic city of Venice (Centro storico); 176,000 in Terraferma (the Mainland), mostly in the large frazione of Mestre and Marghera; and 31,000 live on other islands in the lagoon.
The Republic of Venice was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as a very important center of commerce (especially silk, grain and spice trade) and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century. Venice is also famous for its musical, particularly operatic, history, and its most famous son in this field is Antonio Vivaldi.

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
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Morning Rush Charlotte, N.Carolina USA

Morning Rush, originally uploaded by James Neeley.

Some may get a "rush" from an extreme sporting activity. I got mine from watching a beautiful sunrise progress over Charlotte, North Carolina!

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -- Lao Tzu
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