Munich is one of the most beautiful cities in Germany. I'm happy that I was privileged to live there once for a while. I usually try to visit the city once in year, if possible. If you do a Europe tour it is all the time worth to make a short stop in Munich. Not only for the Octoberfest ;-)
The Greek Islands are a collection of over 6,000 islands and islets that belong to Greece. Only 227 of the islands are inhabited, and only 78 of those have more than 100 inhabitants.
The largest Greek island by area is Crete, located at the southern edge of the Aegean Sea. The second largest island is Euboea, which is separated from the mainland by the 60m-wide Euripus Strait, and is administered as part of the central Greece periphery. After the third and fourth largest Greek Islands, Lesbos and Rhodes, the rest of the islands are two-thirds of the area of Rhodes, or smaller.
The Greek islands are traditionally grouped into the following clusters: The Argo-Saronic Islands in the Saronic gulf near Athens, the Cyclades, a large but dense collection occupying the central part of the Aegean Sea, the North Aegean islands, a loose grouping off the west coast of Turkey, the Dodecanese, another loose collection in the southeast between Crete and Turkey, the Sporades, a small tight group off the coast of Euboea, and the Ionian Islands, located to the west of the mainland in the Ionian Sea (one of these islands, Kythira, is off the southern tip of the mainland, but still considered part of the Ionian Islands).
Place des Dominicains in Colmar
Colmar is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in northeastern France.
Colmar is 64 kilometers south-southwest of Strasbourg on the Lauch River, directly to the east of the Vosges Mountains. It is connected to the Rhine by a canal.
It is situated along the Alsatian Wine Route and considers itself to be the "Capital of Alsatian Wine" (capitale des vins d'Alsace).
Colmar has a sunny microclimate and is the driest city in France, with an annual precipitation of just 550 mm, making it ideal for Alsace wine.
Colmar's secular and religious architectural landmarks reflect eight centuries of Germanic and French architecture and the adaptation of their respective stylistic language to the local customs and building materials (pink and yellow Vosges sandstone, timber framing). The medieval centre of this historic town has fine overhanging timber-framed buildings, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, a dream for the keen photographer.
The area crossed by canals of the river Lauch, and which formerly served as the butcher's, tanner's and fishmonger's quarter, is now called "little Venice" (Petite Venise). Picturesque colourful timber framed houses were built to both sides of the small river La Lauch.
Many tourists visit the town
Sibiu (Romanian pronunciation: [siˈbiw]; German: Hermannstadt; Hungarian: Nagyszeben) is an important city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. It straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt. It is the capital of Sibiu County and is located some 282 km NW of Bucharest. Between 1692—1791 it was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania.
It is one of the most important cultural and religious centres in Romania as well a major transportation hub in central Romania. The city used to be the centre of the Transylvanian Saxons until World War II. Sibiu was designated European Capital of Culture for the year 2007, together with Luxembourg. It is ranked as "Europe 8th most most idyllic place to live" by Forbes.
One village, Păltiniş, is administered by the city.
Sibiu is situated near the geographical center of Romania at 45.792784°N 24.152069°ECoordinates: 45.792784°N 24.152069°E. Set in the Cibin Depression, the city is about 20 km from the Făgăraş Mountains, 12 km from the Cibin Mountains, and about 15 km from the Lotrului Mountains, which border the depression in its southwestern section. The northern and eastern limits of Sibiu are formed by the Târnavelor Plateau, which descends to the Cibin Valley through Guşteriţei Hill.
The Cibin river as well as some smaller streams runs through Sibiu. The geographical position of Sibiu makes it one of the most important transportation hubs in Romania with important roads and railway lines passing through it.
Sibiu's climate is temperate-continental with average temperatures of 8 to 9°C. The multi-annual average of rainfall is 662 l/mp, and there are about 120 days of hard frost annually.
The first official record referring to the Sibiu area comes from 1191, when Pope Celestine III confirmed the existence of the free prepositure of the German settlers in Transylvania, the prepositure having its headquarters in Sibiu, named Cibinium at that time. It was probably built near a Roman settlement, one that would be known during the early Middle Ages as Caedonia.
In the 14th century, it was already an important trade center. In 1376, the craftsmen were divided in 19 guilds. Sibiu became the most important ethnic German city among the seven cities that gave Transylvania its German name Siebenbürgen (literally seven cities), and it was home to the Universitas Saxorum, the assembly of Germans in Transylvania. Common opinion in the 17th century ascribed Sibiu the quality of being the easternmost city to be part of the European sphere;[citation needed] it was also the eastern terminus of postal routes.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the city became the second and later the first most important center of Transylvanian Romanian ethnics. The first Romanian-owned bank had its headquarters here (The Albina Bank), as did the ASTRA (Transylvanian Association for Romanian Literature and Romanian's People Culture). After the Romanian Orthodox Church was granted status in the Habsburg Empire from the 1860s onwards, Sibiu became the Metropolitan seat, and the city is still regarded as the third most important center of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Between the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and 1867 (the year of the Ausgleich), Sibiu was the meeting-place of the Transylvanian Diet, which had taken its most representative form after the Empire agreed to extend voting rights in the region.
After World War I, when Austria-Hungary was dissolved, Sibiu became part of Romania; the majority of its population was still ethnic German (until 1941) and counted large Romanian and Hungarian communities. Starting from the 1950s and until after 1990, most of the city's ethnic Germans emigrated to Germany. Among the roughly 2,000 who have remained is Klaus Johannis, who is currently mayor of Sibiu City.
The city features in the famous novel "The Reader" (Der Vorleser) by German law professor and judge Bernhard Schlink, upon which an Oscar-winning film was based.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Panoramic-Sibiu.jpg
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Toka Festival from Jonathan Clay on Vimeo.
Once every two to three years, all the villagers of Tanna Island, Vanuatu, come together for colourful festival of dancing and feasting.
This is a sequence from the film "Strange Islands", part of the BBC's documentary series "South Pacific".
Note to moderators: this film was directed and produced by myself for the BBC Natural History Unit.
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Come and spend your vacations on the beautiful island of Samos in Greece.
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The word “bazaar” is used to refer to several different types of marketplaces, depending upon their location. In the Middle East, where the word originates, it refers to a central open market which a large number of goods can be found for sale. In the West, it is used to refer to a flea market or a store which sells miscellaneous objects, frequently to raise funds for a charity. It is also used in the context of stores stocking Middle Eastern or Asian themed items. In all instances, the bazaar carries a wide assortment of goods.
In the Middle East, a bazaar is typically located in a street or partially covered area specifically set aside for the purpose of establishing a bazaar. Individual salespeople have stalls with rear areas which can be secured at night. The word “bazaar” comes from a Pahlavi word, baha-char, which means “place of prices.” The word was adopted into the Persian language as “bazaar”, and then became widespread throughout southern Asia and the Middle East.
Numerous old Middle Eastern cities have famous bazaars, including Tehran's Grand Bazaar in Iran, which is believed to be the largest in the world. The open market bazaar contains food, instruments, household goods, clothing, storytellers, books, and many other items, often sold by competing salespeople who attempt to win customers from each other with bidding and price wars. For visitors, the bazaar is an interesting place to step into, as the layout and bargaining style have not changed dramatically in many centuries.
Outside the Middle East and neighboring nations, a bazaar is most frequently a store filled with miscellaneous objects. The word is also used to refer to a Middle Eastern themed store, and the Middle Eastern quarters of many large cities have bazaars which sell items like Indian saris, Persian rugs, and everything in between. These stores are frequently run by people who have immigrated from the Middle East or Southern Asian, and usually cater specifically to an immigrant clientèle.
A bazaar in the sense of a shop filled with an assortment of items, usually for charity, is often found in Britain. They are frequently attached to churches and charities established to promote animal welfare or provide assistance to the poor. This type of bazaar usually is stocked with items donated by members of the general public who wish to support the charity, meaning that a widespread of goods can be found for sale.
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During the 12th century, German craftsmen and merchants known as the Transylvanian Saxons were invited to Transylvania by the King of Hungary to settle and defend the frontier of his realm. The chronicler Krauss lists a Saxon settlement in the actual Sighiṣoara by 1191. By 1280 it was known by the Latin name of Castrum Sex, and by 1298 by the Saxon name of Schespurch resp. Schaesbrich. By 1337 Sighişoara had become a royal center for the kings, who awarded the settlement urban status in 1367 as the Civitas de Segusvar.
The city played an important strategic and commercial role at the edges of Central Europe for several centuries. Sighişoara became one of the most important cities of Transylvania, with artisans from throughout the Holy Roman Empire visiting the settlement. The German artisans and craftsmen dominated the urban economy, as well as building the fortifications protecting it. It is estimated that during the 16th and the 17th centuries Sighişoara had as many as 15 guilds and 20 handicraft branches. The Baroque sculptor Elias Nicolai lived in the city. The Wallachian prince Vlad Dracul (father of Vlad the Impaler (Dracula), who lived in exile in the town, let minted coins in the city (otherwise coinage was the monopoly of the Hungarian kings in the Kingdom of Hungary) and issued the first document listing the city's Romanian name, Sighişoara.
The city was the setting for George I Rákóczi's election as Prince of Transylvania and King of Hungary in 1631. Sighişoara suffered military occupation, fires, and plagues during the 17th and 18th centuries. Important source for the history of the 17th century Transylvania, for the period of 1606-1666, the records of Georg Kraus, the town's notary.
The nearby plain of Albeşti was the site of the Battle of Segesvár, where the revolutionary Hungarian army led by Józef Bem was defeated by the Russian army led by Luders on 31 July 1849. A monument was constructed in 1852 to the Russian general Skariatin, who died in the battle. The Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi is generally believed to have been killed in the battle, and a monument was constructed in his honor at Albeşti in 1897. After World War I Sighişoara passed with Transylvania from Austria-Hungary to the Kingdom of Romania.
Central Sighişoara has preserved in an exemplary way the features of a small medieval fortified city, it has been listed by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Each year, a Medieval Festival takes place in the old citadel in July.
Sighişoara is considered to be the most beautiful and well preserved inhabited citadel in Europe,[citation needed] with an authentic medieval architecture. In Eastern Europe, Sighişoara is one of the few fortified towns which are still inhabited. The town is made up of two parts. The medieval stronghold was built on top of a hill and is known as the "Citadel" (Cetate).The lower town lies in the valley of Târnava Mare river.
The houses inside Sighişoara Citadel show the main features of a craftsmen's town. However, there are some houses which belonged to the former patriciate, like the Venetian House and the House with Antlers.
"The House with Antlers" has been brought into the possession of the Messerschmitt Foundation with the help of the Romanian Government and the town council of Sighisoara in April 2000, defrauding the legitimate heirs, the descendents Leicht-Bacon (with English roots), who are mentioned in the cadaster of Sighisoara as owners before the communist dispossession of 1950.
In 2001-2003 the construction of a Dracula theme park in the 'Breite' nature preserve near Sighişoara was considered but ultimately rejected, due to the strong opposition of local civil society groups and national and international media as well as politically influential persons, as the theme park would have detracted from the medieval style of the city and would have destroyed the nature preserve.