Theme Week Galicien – Ourense

25 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  12 minutes

Parroquia Maria Auxiliadora Collegiate Church © Zarateman

Parroquia Maria Auxiliadora Collegiate Church © Zarateman

Ourense is a city in northwestern Spain, the capital of the province of the same name, with a population of 107,000. The origin of the town can be traced to the Romans and the presence of hot springs called the Burgas. These can still be seen today. There was also the need to fortify the place to protect one of the easiest ways to cross the Miño River. After the Romans, Ourense was part of the Suebi (Suevi) kingdom during most of the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries and was destroyed by the Moors in 716. It was later rebuilt by Alfonso III of Asturias about 877. The Norse invasions as well as attacks from the Arab warlord Al-Mansur once more laid the city to waste. It was only under Sancho II and his sister Doña Elvira that the city was resettled during 11th century. The definitive urban impulse did not arrive until the 12th century when Ourense became an important center of services. Recently the city has made many efforts to provide new parks, bridges, fountains and geothermal springs installations to make the city more attractive.   read more…

FLIP, the FLoating Instrument Platform

25 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  6 minutes

FLoating Instrument Platform seen from USNS Navajo © Military Sealift Command

FLoating Instrument Platform seen from USNS Navajo © Military Sealift Command

RP FLIP (FLoating Instrument Platform) is an open ocean research vessel owned by the Office of Naval Research and operated by the Marine Physical Laboratory of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The ship is a 355 feet (108 meters) long vessel designed to partially flood and pitch backward 90 degrees, resulting in only the front 55 feet (17 meters) of the vessel pointing up out of the water, with bulkheads becoming decks. When flipped, most of the buoyancy for the platform is provided by water at depths below the influence of surface waves, hence FLIP is a stable platform mostly immune to wave action, like a spar buoy. At the end of a mission, compressed air is pumped into the ballast tanks in the flooded section and the vessel returns to its horizontal position so it can be towed to a new location. The ship is frequently mistaken for a capsized ocean transport ship.   read more…

In Gothenburg you don’t write poems; you write invoices

25 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Barque Viking © Pär Henning

Barque Viking © Pär Henning

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden (after Stockholm) and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 515,129, with 510,491 in the urban area and total of 928,629 inhabitants in the metropolitan area.   read more…

Theme Week Galicia

23 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  11 minutes

Carnota © Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez/cc-by-sa-3.0

Carnota © Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez/cc-by-sa-3.0

Galicia is an autonomous community in northwest Spain, with the official status of a historic nationality. It comprises the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra, being bordered by Portugal to the south, the Spanish autonomous communities of Castile and León and Asturias to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the north. Galicia has over 1,660 km (1,030 mi) of coastline, including its offshore islands and islets, among them Cíes Islands, Ons, Sálvora, Cortegada, and—the largest and most populated—A Illa de Arousa. Hundreds of ancient standing stone monuments like dolmens, menhirs and megalithics Tumulus were erected during the prehistoric period in Galicia, amongst the best-known are the dolmens of Dombate, Corveira, Axeitos of Pedra da Arca, menhirs like the “Lapa de Gargñáns”. From the Iron Age, Galicia has a rich heritage based mainly on a great number of Hill forts, few of them excavated like Baroña, Sta. Tegra, San Cibrao de Lás and Formigueiros among others. With the introduction of Ancient Roman architecture there was a development of basilicas, castra, city walls, cities, villas, Roman temples, Roman roads, and the Roman bridge of Ponte Vella. It was the Romans who founded some of the first cities in Galicia like Lugo and Ourense. Perhaps the best-known examples are the Roman Walls of Lugo and the Tower of Hercules in A Coruña. During the Middle Ages, a huge quantity of fortified castles were built by Galician feudal nobles to mark their powers against their rivals. Although the most of them were demolished during the Irmandiño Wars (1466–1469), some Galician castles that survived are Pambre, Castro Caldelas, Sobroso, Soutomaior and Monterrei among others. Ecclesiastical architecture raised early in Galicia, and the first churches and monasteries as San Pedro de Rocas, began to be built in 5-6th centuries. However, the most famous medieval architecture in Galicia had been using Romanesque architecture like most of Western Europe. Some of the greatest examples of Romanesque churches in Galicia are the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the Ourense Cathedral, Saint John of Caaveiro, Our Lady Mary of Cambre and the Church of San Juan of Portomarín among others.   read more…

Herzlia in Gusch Dan

23 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  6 minutes

Herzliya Marina © David Shay/cc-by-sa-3.0

Herzliya Marina © David Shay/cc-by-sa-3.0

Herzliya is a city in the central coast of Israel, at the Northern part of the Tel Aviv District in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area. It has a population of more than 110,000 residents. Named after Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, Herzliya covers an area of 21.6 square kilometres (8.3 sq mi). At its western municipal boundaries is Herzliya Pituah, one of Israel’s most affluent districts and home to ambassadors, foreign diplomats and businessmen. Some of Israel’s most expensive homes and finest beaches are located in Herzliya Pituah. Herzliya Pituach is a sought-after venue for high-tech companies, and its marina, many restaurants and entertainment spots have turned this part of Herzliya into a vibrant hub of Israeli nightlife.   read more…

The biosphere reserve Spreewald

23 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Environment, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  5 minutes

Spreewaldgurke - Cucumber of the Spree Forest © spreewald-info.de

Spreewaldgurke – Cucumber of the Spree Forest © spreewald-info.de

The Spreewald (German for “Spree forest”) is situated 100 km south-east of Berlin and designated a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1991. It is known for its traditional irrigation system which consists of more than 200 small channels (called “Fließe”; total length : 1,300 km ) within the 484-square-kilometre (187 sq mi) area. The landscape was shaped during the ice-age. Alder forests on wetlands and pine forests on sandy dry areas are characteristic for the region, however, also grasslands and fields can be found.   read more…

Hattusa, capital of the Hittite Empire

21 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  7 minutes

One of the first peace treaties of the world, between Hattushili III of Hatti and Ramesses II of Egypt © deror avi

One of the first peace treaties of the world, between Hattushili III of Hatti and Ramesses II of Egypt © deror avi

Hattusa was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of the Kızılırmak River. Hattusa was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1986.   read more…

Cagliari, capital of Sardinia

21 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Flamingoes at Cagliari © Stefano Marrocu/cc-by-sa-3.0

Flamingoes at Cagliari © Stefano Marrocu/cc-by-sa-3.0

Cagliari is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an Autonomous Region of Italy. Cagliari’s Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has nearly 150,000 inhabitants, while its metropolitan area has more than 480,000 inhabitants. It is also the seat of the University of Cagliari.   read more…

Theme Week East Frisian Islands – Borkum and Juist

21 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Juist - Aerial view © Bin im Garten

Juist – Aerial view © Bin im Garten


JUIST

Juist is one of the seven inhabited East Frisian Islands at the edge of the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea in the southern North Sea, located between Borkum Island (west), Memmert Island (southwest) and Norderney (east). It is also a municipality in the district of Aurich in Lower Saxony in Germany.   read more…

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