Cours Saleya in Nice

11 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera, Bon appétit, Shopping Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Miniwark/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Miniwark/cc-by-sa-3.0

The main pedestrian route in Old Nice, the Cours Saleya, parallel to the Quai des États-Unis, extends rue Saint-François-de-Paule to the west, from rue Louis-Gassin to Place Charles-Félix.   read more…

Sendlinger Straße in Munich

30 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Shopping Reading Time:  6 minutes

Sendlinger Tor © GraphyArchy/cc-by-sa-4.0

Sendlinger Tor © GraphyArchy/cc-by-sa-4.0

Sendlinger Straße is an important shopping street in Munich‘s city center. It extends into the Munich old town in the south-east-northeast direction from the Sendlinger Tor in the west to the point where Fürstenfelder Straße and the Rindermarkt meet in the east. In July 2016, the conversion from a one-way street into a pedestrian zone was attempted.   read more…

Festival of the Patios Cordobeses in Spain

17 August 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Living, Working, Building, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Rafael Tello/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Rafael Tello/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Festival of the Patios Cordobeses is a patio contest in Córdoba, Andalusia, Spain, held since 1921 and which is generally held during the first and second week of May. The participants decorate and open their patios for free so that they can be visited within the hours established for this purpose. In 1980 they were declared a Festival of National Tourist Interest, and after a long process, they managed to register as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO on December 6, 2012.   read more…

Strøget in Copenhagen

15 August 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Shopping Reading Time:  5 minutes

Amagertorv © flickr.com - Olga Itenberg/cc-by-2.0

Amagertorv © flickr.com – Olga Itenberg/cc-by-2.0

Strøget is a pedestrian, car free shopping area in Copenhagen, Denmark. This popular tourist attraction in the centre of town is one of the longest pedestrian shopping streets in Europe at 1.1 km. Located at the centre of the old city of Copenhagen, it has long been one of the most high-profile streets in the city. The pedestrianisation of Strøget in 1962 marked the beginning of a major change in the approach of Copenhagen to urban life; following the success of the initiative the city moved to place a much greater emphasis on pedestrian and bicycle access to the city at the expense of cars. This approach has in turn become internationally influential.   read more…

Old New Synagogue in Prague

11 July 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Øyvind Holmstad/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Øyvind Holmstad/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Old New Synagogue (Czech: Staronová synagoga), also called the Altneuschul, situated in Josefov, Prague, is Europe’s oldest active synagogue. It is also the oldest surviving medieval synagogue of twin-nave design. Completed in 1270 in gothic style, it was one of Prague‘s first gothic buildings. A still older Prague synagogue, known as the Old Synagogue, was demolished in 1867 and replaced by the Spanish Synagogue.   read more…

Haram esh-Sharif or Temple Mount in East Jerusalem

3 September 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Andrew Shiva/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Andrew Shiva/cc-by-sa-4.0

Known to Muslims as the Haram esh-Sharif (“the Noble Sanctuary”, or “the Noble Sanctuary of Jerusalem”) and the Al Aqsa Compound, and to Jews as Temple Mount (“Mount of the House [of God, i.e. the Temple in Jerusalem]”), is a hill in the UNESCO World Heritage Site Old City of Jerusalem that for thousands of years has been venerated as a holy site in Christianity, Islam and Islam, and Judaism alike.   read more…

Grassmarket in Edinburgh

9 April 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

Pubs at Grassmarket © Reinhold Möller/cc-by-sa-4.0

Pubs at Grassmarket © Reinhold Möller/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Grassmarket is a historic market place and an event space in the Old Town (UNESCO World Heritage Site) of Edinburgh, Scotland. In relation to the rest of the city it lies in a hollow, well below surrounding ground levels. The Grassmarket is located directly below Edinburgh Castle and forms part of one of the main east-west vehicle arteries through the city centre. It adjoins the Cowgate and Candlemaker Row at the east end, the West Bow (the lower end of Victoria Street) in the north-east corner, King’s Stables Road to the north west and the West Port to the west. Leading off from the south-west corner is the Vennel, on the east side of which can still be seen some of the best surviving parts of the Flodden and Telfer town walls. The view to the north, dominated by the castle, has long been a favourite subject of painters and photographers, making it one of the iconic views of the city.   read more…

Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm

6 May 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Julian Herzog/cc-by-4.0

© Julian Herzog/cc-by-4.0

Gamla stan (The Old Town), until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna (The Town between the Bridges), is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. Officially, but not colloquially, Gamla stan includes the surrounding islets Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen, and Strömsborg. The town dates back to the 13th century, and consists of medieval alleyways, cobbled streets, and archaic architecture. North German architecture has had a strong influence in the Old Town’s construction.   read more…

Arab–Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflict

6 January 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  1987 minutes

© Oncenawhile

© Oncenawhile

(Latest update: 23 August 2022) The Arab–Israeli conflict is the political tension, military conflicts and disputes between a number of Arab countries and Israel. The roots (European colonial period, Ottoman Empire, widespread Antisemitism in Europe, Jews in the Russian Empire, Baron Edmond James de Rothschild (Jewish land purchase in Palestine), Theodor Herzl, Jewish National Fund (Israel Bonds), timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, World War I, Sykes–Picot Agreement (San Remo conference, Mandate for Palestine, UN Charter, Chapter XII – International Trusteeship System, Article 80 (commonly known as the “Palestine Article” used by both conflict parties, Israel and Palestine, to create the wildest interpretations, speculations and conspiracy theories to assert the respective alleged right to the total land area), McMahon–Hussein Correspondence), Balfour Declaration, World War II, The Holocaust (International Holocaust Remembrance Day), Évian Conference, Mandatory Palestine, Forced displacement, and United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine) of the modern Arab–Israeli conflict (or the history of collective failure) are bound in the rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism towards the end of the 19th century. Territory regarded by the Jewish people as their historical homeland is also regarded by the Pan-Arab movement as historically and currently belonging to the Palestinians, and in the Pan-Islamic context, as Muslim lands. The sectarian conflict between Palestinian Jews and Arabs emerged in the early 20th century, peaking into a full-scale civil war in 1947 and transforming into the First Arab–Israeli War in May 1948 following the Israeli Declaration of Independence (Nakba and the assassination of UN mediator Folke Bernadotte by the terror organization Lehi/Stern gang. Among them, the later Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir). Large-scale hostilities mostly ended with the cease-fire agreements after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War, or October War. Peace agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979, resulting in Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula and abolishment of the military governance system in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in favor of Israeli Civil Administration and consequent unilateral, internationally not recognized, annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. Even when the text is about 556 pages long, it is just a summary. The multitude of links point out that there is a lot more to learn in detail. At first, it is a timeline of the major developments in the region and it leads to today’s challenges. The starting point is the view of the international community, especially the European Union and North America, on the conflict, enriched with excursions into the ideas, convictions, believes, and thoughts of the direct and indirect involved parties to the conflict.   read more…

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