Damascus, capital of Syria

29 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  8 minutes

Saladin mouselum tomb © flickr.com - Jan Smith/cc-by-2.0

Saladin mouselum tomb © flickr.com – Jan Smith/cc-by-2.0

Damascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. Aleppo comes in second. It is commonly known in Syria as ash-Sham (Arabic: ash-Shām) and nicknamed as the City of Jasmine (Arabic: Madīnat al-Yāsmīn). In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural and religious center of the Levant. The city has an estimated population of 1,711,000 (2009 est.). Located in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area of 2.6 million people (2004). Geographically embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range 80 kilometres (50 mi) inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau 680 metres (2,230 ft) above sea-level, Damascus experiences a semi-arid climate due to the rain shadow effect. The Barada River flows through Damascus.   read more…

Barcelonnette in the Ubaye valley

28 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Speculos/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Speculos/cc-by-sa-3.0

Barcelonnette is a commune of France and a subprefecture in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. It is located in the southern French Alps, at the crossroads between Provence, Piedmont and the Dauphiné, and is the largest town in the Ubaye Valley. The town’s inhabitants are known as Barcelonnettes. Barcelonnette is situated in the wide and fertile Ubaye Valley, of which it is the largest town. It lies at an elevation of 1132 m (3717 ft) on the right bank of the Ubaye River, and is surrounded by mountains which reach peaks of over 3000 m; the tallest of these is the Needle of Chambeyron at 3412 m. Barcelonnette is situated 210 km from Turin, 91 km from Nice and 68 km from Gap.   read more…

The Greek island of Hydra

28 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Herbert Ortner

© Herbert Ortner

Hydra is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece, located in the Aegean Sea between the Saronic Gulf and the Argolic Gulf. It is separated from the Peloponnese by narrow strip of water. In ancient times, the island was known as Hydrea (derived from the Greek word for “water”), which was a reference to the springs on the island. The municipality Hydra consists of the islands Hydra (area 50 km2), Dokos (pop. 13, area 12.5 km2) and a few uninhabited islets.   read more…

Gay & Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands

27 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands stamps © John

Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands stamps © John

The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands is a micronation established as a symbolic political protest by a group of gay rights activists based in Australia. Declared in 2004 in response to the Australian government’s refusal to recognise same-sex marriages, it was founded on Australia’s external overseas Territory of the Coral Sea Islands, a group of uninhabited islets east of the Great Barrier Reef. It is an expression of queer nationalism.   read more…

The Lake Zurich

26 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Roland zh/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Roland zh/cc-by-sa-3.0

Zürichsee is strictly the name of the part of the lake downstream of the dam at Rapperswil, mostly located within the canton of Zürich. The part upstream of the Rapperswil dam is called Obersee, and is shared between the cantons of St. Gallen and Schwyz. Besides Bürkliplatz in Zürich and the Seedamm, there are no bridges across the lake.   read more…

Theme Week Amsterdam, Hollands party capital

26 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, European Union, Bon voyage, European Capital of Culture, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

Amsterdam inner city © Emes2k

Amsterdam inner city © Emes2k

Amsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, with an urban population of 1,209,419 and a metropolitan population of 2,158,592. The city is in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. It comprises the northern part of the Randstad, the sixth-largest metropolitan area in Europe, with a population of approximately 8.1 million according to larger estimates.   read more…

Theme Week Frankfurt – The Museumsufer

25 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  6 minutes

Staedel © Simsalabimbam/cc-by-2.5

Staedel © Simsalabimbam/cc-by-2.5

The embankment to the south of the Main River in Frankfurt, Germany, is called Museumsufer or Museum Embankment because of the large concentration of museums there. Perhaps the leading one is the Städel art gallery.   read more…

Theme Week Sardinia – Olbia

24 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Isola di Tavolara © Lupanino

Isola di Tavolara © Lupanino

Olbia is a city and comune of 58,000 inhabitants in northeastern Sardinia, in the Gallura sub-region. Called Olbia in the Roman age, Civita in the Middle Ages (Giudicati period) and Terranova Pausania before the 1940s, Olbia was again the official name of the city during the period of Fascism.   read more…

The Sea Islands along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida

24 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Terns on Cape Island. 1827 lighthouse (left) and an 1857 lighthouse (right) in the background © Billy Shaw/USFWS

Terns on Cape Island. 1827 lighthouse (left) and an 1857 lighthouse (right) in the background © Billy Shaw/USFWS

The Sea Islands are a chain of tidal and barrier islands on the Southeastern Atlantic Ocean coast of the United States. Numbering over 100, they are located between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns Rivers along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Settled by indigenous cultures over thousands of years, the islands were selected by Spanish colonists as sites for founding of colonial missions.   read more…

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