Disappeared Inca Empire Supremacy CUZCO part 2 September 19, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Cuzco, Encyclopedia, Geographic, Health Insurance, Lodges, Map, Science, Sightseeing, Travel Gear , 3commentsIf Cuzco was the centre of the empire, then the omphalos of Cuzco itself was the Coricancha, the Temple of the Sun. In Inca myth, the spot for this was found by Manco Capac, the first Inca, who was sent to earth to bring civilization. He used a golden rod to test for the correct location, and he knew he had found the spot when the rod disappeared into the ground. (more…)
Please to make a Hotel Reservation July 23, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Beach Resorts, Destination, Flight Schedule, Hostels, Hotels, India, Lodges, Motel, Passport, Tickets, Tour , 3comments“Excuse me, do you speak English?” “Oh yes, certainly.”
“I want to reserve three seats on a train from Calcutta to Patna.” “Please?”
“I want to reserve . . .”
“Where are you wanting to go?” “Patna.”
“Have you a reservation?”
“No. That is what I want.” “Please you wait over there.”
“I want to go during the day so that we can all see the countryside.” (more…)
The EXhilaration Adventure, real Hiking Mountain Trail, Kebnekaise Mountain Station continue… July 18, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Beach Resorts, Cars, Flight Schedule, Hostels, Hotels, Lodges, Motel, Restaurant, Sweden, Switzerland, Wellington , 2commentsIt was soon clear that the man had no idea what he was doing. He shouldn’t have been in the mountains. I asked him where his gear was. “Over there,” he said, pointing to the corner of the room. There was a tiny rucksack, a summer sleeping bag and a pair of Wellington boots. “Is that all?” I asked.
“Shit man, I didn‘t expect this. I came straight down the path from Abisko. It was beautiful the first two days. Which way did you come?”
“Over the mountains through Lapporten.”
“What was it like up there?”
“Cold and too much snow.”
“Where are you going?” (more…)
The EXhilaration Adventure, real Hiking Mountain Trail, Kebnekaise Mountain Station July 18, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Airlines, Art Gallery, Beach Resorts, Cars, Coliseum, Dolphinarium, Hostels, Hotels, Lodges, Motel, Museum, Norway, Oceanarium, Planetarium, Restaurant, Round The World, Sweden, Trip , 2commentsThree of us got off the train at Abisko in the mountains of Swedish Lapland: two men and a dog. I sat on my rucksack while the dog and his friend strolled over to the station building. When they were out of sight I stood up, glanced at my map and took a compass reading. It’s difficult to look confident in the mountains, so I always check map readings when there’s no-one to question my judgment.
I was going to walk south through Lapporten to Kebnekaise — Sweden’s highest mountain, 7,000 feet above sea level — and on to Nikkaluotka, a Lapp settlement by a beautiful ribbon lake. If the weather was good, it would take about a week. If not, I told myself that ten days would do. (more…)
Not Memsahib July 14, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Airlines, Beach Resorts, Cars, Destination, Europe, Flight Schedule, Hotels, India, Lodges, London, Motel, Museum, Oceanarium, Planetarium, Rail Pass, Restaurant, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsEvery time I heard the word memsahib I wanted to take an ice-pick to the user. I’d gone on the Hindu trail clutching my libertarianism to my bosom, a cosy cocoon from which I could rationalise and contain the INDIAshrieks from the inferno — not that Dante, I’m sure, ever went to Calcutta. Very right-on. Very arm’s-length. But keep your liberal sensibilities Gandhi-pure? Emerge unscathed? Forget it.
Sympathy, empathy, had long since given way to simmering hysteria, cringing shame and a seething, at times uncontrollable rage which was generalised in its target but oh so localised in its pain. It wasn’t even a consolingly righteous anger at the pulverising poverty, the callousness of caste or the stalinisation of women — more a deep-seated disgust and hatred welling up from deep down and spewing out over all humanity, most of all myself . . . Well, OK, you try and make sense of the matchstick people of Madhya Pradesh, the execrable excrement of Bombay and Dehli, the obscene opulence of Jaipur jewellers, the blinding, vivid hues of Rajasthani women’s skirts — and all of it sinking in one great ubiquitous quicksand of suffocating, strangulating bureaucracy. (more…)
Passing on Victoria Water Falls, Shooting the Zambezi, Escape into Africa July 10, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Botswana, Hotels, Lodges, Passport, South Africa, Tour, USA, United Kingdom, Victoria Falls, Zambia , 4commentsA white line still bisected the bridge, but its meaning had gone and the menace with it. Now the only sentry was a baboon sitting on a fence barking at a warthog on the other side of the road.
Early morning, sun up but cool, just two of us on the bridge at Victoria Falls, between Zimbabwe and Zambia. We looked down at the pale green Zambesi 300 feet below. Cecil Rhodes had wanted the bridge built close enough to the Falls to catch the spray. Usually it does. However, this was September and the “Falls” in front of us were just a curtain of rock. The rains had been good; not good enough, though, to make up for years of drought.
Only on the Zimbabwean side did the river reach over and plunge in. Its noise was like distant motorway traffic.
We were about to go down the river on a rubber raft. We were to start at the bottom of the Falls and travel six miles down the Zambesi through zigzagging gorges . . . and over nine rapids. Why on earth had we agreed to it? Sarah didn’t even like putting her head under water in the bath. As for me, the wake of a passing launch under a scull on the Thames was the nearest I’d ever got to white water. (more…)
Getting High in the Yemen Question: how can you see London, Paris and New York simultaneously while sitting in a Remote Corner of the Arabian Peninsula? July 9, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Africa, Air Tickets, Beach Resorts, Cars, Europe, Hostels, Hotels, Lodges, London, Museum, Oceanarium, Round The World, Tour, USA , 3commentsAnswer: adopt the national pastime of North Yemen and devote the entire afternoon to chewing the narcotic qat leaf. Our host, his eyes dreamy and his cheeks bulging with the drug, rocks with laughter at his own joke.
We had landed that morning to find ourselves catapulted into a medieval Manhatten, a confusing world of centuries-old mud skyscrapers and lavish exteriors that make a mockery of the Middle Eastern practice of living behind blank facades. Resting in a secluded courtyard we watch a veiled face peer out from behind a half-opened shutter high up on a crumbling wall. A basket lowers itself to the ground from a distant rooftop. A train of three camels, loaded down with bundles of qat, squeezes through a tiny alleyway and lurches past the massive studded door of a mosque. (more…)
Unforgettable Florence Tour June 20, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Hotels, Italy, Lodges, Restaurant, USA , add a commentThe Villa La Massa at Candeli, mentioned in D.H. Lawrence’s letters as an appealing residence, is now a restored, modern-convenienced fifteenth-century hunting lodge on the south bank of the Arno below San Miniato al Monte. It is also a combination of Palazzo and Fawlty Towers. We reserve a table at 7 in its “Verrocchio” restaurant, but at that hour are told to wait until 8, at which time the manager calls, apologizes that the chef is not ready, and asks us to spend a few minutes at the bar. The Massa’s nine other guests, formally dressed Germans, are already there and, having been told the same thing, plainly annoyed. At 8:30 we stroll by the cypresses and the river, which at this altitude and in freshet season sounds like a rushing Rocky Mountain stream. Eventually, at about 9:30, the high-vaulted Gothic restaurant opens and a maitre d’hôtel in an orchestra conductor’s frack takes our orders in German; or, rather, enumerates the limited selection of available dishes, prices unlisted, or unascertained, or unknown. A piano, semitone flat in the upper register, loudly serenades us with sentimental German songs. (more…)
The palace of Nymphenburg continue… June 7, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Aquarium, Art Gallery, Beach Resorts, Belgium, Coliseum, Destination, Dolphinarium, Europe, Gymnasium, Hotels, Library, Lodges, Museum, Oceanarium, Planetarium, Restaurant, Round The World, USA , add a commentIn 1716 Effner began the first of the four Rococo pavilions in the garden. This was the Pagodenburg, a product of the craze for chinoiserie that was beginning to sweep Western Europe. This little building has an interesting plan, which can be described either as an octagon with projections at four of the eight sides or as a Greek cross with the corners bevelled off. The exterior has an entirely French appearance and it is only inside that the Chinese theme is introduced. On the ground storey, the principal feature is provided by the blue Delft tiles in glazed earthenware, which the elector may have learned to appreciate during his stay in the Low Countries, though they are undoubtedly a cheaper substitute for Chinese porcelain. The upper of the two storeys has two pentagonal cabinets with lacquer panelling and furniture made by Parisian craftsmen in the chinoiserie manner. In the lounge, however, the purely European Régence again takes over in the fine wall carvings and silk brocade. (more…)
Splendour Versailles June 6, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Italy, Lodges, Paris, USA , add a commentIn size and splendour Versailles has few peers in the history of Western palace building. In fact, the Roman Palatine itself is perhaps the only building complex that can rival the grandeur and historical influence of this palace. And like the Palatine, Versailles has undergone many changes, though fortunately far less actual destruction, even during the French Revolution.
Versailles was the creation of the Sun King, Louis XIV, who reigned for nearly three-quarters of a century from 1643 to 17154 And because practical requirements, new currents of taste and political upsets have led to many changes, a fair degree of imagination is needed to visualise the palace at the height of its glory. And Versailles repays the effort handsomely. (more…)
Versailles: Europe’s greatest palace, a scene of splendour and despair 2 May 23, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Lodges, Paris, USA , add a commentThe real story of Versailles opens with a windmill on a hill and a hunting party — of which the young king, Louis XIII, was a member — in the woods nearby. So marked an impression did this make on the young king that eighteen years later, in 1624, he bought the knoll and built a small hunting box there, which was the origin of the future palace. This was the scene of the Journee des Dupes (the Day of the Dupes) in 163o. On this occasion Louis XIII, in spite of the efforts of Marie de‘ Medici who wanted to dismiss Richelieu from his high office, asserted his authority and assured the Cardinal of his continued support and favour. In 1632 Louis XIII purchased the Manor of Versailles from its owners, the Gondis, to whom it had belonged since 1572. He took over the whole estate and committed to Philibert le Roy the task of improving the hunting-lodge which was to remain his favourite resort until his death in 1643. (more…)
Linderhof: Ludwing IP’s flamboyant fantasy in the neo-baroque manner May 19, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Airlines, Aquarium, Art Gallery, Beach Resorts, Cars, Coliseum, Destination, Dolphinarium, Flight Schedule, France, Gymnasium, Hotels, Library, Lodges, Memorial, Museum, Oceanarium, Planetarium, Restaurant, Round The World, USA , add a commentOne should approach Linderhof in a mood of reverence and delight. It is essential to view it not as a madman’s dream but as a piece of fairy-tale architecture in a setting surprising and yet amazingly appropriate. The eye which sees it as so much white icing fallen from a wedding cake at a sylvan picnic is not worthy of it. The cultural snobbery which dismisses it because of its overwhelming sympathy for a period other than its own, blinds its victims to merits which are intrinsic and valid. It is in indisputable little masterpiece, and, in the light of that, its debt to the France of Louis Quator ze becomes an irrelevance. (more…)
Sans Souci: The light-hearted summer-house of King Frederick the Great continue… May 18, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Airlines, Destination, England, Flight Schedule, Library, Lodges, USA , add a commentThe entrance hall contains Corinthian columns exactly matching the colonnade outside. Doors lead off on the right to the service rooms, left to the corridor, and straight across to the cupola hall. Both halls were by von Knobelsdorff. The floor of the cupola hall was designed by Johann Christian Hoppenhaupt and executed in marble intarsia by Duquesnoy. The Italian marble blocks for this hall were too large to bring to Berlin, and two stone cutters, Heller and Grepler, were sent to Hamburg to work them in the rough. The most decorative room was without doubt the music room, with decorations by Johann Michael Hoppenhaupt and a series of wall paintings by the court painter, a Frenchman, Antoine Pesne, director of the Berlin Academy, who was here to be seen at his best. (more…)
The Quirinal: The most venerable of the palaces in this city of palaces May 16, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Airlines, Aquarium, Art Gallery, Beach Resorts, Coliseum, Destination, Dolphinarium, Egypt, Flight Schedule, Gymnasium, Hostels, Hotels, Italy, Library, Lodges, Memorial, Motel, Museum, Oceanarium, Planetarium, Restaurant, Round The World, USA , add a commentThe Immense Complex of the Quirinal Palace was the summer residence of the Popes until 1870 when it was seized by Vittorio Emmanuele. He died there in 1878 after receiving a message of pardon from the Pontiff he had outraged. The palace remained the home of the kings of Italy until 1946 and is now occupied by the President of the Italian Republic. Although the Savoyards endeavoured to remove the traces of the former occupants of the Quirinal, replacing the papal arms wherever possible with their own, the palace is essentially a monument to the taste of its builders, Gregory XIII, Sixtus V, Paul V and, to a lesser degree, Alexander VII and Clement XII. With its great irregular piazza it is among the noblest examples of that union of the baroque and the antique upon which the character of Rome so largely depends. (more…)
Caserta: The monumental scale of a palace executed for the Bourbons continue… May 15, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Airlines, Aquarium, Art Gallery, Beach Resorts, Coliseum, Destination, Dolphinarium, Gymnasium, Hotels, Library, Lodges, Memorial, Museum, Oceanarium, Planetarium, Restaurant, USA , add a commentThe first of these, the Halberdiers’ Hall, echoes the mood of the staircase. Its exquisitely blanched lilac and grey marbles appear to be salt-encrusted ; the soaring vault, the Ionic pilasters, the white stucco reliefs and the titanic sculpture of Victory crowning Alexander Farnese, carved out of a column from theTemple of Peace in Rome, all fulfil the expectations aroused by the noble entrance. But none of the other apartments exhibits the daring architectural imagination of the vestibule and staircase. The size and extent of the interior does indeed intimidate and amaze the visitor. As he wanders through the endless sequence of rooms he almost shares the terror of Ferdinand II’s little son, the Count of Bari, who at the age of seven was lost for over an hour in the labyrinthine halls. (more…)
Aranjuez: Philip II’s leafy palace on the banks of the River Tagus continue… May 14, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Airlines, Beach Resorts, Destination, England, Hotels, Lodges, Travel Gear, Travelling Bag , add a commentAranjuez’s beautiful gardens have long been famous. The oldest is the Garden of the Island in a loop of the Tagus on the north side of the palace; a narrow canal, the Ria, has been cut across the base. Philip II introduced elms here from England, and in spring it is a paradise of shade and running water. As Saint Simon remarked in 1722: ‘ There are all sorts of curiosities in the shape of artificial trees with birds perched in them, which let fall showers of water when one walks underneath ; (more…)
Aranjuez: Philip II’s leafy palace on the banks of the River Tagus May 14, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Airlines, Art Gallery, Austria, Beach Resorts, Destination, Europe, Granada, Gymnasium, Hotels, Library, Lodges, Memorial, Museum, Portugal, Restaurant, Spain, Sunblock, Travel Gear, Travelling Bag, USA , add a commentAranjuez, at the confluence of the Tagus and Jarama rivers, about thirty miles south of Madrid, is the most celebrated of the rare oases which break the arid monotony of most of Spain. The air resounds with the noise of rushing water, the trees are the finest in southern Europe and the nightingales (which were Philip II’s chief regret during three years’ absence in Portugal) are as renowned as the strawberries and asparagus from its market-gardens.
In the Middle Ages the land belonged to the knights of Santiago, whose Grand Master, Lorenzo Suarez de Figueroa, erected a castle there in 1387. When Ferdinand and Isabella merged the Grand Mastership in the Crown, the property passed with it. Charles V converted the building into a hunting-lodge, which Juan Bautista de Toledo and Juan de Herrera, the architects of the Escorial, replaced by a palace for Philip II. (more…)
The Royal Palace: The former residence of the kings of Sardina and of Italy May 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Airlines, Beach Resorts, Cars, Destination, Flight Schedule, Hotels, Italy, Library, Lodges, Memorial, Motel, Museum, Paris, Restaurant, USA , add a commentIf it were not for the chimerical dome of the Cappella della Santa Sindone rising up so strangely to the left of the Royal Palace, nobody would suspect that this sober front concealed an exuberance of gilded, carved, inlaid, painted and looking-glass decoration surpassing the highest flights of fancy. But that exciting outline, combining the undulations of a pagoda with the zigzag step effects of a Mexican extravagance prepares the mind for the shock of the contrast between the incredibly rich interior and the flat, reticent exterior of the palace, so close in spirit to neo-classicism that it is difficult to believe in its seventeenth- century date. (more…)
The Alhambra: Cool courtyards of the Moorish kings overlooking Granada continue… May 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Airlines, Beach Resorts, Destination, Granada, Hotels, Italy, Lodges, Round The World, Travel Insurance, USA , 3commentsToday, stripped bare and despoiled, scarcely any furnishings remain to remind us of this well organised palace life.
Until the day when the Cross of the Reconquest was planted on the Torre de la Vela, much of the history of its development is uncertain. The summit of the Asabica, the Moorish name for the hill on which the Alhambra stands, was certainly fortified from ancient times and grew in importance in the ninth century, when this region was dominated by the Emirs of nearby Cordoba. Formerly it faced a similar fortification on the opposite hill of Albaicin — the palace of the Berber chieftain Zagui ben Ziri, a descendant of the Royal Family of Tunis. In 1238 Mohammed ben Alhamar, vassal of the Christian King San Fernando, occupied Granada, having first seized the fortified citadels of Jaen, Baeza and Guadix. (more…)
The Alhambra: Cool courtyards of the Moorish kings overlooking Granada May 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Airlines, Beach Resorts, Cars, Destination, Greece, Hostels, Hotels, India, Library, Lodges, Memorial, Motel, Museum, Travel Insurance, USA , add a commentIt is the imaginative setting of the Alhambra which stars the originality of the Arabs and not only demonstrates them as being decorators of genius but, above all, eminent poets in the siting of their fortresses. Seen from the heights above Albaicin, the rectangular geometry of the twenty or more towers shows a magnificent Cezanne-like rhythm of descent down to the ravine below. Though sharp black stabs of tall cypress trees give some hint of the many hidden courtyards, yet for all its intricacies the Alhambra remains secret and even austere, as compared with any trellised and domed rose-pink Moghul palace. Together with the gardens of the Generalife, the setting of this unique citadel is further enhanced by a magnificent backdrop — the perpetual white-capped brilliance of the Sierra Nevada, shimmering against the cloudless turquoise sky. (more…)