A wild, rocky coast and quiet forests of mighty trees October 27, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Motel, Rail Pass, Tickets, Trails, Trip , 2commentsBetween Plettenberg Bay and Knysna the N2 winds through pine and eucalyptus plantations and patches of indigenous forest. Today’s drive, much of it on gravel, follows several side-roads, two of which lead to the coast — then turns inland to explore the depths of the primeval forest, where the last of the Knysna elephants live their secret lives.
Leave Plettenberg Bay on the N2 towards Knysna, and note your kms as you pass the Stromboli Motel on your left. After a
Further 3,7km turn left onto a good gravel road signposted ‘Harkerville’. 1 km later turn left, and after a further 500 m, at a small group of houses, turn right, passing picturesque cottages before entering indigenous forest with ferns crowding the roadside. (more…)
Across the Swartberg and through the brightly coloured Meiringspoort October 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Cape Town, Hotels, Map, Memorial, Money, Restaurant, South Africa, Sunblock, Travelling Bag , 2commentsThe Grootrivier (great river) sculpted the colourful Meiringspoort gorge through the barrier of the Swartberg range, and our route follows the road that now winds along the river’s banks. First, however, we cross the mountains from south to north by rneans of the soaring Swartberg Pass. Four fifths of the route is tarred, the rest is gravel.
If you are considering this drive in winter, first check with the AA in George that the Swartberg Pass has not been blocked by snow. (more…)
Cahokia Mounds, the Late Woodland Culture continue… September 28, 2008
Posted by dodo in : America, Central America, Destination, Hotels, Map, Memorial, North America, Sightseeing, Tour, USA , 2commentsMound 72 is most interesting, even though today it seems a fairly insignificant ridge of earth. Excavations revealed that at the precise point where the meridional line passes through the end of the mound, a huge pole — about three feet (1m) in diameter — had been erected. Radiocarbon dating of material in the eight-foot (2.4m) deep pole (the pole had clearly been very tall) gave a date of AD 950 for the time when the pole was placed in the ground. The excavations also showed that the mound had been constructed from a series of earlier submounds that were then reshaped and covered over to give the long ridge form. (more…)
Cahokia Mounds, the Late Woodland Culture September 28, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Cars, Europe, Museum, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, USA , 2commentsThis 2,200-A0 (890HA) site is situated just to the east of St Louis, in southern Illinois, close to Collinsville (not, confusingly, near the town of Cahokia). It is the remains of a large city and ritual complex which was first occupied around AD 700, developed, flowered, declined and was abandoned by AD 1500. At its peak it covered some six square miles (1,550ha) and had a population of about 20,000. It was certainly the largest community in prehistoric times in what is now the USA, and its influence extended for great distances. (more…)
Peru Inca citadel Machu Picchu: Hitching Post of the Sun, Sun God continue… September 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Central America, Cuzco, Encyclopedia, Geographic, Map, Round The World, Science, Tour, Trip , 2commentsThe Torreon’s southeast window may also have had astronomical significance, for it aligned to the rising of the stars in the tail of Scorpius which were called collca, the Storehouse, by the Andeans. Anthropologist Gary Urton has found that the Andean Indians today also use that name for the Pleiades, so there may have been some conceptual, mythological link between the two groups of stars.
There are probably energy and consciousness aspects to Machu Picchu, too. David Zink writes that the site is located on a geological fault. Often what are sometimes extreme magnetic anomalies are found in such locations. My own research has shown a connection between magnetic anomalies and the sensitivity of psychics.’ (more…)
Peru Inca citadel Machu Picchu: Hitching Post of the Sun, Sun God September 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Cuzco, Destination, Encyclopedia, Geographic, Library, Map, Museum, Tour, Travelling Bag , 3commentsMachu Picchu was an Inca citadel, located a little over 60 miles (97km) ….. north of Cuzco. Its ruins occupy a topographical saddle about 8,000 feet (2,400km) up in the Andes between the peaks of Machu (old) Picchu and Huayna (new) Picchu. It is a complex of cultivation terraces, stone houses, temples, plazas and residential compounds clinging to the ridge, on three sides of which are vertiginous drops, overhanging the gorge of the Urubamba River about 2,000 feet (600m) below. The city was discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham of Yale University, whose reports and photographs captured the public imagination. (more…)
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…)
One day in Germany Speyer Cathedral, World Famous Heritage September 10, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Belgium, Europe, Germany, Hotels, Netherlands, Rail Pass, Scotland, Sightseeing, Switzerland, Tickets, Tour , 3commentsSituated in Rhineland-Palatinate, this extensively rebuilt Romanesque structure is the largest cathedral in Germany. Although it dates from the eleventh century, the origins of the site are much older.
To the Celts it was known as Noviomagus, and the Romans called it Civitas Nemetum. The cathedral has evolved on a former pagan holy place, for the site was occupied by a Roman temple dedicated to the Celtic goddess Nantosvelta. It is even thought `probable that buildings from the Roman period were converted to construct the church’.’ It is likely that the site was considered sacred ‘even before the Roman temple was built’ . (more…)
Geomantic feature of the ancient Tower of London, Secret face of Britain’s Capital City continue… August 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Airlines, England, Europe, Hotels, London, Rail Pass, Round The World, Sightseeing, Tour, Trails, Travel Gear, Travelling Bag, Trip , 3commentsAfter a short distance, the course of the line connects with the axis of Cannon Street, passing through the former position of the London Stone. The remnants of this undoubtedly ancient feature are to be found today behind an iron grill set into the wall of the Bank of China on the north side of Cannon Street, opposite Cannon Street Tube (subway) station, more or less in the position it formerly occupied against the wall of St Swithin’s church, until that was demolished in the 1960s. Up until 1742, however, it was located on what was then the south side of Cannon Street in a position that would now be in the middle of the modern roadway, as it was subsequently widened. No one really knows the origins of the stone. (more…)
Avebury Village & Related Megalithic Sites: Remarkable Monument, Ceremonial Landscape part 2 August 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Destination, Europe, London, Memorial, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Travelling Bag, United Kingdom , 2commentsThe whole was covered with soil, each step of the chalk cone being filled and smoothed into the overall profile of the hill except the top one, which was left as a terrace or ledge running about 17 feet (5m) below the flat summit. Today this terrace is clearly visible on the eastern side of the mound, although the western part of the circuit is less distinct. Whether this was deliberate, or due to erosion by the prevailing southwest winds, is unclear. But the segment of the hill between terrace and summit is significant, as we shall see. (more…)
Avebury Village & Related Megalithic Sites: Remarkable Monument, Ceremonial Landscape August 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Airlines, Destination, Europe, Hotels, Memorial, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Trip, United Kingdom , 3commentsThe two great henge mountains of Stonehenge and Avebury are only about 20 miles (32km) apart in Wiltshire, yet each has its own surrounding ceremonial landscape containing many other monuments. All are entered as site number 96 on the World Heritage List, but here we will describe each of these major monuments and landscapes in turn. (more…)
Greece Delphi: the Sacred Centre, the Navel of the World continue… August 8, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Airlines, Cars, Europe, France, Hotels, Motel, Museum, Rail Pass, Tickets, Trails, Travelling Bag, USA , 3commentsThe village of Kastri was built over the site of the sanctuary and this proved a problem in the nineteenth century when archaeologists wanted to examine the famous oracle site. International rivalry developed over the excavation rights. France won, but at the expense of rehousing all the villagers of Kastri at another site, New Kastri (now the modern Delphi), just over 1/2 mile (1km) to the west. French archaeological investigation has gone on to a greater or lesser degree ever since. (more…)
Secret and Scared Ancient Greece Places: World Heritage Epidaurus continue… August 5, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Greece, Hotels, Istanbul , 3commentsSouthwest of the temple are the remains of a curious rotunda-like building known as the Tholos, also described on the stele. This was built very shortly after the temple, perhaps in 360. It stood on a platform three steps high, had 26 Doric columns around its outer side and 14 beautiful marble columns forming an interior colonnade. The foundations of three inner walls seem to have formed a labyrinth, above which was a chequered pavement arranged in a spiral. The purpose of the building is unknown, but reasonable suggestions have been made that it housed a sacred well or snake pit. (more…)
Historic Areas of Istanbul August 5, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Cairo, Cars, Istanbul, Museum, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trip, Turkey , 3commentsLittle modern research seems to have been done (or, at least, published) with regard to the ancient geomancy of the Islamic world. We note the occurrence of mosques on a much older alignment in ancient Thebes, and a dramatic alignment of mosques and tombs in medieval Cairo has been recorded,’ but greater contemporary appraisal of Middle Eastern geomantic patterns needs to be carried out. The alignment in Istanbul described here was initiated as a result of preliminary observations made by architect Patrick Horsbrugh,2 and it is presented merely in the spirit of experimental research, to bring previously unconsidered material to the reader’s attention. (more…)
Malta GGANTIJA Myth Temples August 3, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Beach Resorts, Sightseeing, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsWORLD HERITAGE LIST NUMBER 185 ARCHAEOLOGY, EVOLVED, GEOMANCY
The GGANTIJA temples are situated near Xaghra on Gozo, a Mediterranean islanda few miles northwest of its larger neighbour, Malta. Although the combined surface area of these two islands adds up to merely 125 square miles (320 square km), the importance of the megalithic architecture which has survived there is ‘out of all proportion to the islands‘ size’.’ (more…)
Egypt Ancient Thebes & its Necropolis continue… August 3, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Egypt, Flight Schedule, Memorial, Museum, Restaurant, The Nile, Tour, Trip , 6commentsHawkins crossed the Nile to the necropolis. This complex of mortuary temples and tombs hewn out of the living rock served many periods of ancient Egypt and covers a large area. The whole landscape is dominated by a remarkably regular pyramidical mountain. Atop it are the remains of a prehistoric mound, predating dynastic Egypt. It is difficult for a geomantic researcher not to consider that the shape of this peak was an important factor determining the Egyptians’ initial choice of this area as a major necropolis. (more…)
Egypt Ancient Thebes & its Necropolis August 3, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Cairo, Destination, Egypt, Hotels, Library, Memorial, Museum, The Nile , 5commentsThebes is the Greek name given to what was an ancient capital of Egypt, now most simply identified as Luxor, on the east side of the Nile about 370 miles (600km) south of Cairo. On the opposite side of the river is the great necropolis that includes the famed Valley of the Kings. (more…)
