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Minas Gerias is truly an amazing world of its own, with a fascinating baroque grandiosity that has been preserved for over two centuries.
There are many small villages and historic cities that are a reflection of the prosperous mining boom of the early 18th century. This vast economic wealth transformed the region and resulted in the Brazilian Golden Age, a movement purely distinct of the Minas Gerias state.
When you walk down the cobble-stoned streets lined with ornate cathedrals painted in pure gold, imposing colonial mansions, and intricate fountains you’ll be transported back to one of the most prosperous times in Brazilian history.
The mountains, prehistoric caves, rivers and national parks of the area are also great places to experience the natural beauty of this historic region.
Daily tours run by local volunteer enthusiasts from the South Beach architectural preservation society. Excellent on history of art deco buildings and styles, visits to some buildings and gives a great intro to SoBe.
Ocean Drive, South Beach
The Nozyk Synagogue is the only synagogue in Warsaw that survived the war. It is located in an area of Warsaw that was originally inside the Little Ghetto in 1940, but was later outside the Ghetto after it was made smaller, following deportations.
Out of thousands of synagogues in Poland, there are only about 245 remaining. All of the unique wooden synagogues were destroyed, although some 17th century wooden Catholic churches remain to this day. The Nozyk synagogue was named for the man who founded it in 1900, Zalman ben Menasze Nozyk, and his wife Rywka bat Mosze (some guidebooks say it was founded in 1902).
Today services are held here every Friday night and every Saturday. Inside, you will see the interior of a moderately wealthy synagogue from turn-of-the-century Warsaw, with the cabinet containing the Torah scrolls and the bema (or pulpit) in the nave. The upper galleries are set aside for women.
6 Twarda St, Warschau 00-104, Polen
Tel.: 48-22-620 3496
Galicia was once the heart of Eastern European Jewish culture. This museum gives a great introduction and interesting overview of this fascinating culture.
The permanent exhibition, Traces of Memory, is a contemporary look at the Jewish past in Poland. The exhibition features the work of the late photographer Chris Schwarz. Over a period of twelve years, he travelled together with Prof. Jonathan Webber (UNESCO Chair of Jewish and Interfaith Studies, University of Birmingham, UK) town by town and village by village. Their work offers a special way of looking at the Jewish past that was destroyed in Poland. I enjoyed the exhibition as very informative and thought-provoking.
Check the changing current exhibition as well!
I love Krakow. If you like Prague and the charming atmosphere of old european cities. You’ll love Krakow, too – I promise! European history is omnipresent: starting with Romanic buildings from the 10th century, when Krakow was an important retail centre, you find early sacral buildings and a castle (Wawel Hill).
A university was founded in medieval times, which made the former Polish capital a leading intellectual centre. There is a long list of buildings from throughout the centuries to explore. Don’t forget about the influence of Jewish life and culture. To get an idea of the amount of things to explore and the variety, start with a hike along the royal route.
But what makes Krakow so special? Its living and lively urbanity. Some grand old cities appear like a museum with inhabitants as living accessories, but not Krakow.
Köyceğiz is a beautiful quiet town with hot summers and friendly local people.
The Lake of Köyceğiz is often said to be as "as smooth as glass" till noon and then great for wind surfing in the afternoon. The Köyceğiz Lake contains almost every kind of seafood from fish to crab.
The Rock Tombs are tombs carved into the rock in Dalyan and date back to the ancient harbour city of Caunos.
The Mud baths are natural hot mud baths - very good for the skin!
Koycegiz, Dalyan
The Mint was one of the places where Australia’s coinage was produced but now it mints mainly commemorative medals and the like – the 2000 Olympics medals for instance – but it stages a ‘Gold Pour’ half a dozen times a day. This is industry as theatre, as a bloke melts down gold (and they do use real gold, unlike other mints that have a similar attraction) and pours into a mould, plunges that into a bucket of cold water and then presents the finished article for the audience to admire – all of this done with an informative and witty patter. It was fascinating and the Mint also has a very upmarket gift shop and tea gardens.
This was, I reckon, the best cuppa I had for the entire nine weeks I was away from home – a fresh pot of Orange Pekoe made with leaf tea not bags, slices of lemon instead of milk, piping hot water for top-up and a plate of excellent scones with raspberry jam and cream - terrific.
On the excellent free tram circuit
The south of Hong Kong Island is a nice place to escape to after spending time walking through the interesting streets of Hong Kong.
Sit and enjoy the view of the sea and find the hotel with a hole in it - apparently something to do with the spirit of a dragon!
Probably best not to swim in the sea though - I hear it's quite polluted.
Get on a bus and take to the top deck for a ride across Hong Kong Island.
This website is about the real Budapest, and gives very interesting background details about the history, culture and architecture of this beautiful capital which is slowly losing some of its unique features (old presszo bars, neon signs, dingy borozos) as it changes into a modern European metropolis. Written by a Hungarian speaker, the articles featured go behind the facade and into much more detail than a guide book could manage.
It has a wealth of information for people who really love Budapest and want to know the city better.
Check out the recent story on the Trabants - really interesting!
The street of Victorian shops is fascinating; there are other historical mock-ups such as a First World War trench (no wellies required) and something for all ages... it's a family run business so the home-made scones ARE home-made.
Just the place for a rainy day.
Corner Fore St. (St Marychurch) & Hampton Ave, near Babbacombe Model Village, 01803 32610 www.bygones.co.uk
A great place to watch an authentic folklore and dance show and for dinner. Very happy and friendly atmosphere.
On Cumhuriyet Caddesi, 10 min walk from Taksim Square towards Hilton.
Just an hour outside Berlin by car lies a real hidden gem. The Woerlitzer Park – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – is one of the most dazzling examples of landscape gardening in continental Europe. Having been inspired by a trip to England, Prince Leopold III started work on the 122 hectare public garden in 1764. Now it stands – a stunning series of labyrinthine paths, winding rivers and ponds – as an oasis of calm, and a true work of art.
For directions see
www.woerlitz-information.de/woerlitz-en/ko/anfahrt.php
10 best bars in LA and no Formosa? You've gotta be kidding! Elvis once tipped a waitress here with a Buick. Great bar, great drinks, great history and great margueritas.
Santa Monica & Formosa
www.worldsbestbars.com/public/venue_listing.jsp?categoryId=29¤tVenueId=353
Fantastic setting and views, slightly outside the city centre but walkable. Beautiful courtyard. Free on the first Sunday of the month.
Treks and walks are possible for residents and visitors alike. Certainly the coast offers beauty beyond description but the forests and mountains, together with the villages and settlements contained within their folds, provide an experience that, unchanged by tourism, contrasts sharply with the local resorts.
The museum has lots of the treasures that have been removed from Pompeii/Herculaneum etc. for security reasons. I've been twice and it was very quiet on both occasions despite the stunning artefacts, I guess because of the reputation of the city. It also has the 'secret room' where much of the pornography from the sites is on display, you can easily avoid it if you wish!
You can easily get there via the underground, there's a station right outside, but you must watch your bags as you travel around!
Who’d have thought that a graveyard could be so much fun. But one of the best free shows in Paris is to be had at the Père Lachaise cemetery. All the stars are here in this A-list of the deceased: from painters to poets, from Yves Montand to Marcel Marceau (who was interred here in 2007). It is yet to be seen whether admirers of the late mime artist will establish a tradition of holding a ‘two minutes noise’ at his graveside by way of tribute but a number of the cemetery’s more distinguished denizens already attract appropriate acts of homage from their disciples. Whether it be romantics of the Left placing their red roses on the grim Mur des Fédédés, where the heroic resistance of the Paris Commune came to its final bloody end; or the scarlet lipstick kisses, lovingly planted by gay pilgrims, that smother Epstein’s monument to Oscar Wilde. Whether it be the grungy little knots of Scandinavian teenagers, self-consciously puffing at their spliffs around the tomb of rock legend Jim Morrison; or the fans, of all ages, who make for the mighty marble slab that marks the last resting place of Edith Piaf – the Little Sparrow. I once threatened the French All-Comers record for the high jump when, standing at this spot in quiet contemplation, I was startled by a young woman behind me bursting into a full-throated rendition of ‘Je ne regrette rien’. At Marcel Proust’s grave it is customary to leave an apt votive offering: having no madeleine to hand I left a Jaffa Cake.
But a personal favourite is a memorial to a now, largely forgotten figure. Félix Faure was President of the Republic in the 1890s. Of course politicians back then suffered much less scrutiny of their private lives and Faure was very much a man of his time. Indeed he could be seen as an embodiment of fin de siècle hedonism making the most of what Paris had to offer the wealthy and the powerful (think can-can, think Toulouse-Lautrec).
But a dark shadow was cast over the latter days of his presidency by the bitterly divisive Dreyfus Affair. In an effort, perhaps, to take his mind off matters of state at this tense time Faure was wont to ‘entertain’ young women in the presidential chambers. Tragedy struck when, in the midst of one of these amorous encounters, the statesman’s heart, weakened by years of self-indulgence, gave way. Officials were alerted by the horrified screams of his companion and rushed in to find the stricken President stark naked on the carpet, the suddenness of his demise reflected in the rictus grin that illuminated his features and in – well – certain other physiological phenomena.
It was, so they say, three weeks before they could nail the coffin lid down.
Founded in the 9th century and home to the oldest university in the world, Fes reached its height in the 14th centruries under Marinids, when it replaced Marrakesh as the capital of the kingdom of Morocco.
The urban fabric and the principal monuments in the medina where I was born - madrassas, foundouks - date from this period. The medina of Fes is indeed big! It's the largest and the oldest medieval in the world. The medina is huge like a maze and one should be accompanied by a guide, or so said my friends from Birmingham who are artists and like to do some painting work about Fes, its design, its people, its colours and its activities. My friends are totally right, even I was born here in the medina, I got lost many times when I used to go to the school because I tried to change the way that my father taught me...we were very hungry and I remember a small restaurant in a house in the heart of the medina in Al Asshabine At Haj Benkiran.
We had very nice fessi food: Vegetarian, chicken, kefta tajine, kebab magdour - it was delicious and the taste took me 40 years back...it's a magic place, nothing has been changed really. Narrow streets, toothless, grinning old men - a real adventure. I can see many English people who bought their beautiful houses and amazing riads and prefer to live here without stress with the local warm and friendly people in a real tolerance and multicultural atmosphere.
From the train station in the city centre of Fes, you take a red petit taxi and ask the driver to drop you in Jamii Palace Hotel that you have to visit also for its beauty and colourful design and you can ask there for a professional guide.
For any question or help please feel free to drop me an email from the website www.myasilah.com or call me on my mobile 00447951478813. I will be only too happy to help.
From the shelter in the middle of the roundabout and onwards, most of the things mentioned in the Beatles' song are still there: the barbers, the bank, the fire station (slightly down the road). Penny Lane is the middle of one of Liverpool's suburban shopping areas and is well worth a visit for a taste of Liverpool as the Beatles knew it.
Catch the number 86 bus from town and get off at the Penny Lane bus shelter. It's all there.
This Spanish TV series about a family in the late 60s and 70s gives a great idea of how life in Madrid was at that time under Franco. Spaniards agree that all the details, from decor and furniture to footage of actual events, are spot on and a real nostalgia-fest, but the characters of the family themselves are also a real pull. If you speak some Spanish this is well worth watching.
Within Spain you may be able to track the series down in Fnac or the Corte Ingles, otherwise try the internet.
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