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Sultan Ahmed Mosque

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque  is a historic mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. A popular tourist site, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque continues to function as a mosque today; men still kneel in prayer on the mosque's lush red carpet after the call to prayer. The Blue Mosque, as it is popularly known, was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. Its Külliye contains Ahmed's tomb, a madrasah and a hospice. Hand-painted blue tiles adorn…


Churches and Monasteries |

Summer Solstice 2017

This is already fourth Summer Solstice featured on this blog. see how three years ago we made a barbeque on our Tbilisi's balcony and how we celebrated our first Summer Solstice in our newly inherited house two years ago. Also compare how did it go last year. This year we celebrated Summer Solstice already for the third time at our rural country house, see home remodeling.  This year it was just us two and cats. Nothing fancy. Improvised DJ…


Home Remodeling |

Abava Rumba Waterfall

Abava Rumba is the second widest waterfall in Latvia (after Venta Rumba) ,up to 1 m high and 35 m wide. I had a chance to visit it and spend some hour in lovely photography session at the end of May 2017, just after our Germany trip in the Mossel Valley. There is a camping area located just next to the rapid.  Abava Rumba in Latvia I find such places tranquil and quite inspiring for my photography.  Hiking trek near Abava Rumba As an…


Tourism objects |

Hotel Monopol in Gelsenkirchen, Germany

This 3-star hotel offers comfortable accommodation in Gelsenkirchen's northern Buer district. It is 3 km from the Veltins Arena and 1 km from Gelsenkirchen-Buer Nord train station.  Hotel Monopol was our last accommodations while in Germany for a short few day trip, unfortunately I was not in the photography mood and didn't made much photos in the past days and almost forgot to photograph this hotel. In fact I captured just the entrance doors…


Hotel reviews |

Haus Daniela Superior Apartment in Cochem, Germany

I now have pretty ambivalent feelings regarding booking apartments instead of hotel rooms. Despite my feelings, Haus Daniela was a really nice stay in Cochem. For this spacious apartment we paid about EUR 200 for a one night stay, but it featured 3 bedrooms, a huge outdoor terrace with an electrical grill and very well equipped kitchen. Offering free WiFi and a sun terrace, Haus Daniela Superior is set in Cochem. Cochem Castle is 400 m away.…


Hotel reviews |

Rose Cottage in Udler, Germany

Featuring free WiFi and garden views, Rose Cottage is a holiday home, situated in Udler. It provides free private parking. We booked this place on booking.com for a one night stay during our few day leisure trip in Germany, sadly there are few good words I can use to describe our stay here. As this place is one of the few that actually kind of ruined our holidays. Anyhow let's start with positive - the rental property is decent, a lot of…


Hotel reviews |

Cochem Imperial castle

The contours of the neo-gothic building rise more than about 330 ft above the river Moselle on an outstanding hill. The silhouette of the towering hill seems to continue in the building which is topped by the slate roof of the massive keep. As for its structure, Cochem Castle belongs to the category of castles protected by height that had to be protected all around. Romanesque fragments found in the well indicate a reinforcement of the castle…


Tourism objects |

Eltz Castle

Eltz Castle (German: Burg Eltz) is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of the same family (the Eltz family) that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. Bürresheim Castle (Schloss Bürresheim), Eltz Castle and Lissingen Castle are the only castles on the left bank of the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate which have never been destroyed. I paid…


Tourism objects |

Monastery of Maria Engelport

The monastery of Maria Engelport (Kloster Maria Engelport) is located on the edge of the Hunsrück in the Flaumbach Valley near Treis-Karden, Germany.  We made here a briefly stop while traveling by car around these parts of Germany, it was overcast day, I was not in the mood for photography, just made some quick shots. Kloster Maria Engelport The following written is a rough translation from German using automatic Google translate: The…


Churches and Monasteries |

Porta Nigra in Trier

The Porta Nigra (Latin for black gate) is a large Roman city gate in Trier, Germany. It is today the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. It is designated as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site. I first visited Trier and in particular Porta Nigra back in 2005, when arrived here from neighboring Luxembourg. My latest trip to the Porta Nigra was in May 2017, during a…


Tourism objects |