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Tag: red

Posted
October 9, 2014
Category
Armenia
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In the Shadow of Ararat: Armenia

This one is a continuation to the last entry “The Churches of Georgia“, which I posted a couple of days ago. After leaving Georgia in southern direction the scenery changes quite suddenly. Georgia is a country consisting mostly of fertile lowlands and highlands rich in vegetation. Armenia in contrast is situated on a higher altitude, laying within a geological high plateau, which is much older then the hills in Georgia and much more rocky. In many places these rocks tend to shine in a red color, giving the landscape an astonishing look (see pictures three and six). Even the capital Yerevan seems to fit perfectly into the landscape, being build mostly out of reddish stone gathered from the surrounding areas (pictures one and two). There is no denial Armenia is a beautiful place. But the most breathtaking feature is the view on something actually situated outside of the borders of the country. The mountain of Ararat lies like a guardian upon the land and the view on the snow covered giant (5.137 m or 16,854 ft) is one of the most beautiful things you can see in your life (picture five). Being the supposed landing sight of Noahs ark, for the Armenians it is a spiritual place and deeply embedded within the national soul. Today the Ararat is situated in Turkey, making it an always visible reminder of the painful and complicated history in relation to the western neighbor.

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Posted
March 14, 2013
Category
Portugal
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Portugal V (last part)

Some weeks went by since I visited Portugal in mid of February and started to share my impressions with you in a series of posts. This one will be the last one for now. But I will be back in April with new pictures of a new city (hopefully :))! Enjoy.

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What is truly great about Lisboa and Porto and what I didn’t mention before is the great choice of hostels here. Portuguese hostels win competitions on hostelworld and hostelbookers almost every year and they definitely deserve the prices! A lisboan hostel I can recommend from own experience is the Good Morning Hostel on the Praca dos Restauradores in the city centre. The people there were lovely and very helpful. We cooked together and had a great time. If you go to Lisboa check it out

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Honestly I can’t remember the name of the church, but it was most certainly in Porto. The city has many magnificent churches, some of them made of pure gold. They are remains of a colonial era in which Porto became on of the richest cities on the Iberian peninsula thanks to trade and the importance of the local harbor. + I miss the blue sky terribly.

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Number 28 again as seen on a rainy day in Alfama. My favorite part of the old town. Especially the surroundings of the Castello are beautiful and very charming. A nice part of the town for a walk, but you shouldn’t mind steep hights 😉 In case there is always a tram to bring you up & back.

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A panorama picture of Porto. One day was definitively not enough for Porto. Although there are not many traditional “tourist sights” here the city doesn’t need them at all. It is the maritime flair, the port wine and last but not least the architecture and the small streets which are selling Porto and making it so attractive (especially for Britons we were told because there is a cheap connection from London introduced recently).

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There had to be a cat picture at some point 😉 I get her anger, probably wouldn’t enjoy it either if someone would point a camera on me 10 cm in front of my face. So I was a bit of a cat paparazzi here. Guilty as charged. Still cute 🙂

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The end of the world. Almost. The end of the European continent at Capo da Roca 3000 km from home. An amazing, almost spiritual place. But unfortunately we had bad luck with the weather, the wind was awful and cold as ice so we had to return rather quickly. Our hope to see the sunset stayed unfulfilled either. It was beautiful nontheless.