A pain in the rear end

I’ve been seeing a lot of Nanos on the road of late. The colours are bright, the car looks compact and easy to maneuvre and park. But what is a real eye sore and an unbelievable piece of design is the rear. It looks like a poor cross between mosquito mesh and a property gate.

How could we ever design a monstrosity like this?  I feel sorry for the Nano owners.

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,300 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 22 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Blistering barnacles!

Spielberg has done a fairly good job with the movie. The effects are great and the new performance capture method is a refreshing change.

The story was not upto the mark though – they mixed up The Crab with the Golden Claws with the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure. The whole part about the search for the treasure in the Caribbean was missed out.

The 3D glasses at PVR Forum Mall were so bloody heavy it began to hurt to wear it. I cant imagine how kids would be able to see this movie with these crazily heavy 3D glasses!

In the land of the Hapsburgs

Vienna was really hot in September. The temperature reached 35C and it was like walking around in an oven. We planned our activities for each day carefully so as to minimize exposure to the sun.

Imperial crockery at the Hofburg

The Hofburg was walking distance from our hotel, which was located very close to Stephansplatz, the buzzing center of Vienna. It was worth a short visit, for its collections of imperial glass and silverware among others. There was also a large exhibition on Sisi, as Empress Elizabeth (who was assassinated in 1898) was known. We also visited the Spanish riding school in the same complex and witnessed the morning exercise routine for the Lipizzaner stallions, which was really nice and worth the wait of an hour in the queue. Vienna is quite an expensive city, as compared to the other places we visited on this trip. I tried schnitzel for lunch, and it reminded me of the milanesa I used to have in Porto Alegre – basically a breaded beef/chicken dish. Nothing to get excited about.

Schonbrunn palace

Next stop was the Schonbrunn Palace, located a 20 minute train ride away. We took an audio guided tour which covered almost all the rooms open to the public, some 60 of them. Going through all of them slowly listening to the audio become tiresome and we breezed through the more boring ones. The gardens were well laid out, not as nice as Versailles, but still worth walking through. Again we carefully avoided the peak sunny times and managed to complete the visit without getting burned.

On the way to Melk

Next day, we took a tour which began with a coach trip into the Wachau valley, and then a boat cruise on the Danube to the town of Melk where there was a Benedictine monastery to visit. The countryside on the way was lovely and though it was a hot day with little breeze, the cruise too was quite good. We had lunch at the restaurant outside the monastery and then went in to see the various treasures inside like artefacts studded with precious stones, a massive library, chapel etc. The return to Vienna was by coach and we hopped off at the state opera house, which again was walking distance to our hotel.

Dancing in Stephansplatz

We came across a set of performers in Stephansplatz, who seemed to be doing some local folk dances. It made for a pleasant end to the day.

Český Krumlov

Český Krumlov is supposed to be one of the best preserved medieval towns and we headed there for a day trip. It was a 2 hour bus journey from Prague and in the morning the trip was quite pleasant. We learned that the town of Pilsen is the source of Pilsner beer and the Czech Republic is one of the largest consumers of beer. Hic!

World's highest annual consumption of beer @ 158 litres per head

The castle at Český Krumlov is the main attraction and it has a chequered history, having passed from the hands of the Krumlov family, to the House of Rosenberg, to the Habsburg royal family, to the House of Eggenberg and and then to the loyal supporters of the Habsburgs, the House of Schwarzenberg, which owned it till the Nazis came along in 1939. After the war, it was returned to the government of Czechoslovakia.

Town square, Český Krumlov

The town itself is quite beautiful,  with buildings dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. We had lunch at a restaurant along the river that gave a good view of the castle. I tried out Pilsner Urquell, one of the more famous Pilsners…. quite good.

Next was a tour of the castle, where we got to see some of the staterooms and learned a lot about the history of the families that owned the castle at various points in history. The view from the top of the bell tower was really breath taking, and worth the tough climb to the top via a narrow staircase.

View from the top of the bell tower

The bus ride back to Prague was not very enjoyable as we ran into very heavy traffic and it took more than 3 hours. But the day spent at Český Krumlov was well worth it.

Praha

We’d heard so much about Prague, that we were afraid it would not live up to its reputation. Founded around the 9th century along the banks of the Vltava river, Prague was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire for a while. The historic centre of the city is a UNESCO world heritage site and did not disappoint us at all.

View from the top of the clock tower

We chose to stay at a hotel near Wenceslas Square, where most of the demonstrations occurred during the Velvet Revolution of 1989 which saw the downfall of the communist government. Getting there from the airport was relatively simple using the metro, which still has a very communist-style look to its stations and trains. The location was great as it was walking distance to most Old Town attractions like the square with the 14th century astronomical clock (the only one in the world still in working order) and St Nicholas church. We went up to the bell tower above the clock and it afforded a good view of the Old Town area.

Mosaic at St Vitus' Basilica

The next day, we signed up for  a walking tour and headed off to Prague Castle to begin with. Prague Castle is the largest castle in the world and houses the Basilicas of St Vitus and St George, which are really beautiful structures. We learned that the two spires of the Basilicas are of different widths – to signify Adam and Eve, with Adam being larger to shield Eve from the elements. The President of the Czech Republic has his offices in one of the  buildings in the castle. We were a group of about 10 and our guide was a Ph.D. in history and kept us entertained with tales of Czech history but taking care not to overload us with information. Thanks to him, we got to see the changing of the guard at the Presidential palace at very close quarters by cleverly avoiding the traditional crowded spots.

View from Charles Bridge

After lunch at a medieval restaurant, we walked around taking in sights like the Bridge of Locks, Lennon Wall, a church of the Knights of Malta and the Church of Our Lady of Victory which has the famous statue of Infant Jesus. Then we walked over Charles Bridge, names after Charles IV during whose reign the city flourished. We took a ride in a boat on the Vltava which included unlimited beer, soft drinks and even ice cream

Wenceslas Square

The walking tour then resumed and we took a short walk through the Jewish Quarter, with its ‘Old New Synagogue’, the oldest active one in Europe. Final stop was the Old Town Square, where our guide gave us some insights on the astronomical clock before bidding us adieu.

Kapadokya

Last stop was Goreme in Cappadocia (or Kapadokya in Turkish). To get there, you have to fly to Kayseri or Nevsehir, and we chose Kayseri. From Kayseri its a 45 minute bus or car ride to Goreme. The place is famous for the ‘fairy chimney’ rock formations that give a surreal look to the entire countryside. To take in this scenery, the best thing to do is to go hot air ballooning. You need to start at 5 am since it becomes hot during the day. I have acrophobia and was apprehensive about going up in a balloon, but the ascent was so smooth that I didn’t feel scared even for a second. Quite unbelievable. The trip cost a bit, but the experience was well worth it and its something I highly recommend if you are considering visiting Cappadocia.

Hot air ballooning

After the ballooning, we considered the local tour options – Red and Green. We took the “Green tour” which covered slightly more far off places and ended up seeing sights like the Derinkuyu underground city which could house upto 20000 people over 17 levels in ancient times and the Ihlara canyon which had churches in caves that dated from the 9th century. One of the most interesting places was Selime cave monastery which consists of a number of caves in a hillside that monks expanded into a monastery.

Selime cave monastery

One of the best Turkish dishes I tasted was Testi kabab which is made by cooking lamb in a clay pot with vegetables and spices for a long time. The end result is tender and tasty meat. Goreme in general was a relaxing place where evenings tended to be quiet. As we arrived during Ramadan, we were unfortunately subjected to the call to prayer at 4 am which ended up shattering the calm!

In terms of hotels and service, all the places we stayed were really good and the people friendly and helpful. All in all, a very good holiday.

Ephesus

Next stop was Ephesus. As a city with a busy harbour, it laid its claim to fame as an ancient Greek city, with the Temple of Artemis built around 550 BC being one of the wonders of the ancient world. Later, as a Roman city, the Library of Celsus was built around 135 AD to house 12000 scrolls. Ephesus also has an ancient theatre, which could hold 25000 spectators. Only 1 column remains of the Temple of Artemis, but the other sites are still relatively intact.

Library of Celsus

You see interesting things like Medusa’s head in arches of gateways to ward off evil. Ephesus features prominently in Christianity as well, as it was one of the seven churches of Asia and the gospel of John may have been written here. Silting up of the harbour resulted in the decline of the city and it was abandoned in the 15th century.

Sultans of swing

First stop in Turkey was Istanbul, and I have to say the initial experience at the airport was not good. Oh, the infrastructure was good and the airport looked swanky. Well, the part of the airport we saw was just upto the immigration counters. So we had checked at the Turkish consulate in London on the visa requirements and were told that if one had a valid UK, Schengen or US visa, then a visa on arrival would be given. After landing at 11pm, the officials refused to grant  this and wanted to send us back! It was only after showing all our documents that we managed to get a visa there and enter the country. By the time we got to our hotel in Sultanahmet, it was 2 am. Sultanahmet is in the Old City and our hotel was walking distance to all the places we wanted to see – from the Topkapi Palace to the Blue Mosque (also known as Sultan Ahmed Mosque).

Hagia Sophia

Istanbul looks quite modern in terms of infrastructure, it has excellent roads, signage and traffic looked quite organised. The Old City had quite a few traffic restrictions to make it easier for pedestrians as some of the roads are quite narrow.

The next day, we headed to the Topkapi palace which was used by the Ottoman Sultans and also contains some of Prophet Mohammed’s relics. Honestly, we didn’t find the Topkapi Palace all that great, so we breezed through a lot of it. We did hear that the nearby Archaeology Museum had some good exhibits, so we checked it out. The Alexander Sarcophagus (it is NOT Alexander the Great’s actual sarcophagus) was one such, other treasures being one of the earliest treaties, the treaty of Kadesh signed by Rameses II and the Hittite king in 1258 BC.

A popular activity is taking a cruise through the Bosphorus straits from the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea or the famed Golden Horn, which is an inlet that divides Istanbul. We took the Bosphorus cruise that runs for 1.5 hours one way upto a port called Anadolu Kavagi, where there were ruins of a Roman fort on a hilltop overlooking the straits. We walked up the hill, took in the view, had lunch at a cafe there and then took the next boat back to Istanbul.

Anadolu Kavagi

Istanbul had quite decent food options even for vegetarians, and we tried some of the kebabs, breads and dips. I also tried the local drink called Raki which is a liquor made from aniseed and is also called lion’s milk since it has a milky colour. Very strong stuff. The city feels more Asian than European, with a distinct Islamic feel about it. It is a secular country, but the majority of the population is Muslim. We noticed minarets of mosques almost everywhere we looked.

What is most interesting about Turkey is that it has seen so many major civilizations – Hittite, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and then Ottoman Turk. There’s a whole lot of history and monuments and stories….. quite amazing.

Shisha store at the Grand Bazaar

The interesting monuments in Istanbul that we visited were Hagia Sophia, which was built as a church, then became a mosque and finally ended up as a museum; the Hippodrome, of which only two obelisks remain; the Blue Mosque, which is really beautiful inside; the Basilica Cistern, a huge ancient underground water storage facility; the ‘Egyptian’ spice bazaar, where we were amused to see Westerners marvel and grab spices of all colours and flavours and my favourite the Grand Bazaar, which is the world’s largest covered market and had so many interesting and quaint shops.

I ended up buying a shisha (also known as hookah or waterpipe) from one of the stores. We skipped the Dolmabahçe Palace as we decided as a palace it didn’t make it to our priority list

Venezia

Arriving in Venice was an interesting experience. We took a boat from the railway station and this dropped us off at another canal stop from where we walked to our hotel, which was located just off Piazza San Marco, or St Mark’s Square.

View of Piazza San Marco from across the water

Venice is a bit too touristy, though it has a lot of wonderful sights like the canals, the bridges, the churches and quaint houses. We began our Venice experience with a visit to the basilica San Marco, which had these lovely mosiacs inside. A visit to the upper level  gave wonderful views of the square and surrounding buildings.

This was followed by a visit to the bell tower Campanile di San Marco which afforded even better views of the islands. We topped this off by some delicious gelato at a cafe in the square. A gondola ride completed our activities for the day.

The canals

Next day, we took a walking tour that included a visit to the Doge’s palace, which was fairly nice. There are these two columns outside the palace, in the square, where criminals used to be hung for all to see. Now there are some fancy billboards nearby with perfume models on them.

Next we took a short ride to the islands of Murano, where they make exquisite glassware, and Burano, where there’s a bunch of quaint coloured houses. Burano’s lacework is apparently quite famous. On our return, we found a nice cafe that had wonderful tiramisu to top off the Venice experience.