Greece

(complete photo albums from Greece may be found at the following locations -
ACROPOLIS & AGORA :: NAFPLIO :: EPIDAVROS & MYCENAE ::  
MYSTRAS & SPARTA :: ATHENS )

Greece is probably the first foreign location I had ever wanted to visit & I can recall wanting to visit there ever since I was a young child reading about all of the mythical stories.  In college I minored in art history, focusing on the old stuff (ancient, classical, Byzantine, Renaissance) which only furthered my interest in visiting Greece.

Anyway, I finally made it there!  For as much as I knew what to expect as far as the ruins & architecture & the history go I was still surprised to find the place even more amazing than I was thinking it would be.  Greece is stunningly beautiful, particularly the landscape.  The clear Mediterranean, mountains everywhere & a huge  variety of plant life from palm trees to cypresses & wildflowers in all colors.  To top it off the food was some of the best I have ever had as well.  I've always been a big fan of Mediterranean cuisine, but having the really real deal is a whole different ballgame from Mediterranean in another country (OMG gyros, I never knew you like that).  Their vegetables, cheeses & wines were really tops.

The first stop was, of course, Athens.  The city itself was absolutely sprawling, larger than I was expecting & something of an impressive sight when seen from a hilltop or the Acropolis.  We stayed in the small Tempi Hotel in the Monastiraki district, which was just a stone's throw from the Acropolis & Agora not to mention an endless variety of cafes, shopping & general sight-seeing.  Good thing the location was excellent with friendly & helpful staff because other than being clean the hotel itself was nothing to write home about.

After arriving at night only to find Athens' weather gloomy & rainy, it was a relief to see the next morning dry & clear. Devouring some apple pie for breakfast (eating responsibly on holiday, forget about it) we strolled directly off to see the Acropolis.  Even though March is far from tourist season in Greece, we were still very lucky to get to the Acropolis right after it opened.  There were few people there other than us at the start, but by the time we were on our way out, about an hour later, the place had begun to swarm with tour groups & students.  I can't even imagine how packed the historic sites must be in the summer.  Very unpleasant I would think.

Some of the sites at the Acropolis include the Theatre of Dionysus, the Propyleae, the Parthenon & the Erechtheion.  It was a shame to see that there was much construction/refurbishing going on at the Parthenon and the Propyleae but even surrounded with all of that the structures were still  pretty magnificent sights.  The Erechtheion was my favorite bit of the Acropolis due to its more complex design & its Porch of the Caryatids.

At the base of the Acropolis we found ourselves in the Agora.  The reconstructed Stoa of Attalos is here, which houses the Museum of the Ancient Agora.  I rather preferred the Agora to the Acropolis as I found the grassy forum dotted with ruins & wildflowers, crowned with the Temple of Hephaestus upon the hill, which remains to be in pretty good condition, quite picturesque.

Our next stop was the waterfront town of Nafplio in the Peloponnese, which was actually the first capital of modern Greece.  I really cannot express how much I loved Nafplio.  I am a pretty firm believer of not revisiting a location as there is so much else to see in the world, but Nafplio is now added to my short list of exceptions (along with Ubud, Bali).  We stayed at the Pension Dafni, near the base of the Acronauplia.  It was a sharp contrast to Athens as the lodgings were very quiet & comfortable; we had a suite with a nice bedroom, sitting room and two balconies!  The cobbled streets & squares are lined with colorful buildings housing boutiques, restaurants & pensions. Above the town you see the Acronauplia & Palamidi castle/fortress & in the harbor is the Bourtzi fort, the latter two being Venetian (Nafplio was once part of the Venetian Republic).  You can walk up the steps to the Palamidi fortress (which we did) & get a lovely view of Nafplio & the surrounding Grecian landscape in the process.  Unofficially there are 999 steps to the top, but whatever the real number is, it still makes for a rather good work out. In addition to Nafplio's own charms the location is also great as you can easily take short trips away to other interesting sites.  We decided to rent a car & within two days had easily visited the sites of Epidavros, Mycenae & Mystras without feeling at all cramped for time while still being able to do plenty of relaxing & sightseeing in Nafplio.

After spending a good amount of time doing a bit of exploring, shopping & dining we started to head out to see other Peloponnese sights.  Out first stop was Epidavros which included the Asclepieion & the Theatre of Epidavros.  And cats, lots of cats.  To be fair, all of Greece was filled with stray cats & dogs, the vast majority of which seemed to be very well-fed & nicely treated!  Epidavros however, had a particularly choice selection of stray cats.  The theatre was quite a sight though.  In the summers, during the Hellenic Festival shows are still put on there, which I think would be a really great event & another excellent reason to return to the area.

Mycenae's citadel & Treasury of Atreus was next on the list & unfortunately it was at this point where we had our one slightly annoying bout of light rain.  Mycenae's history & legend is vast which gives you a lot to think about while walking around the ruins of the citadel.





The following day we decided to drive out to Sparta.  Which as a modern town was not noteworthy.  There was a statue of King Leonidas.  The end.

Just beyond Sparta was the far more interesting
 Byzantine fortified town of Mystras.  Mystras wasn't originally somewhere we planned to visit, but since it was near Sparta, why not?  I am so happy we went there because, hands down, Mystras was the best bit of the entire trip.  It's massive, you could easily spend a day exploring all of the ruins & taking in the surrounding Taygetos mountains.  The old churches within the town still have their Byzantine paintings on the walls which were, natch, stunning.  Byzantine art has always been some of my very favorite.  It is quite a trek from the bottom of the fortified town up to the remains of the castle at the very top, but the idyllic scenery makes it well-worth the energy.  The site was pretty empty which was nice for a change.  The bottom bits near the entrance had a few small groups, but the higher you went people quickly disappeared.  While exploring & relaxing in the castle ruins, we were the only people around.

After leaving Nafplio & the Peloponnese we spent a final night & day in Athens taking in bits of the city we missed originally, like the Temple of Olympian Zeus & the new Acropolis Museum and the National Archaeology Museum of Athens.

I was definitely sad to leave Greece but I look forward to returning again to revisit Nafplio (the Amphitryon Hotel has got my name written all over it) & check out some places we missed like Mount Olympus & most certainly do some Grecian island-hopping!

Burj Khalifa opening

On January 4th the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa (previously known as Burj Dubai), officially opened in Dubai.  It is 828 meters high with over 165 (inhabitable) floors & was rigged with fireworks shooting off of it.  Quite a sight!

Fireworks album

 

Holiday in England

I spent Christmas this year in the Wiltshire area of England, which was quite lovely.  While there I visited the picturesque city of Bath (the Roman baths were most interesting) & made an obligatory quick stop at Stonehenge.

Bath album

 

Stonehenge & Old Wardour castle album

OK, so here's what I snapped in Pittsburgh...it's not a lot honestly. Between hating feeling like a tourist somewhere I most decidedly am not & just not being very motivated to photograph the place, the Pittsburgh photos are few.
I have way more from the Frank Lloyd Wright houses I visited while in the area.

Pittsburgh album

Kentuck Knob album

Fallingwater album

Night Falls on Dubai

 Night Skyline album here

I don't think people quite understand how humid the UAE gets.  I always hear, well at least you have dry heat - but we don't.  Not always anyway.  It's a dry arid climate in the cooler months (Oct - April) but we actually have a sub-tropical climate in the hotter months (June - Sept) in which the humidity & haze is so great, it's like every day is foggy.  It is so bad at times, that the buildings you see in the photos below are only faintly visible at times & sometimes not at all.
Gross.

Anyway, since I moved into my current flat in Mankhool/Al Raffa it's been that awful humid heat & hazy every single day.  We finally - finally - had a clear day yesterday.  So nice for a change!  & the humidity seems to have left the air noticeably.  This morning it actually felt REALLY nice out & I went horseback riding at 5pm yesterday, worried it was going to be torture since the sun hadn't set yet, but the weather was actually pretty pleasant.

These are from the roof of my flat in Al Raffa.  Views of Sheikh Zayed Road & in the other direction, the local Al Raffa mosque & Burjuman Centre in Bur Dubai.

Abu Dhabi & the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque complete album


Le Meridien complete album

I spent a nice weekend in the neighboring emirate of Abu Dhabi.  I didn't do as much as I had hoped there, but that was mainly due to the heat as other things I would have liked to do are outside.  Also, really wanted to hit up their wildlife park, but it doesn't open 'til later this year.  Will have to go back in the winter & check out the park & go kayaking in the mangroves & stuff. 

Stayed at Le Meridien which ended up being pretty decent.  The decor was a bit traditional/old fashioned but it was still nice.  It had a lot of restaurants & bars/lounges & was landscaped quite lushly so had a nice tropical feel to it.
The only bad thing, which I should be used to by now, was that the view from the balcony, as well as from the beach, was marred by a ton of construction going on on the nearby Reem Island (Abu Dhabi is actually an archipelago, some of the islands are just a couple hundred meters away from each other).

***

My main reason for visiting Abu Dhabi was to the grand mosque, the Sheikh Zayed mosque.  It's the largest mosque in the UAE and one fo the largest in the world.  It's an absolutely stunning structure, not overly adorned or gaudy at all, really very beautiful inside & out.  It reminded me of a fairy tale palace or something from a Disney movie.  Really unbelievable.
All marble with tons of carving, mosaics inlaid everywhere.  The detail in this place was out of control!  It's a new mosque, I think it just opened in late 2007 or 2008 & during my visit the mosque itself was totally finished but the surrounding grounds are still being constructed.  They were even building ornate entrances/towers for the parking lot entrances!

One thing did rub me the wring way at the mosque -- I came prepared, clothing wise.  I had on a skirt which went to my ankles, a long sleeved blouse buttoned all up as well as a head scarf.  So I go marching through & then security stops me.  I'm worried I did something wrong.
Well apparently - women are not allowed to enter the mosque wearing western clothing...but men are!  I had to go rent an abaya &  hijab.  It's frustrating that the "no western clothing" rule applied only to women, but when in Rome, I suppose?

 

  

...& sometimes I draw

I went to college for & have a BFA in traditional animation (i.e. Disney's Sleeping Beauty, etc) ...however I do not draw so much anymore.

This is for a flyer for a music event (Show Me Love) in Pittsburgh on October 9th.  Vamp illustrations by me, flyer design by http://sara412.wordpress.com

www.LMUNSHOWER.com

One & Only Royal Mirage, Dubai

One&Only complete album

Sometimes it's easy enough to have a little getaway a mere 15-20 mins from your flat.  This weekend I booked at room at the One & Only Royal Mirage right in Dubai.  I had been to this resort before, but never as a guest.  They have a nice nightclub & outdoor lounge which I had been to on a few occasions & during those visits was always struck by the rest of the resort as well.

After being a guest there, I think this may have been my absolute favorite resort I've visited yet anywhere.  The service was excellent, the room was great, the restaurants were tasty, the shops actually had stuff worth buying, & the grounds & chilled pool were phenomal!  Just loved it.  The terrace of my room (in the "Palace" portion of the resort, there are 2 different areas the Palace & the Arabian Court) led right to the pool.  Spent pretty much 2 whole days poolside lounging in large comfy chairs, cooling off in the water while ordering bottles of wine. No complaints here.

Oman - Khasab, Musandam peninsula

Khasab, Musandam peninsula, Oman complete album

After wanting to for a while, I finally booked a trip on a dhow boat that took us through the khors (fjords) of Musandam.  It was sooooo nice!!  Went from 9am-4pm & I was worried it was going to be a bit miserable because of the heat, but it could hardly have been nicer.  Yeah, it was pretty damn hot & humid, & dhows are traditional boats which aren't air conditioned or anything....but it was shaded & the breeze from moving across the water kept things comfortable.  We stopped three times to jump off the boat & go snorkeling -- the water was crystal-clear & full of beautiful fishes & coral.  There was a small barbecue on the boat for lunch with fresh fish & everything.

Dolphins visited the dhows a few times, once there was even a mother with her calf.  Really great trip - I would definitely do it again!