Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
Berlin has a lot of water in rivers and lakes. The largest lake is the Müggelsee in the East, the one most often used for swimming is the famous Wannsee. Most often considered as the most beautiful lake is the Schlachtensee at Steglitz-Zehlendorf. It has a tubular shape and is often used for swimming due to its good water quality; but you can also have long hikes along its shore or use it for diving or stand-up paddling.
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The Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf is a cemetery in a forest belonging to the city quarter Zehlendorf (now Nikolasee) of Berlin, Germany. It was created after World War II and is one of the cemeteries in Berlin where you can find the graves of celebrities which have a strong connection to the city. The cemetery still has the character of a forest and you can enjoy long walks in nice nature; while doing so you will find the graves of personalities like Jakob Kaiser, Paul Löbe, Walter Scheel and Otto Suhr.
Continue reading “Für dich soll‘s rote Rosen regnen”
The Waldbühne Bremke is located in a forest close to the village of Bremke, belonging to the community of Gleichen. It was created in 1949 honoring the Brothers Grimm and for entertaining visitors mostly with fairytales. The Waldbühne offers 942 seats, the season is always between May and September (with a break for summer vacations). They play family-oriented classics like Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin or The Magic Flute.
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Just fifteen kilometers afar from Скопје you can discover the Матка canyon. Here the river Treska is floating through high mountains (up to 700 meters high) and a dam for generating electricity formed a beautiful lake. People get there to take a boat tour, to rent a canoe or to simply hike through the valley. The place also offers a wonderful restaurant with good views on the lake and two tiny cloisters hidden in the mountains.
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I love Byzantine churches and the best ones are those hidden in secluded areas. One of these is the church Sv. Pantelejmon at Горно Нерези, not far from Скопје in the Vodno mountains. It was three times painted with the oldest layer being from the 12th century CE; the newest one from the 19th century has been completely removed to reveal the ancient masterpieces. The specialty of this church built in 1164 is that it shows the depicted characters as persons with emotions which is pretty unusual.
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Скопје, North Macedonia, is beautifully located in a valley surrounded by mountains. The Hausberg of the city, reachable pretty fast from the center, is the Vodno. It is located in the southwest and the highest point (Krastovar) is 1066 meters high. On top of it you can find the Millennium Cross (or Mileniumski Krst) – a 76 meters high cross made of steel and illuminated at night. It was placed there in 2002 as a symbol of the new millennium.
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The church Sv. Kliment Ohridski at Скопје, North Macedonia, has a special architecture: with its 36 meters wide cupola and round shapes it could be confused with a mosque. But once you get closer you see the richness in decoration and the icons typical for an orthodox Christian church. It was opened in 1990 (with construction works already starting in 1972) and is therefore a rather young church.
Continue reading “St. Clement of Ohrid”
The Catholic nun Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu is known throughout the world as Mother Teresa, as an example for a person who has dedicated her life to help the poor. Under the name of Saint Teresa of Calcutta she has been officially declared a saint of the Catholic church mostly for her work in India. But where did she come from? The Albanians see her as a national hero, in Kosovo they name churches and airports after her. The people remember her at Скопје, North Macedonia. But maybe we also need to connect her to the Ottoman Empire.
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The fortress of Скопје is called Kale (the Turkish word for fortress) and located on a hill next to old city center. It was built in the 6th century by Byzantine emperor Justinian I. It became important over time as Скопје was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire, but also the Serbian emperor was crowned there in 1346. When in 1963 an earthquake destroyed Скопје to large extent, also the fortress received massive damage. Kale has been rebuilt to some extent, but still today excavation works take place there.
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Leaders seem to love triumphal arches. If you don’t have one like at Paris, you built one like at București. But it is rather seldom that you really invest in such monument nowadays. The Porta Macedonia at Скопје is an exception to this rule created in 2012 during the highly disputed project Skopje 2014 reshaping the city center. It commemorates the 20th anniversary of the young state of North Macedonia.
Continue reading “Porta Makedonija”