Sights Archives ⋆ Page 5 of 149 ⋆ The Passenger

November 3, 2024December 30, 2024

Kasbah des Oudaïas

The most beautiful place at Rabat is the Kasbah des Oudaïas. In fact, it is a combination of two kasbahs created by two different Moroccan dynasties to protect the city from pirates and serving as a royal seat. Directly at the ocean you can discover the old kasbah which is today a residential area filled with restaurants and touristy shops. You can climb up between the houses to the bélvèdere giving you great views on the ocean and the river. It is easy to imagine how this was once a military facility to protect the city. You can enter and leave this place through the historic Bab des Oudaïas gate.

November 2, 2024January 2, 2025

Mosquée Hassan-II

The modern mosque of Casablanca is an unreal place. You wouldn’t expect such a vast building in a city like Casablanca which isn’t even one of the former capital cities of Morocco. When standing in front of this giant house of prayer made for 25,000 worshippers directly at the sea you can’t be anything else then impressed: it is one of the largest mosques in the world and its minaret is the second highest ever built.

November 2, 2024January 2, 2025

Habbous

The medina of Casablanca has unfortunately been destroyed by the earthquake of Lisboa in 1755. Most historic sights have been lost and the city has received a more modern style since then. A great place to explore is in fact the second medina which is called Habbous. It dates back to the year 1916 when a Moroccan Jewish merchant donated the land to the king. As the king wasn’t allowed to receive a donation from a Jew (antisemitism can unfortunately be found in many places), the donation was redirected to a new foundation. This Habbous foundation created a special city quarter with low-price housing the cannot be sold by the inhabitants.

October 12, 2024October 27, 2024

Burgberg

To protect the Kaiserpfalz at Goslar, emperor Henry IV initiated the construction of the Große Harzburg between 1065 and 1068 CE. The fortification is located on the Burgberg, a very good strategic position which was by that time easy to defend. Henry was at war with the Saxonians and had to flee to the Harzburg which he also used to safely store relics and as a crypt for his family. Few years later in 1074 he had to agree to slight the fortification which exposed the Harzburg to looting by local farmers.

October 6, 2024October 27, 2024

Via Flaminia

In 220 BCE Roman censor Gaius Flaminius ordered the creation of the Via Flaminia, a road connecting Roma with the Adriatic coast. It led all the way to Ariminium, todays Rimini. The endpoint of the Via Flaminia was the Arch of Augustus named after the first Roman emperor – and it is there still today, with its Roman inscriptions and images of Roman gods. But the Arco d’Augusto is not the only Roman trace at Rimini, there is more to discover: especially a beautiful bridge.

October 4, 2024January 18, 2025

Giardini Margherita

Time for a walk in the park while being at Bologna? Then head to the Porta Castiglione or Porta Santo Stefano city gates. Behind them you’ll the find the largest green space of the city, created in 1879 to honor Italian queen Margherita of Savoy – yes, the one that the famous plain vanilla pizza is named after. The garden is great for doing some sports and there is also an artificially created lake with a bar next to it.

October 4, 2024January 18, 2025

Portici

If it rains at Bologna, you do not need to worry: You can endlessly walk through the city center without being exposed to rain (or sunshine). The reason for that are the Portici; arcades next to the street that sometimes are also decorated very nicely. Astonishing 40 kilometers of streets in the city center have these roofed passages. In medieval times multiple European cities had these arcades but only in Bologna they were later protected on large scale – making the city a UNESCO world heritage site today.

October 4, 2024January 18, 2025

Due Torri

When you’re thinking about leaning towers in Italy you’ll probably think a bit the famous one at Pisa. Another city of towers was in the past Bologna, as many families had their own ones (giving the city the name La Turrita). And in the center you’ll find two towers that are leaning like the famous one: the Torre Asinelli and the Torre Garisenda. They are not so beautifully decorated as in medieval times they were used for military purposes; today they are the icons of the city of Bologna.

September 22, 2024September 22, 2024

Miss Marple

As in every German city, right-hand traffic is the rule of the road at Göttingen and therefore also bus stops are always on the right-hand side. But there is one bus stop that is on the left hand-side: the one for city tours with a classic London bus behind the old town hall. The bus company of the city (Göttinger Verkehrsbetriebe, GöVB) has acquired an old iconic red bus built in the United Kingdom in 1960. It is named ‘Miss Marple‘ after Agatha Christie’s fictional character and it is the gem of their fleet; something they really need to care about as spare parts aren’t available anymore for this classic.

September 8, 2024September 18, 2024

The Great Stink

It is an unusual place to visit at London, but also an impressive one: the Victorian-era Crossness sewage pumping station. The fast growing city had a massive problem to get rid of the human waste produced by the rising number of inhabitants. Initially, cesspits were used that had to be emptied by the night soil men: they’ve put the solid remains (and ‘night soil‘ was the euphemism for them) on their carts and sold them to farmers on the land surrounding the city as fertilizer. On the way back they used the same carts to transport grain into the city. Well, hygiene wasn’t so well developed in these days.