Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
The island of Cyprus can be accessed via three airports: Lárnaka (LCA) and Paphos (PFO) in the Greek part of the country, Ercan (ECN) in the part occupied by Turkey (open only for flights from Turkey). The airport of the capital city Lefkosía (NIC) is closed since 1974 and can only be used by UN forces. The most important hub is LCA with around five million passengers per year.
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War and remembering the victims of war is still today a controversial topic at Kassel. The city was in the past and is still today a center of weaponry production. In World War II it was therefore a target of massive attacks. Even today you can find the traces in vast air-raid shelters and in the face of the city: the historic city center never returned to its former beauty after it was completely burned down in the last world war. In different areas memorials can be found for the victims of war and especially the victims of fascism. The memorial for soldiers which died in both world wars was closed for renovations for many years and vandalized directly after reopening: the Ehrenmal at the Karlsaue.
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Romania isn’t the typical tourist destination for western Europeans. In their heads the country is associated with poverty, migration, and crime – only Bram Stoker and his vampire tale are linked to Romania with the same intensity. In reality, it is a country full of friendly people making the best of their situation. A country in development with a coast at the Black Sea, a country with vast forests (housing the biggest population of brown bears in Europe) and a long history between the east and the west.
Continue reading “Gateway to the orient”
In the past the main market of București was located on Piața Unirii and attracting the farmers of the region to sell their products. If you want to find something similar today, you need to get to Obor, an area in the northeast of the city (belonging to sector two). There you’ll find a vast area with indoor and outdoor market stalls selling vegetables, fruit, meat, and every kind of goods.
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At the beginning of the 20th century animals were living in the parks of București. It was like having multiple micro-zoological gardens. Then in 1955 the 5,8 hectares large central zoo at the city quarter Băneasa (sector 1) was founded. Today it is educating visitors by showing them many local and exotic animals.
Continue reading “Grădina zoologică”
If I could only recommend one restaurant at București it would definitely be the Hanu’ lui Manuc. They call themselves the oldest inn of Europe and that might be true. It is an old caravanserai used by the merchants and visitors of the market on the vast square today called Piața Unirii. ,
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Zoological gardens often reflect the state of a civilization. Only if society is advanced enough and economic stability has been reached also the animals have a good life. I’ve seen many not-so-good zoos around the world and the zoo of Constanța positions in the mid-tier. Around a lake many small areas filled with animals, the Microrezervație, line up.
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If you want to visit the Black Sea from București, then Constanța (in earlier days Tomis) is your port of choice. A comfortable train runs multiple times each day from the Gara de Nord to the shore. It was founded by Greeks in the 7th century BCE. Roman emperor Constantine the Great named the city after his sister Constantiana.
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Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and Turkey surround the Black Sea. For the Romanians it is the Marea Neagră, for the Turkish the Karadeniz – all meaning the same. It is suspected that the name refers to earlier ideas of connecting colors to the cardinal direction: green = east, white = west, red = south and black = north. That also explains why the red sea received its name.
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The most important transportation hub of București is located in the north of the city: the Gara de Nord. From its 13 tracks trains are going to all parts of the country and if you plan a trip to the Black Sea or to Transylvania this is your starting point. And even if you don’t want to travel by train it is worth to get here and watch the colorful trains coming and going, to observe people getting on and off. Standing at the tracks is like travelling back in time; some decades earlier German railway station looked the same.
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