Skywatch Friday - A sunset in Siem Reap

Sometimes the skies make you pause in your journey. You may be on the road or in a village somewhere and then you suddenly stop and look at the drama in the skies. I was travelling through Siem Reap and was returning towards Angkor Wat from Bantay Srei when I saw this beautiful lake on the way drenched in the evening light..And I couldnt resist , but to stop and watch the spectacle

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Apo Reef: Marine National Park

Apo Reef as similar to white sandy beaches in Philippines. The huts found in this island are surrounded by various tropical trees with one large cabana where rangers of oriented tourists enable to protect the island. But the weekend camp beach will gradually unveil the worldwide pulchritude of this renowned island situated at Sablayan of Mindoro Occidental in Philippines. The beach resort found in this place turns into greenish and bluish that farther lowers the horizon. White washed modernize lighthouses will add more drama to tranquil environment along with pristine waters. Rock formation come together at islands edges adorn with the verdant foliage. 

The recommended activities for everyone to enjoy into this island include:
 

• Diving of Apo Reef. The Apo Reef of National Reef become known as Asia’s huge toll similar to reef and as second’s world largest Great Barrier Reef of Australia. It’s considered as mecca for divers. 
•  The Snorkeling of Apo Reef. Inexperience snorkelers will likely have a glimpse on magical array of fishes, corals, and some marine life of Apo Reef. 
• The Beach Camp. Those who want for beach camping, the Apo Reef consider as perfect venue along the sun, sea, brilliant sunset and darker skies. Campers must bring along their entire fresh water and food as necessary during any visitation as brought by Sablayan town in the market. 
• The cruising of mangrove swamp. Mangrove forests are quite supportive upon maintaining the coastline for erosion reduction from the storm surges, waves, tides, and currents. The walkway created out from bamboo was entirely established by park rangers leading on majestic mangrove swamp. It can be found those bamboo rafts are use for cruising at mangrove swamping. 
• The climbing of lighthouse. The best venue to view at any beaches is thru climbing certain cliff or diving underwater. But the best part of Apo Reef is sitting at top area of lighthouse. With that, surreal can be felt upon climbing over the minimalist lighthouse while teasing out the view of mangroves. 
• Watching over the sunset. Watching the sunset consider as an alluring view where illumination of sky rays particularly tangerine curtain and pink similar to light reminiscent the aurora borealis that does not justify with its photo. Meanwhile, other side featuring bright bold moon will make a way till into the sky. The mood appears as if existence of war among two gods will take the crown home at its loveliest scenery. Importantly, Apo Reef consider as real voyage upon the discovery of newer landscape but acquiring an exceptional eyes.

Painted Churches of Northern Moldavia 1: Arbore

A few years ago I have traveled to Bucovina with my family and we wanted to see all the churches included in UNESCO World Heritage List. My mother insisted that not all worth a visit just because she saw them and was disappointed because the poor care and destructions. I decided I have to see all them so we did it and the visit was amazing. One of the oldest ones is Arbore, a very small church from Suceava country. It is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. The name in the UNESCO list is Painted Churches of Northern Moldavia (there are 8 such places and I will describe all of them in time). The church from Arbore was built in 1503 by boyar Luca Arbore, one of the right hands of Ștefan cel Mare (Stephan the Great), the Prince of Moldavia between 1457 and 1504. The construction of the church was completed in about 5 months. Its exterior paintings date from 1541 and were made by Dragoş Coman and took about 4 decades. The outside paintings on the western wall are the best preserved, as opposed to those on the northern facade, which suffered extensive weather-related damage. This damage arose mostly because the church roof was plundered by marauding Cossack troops and melted in order to make bullets (the original roof was made of lead). Inside painting depicts Luca Arbore and his family offering the church to God through the intercession of Saint John the Baptist. Also inside are the tombs of Luca Arbore and his family. Luca Arbore died in 1523 by decapitation at the order of the Stephan IV (son of Bogdan III; also called Ştefăniţă) (he was the grandnephew of Stephen the Great). Luca Arbore was the regent of Stephan IV until 1523. From 2005 there are no religious rituals.

This is dedicated to Penelope Avril Binder from Germany because she said she is interested and Anca Ioana Bandaş who sends me many postcards from Bucovina.
Also I want to tell that the postcards of the monasteries are from Terra Design and Mr. Marius Vasiliu and his team did a great job editing such amazing postcards. Soon they will publish a series dedicated to all UNESCO Monasteries from Bucovina, including Arbore and for the first time Pătrăuţi.

47.729632,25.920255 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.

Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
Romania For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.

Photos taken by me:

Benedictine Convent of St. John at Müstair

Thank you 'Zasa Lein' for the great swaps :D

I have not visited this place but I should go there and for sure after seeing the postcards that I have. Many years ago I have seen a TV series about Charlemagne and I am fascinated by him and for me, too see places related to him is great even though maybe he has no connection, only the influence of his power.

Benedictine Convent of St. John at Müstair was established ca. 780 under orders from Charlemagne. Because of its exceptionally well-preserved heritage of Carolingian art, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. It is located in the upper valley of the Canton of Grisons in Switzerland (close to Davos and St. Moritz and just a hair distance to Italy) and it has a great series of figurative murals, painted c. A.D. 800, along with Romanesque frescoes and stuccoes. During the 20th-century restoration works, some of that frescoes from the 1160s were discovered here. Scenes from the life of King David are painted and also scenes from the youth, life, and Passion of Christ. On the bottom row of the paintings we can see the crucifixion of St. Andreas. On 20 January 1499, Habsburg troops occupied the surrounding valley and plundered the convent, but were soon driven back by the forces of the Three Leagues at the Battle of Calven. Following the raid, an armistice was signed between the Habsburgs and the Three Leagues. However this armistice only lasted a few days before the conflicts broke out between the Three Leagues' Old Swiss Confederacy allies and the Habsburg troops. These raids quickly escalated into the Swabian War, which ended in September 1499 with the Treaty of Basel granting virtual independence to the Swiss Confederacy. About 1500 the convent church was modified from a single-nave Carolingian construction into a three-nave late gothic church. Within the enclosure walls of the monastery are found other early elements, among them, in particular, in the north-west quarter, the residence of Bishop Norbert with its remarkable decor of frescoes and stucco-work in the two-storey chapel.

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Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
Switzerland For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.

Birding in Masinagudi

I was in Masinagudi a few days ago and went on a birding trip with Atul, the manager of Club Mahindra Zest property - Casa Deep Woods. My first visit to Casa was almost a decade ago, when it was not a Club Mahindra property .Incidentally it was my first ever trip to Masinagudi. It was sheer serendipity as we drove towards Mudhumalai forest after being told that we had no accommodation in Bandipur. The property was very new and Masinagudi was still very much not a tourist destination. I have visited Masinagudi several times, but this trip was sheer nostalgia.

And what a birding haven it turned out to be -the iora, the sunbird, the white eye, the warbler, the flycatchers, the thrushes - we sighted almost 50 species of birds in just one session and the best sightings were that of the pitta and the paradise flycatcher .While the pitta was hanging around for more than half an hour, walking around the dry stream , barely a few feet from me and at eye level, the paradise fly catchers were rather elusive. An entire family was high up in the leaves , right above us and we watched them fly with our binoculars.

The pitta chased the orange headed ground thrush that landed finally up in the branches of the trees.

My favourite of course was the poser tickell's blue flycatcher. For more birds and photographs, do see my album on my travel page on Facebook. For the entire story, please read here

Birding in Coorg

I was in Coorg last week on an assignment for Club Mahindra and we spotted more than 30 species of birds. We would have probably seen more but for the rains that came tumbling down. However, my bird for the day is the malabar whistling thrush. The school boy was the first to wake up me with his song but he vanished into the dark shadows of a sunless dusk when I went to greet him. However I spotted him later and we spent a good 20 minutes together as he went foraging in the grass for his breakfast.

Some of the other birds that posed for me was the blue capped rock thrush and a pied wagtail among others. To see more photographs , visit my Travel Page on Facebook. To read the entire story, visit CLAY, the travel blog from Club Mahindra

The Volcanoes of the Russian Peninsula of Kamchatka

This card is exceptional in my opinion. It is one of the most beautiful that I have. I think it is hard to take such a gorgeous photo and when you think this is not in a very easy to rich place. It is a Kamchatka Volcano card. The volcanoes of the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. There are 160 volcanoes, from this 29 are still active and six of them are in the UNESCO list. The highest volcano is Klyuchevskaya Sopka (4,750 m) and it is also the largest active volcano located in the Northern Hemisphere. These volcanic features are the site of occurrence of certain extremophile micro-organisms, which are capable of surviving in extremely hot environments. In 1952 was recorded an 8.2 magnitude earthquake, owing that to the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. Those volcanoes are hard to rich but you can see some of them from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The city has developed a tourist infrastructure, the remarkable scenery attracts tourists even though it is expensive and hard to rich (no land connection exists, the only way to arrive is using airplane). Bear hunting and paragliding are some other things you can do there.

56.056044,160.644089 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.

Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
Russia For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.

The Château that Rises Above the Loire Valley

I was visiting the Loire Valley back in 2008 and it is for sure one of the greatest places in the World. From back then I love to travel and visit castles and palaces. One of my favorite places was Château d'Amboise. It is built on a hill near the Loire. You have to walk up the hill and there is that beautiful and pretty unique castle. The chapel of Saint-Hubert is gorgeous and very ornate and there is buried the genius of geniuses Leonardo da Vinci but I only found that today when searching info about the castle – the pressure of the time and because me and my friends were in a real hurry to see as many castles as we can, we just saw but not read many info. The gargoyles are amazing and you can take photos of them because for of the placements of the castle they are really near you.

Château d'Amboise was built on a promontory overlooking the Loire River. The castle began its life in the eleventh century, when the Count of Anjou, rebuilt the stronghold in stone. In 1434 it was seized by Charles VII of France, because its owner, Louis d'Amboise, was convicted of plotting against Louis XI. However, the king pardoned him but took his chateau at Amboise. It then became the favorite of the French monarchs. It was rebuilt in the French late Gothic Flamboyant style by Charles VIII in the 15th century. A few years later the king decided to add some of the first Renaissance decorative motifs. King Francis I was raised at Amboise, which belonged to his mother, Louise of Savoy, and during the first few years of his reign the château reached the pinnacle of its glory. As a guest of the King, Leonardo da Vinci came to Château Amboise in December 1515 and lived and worked in the nearby Clos Lucé, connected to the château by an underground passage. Tourists are told that he is buried in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert, adjoining the Château, which had been built in 1491–96.
Henry II and his wife, Catherine de' Medici, raised their children in Château Amboise along with Mary Stuart, the child Queen of Scotland who had been promised in marriage to the future French Francis II. Amboise conspiracy was a conspiracy by members of the Huguenot House of Bourbon against the House of Guise, in 1560, during the French Wars of Religion. Although there, was signed the peace of Amboise in 1563, between Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, who had been implicated in the conspiracy to abduct the king, and Catherine de' Medici. The "edict of pacification", as it was termed, authorized Protestant services only in chapels of seigneurs and justices, with the stipulation that such services be held outside the walls of towns. Neither side was not satisfied by this compromise, nor was it widely honored. At the beginning of the 17th century, the huge château was all but abandoned when the property passed into the hands of Gaston d'Orleans, the brother of the Bourbon King Louis XIII. After his death it returned to the Crown and was turned into a prison during the Fronde, and under Louis XIV of France it held disgraced minister Nicolas Fouquet and the duc de Lauzun. Louis XV made a gift of it to his minister the duc de Choiseul. During the French Revolution, the greater part of the château was demolished, a great deal more destruction was done, and an engineering assessment commissioned by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 19th century resulted in a great deal of the château having to be demolished. King Louis-Philippe began restoring it during his reign but with his abdication in 1848, the château was confiscated by the government and became for a while the home in exile to Emir Abd Al-Qadir. In 1873, Louis-Philippe’s heirs were given control of the property and a major effort to repair it was made. However, during the German invasion in 1940 the château was damaged further. Since 1840, the Château d'Amboise has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture. Today, the present Comte de Paris, descendant of Louis-Philippe, repairs and maintains the château through the Fondation Saint-Louis.

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Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
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Skywatch Friday - Spectacular skies of Jordan

We were driving around in Jordan from Madaba towards the Dead Sea when we saw this spectacular sky.

To see more spectacular skies around the world, visit Skywatch

The Regions Sexy Beaches

For those individuals who are quite naughty and wanted to get nude, there are many regions islands or beaches to forego. These include the trikora particularly situated at Bintan. Though, nudity is not legal in these beaches but one may go for sexy body exposure especially upon stunning under the sun’s heat. Be reminded that these islands eastern coasts don’t have any western toilets nor automatic flushes. Authorities of Boayan continually protect the island from any illegal fishing but nudity consider as quite legal. People who are interested to walk around nude may have the chance to visit various nude beaches at Boayan Island of Palawan province.

The Arambol Beach of Goa, India is another breathtaking sexy beach as consider by many. In this region, two nude beaches are available that include the Harmal featuring huge area as visited by many. While the smaller beach that can be reached by foot name as Perth’s. Though, this beach is not officially categorized as nude beach but anyone may go here without any harm. Another well known straight nude friendly boutique style beach resort is the Bali Au Naturel of Northern Bali. Visitors below 30 years old may have the opportunity to get promo discount rate. The Laki Uma Villa situated at Kerobokan Bali known as exclusive gay beach and wearing clothes or any bikini consider as quite optional.

Happy Holi !

Say it with flowers and colours..wishing you all a very vibrant and Happy Holi..here is welcoming the spring, right from my garden ..these are flowers - marigolds and dahlias that bloomed today and we have some roses, hibiscus, jasmines and the "kanakamparam " - is it called the firecracker flower ?

By the way did I hear someone saying where is the spring ? Getting a bit hot under the collar as summer is already here..take out the bhaang I say :)

Wildlife and Safaris Adventure

Wildlife and safari holidays invites everyone to explore those consider as exciting and huge unspoiled continent here on earth. With an excellent holiday package rate for African adventure, they can offer best services that quite valuable while supporting and making ultimate holiday experience. The ethos solely emphasizes of offering well dedicated and caring services that supports of making bespoke holiday vacation that individually meets safaris needs. If quite uncertain where to start, take into consideration the Botswana Safari or the Kenya Safari and start dreaming an ideal holiday vacation in Africa.  

Bird watching consider as most popular hobbies worldwide. Many people opted to spend a holiday vacation in wildlife and safaris. From the dedicated bird touring, further spending a wildlife holiday vacation where larger and wider range of options will be consider. Experiencing a holiday safari vacation become one exciting vacation for everyone who are incline and interested on wildlife as well safaris. Viewing the big five widely include Leopard, Rhino, Elephant, Lion, and Buffalo as breath taking African landscape that can’t be forgotten. Another breath taking experience to take is watching the whales widely jumping and swimming. Indeed, holiday vacation in wildlife and safaris in Africa consider as remarkable and extraordinary experience.  

Throne of Jamshid - Persepolis, Iran

I remember my trip to Berlin because I love that place and I think you all should go there. Pergamon Museum, included in Museum Island, is one of the best in the World. It is as good as Louvre, British Museum and Vatican Museum. There you can see many things brought from many parts of the World, including some Persian artifacts from Persepolis. I will talk more about Berlin’s Pergamon Museum another time. Both, Museum Island and Persepolis are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (ca. 550-330 BCE). In contemporary Persian, the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid (Throne of Jamshid). In Greek, the name Persepolis means "The City of Persians". It was built by the great king Darius I. In my postcard you can see the ruins of the Apadana Palace. The site includes a 125,000 square meter terrace, partly artificially constructed and partly cut out of a mountain. Grey limestone was the main building material used in Persepolis. After natural rock had been leveled and the depressions filled in, the terrace was prepared. Major tunnels for sewage were dug underground through the rock. A large elevated water storage tank was carved at the eastern foot of the mountain. After invading Persia, Alexander the Great sent the main force of his army to Persepolis in the year 330 BC. A fire broke out in the eastern palace of Xerxes and spread to the rest of the city. It is not clear if it was an accident or a deliberate act of revenge for the burning of the Acropolis of Athens during the Second Hellenic-Persian War. The amount of information about this great place is huge and in a few words I can’t describe the splendor of Persepolis, but I have to say something very important. There is planned to be built a water dam at Sivand. This can destroy the beautiful Persian city and another place included in the UNESCO World Heritage List is Pasargadae. We all have to remember the damages of Assuan Dam and in the recent time the Chinese Three Gorges Dam. Experts believe the damages will not exist because they will control the water level of the dam reservoir. Fortunately other from Iran do not believe that and all is at planning stage since 2006 and I hope they will not built this dam.


Timeline from www.ancient.eu.com
    518 BC
    Darius I The Great begins construction of the city of Persepolis.
    515 BC
    Completion of the Palace of Darius and the Grand Stairway at Persepolis.
    c. 515 BC
    Darius I moves the capital of Persia from Pasargadae to Persepolis.
    c. 478 BC
    Xerxes I builds the Gate of All Nations, the Hall of 100 Columns and the grand Palace of Xerxes.
    c. 336 BC
    Artaxerxes III builds the Hall of 32 Columns, the Palace of Artaxerxes and the Unfinished Gate.
    330 BC
    Persepolis is burned and looted by Alexander the Great.

29.934444,52.891389 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.

Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
Iran 2 For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.

Îmi amintesc cu mare drag călătoria la Berlin. Nu ezitaţi să mergeţi acolo, e unul din cele mai interesante oraşe ale lumii. La Muzeul Pergamon, care face parte din Insula Muzeelor, o să vedeţi lucruri fabuloase. Nu doar Luvrul, British Museum sau Muzeul Vaticanului, merită vizitate ci şi Berlinul. Oricum despre asta vă povestesc altă dată. Am făcut o groază de poze şi acum că am primit o vedere din Iran mi-am amintit că şi lucruri din Persepolis sunt la Berlin. Ambele locaţii, Insula Muzeelor şi Persepolis sunt incluse în Patrimoniul UNESCO.

Persepolis a fost capitala Impreriului Ahemenid şi oraşul datează din secolul al VI-lea Î.E.N. Imperiul a fost întemeiat în timpul regelui Darius I. Numele provine din limba greacă și înseamnă „Orașul perşilor”. Numele persan se referă la „Dschamschid” un rege legendar. Imaginea din vedere prezintă palatul Apadana, construit la ordinul lui Darius I. Oraşul se întindea pe o suprafaţă de 125.000. metrii pătraţi ce includea construcţii precum cele din vedere dar şi unele realizate în munte. Au fost săpate în munte inclusiv rezervoare pentru apă. Declinul imperiului a fost declanşat de puterea lui Alexandru Macedon. În 330 Î.E.N. a cucerit oraşul şi se spune că focul din palatul lui Xerxes a fost o răzbunare pentru distrugerea Acropolelui din Atena în timpul celui de al doilea război dintre greci şi perşi. Sunt aşa de multe lucruri de povestit despre acest loc încât doar câteva fraze nu pot să includă frumuseţea locului şi cantitatea imensă de informaţie despre Persepolis şi Persia. Trebuie să vă spun doar un lucru: construcţia unui baraj la Sivand ar pune în pericol aceste ruine. Să nu uităm ce s-a întâmplat în Egipt la construcţia barajului de la Assuan, dar mai aproape, ca timp, este construcţia Barajului celor trei Defileuri din China. Nu doar Persepolis poate fi înghiţit de ape ci şi Pasargadae, un alt loc inclus în Patrimoniul UNESCO pentru Iran. Se pare că nici autorităţile din Iran nu au încredere deplină în inginerii care au dat asigurări că locurile nu o să fie distruse, aşa că din 2006 totul este la stadiu de proiect, aşa cum sper să rămână, sau mai bine să fie uitat.

Asante Traditional Buildings

On the territory of today Ghana, in the 18^th century an Empire riches its golden age, it was the Ashanti Empire. Everything was then destroyed by the European Colonialists from Portugal, Netherlands and Britain. They all took all the riches (gold and ivory and more) and then they transformed the people into slaves and were sold in America and Europe. The things that show us a little bit of that empire are a few houses built of clay, straw and wood, and are vulnerable to natural fluctuations. There is therefore a need for the preservation of the buildings. The buildings were described as "home of men and gods". From 1980 those houses are included in UNESCO World Heritage List. Thank you Emmanuele for the beautiful cards from Ghana.

6.40111,-1.62583 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.

Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
Ghana For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.

Pe teritoriul Ghanei de astăzi, în secolul al XVIII-lea a ajuns la apogeu Imperiul Asante sau Ashanti. Totul a fost distrus de colonialismul european. Fără excepţie, portughezii, olandezii şi britanicii au profitat de bogăţiile locului şi i-au transformat de oameni în sclavi ce erau apoi vânduţi în Americi sau Europa. Amintirile fizice despre bogăţia imperiului sunt minime dar au scăpat câteva construcţii de lut, lemn şi paie, simboluri ale unei civilizaţii, casele tradiţionale asante. Din 1980 aceste case sunt incluse în Patrimoniul UNESCO fiind foarte vulnerabile schimbărilor meteorologice şi ar fi păcat ca aceste ultime dovezi să dispară. Mulţumesc Emmanuele pentru vederile frumoase din Ghana.

Castles of the Golden Coast

Prince Henry the Navigator first sent ships to explore the African coast in 1418. The Portuguese had several motives for voyaging south. They were attracted by rumors of fertile African lands that were rich in gold and ivory. They also sought a southern route to India. The Portuguese first reached what became known as the Gold Coast in 1471. In 1481, the recently-crowned João II decided to build a fort on the coast in order to ensure the protection of this trade: Elmina Castle. Some historians note that Christopher Columbus was among those to make the voyage to the Gold Coast with this fleet. At the height of the gold trade in the early sixteenth century, 24,000 ounces of gold were exported annually from the Gold Coast. First established as a trade settlement, the castle later became one of the most important stops on the route of the Atlantic slave trade. The Dutch seized the fort from the Portuguese in 1637, and took over all the Portuguese Gold Coast in 1642. The slave trade continued under the Dutch until 1814; in 1871 the Dutch Gold Coast, including the fort, became a possession of the British Empire. Britain granted the Gold Coast its independence in 1957 and the country became known as Ghana: the word Ghana means Warrior King and was the title accorded to the kings of the medieval West African Ghana Empire. From 1979 it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the title “Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions” which include other 10 castles. The beautiful postcards are from Emmanuele Bonsie and I like the cards and the history of that place. A history which became darker because of the slave trades.


A second fortification that I will talk about is Cape Coast Castle which is also included in the World Heritage List. It was built by Swedish traders for trade in timber and gold. Later the structure was used in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The first timber construction on the site was erected in 1653 and named Carolusborg after King Charles X of Sweden. It was later rebuilt in stone. In April 1663 the whole Swedish Gold Coast was seized by the Danes, and integrated in the Danish Gold Coast. In 1664 the Castle was conquered by the English and was extensively rebuilt it. In 1844, it became the seat of the colonial Government of the British Gold Coast. It was first restored in the 1920s by Britain and then in the ‘90s by the Ghanaian Government.

I have to write something about trading cards with peoples from Africa or other countries in Asia or so on. We are afraid that we’ll not get what we want but this is such unfortunate because we, Romanians, are also perceived (sometimes) as bad. My message is for all and I have to tell you that in every nation are a few bad seeds but many more, the majority, are good seeds. In European Union we have such perceiving problems with Danish, Finnish, Dutch and many more.

I know Emmanuele from Dănuţ Ivăncescu and he thought the same things and I will show you his text from his blog because is a perfect message.

Ghana is in Africa, in Africa-Africa, in Black Africa, not in Maghreb or in extreme south. In that area from where come, for decades, only news about wars, massacres and coups. We see on TV very interesting documentaries about wildlife and national parks, but it seems that we prefer they remain there, on TV, not to see them live. Because actually we're afraid of those beautiful and dangerous animals, of diseases, of the people there, of the instability which we think that defines Africa.

That's why when I got in touch with Emmanuel from Ghana, I hesitated. I hesitated to send him the Romanian banknotes that he wanted in exchange to the postcards that I wanted. I hesitate even though I was the one who contacted him, and not vice versa. I didn't have confidence because he is from Africa. Eventually I sent him the envelope and I got the 3 cards, as we agreed. I must therefore apologize to Emmanuel for the way I thought. I know that confidence people are everywhere, but also I must to believe it and behave as such.

World, Come to My Home!

Elmina Castle: 5.083,-1.348 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.
Cape Coast Castle: 5.103779,-1.24091 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.
Wikipedia For more information, links, pictures and many more Wikipedia is the perfect site to be informed.

Official Site For visiting information (like fees and open days and times) use the official site.
Ghana For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.

Prinţul Henric Navigatorul a trimis vase să exploreze coastele Africii în 1418 pentru a căuta o altă rută maritimă spre India. Pe Coasta de Aur, aşa cum se numea Ghana în 1471, portughezii au construit un castel pentru a uşura comerţul. Scopul iniţial a fost rapid schimbat şi Castelul Elmina a devenit principalul loc de îmbarcare a sclavilor africani. Construcţia s-a făcut la ordinal regelui João II şi se spune că printre navigatorii din 1481 a fost şi Cristofor Columb. Se pare că s-a ajuns la un export de 24.000. de uncii de aur anual, aşa că nu e mirare de ce coasta se numeşte de aur. În 1637 fortul a fost cucerit de olandezi şi vânzarea de sclavi a continuat până în 1814 când, printr-un tratat Anglo-Olandez s-a interzis comerţul cu sclavi. În 1872 castelul a fost preluat de britanici până în 1957 când Coasta de Aur a devenit stat independent; primul stat sub-saharian care şi-a câştigat independenţa. Numele de Ghana înseamnă Rege Luptător şi a fost numele unui imperiu african ce s-a dezvoltat în vestul continentului negru. Din 1979 este în Patrimoniul UNESCO, adică de la a treia sesiune. Împreună cu acest castel mai sunt incluse încă alte zece castele ale zonei, construite de portughezi, olandezi sau britanici. Vederile le am de la Emmanuele Bonsie şi îmi plac foarte mult.

O altă fortificaţie din aceeaşi serie, tot inclusă în Patrimoniul UNESCO, este şi Castelul Cape Coast construit de suedezi pentru a transporta aur şi lemn. Ca şi Castelul Elmina, şi acesta a ajuns în cele din urmă un avanpost pentru transportul sclavilor în Americi. Prima construcţie a fost ridicată din lemn în 1653 şi a fost denumită Carolusborg în onoarea regelui Carol al X-lea al Suediei. Mai târziu a fost refăcut din piatră. In 1663 teritoriile suedeze de pe Coasta de Aur au fost preluate de danezi. La un an distanţă, în 1664, englezii au cucerit castelul şi abia în 1844 acesta a devenit locul punctul central al guvernatorului britanic pentru Coasta de Aur. Tot englezii l-au refăcut în 1920 şi renovat de guvernul ghanez în anii ’90.