La dame de fer

Is there anyone in the World not recognizing an image with the Eiffel Tower? I think that this probability is lower than winning at lottery. It was built in 1889 and was the main attraction for the World Fair organized by Paris in 1989. It was hated at the beginning but now we can stay for hours at very long lines for tickets. It is still enormous and can be seen from many points in Paris. I have seen it a few years ago when I and my friends went there at night to see it with all those flickering blue lights and it was quite a show. The tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world and it is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. The tower stands 320 meters tall. During its construction, the Eiffel Tower surpassed the Washington Monument to assume the title of the tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years, until the Chrysler Building in New York City was built in 1930. I also love the card that I have, sure I have many more with it, but the one I choose it is the most beautiful to me.

48.8583, 2.2945 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.
France For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.

Skywatch - At Shettihalli Church

When I first visited the ruins of the submerged church in Shettihalli ,  four years ago, I could barely go near it as it was almost floating under water. During my second trip , I found it still surrounded by the backwaters . However I managed to go near the church during one of the dry seasons and this is how it looked then.

Another photograph of the church is here. To see more beautiful skies visit Skywatch

India through my eyes - My home is my basket

I was on the Naanjil Naadu tour to down South Tamil Nadu and I saw these kids having a blast in Nagercoil. They were obviously oblivious of my presence as I photographed them . At first it was just one kid and then I saw another hiding beneath another basket. He removed it and spotted me and grinned ear to ear as I took their pictures

More Fun in the Philippines

Getting rid of all the excess baggage

One of the challenges that I always have is to travel light and that brings to the next issue, which is travel right , in terms of luggage ..While I prefer a simple trolley and a backpack, I always get the size wrong. And I seem to have an entire collection of various sizes and shapes of baggage at home and the ideal one is never available.

This weekend , however I have a task to do..I am picking up all the unwanted baggage and getting rid of it, thanks to an email that I received from VIP . I can exchange any old bag or baggage and get a discount of Rs 2500/- on select luggage.  You are probably thinking that this is a sponsored post ,..well it is not.

 As a traveller, I have had my share of grief with luggage - they have got lost, broken, missed by airlines and many a time I need to lug it with me if I had to travel from one place to another..so this seemed to be of relevance to me . I wonder if it is of relevance to you too..the offer is apparently only till end of the month

Skywatch Friday - An evening in Parangipettai

Parangipettai is just another fishing hamlet on the Coromandel Coast. But centuries ago, it had another name and an identity - Porto Novo. It was then a colony of the Portuguese who had set up a trading post initially but later ruled parts of India. This Skywatch we visit the shores of this erstwhile port. The entire jetty that we see here was once a thriving port , but today we see no evidence of the same

To see brilliant skies around the world, visit Skywatch

Ottoman Bridges from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina was scarred by the war so bad that even today many don't visit the country evoking security reasons but this is a big mistake. Croatia is nearby and millions of people travel to famous Dubrovnik and they should go for a day in Bosnia and Herzegovina visiting the two most famous bridges build by the Ottoman court. I have seen the bridges in miniature in Miniaturk Park from Istanbul.
In Mostar is Stari Most or Old Bridge, The original bridge was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557 to replace an older wooden suspension bridge of dubious stability. Construction began in 1557 and took nine years. The bridge, 28 meters long and 20 meters high (90' by 64'), quickly became a wonder in its own time. The famous traveler Evliya Çelebi wrote in the 17th century that: the bridge is like a rainbow arch soaring up to the skies, extending from one cliff to the other. ...I, a poor and miserable slave of Allah, have passed through 16 countries, but I have never seen such a high bridge. It is thrown from rock to rock as high as the sky. The bridge stood there for 427 years until it was destroyed in 1993 by the Bosnian Croat artillery. After the war, World Bank, UNESCO, Aga Khan Trust for Culture, World Monuments Fund, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey, Croatia and the Council of Europe helped Bosnian authorities to rebuild it. It was inaugurated in 2004 and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge is a historic bridge in Višegrad, over the Drina River, completed in 1577 by the renown architect Mimar Sinan. It was ordered by the Grand Vizier Mehmed Paša Sokolović. It numbers 11 masonry arches, with spans of 11 to 15 meters, and an access ramp at right angles with four arches on the left bank of the river. The 179.5 meter long bridge is a representative masterpiece of Mimar Koca Sinan, one of the greatest architects and engineers of the classical Ottoman period and a contemporary of the Italian Renaissance, with which his work can be compared. During the 1992–95 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the bridge was a place of the brutal killing of a large number of Bosniac civilians by Bosnian Serb Army during the Višegrad massacre in 1992. The bridge received UNESCO World Heritage Listing in 2008.

Mostar: 43.337102,17.81483 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.
Visegrad: 43.782222,19.287778 Click for Google Maps or use numbers on your GPS to navigate.
 Wikipedia Mostar Visegrad 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.
Bosnia and Herzegovina For travel information, the official site of the National Tourist Board, is the perfect location.