Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:33 pm Post subject: Hello, I'm back.
The Prince of Persia
Age: 19 Joined: 03 Mar 2007 Status: Offline Posts: 1524 Location: Bucharest, Romania
It’s been more than a month now since I last wrote on this forum, but time has passed in a very pleasant way for me… I’ve visited a lot of interesting places in Spain and Greece and now I’m back – and have a story to tell.
First off, I would like to greet you all and note that I haven’t visited the topics yet, so I’m not familiar with what has happened lately in this community of ours. To those interested, I’ll tell of my trip in brief.
I took the plane to Madrid, Spain, together with my girlfriend, on 15 August, and visited the city thoroughly, and, as far as I could tell, it’s a beautiful place, full of contrasts of all sorts, not only architecturally, but also between the very people inhabiting it – I’ve seen the opulence of the Bourbon area – where the 5* hotels Ritz and Palace lay, and where there also are some top class museums, such as the Prado, and the very poor people sleeping in the street. This is a thing characteristic to Madrid, something that I did not see in Barcelona, which I visited last year. It happens in Bucharest too, true enough, but for a city in Spain, it’s very striking.
I’ve made three trips outside of the capital – one in the picturesque town of Toledo, another to the Palace of El Escorial and a third one in the even more picturesque town of Segovia – better than Toledo since it’s less crowded by visitors. It’s been a constructive and enriching experience.
Yet I have to point out that I was seriously disappointed by the Spaniards, who know no English at all, in their majority. If it hadn’t been for my girlfriend, who knows some Spanish, I would have had some difficulties in understanding and being understood. Interesting enough for the capital of such a country – again, not something you’ll see in Barcelona, where you’ll find many more people knowing English. In fact, you’d probably be surprised that in Romania, many people understand and speak English – and Romania has just entered the E.U. and has rarely got any appreciation from abroad. But that was just an emphasis, not a discussion in itself…
Then, on the 25 August, I again took the plane to Athens, Greece, and there met with my parents and my cousin, who had left Bucharest by car, some days before. A few days in the capital have given me the opportunity to compare it to Madrid and decide that I like Madrid best, although Athens has some spectacular sights to offer.
We then went to Peloponnesus and settled for some 10 days in a village called Saidona, close to the town of Kalamata, which we also visited. It was a time for relaxation and being close to the beech, we could enjoy the calm waters of the Aegean Sea. We also visited a magnificent cave to the south of Kalamata, called Pirgos.
Afterwards, we went back north and stopped in Kalabaka, thus visithng the monasteries nearby, in a spectacular landscape – the Meteora.
Finally, we stopped for a few days in Thessaloniki, which is a nice city, not spectacular but nonetheless worth visiting. We’ve came back to Bucharest by our car yesterday.
So that would be it. I’d like to express my regret for what happened in Greece – and here I mean the fires that burned the Peloponnesus Peninsula and did so many victims – and I’ve seen the devastation there with my own eyes and can imagine the hard times the Greeks have. Moreover, today, elections are held in Greece – and the days of the fires were set in unfriendly moments, when politicians most likely were fighting between themselves and gave little heed to those in need.
I’ll post some photos of the trip, just to give you an idea of what I’ve seen.
Palacio Real and the Cathedral of Almudena in Madrid
Torres Kio in Madrid
The Atocha Railway Station in Madrid
The Palace of El Escorial, Spain
A sunset in the dust from the Peloponnesus fires, Athens
The Cariatids on the Acropolis, Athens
Athens at night, from the Lykavitos Hill
The Corinthus Channel, Greece
A burned forest in Peloponnesus
A view from the cave of Pirgos
A monastery of Meteora
That's about it. Now I'll go check the forum and see what's new.
See you! _________________ Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun. JRR Tolkien
Age: 17 Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Status: Offline Posts: 4177 Location: Los Angeles
Welcome back!
Great photos! _________________ The Dahaka wants to talk to us! !ahakaD eht morf sepasce eno on҉ tcrtsed eht elinimeT rouy rehtaf҉ emoc ot em,emoc no htead!!҉ rouY dne si raen.҉ ouY lliw eb devomer!҉
Age: 19 Joined: 03 Mar 2007 Status: Offline Posts: 1524 Location: Bucharest, Romania
Thank you very much.
Here are two photos for eni-7 - Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid - may you have a brilliant career in football, if that's what you want.
And a panorama I took in Meteora, Greece
_________________ Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun. JRR Tolkien
Very nice pictures... It looks like you have had a wonderful trip. and welcome back!
By the way, how do you take panoramas? Do you have a special camera that does that? _________________ Those days are all gone now but one thing's still true -
When I look and I find, I still love you,
I still love you.
Age: 19 Joined: 03 Mar 2007 Status: Offline Posts: 1524 Location: Bucharest, Romania
Thank you, Jalal. I have a program called Panorama Maker 3; it came with my photo camera (Panasonic Lumix FZ50).
I've also found a link with a free download, but I did not try it and so I don't know what features are included. LINK _________________ Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun. JRR Tolkien
You seemed to have a nice stay in spain... _________________ We have a little cat,
the name is Simone.
Sie pullert auf's Parkett,
das riecht zwar nich ohne,
but is ma keen Parkett,
doing Simone a very bit klug,
she's schnurring beauty nett
and secht in DJ's shoe. Angelsächsisch for yuh - MaxiMal
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