tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-280686242024-02-28T09:21:06.578-08:00Thoughts and EventsGamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.comBlogger115125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-10101494124563279132022-10-08T14:52:00.002-07:002022-10-08T14:52:33.529-07:00Capturing the elusive APRS signalI have been trying to capture APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) messages for over two
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weeks now in vain. Finally today I managed to receive a message using the RTL-SDR dongle on my Windows laptop which was running SDR# software. I also had the captured message decoded using the AFSK1200 decoder as shown in the picture to the right. Here is how I got successful with that today. First of all I was using a monopole dual band antenna (2m/70cm) indoors. Of course I would not receive that signal which is known to be very weak. The monopole antenna needed a ground plane to make it act as a dipole. That alone improved the reception considerably and improved the VSWR in the two bands (2m and 70 cm). But that was not enough. I also needed to go outdoors. Apparantly the antenna does not receive well indoors due to walls, electronic equipment and wires etc.
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The picture to the left shows the antenna placed outdoors standing on a metallic plate that extended about 10" all around the monopole. I placed the laptop inside with the cable from the antenna attached to the RTL-SDR dongle. The reception was tuned using the SDR-Sharp software to the ARPS frequency in North America which is 144.390 MHz. The demodulation was narrow FM (NFM) and I could see that every now and then a signal popped up at that frequency within the 7 KHz bandwidth or so. I used the AFSK1200 demodulator tool to decode the received signal but nothing got decoded for about two hours. I could see the decoder receiving something each time a signal popped up but nothing was decoded.
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I forgot to add that I also used a 2m band filter shown on the right. This filter has low loss in the 144 MHz band of less than 0.7 dB and filters out anything received by the antenna except from about 138 MHz to 146 MHz. This ensures that any strong signals elsewhere in the spectrum do not overload the low noise amplifier (LNA) causing it to get desensitized. Apparantly this helped because after about two hours finally I got the first message decoded finally as shown above in the first picture, and the captured signal can be seen in the picture to the left popping up at 144.390 MHz.
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Finally I got that APRS message captured. After that I kept receiving messages but nothing got decoded for another hour or so and then I got another decoded message which was identical to the first one. I did not receive anything else for the next hour and half or so at which point I stopped. So next I wanted to find out where the message came from and where it went to, so I looked up the call sign in the message (KN6UWK-7) on google APRS map and located that repeater at St. Clemente island near Los Angeles as shown in the map to the right.
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This is pretty far from me (more than 50 miles) so it is nice that I was able to receive it twice. But I wonder why I was not able to receive anything else from the nearby repeaters that are all around me within less than 10 miles or so. Perhaps it has to do with the position of the antenna and the buildings around me. It would definitely help if the antenna were elevated up high to have a better line-pf-sight with the repeaters. But I was happy that at least I got this one message, which was routed via two repeaters in Ohio to the final destination (3S0PVP-0). I could not find that destination call sign on the map so I don't know what it is at. But the two repeaters WIDE1-1 and WIDE2-2 are both in Ohio. Pretty cool isn't it?
Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-38513632163834056762022-09-08T22:25:00.000-07:002022-09-08T22:25:08.500-07:00Clean 20 MHz Square WaveUsing the 5 times frequency rule, one can measure the wave accurately on an oscilloscope only if the scope's BW is at least 5 times the frequency of the wave. My old analog oscilloscope had a bandwidth of 20 MHz and therefore could not accurately display a square wave higher than 4 MHz in frequency. Recently I bought a new digital oscilloscope with BW Of 100 MHz, which meant it could accurately display a 20 MHz square wave. For that purpose I needed to generate a clean 20 MHz square wave to test my new 100 MHz digital oscilloscope.
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I found this circuit on the right that utilized a 20 MHz crystal oscillator and a hex inverter IC. I built that circuit on a perfboard as shown below, and instead of the 40106 IC I used two other ICs that both worked fine: one was 74HC04N and the other one was 74HC14.
difference between the two is that the 74HC04N inverters are also Schmitt triggers, whereas the 74HC14 they were regular inverters. Like I said both of them worked fine with no noticeable difference.
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The picture above shows the front and back of the perfboard assembly. I used a 50 ohm SMA connector so that I can connect to the oscilloscope using a 50 ohm coaxial cable instead of a high impedance probe to minimize reflections.
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But first I wanted to look at the square wave without using the SMA connector by probing directly on pin 3 of the IC which is the output of the circuit. The two pictures above show the probed waveform for the 74HC04N IC (on the left) and the 74HC14N (on the right). They are not bad and show a rise time of 2.8 and 3.8 ns respectively. However the square wave shows some reflections that distort its shape.
I decided to go with the 74HC14N IC. I used the Math function in the scope to do FFT on the time domain signal to see its harmonic content. I also saved the time domain signal in CVS format and performed FFT on the signal myself on the computer using a Python program that I wrote which reads the Excel file and plots the FFT it performs on the data.
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As expected the frequency content of the square wave consists of the fundamental at 20 MHz, and the odd harmonics. The third harmonic is supposed to be at about -9.8 dBc relative to the fundamental which is close as seen in the picture. The fifth harmonic is supposed to be at -14.5 dBc from the fundamental which is also close, but as you see the higher order harmonics are not consistent.
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The calculated FFT from the CVS data file is shown to the right, and as expected it shows a fundamental at 20 MHz, third harmonc at about -9.5 dBc from the fundamental and a fifth harmonic at about -14.5 dBc from the fundamental as the oscilloscope measured. I limited the FFT components to 140 MHz in the plot but they go higher of course.
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I tried to clean the waveform by filtering the signal using a 100 MHz filter (the purple curve above left) and 50 MHz filter (the purple curve above right). Of course the filter gets rid of some details but that did not fix the shape of the waveform itself, just the reflection details.
So next I took the signal out of the SMA connector and into the oscilloscope using a 50 ohm coaxial cable instead of the probe.
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I had to purchase a 50 ohm adapter because the oscilloscope did not have a 50 ohm input setting. You can see the adapter connected to the second BNC connector of the oscilloscope (CH 2). You can also see that now the square wave is much better and cleaner than before.
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The clean square wave is shown above on the left, and the FFT content is shown above on the right. As expected the third harmonic is again is at -9.5 dBc from the fundamental and the fifth harmonic is at -14.5 dBc as before, but you can also notice the higher order harmonics keep going down as they should instead of the inconsistent behavior we saw before from the p robed waveform. So I was happy with this result and I verfied that my generated square waveform is indeed clean with a rise and fall times of 3 and 2.2 ns respectively. I also verfied the operation of my new 100 MHz digital oscilloscope which measured the 20 MHz square wave properly as it should. Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-3033783372241512282022-09-05T17:40:00.001-07:002022-09-05T17:40:12.094-07:00Catching Views in Catalina IslandThe trip to Catalina island from Dana Point takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes. When we arrived we saw the famous Catalina casino which no longer shows movies as it used to in the past. People can still get inside if they buy a $20 ticket but we did not think it was worth it.
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The first thing we did when we got off the boat was to rent a golf cart for two hours. We needed to spend a couple of hours as our hotel check-in time was 2 pm and we ararived 11 am. So we rode the golf cart around the capital Avalon and explored the scenery and all the places that we visited later on on foot. After we returned the golf cart we had lunch in a steak house in Avalon and then we walked to the hotel which was about 15 minute walk. The view from the hotel ballcony is hown in the picture to the right.
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We spent the rest of the day walking around Avalon till it became dark. The weather was a little cold in May, and it was Eid Ul Fitr so we enjoyed three days during this short vacation in this lovely island. A scene in the evening of the capital Avalon is shown in the picture to the left.
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We were quite tired from a whole month of fasting and a very busy day, so we went to bed early that evening to get ready for our adventure awaiting us in the morrow as we planned to go parasailing in the morning.
So next morning we had breakfast in the hotel, which was a regular continental breakfast, not that great if you ask me but was enough to get us going for our parasailing adventure. We were the only two on the boat and we went up 600 ft in the sky for about 15 minutes as you see in the picture to the right. It was scary after a while as we kept going up, but when we started to go down we started to cheer and all fear went away. We enjoyed this adventure as it was the very first time we ever do parasaling, and probably the last time too.
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After that adventure we had a very good seafood lunch at a restaurant in downtown Avalon by the sea. In the afternoon we walked all the way to Wrigley's Memorial and Botanic Garden. It was hot away from the coast but it was worth seeing all the special seculant plants inside. I also managed to fly my drone and take some panoramic video from the sky of Wrigley's Memorial building.
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Luckily we discovered there was a bus that we could ride to take us back to the hotel for $2 each. We had to pay exact change to take this ride. The ride was quick and smooth and saved us from walking back in the heat, although walking back was downhill and much easier than our walk in the morning. We walked some more in the evening and explored the area around the Casino, and again we retired early in the evening to get ready for the final day adventure which was a safari ride inside the forests of the island for two hours before finally going back to the return trip boat around 3 pm. So the next day we checked out from the hotel but left our bags at the desk, had our lunch and then took our Safari ride from downtown Avalon. There were no bisons or anything as theey advertised, so the only things we saw were trees and vista landscapes from high above the coast. The ride took us to the Catalina airport and back. At 3 pm we took our boat back to Dana Point and drove back home to arrive around sunset. That concluded this short vacation in May 2022.
Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-53099912926624011982021-10-02T17:29:00.002-07:002021-10-02T17:29:57.309-07:00Colorado Springs AutumnI went to Colorado Springs on a business trip, and I had the chance to visit two places there. The first one was the Broadmoor Seven Falls, which is a series of seven cascading waterfalls of South Cheyenne Creek in South Cheyenne Cañon. It has been a privately-owned tourist attraction since it was opened in the early 1880s. My Space Symposium was in the Broadmoor hotel area and luckily I could visit the falls on Sunday before the symposium started, because they closed it during the week of the symposium.
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I had to climb 286 steps all the way to the top to see the whole valley from above, and the scene was spectacular. The weather was hot in September but it was dry heat, so as long as I stayed in the shade it was quite nice in spite of the 95 degrees Fehrenheit.
I enjoyed the exercise of climbing the stairs which I needed badly after hours of sitting in the plane from San Diego to Salt Lake City in Utah, and then to Colorado Springs, Colorado. The thing that was toughest in this trip was having to wear a mask all the time in the airports as well as in the planes. It makes you feel suffocated. I was hoping that since I was fully vaccinated I would not need to wear masks anymore but unfortunately that was not the case. Inside the parks in Colorado Springs, however, the places were mask-free which was nice.
The second place I got to visit the day I was leaving was the Garden of the Gods, a park comprising 1,300 acres of sandstone formations from 260 million years ago. This park offers a visitor center and hiking trails.
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I had to go early in the morning at 5 am, which was the time the park opened, so that I would have enough time to get to the airport on time around 1 pm. I walked on the trails and saw the wonderful rock formations, and then went to the visitors center, which opened at 9 am and is free. It had some stuffed animals inside and movies about the park and how the rocks formed millions of years ago. It even had a unique dinosaur species that was discovered in that area. The picture to the left is outside the visitors center showing the rocks from far away. I had a good impression about Colorado in general as the people there were really nice and friendly. Colorado Springs is a small town and much quieter than Denver and Boulder.
Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-39025379423823477962019-11-02T15:24:00.001-07:002019-11-02T15:24:32.957-07:00Greece, Malta and Italy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In this trip we visited the following cities: Rome, Santorini, Athens, Mykonos, Chania, Valetta, Messina, Taormina, Sorrento, Pompeii, Florence and Pisa.
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As we approached Santorini island of Greece we were met with white buildings on top of the high hills as seen in the picture.
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After spending the day in Perivolos beach we went to the capital of Santorini, Fira and from there we descended down to return to the ship using cable cars. The scene from the cable car was fantastic with the sun setting behind the islands by our "Jade" boat.
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The next day we were in Athens, and of course the first place we visited was the famous Acropolis. The picture is by the Parthenon on top of the Acropolis.
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The next day was at Mykonos island, Greece. The picture is by Kalifata beach which had crystal clear water and nice views with small isles surrounding it, but the floor of the sea was full of pebbles and vegetation that I scratched my toes coming out of the water.
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The next stop was in Crete, Greece. It was made famous after the movie "Zorba the Greek" of 1964 starring Anthony Quinn. Remnants of many Ottoman buildings can be seen all over, with many mosques converted into churches. The picture shows the capital Chania's old harbor.
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Next stop was at Valetta the capital of Malta. The picture shows the entrance to the historic Valetta harbor.
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This picture shows the old capital Mdina which was originally built by the Arabs who left Malta around 1100 A.D. I could understand the Maltese language easily as it is 90% Arabic but written with English letters.
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This is the Rotunda of Mosta of Malta that miraculously survived a bomb during WWII. They call it the Miracle Church.
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Next we stopped at Messina in Sicily and we went to Taormina. You can see the Etna volcano by Taormina, Sicily near the ancient Greek/Roman theater.
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This picture is inside the Greek/Roman theater in Taormina, Sicily. The Etna volcano is seen in the back.
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Next stop was ion Naples, Italy. The picture is in Sorrento by the bay of Naples. The island of Capri is nearby where famous people own nice villas, such as Sofia Loren.
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We visited Pompeii near Naples, Italy which was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius volcano in 79 A.D. The almost intact city is a sobering reminder of what happened 2000 years ago. The picture shows the volcanos of Vesuvius and Somma which used to be one mountain before the eruption.
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From Naples we went next to the port of Liverno, Italy. From there we went to Florence (Firenze in Italian) and then to Pisa. This picture is of the magnificent Cathedral of Florence.
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And of course, no trip to Pisa is complete without a picture of the tourist trying to straighten the leaning Pisa tower.
Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-69843287536607075632018-12-09T11:32:00.000-08:002018-12-09T11:32:01.407-08:00Land of Maya and Aztecs - part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In this second part I post the highlights of the trip, mainly personal pictures and their descriptions.
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Above: Pyramid of Inscriptions in Palenque National Park.
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Above: Standing in front of the Pyramid of the Sun in Mexico City Teotihuacan site.
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Above: Standing on top of the Pyramid of the Sun with Pyramid of the Moon in sight at Teotihuacan site near Mexico City.
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Above: Standing by the statue of the woman waiting for her pirate by the Gulf of Mexico in Campeche.
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Above: Besides our hotel hut in Palenque National Park.
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Above: Sun rise by Chichen Itza pyramid.
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Above: Buying leather sandals in Merida market.
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Above: Looking at the terraced Pyramid of Uxmal.
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Above: Closer look at the terraced pyramid of Uxmal.
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Above: Standing by a giant Olemc head in Parque-Museo La Venta in Villahermosa.
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Above: Swimming in the hotel's pool at Palenque National Park.
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Above: Aztec ruins in Teotihuacan, Mexico City.
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Above: Poor people houses near Mexico City.
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Above: Veracruz colonial buildings.
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Above: Bones of the dead in Pomuch cemetery on the way to Campeche.
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Above: View from the hotel in Veracruz.
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Above: Pico de Orizaba volcano on the way from Veracruz to Mexico City.
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Above: Cathedral in Mexico City.
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Above: Organ inside Mexico City Cathedral.
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Above: Sculpture of Torro near Barcelo hotel in Mexico City.
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Above: One of the beautiful colonial buildings in Mexico City.
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Above: Monument of Revolution near hotel in Mexico City.
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Above: Original Aztec temple that was demolished and its stones reused to build the cathedral in Mexico City.
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Above: Memorial of Benito Juarez in Mexico City.
Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-72113671945636008782018-12-08T22:05:00.000-08:002018-12-08T22:05:33.790-08:00The land of Maya and Aztecs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We took a southeast and central Mexico tour to see the ruins of the ancient people's ruins there. The tour started from Cancun in the state of Quintana Roo. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi89e-sdmNW1BzT7TKi37n6mADvabwEi5ftGm-Tmf_sFQc8mwCUDM5Q7EG1VAE_ggHaEuKLigWbObm8ZaijHq2w1dXI9TvAp4dDGBiCL0F_yKAH9g7TVU6NGHqpSyOomcTL1UR1Fw/s1600/IMG_5512+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi89e-sdmNW1BzT7TKi37n6mADvabwEi5ftGm-Tmf_sFQc8mwCUDM5Q7EG1VAE_ggHaEuKLigWbObm8ZaijHq2w1dXI9TvAp4dDGBiCL0F_yKAH9g7TVU6NGHqpSyOomcTL1UR1Fw/s320/IMG_5512+-+Copy.jpg" width="320" height="180" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="900" /></a></div>
Cancun itself does not have much to see except its beaches and festive atmosphere which makes it a popular destination for many young Americans who like to come here and party by the beaches and pools. Its weather is quite hot and humid even in December. The picture to the right shows the scene from the hotel in Cancun. We stayed only one night at Cancun. The next morning we were on our way to the state of Yucatan to the Mayan city of Ek Balam (which means the Star Jaguar). <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6F-dcRMsyN9wAXeM2qsdagR6bEgFXo1_DkpUN7UpSPiU3z8jHpcvW28OR4dWUaCTthiOwfMaBOmTto1_2AnNmpg2t03saNWL2ULAQtksAqck16tCri5HfFxd5o-IySzBj0UIRFQ/s1600/IMG_5583+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6F-dcRMsyN9wAXeM2qsdagR6bEgFXo1_DkpUN7UpSPiU3z8jHpcvW28OR4dWUaCTthiOwfMaBOmTto1_2AnNmpg2t03saNWL2ULAQtksAqck16tCri5HfFxd5o-IySzBj0UIRFQ/s320/IMG_5583+-+Copy.jpg" width="320" height="180" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="900" /></a></div>
Note that to get to Ek Balam we had to go to the jungle area where it was quite humid and the mosquitos were brutal. The picture below to the left shows our beds in the hotel with mosquito nets. The hotel itself consisted of many huts littered in the jungle. It was a nice hotel but don't forget to seal your mosquito net or else you will find your body full of mosquito bites in the morning.
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The picture above to the right shows the ruins of the Acropolis built between 600 to 900 A.D. and houses wall paintings that line the interior wall. Ek Balam's most striking temple is the one with a huge monster mouth which represents a portal to the other world. The rain poured down on us while we were climbing the ruins in Ek Balam and we got soaked wet. We had lunch at a local restaurant by a Cenote (sinkhole) called Saamal, one of the many Cenotes found throughout the jungle landscape of the Yucatan peninsula. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgngy10ONuB3eybdEZU0cM6KOF_EZTrqbOv9f7UjTSuJs9jvrO1IyUeeBH-T7wZuyLJVgKX-0JbdnpnWIPr6_8kBmnkHQxUH8fcn5rz379ol4KLbIA9oCilznyLEqUPojh7HkDKeg/s1600/IMG_5637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgngy10ONuB3eybdEZU0cM6KOF_EZTrqbOv9f7UjTSuJs9jvrO1IyUeeBH-T7wZuyLJVgKX-0JbdnpnWIPr6_8kBmnkHQxUH8fcn5rz379ol4KLbIA9oCilznyLEqUPojh7HkDKeg/s320/IMG_5637.jpg" width="320" height="180" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="900" /></a></div>
The picture to the right shows the Samaal Cenote which is one of the many water-filled sinkholes used as water supplies for many centuries to the Mayan people and are still used today for the same purpose.
Next we continued on to the magical village of Valladolid. The city was founded in 1545 and named after the capital of Spain at the time. It was built atop a Mayan town called Zaci-Val, whose buildings were dismantled to reuse the stones to build the Spanish colonial town.
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The following year the Mayan people revolted but were put down by additional Spanish troops from Merida. The picture to the right is Cathedral of San Gervacio built in the city in 1706 using the remains of the Mayan buildings. Some of the most significant events in Mexico's history took place in Valladolid. Fransisco De Montejo whose father first attempted to conquer Yucatan peninsula in 1527 finally succeeded in 1540 and made Valladolid one of his first three Spanish strongholds. Three centuries later the War of the Castes, the longest and most devastating war in Mexico's history ignited in Valladolid in 1847 and spread throughout Yucatan ending in early 1900's.
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This was a revolt of native Mayan people against the European descended population, called Yucatecos, who had held political and economic control of the region by taking away land from the natives to cultivate sugar cane and sisal plants in Haciendas (plantations) encroaching on Mayan communal land and abusing the workers by treating them poorly. The picture to the right shows some colonial buildings surrounding the main plaza. A famous product they have here is the Sisal (green gold) which they used to make strong ropes and was exported for centuries until it was replaced by Nylon later on. I bought leather sandals here that are of great quality for 300 pesos ($15). We spent the night in a hotel by Chichen Itza.
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The hotel had direct access to the Chichen Itza site so we walked over to the site at 4:45 am to see the sunrise from there. Chichen Itza is one of the modern seven wonders of the world. It has amazing acoustics. If you stand in a certain area facing the 45 degree stairway and clap your hands you hear an echo imitating the sound of a certain bird that they considered sacred there. The pyramid itself is called Kukulcan. The site also contains the Sacred Wall, the Caracol observatory and the Court of Columns. They were constructed around 6th and 10th centuries A.D. and was invaded by Toltec warriors between 967 and 987 A.D. which caused a blending of Mayan and Toltec cultures evident in the site.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje8PSQxdTM4ADfU7oz-lCZHuYYTd_7Bx1fkSrsq6uRSNgxUhHwQbYHyE-a8M1qwCFyIiM2ZFOl2NltBjJF8z8kSjEJzi130zEcWcKyiGNTekn42TuFwSK4U4MXwz9p2I0oC3cPfg/s1600/IMG_5751+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje8PSQxdTM4ADfU7oz-lCZHuYYTd_7Bx1fkSrsq6uRSNgxUhHwQbYHyE-a8M1qwCFyIiM2ZFOl2NltBjJF8z8kSjEJzi130zEcWcKyiGNTekn42TuFwSK4U4MXwz9p2I0oC3cPfg/s320/IMG_5751+-+Copy.jpg" width="320" height="180" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="900" /></a></div>
The picture to the right shows the sacred wall where they held their meetings and had religious ceremonies. The acoustics there are amazing, if you whisper or whistle you hear reverberant sound that lasts for seconds. We returned to the hotel after sunrise around 9 am to have breakfast, then left around 11:30 am to Izamal or the yellow city. We had lunch at a local restaurant (we did not like the food). Then we visited a Sisal shop then a church with the second largest atrium (after St. Peters of Rome). Then we continued on at 1:20 pm to Merida (the White City) and arrived to our hotel called Las Casa Del Balam (the House of the Jaguar) and had dinner there. They say Merida is the safest city in all of Mexico so we could walk after dinner to the main square where they had a public show with music and colored lights. It was about the history of the area and how people there did not forget they were Mayas but appreciate the Spaniards introducing to them the true "One God".
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Merida has a population of 10,000 and is an abandoned Mayan city. The main avenue there is the exclusive Montejo avenue where the rich plantation owners used to live. The main square cathedral is seen on the picture to the left and is called the St. Ildephonus Cathedral of Merida. The slave market continued to exist there until 1910 when the revolution erupted. Below to the right you see the picture of the Monument of the Motherland which tells the history of Mexico.
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Among the famous personas of the Mexican history is Zapata the revolutionary who was assassinated later during the civil war which lasted between 1910 and 1917. There was a movie about him called "Viva Zapata" which featured Marlon Brando. They consider Benito Juarez the best president that Mexico ever had in 1857. Then we drove to the Centro Historico and walked through the commercial area of Merida. The picture below to the right gives an idea of the market where you can buy anything from fruits to leather products to hardware and from fish to clothes.
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We bought fruits that we can't even name that tasted quite sweet, and I bought comfortable leather sandals for 200 pesos ($10). From there we visited the Palacio de Gobierno which is the main government building. It had murals by Fernandi Castro Pacheco. The picture to the left below shows part of that building. They were preparing the lights for Xmas which is a big thing for the Catholic people in Mexico in general.
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After lunch we had free time so we walked some more in the city. To the right below you see a typical street in the downtown area. We ate lunch at a middle eastern restaurant called Patio 57 because we were tired of trying to find food that did not contain pork or lard. The restaurant was nice and I liked the food which was beef kebob and babaghanoush and humus with freshly baked pita bread. After lunch we met someone in the street who wanted to chat and told us he was a teacher in the Merida University teaching Mayan language.
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He told us about Mayan ceramics and where to buy them. We had to stop by an ATM machine which happened to be in the old Casa de Montejo and withdrew 5000 pesos (about $250). We went back to the market and bought some papayas, apples, ginger. We stopped at a pharmacy to buy some Q-tips. When we came back near the hotel we had coffee in a coffee shop which also had ice cream Italian style. The picture below to the left is inside the hotel.
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I bought a magnet with pyramid shape on it from the souvenir store near the hotel for 25 pesos. In the evening we had a special dinner at a local house hosted by three women: Carmen, Rosa Blanca and Orelya the babysitter. The food was quite good and I especially liked the Chaya drink which I had a few times throughout the trip. The lady of the house then showed us her house and her hammock which I tried and liked. She had visited Egypt and had a papyrus picture on her wall. After we returned to the hotel we went down again to the near the main square to watch a public show but it was drizzling and the show was late so we just went back to the hotel to sleep and get ready for the morrow's journey.
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After breakfast we left at 8 am to the ancient Mayan city of Uxmal which was founded about 500 A.D. Its name means "Three Times Built". Its massive terraced Governor's Palace is shown in the picture to the right. It also has a 100 foot tall Temple of the Magician which is dedicated to the Mayan god Chac, depicted with a long curled elephant-like snout. The entrance to the temple is actually Chac's mouth. Rain is very important here because there are no rivers or Cenotes in this area.
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The picture to the left shows the temple which is next to the terraced palace. Uxmal was allied with Chichen Itza for some time but it did not last long as the population dispersed around 1000 A.D. after the fall of Chichen Itza.
We had our lunch in a restored Hacienda turned into a restaurant, and the food was very good here. Then we moved on to the town of Becal which is famous for
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its weavers, and there I bought a panama hat made of palm fibers of the highest quality and finest thread for 1700 pesos. This hat can be folded and transported like that then unfolded to return to its original shape. They showed us how they make them, see the picture to the right. I really like it so much as it is quite comfortable and stylish.
Then we went on our way to Campeche, but along the way we stopped at a cemetery in Pomuch to see a strange ritual they do there in the Day of the Dead, which is rather a whole
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month, as they take the bones of their loved ones out of the graves and keep them out during the whole Month of the Dead to remember them and enjoy their company. The picture to the left shows some bones put in a box with some flowers - creepy! After the month is over, they return the bones back to the graves. The residents need a special permit to take the bones out of the graves, but the government gives it without much fuss. Anyway, we proceeded on to Campeche by the Gulf of Mexico. It is rich in oil and is surrounded by a wall. We arrived at the hotel around 5 pm. At 6:30 pm we walked to the main square, and it was too humid and warm.
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The picture to the right is that of the main square cathedral. Being on the Gulf the city attracted pirates and that is why they erected the wall around the city after the most notorious attack in 1685. In downtown the most famous street is "Calle 59" which is one of the most beautiful in the city. The picture down to the left is of the main square area the night we arrived. We were tires so we did not eat dinner that night and just went to bed early to rest for the morrow. We left the next day at 8 am and took a tour of the
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city by day. We visited the Black Jesus Church called San Fransisquito, and then drove by the Gulf and saw a statue of a woman who was waiting for her pirate to return as you see in the picture below to the right. Today Mexico had a new president whose name is AMLO. People here are hoping he is better than his predecessor. Today also ex-president Bush the father died at the age of 94.
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We continued our ride along the Gulf of Mexico to Palenque which is a 6 hour trip from Campeche. We stopped for a rest in the city of Champoton, once a city of the Mayan civilization dating back to the tenth century. Here the famous battle "Mala Pelea" (the Bad Battle) took placed where the Mayas defeated the Spanish exploration in 1517, only to be defeated by the Spanish a year later. We stopped at La Higuera for steak lunch. We bought some honey made by African bees in the local area, then we left to Palenque for another 3 hours, and on the way we saw hawling monkeys, and we stopped at a check point that is checking for illegal immigrants coming from Guatemala and Belize. At this point we left the Yucatan peninsula heading to the rain forest of the state of Chiapas. Palenque became an important city and grew considerably after recent excavations made in 1992 where archeological sites were discovered in the jungle. We arrived at the hotel called Villa Mercedes which consists of impressive huts. The hotel was visited by many celebrities in the past such as Jennifer Lopez and many others.
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The next morning we went to the jungle to visit the Mayan ruins there. We saw the Pyramid of Inscriptions, built around 600 A.D., and is shown in the picture to the right. The jungle was quite hot and humid and full of mosquitos. We saw Mahogany and Balsa trees. The palaces near the pyramid were built around 200 B.C. Only 10% of the acropolis was excavated, leaving more than a thousand structures still covered by the jungle. One of the jewels in this site is the burial monument of Pakal, the great Mayan king. We also saw the sarcophagus of the Red Queen who was found buried with her Jade jewels.
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There were also drawings showing alien-like creatures sitting in a space ship of a sort. These are not aliens, only flat headed royal Mayans whose parents flattened their heads when they were young as a sign of royalty.The Mayans showed their handicap distorted figures as signs of royalty, such as six fingers and toes, and cross eyes, and albinos were considered sacred.
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So their sense of beauty was strange. The population in the area burnt wood to build their structures and that killed the bees in the area which killed all life. Before long they had shortage of food and they had to kill humans for sacrifice and for food. Then the common people killed their leaders because they failed to communicate with the gods and provide food. They say that the Mayas originally came from China, and some of them stayed in Alaska (the Eskimos). Their calendar consisted of 19 months like the Jews. We visited the museum in the site which showed important artifacts, such as the jade jewelry of the Red Queen seen in the picture to the right. Notice that Mayas had no gold. It was the Aztecs who had the gold. I think the site in Palenque is one of the major archeological sites uncovered in Mexico. It is difficult to carry out excavations in the jungle but work continues in this site and expect more to be uncovered. In the evening we had a Mayan dinner at a local restaurant and it was very nice. The dinner consisted of four protein courses and a dessert. The four proteins were: white tail deer with avocado sauce, rabbit with sweet potato and fried ants, wild turkey with corn and fish with tree leaf flour. The dessert was Chaya cheese cake with cacao sauce and guava.
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The next morning we were in the bus by 5:45 am leaving Palenque for the long trip to Veracruz. We stopped in Villahermosa for breakfast and finished by 9:15 am. In about 30 minutes after that we were at the open museum Parque Musea La Venta which has Olmec artifacts from 2000 B.C. The Olmecs were conquered by the Mayas around 600 B.C. They were the precursor civilization to both the Maya and Aztec civilization and had knowledge of math and astronomy. They are famous for their huge stone heads such as the one seen in this picture to the left. The park was humid and filled with mosquitos as it was part of a jungle.
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There were animals in cages inside the park such as jaguars, both black and dotted, monkeys, crocodiles, coyotes, and badgers. I bought some roasted cacao beans, shown in the picture to the right, that tasted so good. They are excellent source of antioxidants in this form without any sugar or milk. We left at 11 am to Veracruz which was still some 7 hours away, so we watched a movie in the bus along the way. The movie was Disney's "Coco" about the Day of the Dead, which was quite relevant. At around 12:30 pm we had lunch boxes for lunch and I had hibiscus drink. At 1:45 pm we had a bathroom stop. We arrived Veracruz at 5 pm. Soon after checking into the hotel we took a bus tour in the center of the city which was not worth it especially after our long trip by bus.
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Veracruz (the True Cross) was an important port in Mexico because it was the means for the ships to transport their goods from the Atlantic ocean to the Pacific ocean. Mexico prospered during that time because of this route from Veracruz to Puebla to Mexico City. The peso used to equal two American dollars, but now one dollar is equal to 20 pesos. That happened after the opening of the Panama canal. There wasn't much to see in Veracruz so the next morning we rode the bus to Puebla which is an important colonial city.
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Puebla was the site of the battle of Cinco de Mayo when Ignacio Zaragoza defeated the powerful French army under Count de Lorencez. Puebla's economy today is based on industry. There are Volkswagen and Audi plants and many prestigious colleges in the city. As seen in the two pictures above and to the right, Puebla has traditional colorful tiled roofs and was founded in the 16th century. We had lunch in the city around 1:40 pm. The weather was nice and cool. We saw a couple of churches and 5 Mayo Calle street. We had a buffet lunch with pollo and Mole which was quite good.
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We had some free time after lunch so we walked around in the city and sat a cafe in downtown to have cappuccino which was very light and tasteless. The view from the cafe is shown in the picture below to the right. The meaning of Puebla is "Foundation of a Place" and was founded in 1531. As in Peru, the Spaniards used Santiago (originally killer of the Moors) to fight the Indians and he became (killer of the Indians).
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We continued on towards Mexico City riding along highways with mountain views. We saw the Pico de Orizaba volcano which is 18,500 ft high above sea level. First thing we saw as we entered Mexico City (CDMX) was the laundry basket stadium in white and blue. There was some rain around 4 pm and there was heavy traffic. We entered into Zaragoza ave. into CDMX and finally arrived the hotel of Barcelo at 5:30 pm. Mexico City was built by the Aztecs in 1325 A.D. on an island of a lake, and some of its buildings keep sinking in the ground with time because of that. We were tired to we went to bed early after the long journey and resting before the visits planned for the morrow.
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The next morning we went to Teotihuacan (City of the Gods) which has the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon as seen in the picture to the left. Now these are Aztec sites although the structures were built before them by unknown people around 200 B.C. to 700 A.D. The Aztecs came around 1400 A.D. One of the symbols we saw inside was the flower of the elements which had four petals.
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After lunch we went back to CDMX (Ciudad de Mexico). The city has the most colonial buildings in all of Mexico. It is very crowded (9 million) and is not safe, so one has to be very careful not to go to the dangerous areas there. We were in a very good area in downtown near a weird statue of a horse (or ox). We passed by the park Alameda Central and the Plaza de la Constitucion. We went inside the National Palace, the seat of the Federal government which had murals to commemorate the starting of Mexican Independence.
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We went inside the Cathedral Metropolitana which is the largest in the Americas. You can see the Aztec gold inside the church in the picture. The cathedral is situated atop the former Aztec sacred area near the Templo Mayor. It was constructed over three centuries from 1573 to 1813. The labor of course was done by the native Indians.
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Then we went inside the National Museum of Anthropology which is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. Among the significant artifacts are the Stone of the Sun (Aztec calendar stone) seen below in the picture, the giant heads of the Olmec civilization found in the jungles of Tabasco and Veracruz, as well as treasures and replicas from the Mayan civilization at Palenque, and Chichen Itza. Also on display is a model of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, whose ruins can be seen in the area of Zocala. On returning to the hotelwe went out again to take some pictures like the Monument of the Revolution near the hotel and nearby streets. We had farewell dinner that night and said goodbye to our group, then went to bed to prepare for the trip back home in the morrow. I can say that everything went quite well in this trip which was very well organized by Gate 1. It was indeed enlightening and shed light on the history of the Maya and Aztec civilizations of the region and the history of the Spanish invasion as well as other conflicts such as the American and French interventions.
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The people of Mexico are Catholics but they mixed catholicism with their Mayan beliefs and created a new religion that is a hybrid of Christianity and Idolatry. As in Peru people are starting to resent the Spanish bloody history with their ancestors and are beginning to refute Catholicism altogether. However, the majority are still devout Catholics and love the Pope of the Vatican who is considered a sacred persona that is almost worshipped together with the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-8181817545462874912018-06-21T23:20:00.000-07:002018-06-21T23:20:31.440-07:00Prone to a drone<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I got a Mavic Pro drone for father's day. Honestly I always wanted that drone but its price tag made me keep postponing buying it, until this last father's day when it came to me as a gift. My son bought it for me without hesitation. Good thing he could afford it but for me I would rather he used the money for something he needed instead. Anyway he said that was the point of a gift, to buy me something I would not otherwise have bought for myself. I said thanks a million but don't do it again, next time give me something symbolic, to which he replied: don't worry next time I will give you time I spend with you. I said: deal.
Anyway, the drone takes great pictures as you see here of our house from above. But its great feature is that it takes fantastic 4k HD video. I couldn't believe how crystal clear the video footage was. I flew it way high up in the sky that I lost sight of it, and it captured the hill in front of our house from above at a height of 400 ft. It hovers in its place when you let it, and its stabilizer takes incredibly sharp pictures and video. I guess I will have many hours for years to come playing with this toy. I am yet to explore its many features, like tracking and following gestures and many other. Stay tuned. Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-73993238624972761732018-03-17T22:28:00.000-07:002018-03-17T22:28:54.309-07:00Much Pleasure at Machu Picchu<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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No trip to Peru is complete without visiting the famed Machu Picchu, which is considered one of the modern seven wonders of the world. I was not disappointed when I saw it. Indeed it stands up to its fame and deserves the title, constructed at about 7,900 ft high above the clouds (see the picture to the right). The scenes from above there are spectacular. Those who inhabited it had excellent views and enjoyed a wonderful life at the top up there.
The trip started by landing at the airport in Lima the capital. Lima was hot and humid in March, and I was told it never rains there. Located at the Pacific ocean it has a mild weather all year round. It has some 350 ruins that date back to more than thousand years, before the Incas time. Incas were the kings of the people who are called Kashua, and their spoken language is also called Kashua. The Miraflores district is one of the rich areas in Lima, together with San Isidro, which was built in 1870. The parque del amor has a statue erected in 1993 by one of the famous Peruvian artists. The design of the park is inspired by Gaudi of Spain.
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The Spaniards came in 1532 and built many churches. The architecture of the churches was based on the Muslim Andalusian architecture, and it was obvious that the artwork insides the churches was done by Moors. Before the Incas the Peruvian people worshipped three deities: The moon, the ocean and the earth. The Incas worshipped the sun. There are some 350 archeological sites in Lima that date back to more than a thousand years before the Incas, for example the Huaca Pucllana which was constructed 2000 years ago. The original royal language was called Panakka, and is extinct now because the Spaniards made sure to destroy it first. The language that is still spoken today is the Runasimi (also called Katchua). They had no written language and therefore their history was not preserved.
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The population of Lima is 11 millions. It is the third largest city in South America after Sao Paulo in Brazil (20 million), and Buenos Aires in Argentina (14 million). The picture to the right was taken in the main square of Lima and you can see the colonial buildings with wooden balconies that were certainly the work of Moors. Peru was a dictatorship between 1968 and 1980 when inflation was at 3000% by 1990, but now it is a democracy and its economy is doing quite well. The main sources of Peru's economy are: mining (gold, silver, copper, aluminum and molybdenum), agriculture (potatoes and gourmet coffee), and tourism. Lima was liberated from Spain in 1821 by San Jose Martinez, whose statue is in the main square downtown. Lima is also called the city of the kings, and was one of three major cities the Spaniards constructed, the other two being Bogota and Buenos Aires.
The flight from Lima to Cusco takes about one and half hour. Cusco has all the Inca attractions. It is located at an altitude of more than 12,000 ft. which makes it hard to breathe up there and I got a headache for the first night but got better afterward. The coca tea helps alleviate the breathing problem a little but the moonya tea was the best. Moonya is a kind of wild mint plant that can be found only at that altitude.
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The first place we visited in Cusco was the village of Chinchero by the sacred valley. There people still speak the Kachua language and live the primitive life of the original natives of the land. They grow some 3,000 kinds of potatoes and they raise llamas and alpacas. Their food consists of mainly potatoes, quinoa, coca leaves, and cuy (which is the guinea pig). They weave nice textiles made of the alpaca wool. The rainforest is only three hours away from here. The words thank you in Katchua language are "Sul Payke" or "Anyay". After Chinchero we visited Ollantaytambo where we climbed up the temple of the sun. The Incas brought skilled architects from lake Titicaca. The Spaniards destroyed the temples and replaced them with churches, and the only village that survived was Machu Picchu because they never found it, and it was discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham of National Geographic and since then it got its world fame and was voted as one of the modern seven wonders of the world.
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The Incas believed in the supreme god whom they believed created the world. They pictured him as a bearded man, and they thought the Spaniards were messengers from him because they were bearded too while the Incas did not have beards. That was a big mistake the Incas made, and of course the Spaniards took advantage of that very well.
The Incas made terraces in the mountains for agriculture. They used granite rocks in some of their temples which is very hard rock and since they did not have iron, they used Hematite ores to break the blocks. They did not have any animals of burden either. So they moved by foot. They sent messengers through the Inca trail for thousands of kilometers by foot. Imagine the messengers had to deliver oral messages by foot because they did not know writing.
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The picture to the right is an example of a church built by the Spaniards over Inca temple. They put mirrors inside because they noticed that the natives of the land believed the mirrors captured their souls and they believed that after death their souls went to the other world guided by dogs. I am wearing a Peruvian hat in the picture that is made of alpaca wool. We visited more places in Cusco such as the Dominican church which was damaged by the last earthquake in 1950. The Peruvians were grateful to the earthquake because it revealed old walls of Inca origin that were hidden by the Spaniards. Needless to say the Spaniards stole tons of gold and silver from the Inca temples and stored all that gold in the "tor del oro" in Seville, Spain. There are two rivers running under the city of Cusco, and the area used to be a lake in ancient times. The three sacred animals in Peru are the condor, puma and snake. Their national flower is the Kantuta flower. The 9th Inca (king) Pachakuteq is known to have united the people from the north (Motche) who were good with metal work, and the southeast (Titicaca) who were good with pottery, and south (Nazca) who were good with textiles. The ruins of Saqsaywaman include the original zigzag wall that used to protect the city of Cusco and is only 40% preserved. The zigzag made the wall strong enough to withstand the strong earthquakes unlike the Spanish buildings. The zigzag also symbolizes the lightening which they believed is the connection between heaven and earth. We also visited Pukapukara which is at an altitude of 12,500 ft., the highest we got up to. The whole area was called Cosqo which means the center navel of the world. The Pakapukara was one of the relay stations along the Inca trail that extended for about 3,000 km from Quito in Equador down to Chile, and was used by the runners who carried the oral messages of the king. We also visited Q'enqo which means labyrinth and it has a temple for mother earth. It was a place where they mummified the rich dead.
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Last place we visited in Cusco was the Cathedral of Cusco that belongs to the Vatican. Next to it was another church that belonged to the Jesuits. The Cathedral of Cusco was built on top the most important religious place of the Incas and that was the temple dedicated to the great Creator of the Incas (remember the one they pictures with a beard?) The Cathedral took 100 years to build due to a civil war between Pizzaro and his rivals at the time. The people who were mixed between Spaniards and natives are called Mestiso. The Cathedral has lot of gold and silver. The gold represented the sun and the silver represented the moon in Inca culture. There is a statue of a crucified dark skinned man of the natives and they call him the lord of the earthquake(Korpuskristi), because the last earthquake stopped when they carried that statue out of the church. There is also a picture of the last supper that has a guinea pig as the meal. The Peruvians mixed Catholicism with their original religion and created something new. They have a symbol of the cross with two bulls and a pot which represents the amalgam of the Catholic cross and the bulls that the Spaniards introduced to help with agriculture and the mother earth represented by the pot. Peruvians used to be 90% Catholic but now they are only 82% Catholic. It seems they are abandoning Catholicism and returning to the religion of their forefathers. Come to think of it, their original religion was a bit better than Catholicism in my opinion. Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-78207416703156298692017-12-10T13:06:00.000-08:002017-12-10T13:06:02.192-08:00Trotting at the Oceanside Turkey Trot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I ran the 5k Oceanside Turkey Trot race and here is a picture that was taken of me at the finish line. Hooray! I ran the 5k in about 39 minutes. I really enjoyed it because the weather was perfect and it was nice running in Oceanside streets and then finishing at coast all the way to the pier. It was great. I should do this every year if I can.
There were about nine thousand people running in total, about three thousand of them ran the 10k race and the rest ran the 5k race.
Compared to the Double Peak race I would say this one is the better one. The crowd was much larger and the venue much better. There were people from different states as well as from other countries as well. That is how famous this race is. I saw people from Canada as well. I guess people come here because of the nice weather at this time of the year whereas they have snow at home.
Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-53393112305638174042017-10-01T09:53:00.000-07:002017-10-01T09:53:40.255-07:00Peaking Up at Double Peak<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I participate in the Double Peak Challenge 2017 which took place Saturday 9/30/2017. I ran the 5k race, which was an untimed race around Double Peak. Finishing the race in itself is a challenge because of all the hilly trails along the 5k path. In the end I got a Double Peak #reachthepeak medal and a red bag full of snacks. During the race I took a wrong turn and made an extra 1 km, so in reality I ran a 6k race!
It was fun and I would do it again if I can. There are other similar races in San Diego area. There is one coming up in Escondido called Grape Day race, and then the day of Thanksgiving there is one called O'side Turkey Trot race in Oceanside. I would like to participate in that last one because its 5k race is grouped into different waves, each wave with certain speed range, so one can choose the wave that is suitable according to one's ability to run. There are two waves in the end for walkers/strollers. I think I will join the one above those, i.e. about 16 minutes per mile.Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-61821432747616838682017-04-24T16:19:00.005-07:002017-04-24T16:19:44.779-07:00Los Angeles Double Decker Tour<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We took a double decker bus to tour Los Angeles. The bus is a hop on hop off service and has four routes. We bought tickets for one day only and therefore the best we could do was to explore only two routes: the red route which tours Hollywood and Beverly Hills, and the purple route which tours downtown LA. Each of the tours is more than two hours, so we did not have time to get off at any point but remained on the top deck watching the scenery and listening to the narration with earphones.
We started at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood by the Walk of Fame area. The red route went through Sunset Blvd to the exclusive area of Beverly Hills where the rich and famous live. Along the way we saw Chateau Marmont, the Beverly Hills shield, and the exclusive streets where Palm trees stand tall on either side. We saw the Spanish Renaissance City Hall building of Beverly Hills where the police of the city reside, and where the movie "Beverly Hills Cop" was made. At Beverly Center is the premier fashion shopping mall of Los Angeles where you find hundred plus stores like Vuitton, Gucci and Burberry making Beverly Center a unique shopping destination.
Then we took the purple route which took us through Wilshire Blvd to LA Museum of Arts (LACMA) and the Tar Pits Park, where you can see oil in the form of tar still bubbling to the surface as a reminder of the oil fields under the city.
We passed by Canter's Deli which is open 24 hours a day and is considered an LA classic. Along the way we saw pioneer studios like CBS and Paramount pictures still standing in their original places. We passed by MacArthur park and lake in Westlake area, then on to the Broad, LA city Hall and the new famous LAPD building often called the glass house. Next we passed by Koreatown, where all the signs are in Korean and English. They say there is a famous stationery store in Koreatown called Daiso of Japan, which I am planning on visiting one of these days. Then we passed by El Pueblo historic Monument, which reminds you that the city of Los Angeles was established by the Spanish in the eighteenth century. The famous Union Station is next to El Pueblo, and next is Chinatown which is maintained by the Chinese government itself as a tourist attraction. Nearby Chinatown is Little Tokyo whish has interesting free museum to see. We saw the tallest skyscraper in downtown LA which is the US Bank tower, and then we passed by the Staples Center situated at Figueroa St., which is a multi-purpose sports arena and whose picture you can see on the right. That concluded our one day trip. The bus then took the highway back to Hollywood and dropped us at the Dolby Theater where we started.
This tour was just a means to know about the places of interest in LA so that one can visit them again later at his leisure. LA is a very vast city and it is impossible to visit everything in one day or even one week. It requires many weekends to cover all the other places.
For example there is the yellow route that takes you to Santa Monica area and Venice beach, but that requires a separate day, so we will visit that area on our own at some later date. Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-81036495445372873012017-04-08T10:29:00.000-07:002017-04-08T10:33:40.313-07:00Lights of the Valkyries<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We visited the Griffith Observatory of the city of Los Angeles on mount Hollywood near the Hollywood sign. You can climb up the Hollywood sign, which takes about 1 hour, but you can see it clearly from the observatory as shown in this picture. What we liked most was the live show in the Samuel Oschin Planetarium. The show was called "Light of the Valkyries" which took us on a voyage of Viking cosmology and explored the true nature of the aurora borealis - the northern lights. We explored the source of the northern lights (the Sun) in a cosmic light show set to one of the most iconic pieces of music of all time, Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. We learnt how in the northern arctic (and the southern arctic) there are days when the sun never sets, but moves across the sky near the horizon in a full circle that starts from the north and ends also at the north. There are other days when the sun never rises leaving the arctic north in creepy darkness for months.
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There were telescopes outside set up for free viewing. We looked at the moon magnified 130 times and we looked at the city of Los Angeles. The telescope's power enabled us to see street signs from above mount Hollywood many miles down the city. There are hiking trails also that one can take you down to the park along the way to the city of Los Angeles, but this is best done in the weekend because the park closes by sunset.
One of the items displayed inside the observatory building is Tesla's coil that Nicola Tesla built in 1891. It is an electrical resonant transformer circuit used to produce high-voltage, low-current, high frequency sparks, and was used in the Frankenstein movie. There is other exciting information inside so go visit the observatory if you can, you will enjoy the information inside, and the fantastic views of the city of Los Angeles and the Hollywood mount, but above all visiting the Planetarium is a must. Admission to the observatory is free and there is free parking outside, however the planetarium ticket costs a mere $7 per adult. Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-47593137695309542832017-01-02T12:48:00.004-08:002017-01-02T12:48:50.583-08:00Fitness Tracker Advantage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgcssENMd_F0-x5kG8EQIh2nbxQPcWnnkBALLJlUc8HyXinE9l2qb2P1OxekolaO-0H6ZzrwWcqh-SiwzvhiE9_x7rsPcMZS2KgFK5HuAyLr6g41Km6ibfMYbxfovURaJ7mfQcVQ/s1600/fitbit.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgcssENMd_F0-x5kG8EQIh2nbxQPcWnnkBALLJlUc8HyXinE9l2qb2P1OxekolaO-0H6ZzrwWcqh-SiwzvhiE9_x7rsPcMZS2KgFK5HuAyLr6g41Km6ibfMYbxfovURaJ7mfQcVQ/s320/fitbit.tiff" width="320" height="240" /></a></div>
I tried one of the fitness trackers out there and this one is the fitbit charger 2. It is not really that great and certainly one can do without it, but it has some advantages that made me keep it. First of all I am not going to wear it all the time as they recommend. I tried wearing it all the time for a couple of days just to get some statistics, and as you see in this picture it tells you what your activities were like how many steps you walked and how many stair flights you climbed, and your average heart beat rate and things like that. When I went biking I set it up to track my activity but the GPS signal was not strong enough so the results were not accurate at all as it missed a big chunk of my exercise. A good feature of it though is that it pairs with your cell phone and it vibrates when you get a call or a text message. You can find out who called you and can even read the text messages you receive. This is useful because when I am biking I can't reach my phone and the same is true when I am on the elliptical machine. Also it is useful to continuously monitor your heart beat rate during the exercise. It is good to know if you reached your maximum heart pulse rate and for how long etc. Therefore I decided to use it only during my exercise, like during weight lifting or aerobic exercise sessions, and of course during outdoor activities such as cycling or hiking. Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-88858547242992744692016-11-05T12:45:00.000-07:002016-11-05T13:28:34.166-07:00Cycling Oceanside<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This picture is taken at Carlsbad beach during a cycling event with Performance Bikes group. We started from the bike shop at Oceanside, rode down Plaza drive to Hecienda, then south on Melrose, to Palomar, to Paseo Del Norte, to Cannon Rd. to Carlsbad Blvd. On the way back we took Cannon Rd. all the way to College Blvd. to Plaza Dr. to the bike shop again. The ride was about 22 miles and took about 2 hours and 15 minutes including a brief stop, which means we were making about 10 miles per hour.
My Trek mountain bike served me quite well over the past several years especially on dirt rough roads up and down hills, but here in California one needs a road bike to take on those smoothly paved hilly roads that require a lighter and more maneuver capable bike, so I bought this Fuji Roubaix 1.0 road bike. This bike comes with a light aluminum frame (except the front fork which is all carbon), Ultegra 11-speed drivetrain, 105 front derailleur, and Oval compact crankset and Shimano 11/28 cassette. The wheels are Oval 327 with Vittoria Zaffiro slick Slick tires.
At first I installed Shimano pedals with triangular cleats PD-R550 that go with Shimano RP-05 shoes, but after falling four or five times while using them I decided to return them and replace them with regular platform pedals.
I rode this new bike along 18 miles which took me about two hours and the experience was fantastic. The Ultegra drivetrain shifts flawlessly and the brakes work great giving an overall exhilarating experience. I also liked the Oceanside bike shop "Performance Bikes" who accepted my returns with no questions asked, and they re-aligned my gears after my numerous falls off the bike free of charge.
Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-21929915235178071212016-09-22T12:50:00.001-07:002016-09-22T12:50:09.422-07:00Fig Tree Growth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjONGj0zS7yh61SqO_GJD3vgwE7Qdkvzswls0sb8rKcF3T3_Tl8YVS33jeORsrGCnYu_G2PIpTU0mC9J6TXan4tRtGnQtFF5SAi9ys4wYRhqT299zl-MXgCoOFgJRI2aIQ2bqNCXg/s1600/figs12a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjONGj0zS7yh61SqO_GJD3vgwE7Qdkvzswls0sb8rKcF3T3_Tl8YVS33jeORsrGCnYu_G2PIpTU0mC9J6TXan4tRtGnQtFF5SAi9ys4wYRhqT299zl-MXgCoOFgJRI2aIQ2bqNCXg/s320/figs12a.jpg" width="320" height="224" /></a></div>
Growing a fig tree is so easy. If you know somebody who has a fig tree, ask them to give you a branch of it during April as the tree starts to bloom. Take that branch and soak it in water for a couple of weeks until you see roots start to come out, then bury it in the ground. That is all to it. In picture number 1 on the right you see the branch after a week or so from planting it in the ground. You see that it started to have leaves. The picture number 2 shows the same branch after a couple more weeks as new leaves started to emerge.
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Picture number 3 shows the same branch after six weeks or so when even more leaves came out and it started to grow in thickness as well. The last picture number 4 shows that branch after about six months. We were away for a couple of weeks and when we came back we were surprised to see the tree started to bear figs as you shown in the picture. That was quite a pleasant surprise as we did not expect to see any fruits this year. I am not sure if the fruits will be good enough quality to eat the first year but that remains to be seen. It seems that next year we should have tasty figs coming out of this tree which started as nothing but a leafless branch. I need to point out that no special preparation was made to the soil at all. We just planted that branch and later I used some compost that I prepare in the garden using old leaves and kitchen vegetable refuse. I also installed a sprinkler to the root of the tree so that I don't have to manually water it daily. Other than that the tree is low maintenance and quite easy to grow. Try it out and you will be pleased at the results as I did.
Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-71439974661857421402016-09-15T22:53:00.000-07:002016-09-16T08:57:06.736-07:00Istanbul Istanbul ...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Istanbul is the only city in the world that falls on two different continents: Asia and Europe. It was the third Ottoman capital after Bursa and Edirne. The picture to the right is that of Hagia Sofia (the holy wisdom), and in front of it is the so called Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet mosque). In Istanbul also there is the famous Topkapi (cannon gate) which used to be the residence of the Ottoman Sultans and their harems. Some of the holy relics contained in Topkapi are: Staff of Moses, sword of David, pan of Abraham, footprint of Prophet Mohammad, keys of the Kaaba, cloak of Prophet Mohammad, his beard hair and his seal. I joined the Fez Travel magic carpet tour which showed us around Istanbul and other cities in Turkey as I will explain next. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7rBg1I_4q4KCyrjoC8ZY4X0HTxPoDEwEaOX3YfveWqP1_11ll84vLigk8rgTkP0uE0uXvVg2jKZPcnOUf5Hiv-2v9oufE7gkBUWfHHS8V_Hf7U59XRmoGJE5aEMhnijYZ_JEW0w/s1600/20160904_235253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7rBg1I_4q4KCyrjoC8ZY4X0HTxPoDEwEaOX3YfveWqP1_11ll84vLigk8rgTkP0uE0uXvVg2jKZPcnOUf5Hiv-2v9oufE7gkBUWfHHS8V_Hf7U59XRmoGJE5aEMhnijYZ_JEW0w/s320/20160904_235253.jpg" width="180" height="320" /></a></div>
Next to the area of Sultan Ahmet mosque and Hagia Sofia there is the remnant of the ancient Hippodrome which was built at the time of Emperor Justinian. To the left you see a picture of the Galata tower north of the Golden Horn (Halci in Turkish). The nine-story tower is about 67 meters high and you can see a beautiful 360 degree panoramic view of the city from the top. Other landmarks of Istanbul are the Istiklal street and the Taksim square which were in the news during last July's failed coup that took place in Turkey. I took a public ferry boat along the Bosphorus and enjoyed the voyage by sea very much. We went under three bridges that cross the Bosphorus. The name of one of the bridges was changed to "The Martyrs of July 15" after the failed coup. Another one is new and was opened recently in August. Other landmarks of Istanbul are the Spice Market "Eminonu", and the Grand Bazaar.
The next day we went by bus to Gallipoli where we saw the ANZAC cove and the trenches from WWI. Then from Gallipoli we crossed the sea of Marmara by a ferry boat to a city called Canakkale where we spent the night in Iris Hotel. The next day we visited the ancient city of Troy, but most of its treasures were looted by a German treasure hunter in the nineteenth century. Then we drove to a nice city by the sea called Kusadasi, and along the way, near Izmir, we stopped<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglVAZY7Q9Ykh7ChH0qhm1zNb8hIQxiuioLh-t_dlJufNTdRmDWQy8O5KxRl59G2vg_AblrXgf-gvMnKQPkcWvtWBgBMYE_hC4avPaHG1ZPitsAb8kg8bmhjLXja0itbxQJXcxKJQ/s1600/IMG_4141.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglVAZY7Q9Ykh7ChH0qhm1zNb8hIQxiuioLh-t_dlJufNTdRmDWQy8O5KxRl59G2vg_AblrXgf-gvMnKQPkcWvtWBgBMYE_hC4avPaHG1ZPitsAb8kg8bmhjLXja0itbxQJXcxKJQ/s320/IMG_4141.jpg" width="320" height="180" /></a></div> to visit the high city "Acropolis" and Bergamo. The next day we visited Ephesus which was built 3000 B.C. from the time of the Hittites. The picture to the right shows the remnants of the library inside Ephesus. There is a nearby town there called Selcuk where the Seljuk Turks of the 11th century ruled before the Ottomans. There is also nearby Sirince which is famous for its wine. In that area there is also the church of Virgin Mary where she is believed to have died, as well as apostle St. John. We visited the temple of Artemis which has nothing left really except one column. The next day we drove to Heriopolis near Pamukkale. There we swam in an antique pool of thermal spring water among historic columns. We stopped at Denizli to buy some towels for the pool first. That area is famous for its Denizli roosters that can crow for 30 seconds, and for its textiles.
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The next morning we drove towards Cappadocia, or the Land of Beautiful Horses. But first along the way we stopped at Konya where we visited the tomb of Jalaluldeen Al Rumi, the mystic who founded the whirling Dervish practice. Near Konya we also passed by the village of Hodja called Akshehir. Hodja was famous for his humorous stories but he was also a philosopher and wise man. We also saw caravan sarays, or caravan depots that were built along the Silk Road during the Seljuk dynasty. Finally we arrived to Cappadocia seen in the picture to the right. It is a beautiful land of wonderful rock formations and where houses and churches were carved out of the mountains. There were also whole cities that were built underground, where early Christians took refuge from the Roman persecution at the time. We spent two wonderful nights in a nice hotel at Cappadocia, and the next day we went on our way to Ankara but we decided not to visit Ataturk's mausoleum there and continued on our way back to Istanbul. I really enjoyed my tour of Turkey so much and I would recommend it to anybody who wants to see the best of Turkey in ten days.
Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-35563507343329244252016-09-11T06:49:00.000-07:002016-09-11T06:49:16.054-07:00Romulus's Rome<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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According to myth, Romulus and his brother Remus quarreled about where to found the new city. While Romulus wanted to found the new city on the Palatine Hill, Remus preferred the Aventine Hill. Romulus killed his brother and founded the new city, named it Rome, after himself, and created its first legions and senate.
The picture to the right is what remains of the ancient city from circa 750 B.C. when it was first founded on the Palatine Hill. Our guide said it was analogous to today's Beverly Hills in California, a place for the rich and wealthy. While the Roman Forum was its business district. Next to the Palatine Hill you see the famous Roman Colosseum which was destroyed twice by powerful earthquakes, which is why it is missing sections in its structure today ... see picture to the left.
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From inside the Colosseum is huge and is under continuous repair. Near that area there are the remains of the place where Julius Caesar was assassinated. It was a good idea to pay extra for a guided tour because it bypasses the long waiting lines, in addition to the explanation of the detailed history of the structure and related subjects.
I have to say that Rome was quite hot during the day in August, especially under direct sun light. Prepare to walk a lot in that area to see both the theater as well as the Roman Forum in the Palatine Hill.
The Vatican is a separate entity and although it is in the middle of Rome, it is a different country. Its population is about 5 thousand people and it is surrounded by an ancient wall that was meant to protect the popes in the past. The most important structure in the Vatican is the St. Peter's Basilica which is the biggest church in the world, and the most important as well ... see picture to the right.
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For my luck a devastating earthquake struck the middle of Italy while I was there, about 100 miles away from Rome. The earthquake shook Rome but I was sleeping at the time and luckily I did not feel it. More than 300 people died and many buildings were destroyed in the Lazio area. The Pope held a special prayer in the Vatican because of the event.
I visited the Sistine Chapel which is where they choose the new pope each time, and it is decorated by paintings by Micael Angelo on its walls and ceiling, some of which are quite scandalous, but the pope of the time shielded Michael Angelo from any criticism and kept most of the drawings intact although the bishops of the time wanted to knock down the whole building because of the flagrantly inappropriate paintings.
The Vatican museums are full of statues and paintings as well, in addition to maps made in the old times, and other artifacts of significance. It was also a good idea that I joined a tour on that day to bypass the extremely long lines by the walls of the city.
Other attractions in Rome are the famous Fontana Di Treva shown in the picture to the left.
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Every day people visit that fountain and throw coins in it to make wishes. The government collects daily more than six thousand Euros of coins from the fountain and the proceeds go to various charities that help the poor and estranged women and children.
Other important attractions in Rome are the Pantheon, the piazza Venezia, piazza Novana, and the Spanish Stairs. The Pantheon was a temple of the ancient Roman gods. The piazza Venezia was used by Mussolini during WWII and has the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in its yard. The piazza Novana is an example of Baroque Roman architecture, and has the famous Fontana Dei Quattro Fiumi (fountain of the four rivers) by Bernini, as well as the Fontana del Moro. The Spanish Stairs is an upscale shopping area where you find the latest designers' collections of clothes and shoes.
Don't miss sampling the Italian Gelato, their ice cream made of goat milk and is characteristically sticky and quite tasty.
The Italian cuisine is one of the best in the world. I loved their olive oil and pasta dishes with seafood.
There is a lot to see in Rome, so plan to stay there at least three days to see all the important historical places. One day for the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. One day should be dedicated to the Vatican City, and one day to stroll along the various piazzas (Novana, Venezia, Pantheon, Spanish Stairs, etc.).
Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-45657814179534724732016-04-17T10:04:00.000-07:002016-04-17T10:04:42.764-07:00San Diego Harbor<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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One of the attractions of downtown San Diego of course is the harbor area, called the Embarcadero (Spanish for wharf). You can stroll from Embarcadero Marina park to the Maritime museum where there is the Star of India, supposedly the oldest sailing ship in the world. You could also visit the Midway museum which is the longest serving aircraft carrier in the history of the US Navy. Fine dining in the area is abundant, for example try the Fish Market restaurant which serves fresh seafood grilled to your liking. There are also the Harbor Island and Shelter Island which are great places for quiet getaways for people to enjoy a walk or just a peaceful moment overlooking San Diego Bay. San Diego is beautiful.
Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-45330929381972484692016-01-10T09:57:00.000-08:002016-01-10T10:01:50.169-08:00Aux Champs Elysee<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Visiting Paris reminded me of Joe Dassin's song "Aux Champs Elysee". The main pet peeves for me here too was the cigarette smoking which bothered me so much. Everybody smokes everywhere. Restaurants where smoking is not allowed inside, allow people to smoke outside and all the smoke liberally enters inside so you feel you are sitting besides smokers not in a non-smoking area. The iconic Eiffel tower appears anywhere in the city you look. We saw it from our hotel window at La Defense area. The next tallest building you could see from anywhere was the Sacre Coeur cathedral which is built on top of the Montmatre butte, see the picture to the left. The Notre Dame cathedral is the oldest building in Paris and has lot of history in it. The building was destroyed and vandalized during the French revolution, but was restored afterwards and is still suffering major cracks until today. I visited the Louvre museum. It is so huge, and needs at least three days to see everything, but I managed to see the most important things in it, like the Mona Lisa and Napoleon III furniture.
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Transportation within Paris is easy and convenient using the Metro system. If you need to go outside Paris, for example to visit the Versaille palace, then you need to take the RER train. Chateaux Versailles was splendid, and full of treasures that tells the story of the kings of France before the revolution, but then Napoleon made himself emperor and royalty returned to France. In the Concorde square I saw the obelisk that Mohammad Ali of Egypt gave as a gift to France's king in 1829. Moving it from Egypt to France was an engineering feat by itself. You can see the obelisk in the picture to the right. What a magnificent scene.
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Walking on the Champs Elysee was fun of course, and eating hot chestnuts in the freezing night was nice (called marron chaud, i.e hot chestnuts). Nothing is left of the Bastille castle except some stones. Two famous gardens we saw were the Jardins de Tuileries, and Jardins de Luxembourg. We went to Cherbourg in Normandi also. It was cold, windy and rainy so it was hard walking outdoors, but we saw the Tapestries of Bayeaux that tell the story of how William (Guillaume) the Conqueror became the king of England in 1090 or so. We also saw the structure that Napoleon built near the shore to ward off the British ships from attacking the Normandi shores.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijzNNswd9vo-7I-Yo4aHFNKq1wNpwqWVIi84k9j3VDi1PYQ3Z2bY_AW30wHBAMHCVImg-QGse16ZBMf56kVcneMnUkm_ZsZyHNqohmNk_eOffGVddPVnz0j7uBi7wFcKMoeMXknA/s1600/12494268_10203944158923410_826136019_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijzNNswd9vo-7I-Yo4aHFNKq1wNpwqWVIi84k9j3VDi1PYQ3Z2bY_AW30wHBAMHCVImg-QGse16ZBMf56kVcneMnUkm_ZsZyHNqohmNk_eOffGVddPVnz0j7uBi7wFcKMoeMXknA/s320/12494268_10203944158923410_826136019_o.jpg" /></a></div>
The picture to the left shows a rustic country scene in Cherbourg, Normandi. The area is famous for dairy products and many variants of cheese and butter. As I said it was damp and cold so the trip to Normandi was marred by the weather elements, although it was a great place to visit. Restaurants in France in general are modest and not that great, which might explain why most French people are skinny. Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-12572323553191884912016-01-10T09:15:00.002-08:002016-01-10T09:18:06.126-08:00Lo London!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We arrived London on Xmas day 12/26/2015 and as expected it was wet and cold but not freezing cold, just mild cold. The main thing that bothered me in London (and the same with all European cities) was the cigarette smoking. People smoke at the entrance of buildings so that you certainly passively smoke with them each time you pass by a door. Apart from that, I really enjoyed London, especially the double-deck buses and the friendly people. I can say I saw all the major attractions, namely Big Ben (shown in the picture), Trafalgar square, Picadilly circus, Westminster London Eye, St. Paul's church, Tower of London, Buckingham palace, Hyde Park, Harrods, and the British museum. We climbed St. Paul's cathedral all the way to the top of the dome and saw all of London city from above, see the picture to the left.
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The main modern building in London is the Shard building, which was built by a Qatari millionaire. Visiting Harrods was an exquisite experience. A ring sells for 1.2 M pounds, and a bracelet that goes with it sells for 10 M pounds! The London tower is another great attraction. The ancient wall of London lies near it and was built by the Romans around 100 A.D. The bridge opens at certain times to let ships pass under it which is a magnificent scene as you can see in the picture to the right.
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The food in London is modest at best unless you eat at an Italian restaurant. Picadilly square is vibrant and live at night, especially we were there during new year eve. It is a circus, thus the name Picadilly circus. We spent three full days in London and stayed in Islington which was central to all the major attractions, and lied next to Angel station which allowed us to use public transportation to go anywhere in the city. Unfortunately there were floods in Wales and Scotland at that time so our trip was limited to London.
Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-21145626008198225312015-08-08T15:30:00.000-07:002015-08-08T15:30:52.571-07:00At Last Amsterdam<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I got out of the airport in Amsterdam and headed to the train station which was within the airport. I bought a two way ticket to Amsterdam and took the train shown in the picture to the right. It took about fifteen minutes to get to downtown. As soon as I got off the train I saw the water. Amsterdam consists of a ring of canals that you see every block. The picture to the left below is the first thing I saw when I got off the train. I started walking and at about each block I saw a canal as shown in the picture to the right below.
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I went through the redlight district which is notorious for its prostitution and hasheesh among other drugs. They say it is changing and becoming more of a family oriented place but it did not seem to me that way. It was the morning so there wasn't any activity there, but I am sure in the evening that place lights up all in red as the name indicates. It was dirty and trashy, as it seems there was a wild party from the night before. The interesting thing is that one of the landmarks of Amsterdam was right next to it, the old church called Oude Kerk.
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I kept walking and I saw a very long line of people and later found out it was for the Ann Frank house, called Ann Frank Huis. There was also the Van Gogh museum and also Rembrandt house. I did not have time to enter any museums so I just looked from outside. The main square there is called the Dam Square, and that is where I had my breakfast. You see a picture of it to the left below. My breakfast was nothing special but interestingly the waitress asked for the money in advance. I said: "You mean this is not free?"
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One thing I noticed in Amsterdam was that the main means of transportation was the bicycle. I saw the same thing elsewhere in Europe but it seemed more pronounced in Amsterdam, maybe because the weather was so nice that day. Usually Amsterdam weather is overcast and you seldom see the sun there, but that day was so nice and sunny and mild, so everybody was riding a bike on that day. The picture below is a representation of the bikes that I am talking about.
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Well, that concluded my short tour in Amsterdam, I did not have time to do much other than walk for a couple of hours and have breakfast at the Dam square near Madame Tussauds which is a famous wax museum. There is so much to see in the Netherlands, and that needs at least a few days to cover everything, but for me this was it for now.
I went back to the airport where I had to get my passport stamped three times because I entered from a wrong gate and finally I made it to my flight gate. Everything went fine until I arrived New York. I had only one hour to take my next flight, which I made on time just about when they were boarding the plane, but my suitcase did not make it to San Diego with me. However, Delta delivered the suitcase to my door the next morning conveniently and promptly.Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-92041096676741091282015-08-08T14:54:00.000-07:002015-08-08T14:54:30.981-07:00Hello Ishbilya (Seville)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Seville is the largest and most populous city of Andalusia. Its river is Guadalkivir, the same one that goes to Cordoba as well. Magellan departed from Seville in 1519 and went around the globe with the help of Arab navigators. During the Islamic rule Seville was under the Almoravids and then Almohads. I was mainly interested in the old section of the city, with the Moorish heritage. So that is where I went, namely to Alcazar, an old Moorish palace that is being used now by the royal family and as government offices. Next to the Alcazar is the Gothic Seville cathedral seen in the picture to the right from the neighboring Alcazar. Notably, the tower of thee cathedral used to be a minaret of a Moorish mosque and is called the Giralda. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbuqLGjvzRRV3b2wJjbKJK7_LjnMiwKEq0I_iTl5KpruTOblfXi2o1LY4cx4veWr71B0Er-6fgUnmakpgdkxJWkDegqJE8CHIo9f6hduNTaPhwvPOQZgsq_VpvcKidvJjhSrYfcg/s1600/IMG_2078.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbuqLGjvzRRV3b2wJjbKJK7_LjnMiwKEq0I_iTl5KpruTOblfXi2o1LY4cx4veWr71B0Er-6fgUnmakpgdkxJWkDegqJE8CHIo9f6hduNTaPhwvPOQZgsq_VpvcKidvJjhSrYfcg/s320/IMG_2078.JPG" /></a></div>
The cathedral itself is Gothic in structure and is the biggest such church in the world and the third biggest of any church kind. Funny they tell you to take your hat off when you enter but they don't mind women entering with skimpy clothes. Another historic Moorish structure near the Guadalkivir river is the Torre Del Oro, or the tower of gold. I passed by it but did not bother entering it. The third picture to the right shows a typical street around the area of Alcazar. I saw many horse carriages that take tourists on tours in the old section of town.
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There are many McDonalds and Starbucks and other American restaurant chains. I walked around and saw a wooden structure that was made by some German architect that is shown in the picture to the right below. The picture to the left shows a building downtown that imitates the Moorish architecture style and there is a cafe below it.
The food here is good in general and I liked the tapas dishes which are small dishes that allow you to sample many kinds of food instead of having one large plate of one kind.
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My favorite tapas plate was the eggplant one which was made with tomato sauce and ground beef and tasted so good. I walked to to the river and saw people biking there and some were paddling kayaks and canoes. But the temperature was so hot that I could not stand in the sun for long and was constantly looking for shade. I entered the Gothic cathedral as there was mass in session because it was Sunday and spent a few minutes inside. It was quite ornate and full of statues and pictures. The Giralda distinctly showed that it came from a Moorish mosque of the past although its top was altered where statues and crosses were added to give it its Gothic character.
I did not have much time to see more than this, so that sort of concluded my Andalusia's tour. I had to return to the hotel and get prepared to return to Toulouse to spend one last night there before going back home.
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I checked out of the hotel and filled the car with Diesel oil and then returned it to Enterprise at the airport. The three days cost me 112 Euros total for the car, and the gas cost another 50 Euros more or less. Overall the car had very good mileage. I drove about 810 km total with that car, so the gas cost was quite reasonable.
On returning to Toulouse I did not have much time left, I just slept that night and had to wake up at 4 am to head to the airport as my flight back to the US was at 6 am. I took that flight on time and made it to Amsterdam, which was my first stop. In Amsterdam I had more than five hours so I decided to get out of the airport and take the train to downtown Amsterdam for three hours or so. My next blog talks about what I saw in those three hours in Amsterdam.Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-24018333884749276542015-08-08T13:26:00.000-07:002015-08-08T13:26:04.967-07:00The Glory of Cordoba<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Cordoba! Where do I start. I drove to Seville from Granada, spent the night there and in the morning I drove to Cordoba which was about 1.5 hour away from Seville. What a glorious city. It used to be the most populous city in the world at its glory (over a million people) but now only 330,000 people live there. The first picture to the right is outside the mosque of Cordoba, which is a cathedral now. They call it Mezquita/Catedral de Cordoba. The original mehrab area was left intact as shown in the second picture to the right, whereas everywhere else in the mosque pictures and statues crowd the walls and ceilings. Also there was a grand organ playing music. The Muslims in Cordoba have been trying to get permission to pray in the Mehrab area of the mosque but their pleas were rejected many times by the government and by the Vatican. It took two hundred years to finish building this mosque, as generations kept improving on it and adding details that made it in this beautiful final form. It was the Caliph Al Hakam who ruled Cordoba in its golden age and he built many universities and hospitals and made Cordoba the shining lighthouse of Europe.
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The picture to the left shows the Cordoba mosque from inside with its famous double arches with white and red stones. No paint so the colors can last for eternity without the need of any maintenance. Brilliant architecture and beautiful simplicity. The Mehrab area is left alone and is in its original condition as shown below.
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Some of the famous characters of Cordoba at the time were Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and Ibn Sina (Avecina) and Mohammad Al Ghafiqi, and Al Idrissi, and Ibn Maimoun (Maimonides) and Ibn Al Arabi. and many others. You could see their statues all over the city and many streets are named after them. One of the best attractions I saw there was a museum across the bridge from Cordoba mosque. In that museum they showed us how the Islamic civilization shone is Spain. They talked about Averroes, Ibn Al Arabi, Maimonides, and Alfonso the tenth, and gave glimpses of their teachings, and how Cordoba was living in peace with Muslims, Christians and Jews all living side by side learning together and prospering together. The museum also showed how the inhabitants of Cordoba took care of the ecology of their land as instructed by the Quran. They showed the map that Idrissi made at that time and how accurate it was similar to today's maps. Amazing. I was really touched by that museum and considered it the highlight of my visit to Cordoba.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhenI72-3bACs9WWHQ6xZL1GRZRUiJkUoz8x4kZr3dMY3zAvmU2ywEwRDeVph-EOl2E0Fd9w_WJF0AvgvdbIdjRSuzNJsO2Rkn6O1NhTEbDhxfeR5lIAmsh0m1qaGA0OdfAIXWJLw/s1600/IMG_1972.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhenI72-3bACs9WWHQ6xZL1GRZRUiJkUoz8x4kZr3dMY3zAvmU2ywEwRDeVph-EOl2E0Fd9w_WJF0AvgvdbIdjRSuzNJsO2Rkn6O1NhTEbDhxfeR5lIAmsh0m1qaGA0OdfAIXWJLw/s320/IMG_1972.JPG" /></a></div>
The river of Cordoba is called Guadalqivir, literally means the big river in Arabic, and is pronounced exactly like in Arabic وادي الكبير.
The same river extends also to Seville, which I will talk about in my next blog.
The streets in Cordoba are narrow and ancient. They are clean and well maintained. They make you fall in love with the historic city easily. I walked along those streets and saw an old synagogue with the statue of Maimonides in front of it. Just like the Muslims were denied worship in the Mezquita, the Jews are denied worship in the synagogue also. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1tLXcfoE-NbIMsjzqavoxa23m0jNRkaThkuZ840nuk0s9P-RqC8NZ-_UzC65mxnERgq0aHKA3kFzkUXoOhHnm1Je0O2sobcg_qSdvj_P7esyQpBbVbTDuKv9OI6oq8D5B14DV7g/s1600/IMG_2045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1tLXcfoE-NbIMsjzqavoxa23m0jNRkaThkuZ840nuk0s9P-RqC8NZ-_UzC65mxnERgq0aHKA3kFzkUXoOhHnm1Je0O2sobcg_qSdvj_P7esyQpBbVbTDuKv9OI6oq8D5B14DV7g/s320/IMG_2045.JPG" /></a></div>
The temperature was brutally hot at this time of the year, so if you want to visit southern Spain don't go there in August but in April or some other time. After 2 pm you can hardly see any people walking in the streets anymore as they take their siesta of the afternoon and then don't appear again until it is dark when they stay up all night after that.
I stayed in Cordoba until about 3 pm and the heat was so brutal that I preferred to go back to the car where at least I had air conditioning there, and I drove to the original city that was first built in Spain called Madinat Al Zahra. This city was built by Abdel Rahman III but all what is left of it now are ruins. I saw the entrance to the city but unfortunately it was closed after 2:30 pm and I missed seeing it. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikTvhXTXMARLBN1ywF5Pqj19kJd4DetwxkdWnERwuqT8M98FW_YYOe3MiJbV3vPzfpNORLXVbC1kRdJRno6jsF1YBTu_cNNYu4zd7o8h4hlRGh1Fne4kQTW1TS1HHxE2u4wV0kgA/s1600/IMG_1924.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikTvhXTXMARLBN1ywF5Pqj19kJd4DetwxkdWnERwuqT8M98FW_YYOe3MiJbV3vPzfpNORLXVbC1kRdJRno6jsF1YBTu_cNNYu4zd7o8h4hlRGh1Fne4kQTW1TS1HHxE2u4wV0kgA/s320/IMG_1924.JPG" /></a></div>
To the left you see a picture of the wall of Cordoba city. I had to say goodbye and return back to Seville as the heat was becoming unbearable, especially after my frustration of not being able to see Madinat Al Zahra which literally means the shining city. The trip back to Seville took about 1.5 hours, and in my next blog I will talk about what I saw in Seville, which is another glorious city from historic Moorish Spain. If you want to see Andalusia then visiting Cordoba is a must, even before Granada. Next to them I would say Seville and Toledo.Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28068624.post-16461233864699805572015-08-08T10:21:00.001-07:002015-08-08T10:21:52.673-07:00The Grandeur of Granada<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I booked a flight from Toulouse to Seville, Spain for 200 Euros two way, and headed to the Blagnac airport. Air France charged me 30 Euros for my suitcase, which I thought was outrageous, but on the way back they charged me 70 Euros! The flight took about 1.5 hours and it took me a while in Seville airport to find my suitcase, then I headed to Enterprise car rental where I rented a diesel stick shift car (Siat). I drove directly from the airport to Granada which took about 2.5 hours. I stayed in Melia hotel in downtown Granda near Alhambra for 75 Euros a night. The hotel was very nice and clean, but the WiFi was so slow that it was useless. The next morning I went to Alhambra (see the picture to the right). What grandeur and beauty! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJT3VWgs2J5APfczEEZnSzS2opyfaH7TrX5HXBqP1cXpcIWCSXKKcy0SDVEB4burb2PdtERbv6KztUaEnfHobVEkOmadmKDa9Ysspxi4jWeS9oG9mSTD4YY1ubUlwH8A8LwNmYaA/s1600/IMG_1705.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJT3VWgs2J5APfczEEZnSzS2opyfaH7TrX5HXBqP1cXpcIWCSXKKcy0SDVEB4burb2PdtERbv6KztUaEnfHobVEkOmadmKDa9Ysspxi4jWeS9oG9mSTD4YY1ubUlwH8A8LwNmYaA/s320/IMG_1705.JPG" /></a></div>
The gardens were magnificent (see the second picture to the left) but the citadel and the palace were incredible. Everywhere on the walls there was itched this sentence: "No victor but God", see the third picture to the left. The main palace is called Alcazar, literally meaning the palace in Arabic, and the high fortress area is called Alcazaba, again in Arabic meaning the high fortress. I can't describe the intricate carvings on the walls inside and the beauty of it all, it is such a monumental work that will last for generations to come.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3clM3MecVaeWGtr0vom9ETlvX3U1VJJb6MRzfZ7HD_hWSPeBvS24sIIGVwpseay4doJu_oNXfLsJQDnKjQPwTcevPekK7QT8jHfqKwEdXzQz2za7eU9iOgmCU5_RbG5vzy6JhhA/s1600/20150731_035425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3clM3MecVaeWGtr0vom9ETlvX3U1VJJb6MRzfZ7HD_hWSPeBvS24sIIGVwpseay4doJu_oNXfLsJQDnKjQPwTcevPekK7QT8jHfqKwEdXzQz2za7eU9iOgmCU5_RbG5vzy6JhhA/s320/20150731_035425.jpg" /></a></div>There was a special entry fee inside the palace itself and that was well worth the price. The fourth picture to the left is in the ambassador reception court of the palace. It was meant to impress you can tell and it is quite impressive no doubt. There was also the lions court area which was as impressive with its lions fountain spouting water in a beautiful manner. History flashed in front of my eyes as I wandered inside the palace looking at the carvings on the walls and imagining the events of history in this unique place.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ekFSqkE3KBby4KFESSbeexwiTJjMDY4-FYlMgX7RR6sX9aPHVjPRaiijm4IDv4xvs1pnmD59JSz0b0hhELqTljqsrOD838wtmlQqS9U1Msg9Q7d4LAvMBsEjmEtrRV3Dgkbumw/s1600/20150731_035816.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ekFSqkE3KBby4KFESSbeexwiTJjMDY4-FYlMgX7RR6sX9aPHVjPRaiijm4IDv4xvs1pnmD59JSz0b0hhELqTljqsrOD838wtmlQqS9U1Msg9Q7d4LAvMBsEjmEtrRV3Dgkbumw/s320/20150731_035816.jpg" /></a></div>
My visit to Granada was quite worth the trouble although the temperature was brutally hot in August. I enjoyed every second of it. If I had more time I could easily spend a week or two in this city and enjoy every minutes of it, but since I did not have except this one day I had to drive back to Seville in the afternoon around 5pm, and I arrived Seville around 7:30 pm where I stayed in the Hilton Garden Inn hotel some distance away from the old section of the city. My next blog will talk about Seville, which is another one of the famous Andalusian cities of the Moorish Spain.Gamal M Hegazihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11026004442265514532noreply@blogger.com0