In 1995, a good friend visited Petra. That was the year that it was designated a World Heritage Site. I saw his picture of the main temple known as the Treasury and I was hooked. I have wanted to go ever since. Steve Davey of the BBC said it was one of Forty “Unforgettable Places To See Before You Die.” I got my chance this year! I have only had to wait 16 years! And the visit was well worth it. A few things about Petra… Petra is in modern Jordan, about 300km south of the capital Amman. I…
Place Reviews (Thursday)
Category Archives for Place Reviews (Thursday).
Amazing Amman
Amman, the capital of Jordan is somewhere I almost never hear about. I was curious to find out what the city was like. I loved it.Home to almost 3 million people, the city straddles a series of hills. Originally it was built on seven hills – now 19.Amman has had an existence for almost 12 000 years. The city is expecting to double in size in the next 15 years straining its natural resources such as waterIts transit system is very frustratingly under developed. There are buses running throughout the city but information is hard to access and it…
Baffling Brasilia-Trying to Cross Brasilia by foot
This is the last of my posts on Brasilia, Brazil. My first was an overview of mindbogglingly fascinating planned city and would be worth reading before or in conjunction with today’s post. The others are listed in yesterday’s post. Many people I spoke to stated that Brasilia was built for the car not the pedestrian. This is not strictly true. The designer’s intention was that people and cars would be separated giving people safe spaces to walk in and cars few restrictions eg few pedestrian crossings. The idea is that between the city’s sectors, people would drive…
Buildings of Brasília – Awe Inspiring Capital
Aboard the tourist bus I have two more blogs to conclude my description of my experiences of Brasilia, the planned capital city of Brazil. The previous four are: Boggling Brasília – overview of a planned metropolis June 14, 2011- Bewitching Brasília -birds eye view of the capital June 17, 2011- Appraising Brasília –How does this planned city rate? July 28, 2011: Touring Brasília – the Tourist Experience Tomorrow’s Blog will tackle the fundamental problem of Brasília- successfully being a pedestrian! I took a very informative Tourist bus for a two hour tour of Oscar Niemeyer’s awe inspring architecture. Niemeyer’s was responsible for most of the…
Auckland is getting better
I first came to Auckland as an adult in November, 1991 – almost 20 years ago. It was the middle of the 1990s recession and Auckland felt grim. Wellington, Auckland’s rival city 640 km (398 miles) was also grim but I connected to Wellington with its art and fashion scene, good public transport and walkable sights. Auckland and I never connected. I have always been someone who has favoured one city over another (hence why I do my city rankings): San Francisco over Los Angeles Melbourne before Sydney Paris and not London Liverpool over Manchester Glasgow before Edinburgh Toronto before Vancouver…
Buzzing Brasilia- the Tourist Experience
This is my fourth article on my recent experiences on Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. When I told people that I was going to visit there, I got one of three reactions: Why? Where? What for? I was regaled with tales of people going mad with boredom in the sterile cityscape and the empty streets. Even Brazilians said to me that it would not take long to see the sights! Brasilia gets such a bad rap – from anyone who has never been there. The locals I spoke to, however, liked their city. Many who were born there, bristle at the…
Appraising Brasília -How does this planned city rate?
I had been long been fascinated by the architecture, the structure, the layout and its impact on the people who call Brasilia home. Some people say its a success and others warn of its failures. Brasilia is the 160th city over 100 000 people I have visited. And I have rated every city and update the ratings regularly!!! (ESFJ personality). These ratings are based on my perceptions and experiences. Overall Rating out of 100 I gave Brasília an overall score of 81.4 per cent. This gives it 74th place out of the 160th cities I have visited. Bizarrely…
Beautiful Brazil- My 50th Country visited
Brazil, the first country I have been to in South America is the 50th country I have visited. It also popped into my top ten favourite countries in the world. I loved Brazil! Geography To misquote Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: “Brazil is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it’s a long walk down the road to the chemist, but that’s just peanuts to Brazil“. As the fifth largest country in the world, total area is 8,514,877 km2 (3,287,597 sq mi ). For US people that’s almost…
Bewitching Brasília -birds eye view of the capital
Brasília, has me transfixed. Have a look at this amazing panoramic slide show of Brasília scenes. Then take a peek at an amazing flight over the city – in a hang glider! The author of this video declares that Brasília, is like the movie Gattaca. He is right
Boggling Brasília- Overview of a planned metropolis
In the TV Sitcom Big Bang theory, the main character, Sheldon, is asked by Rajesh to imagine himself in the one place he feels most at home: He replies: Simcity -or more specifically the Simcity I designed Sheldonopolis.Rajesh: OK you are in SheldonopolisSheldon: Where exactly? Sheldon square, Sheldon Towers, Sheldon Stadium, home of the fighting Sheldons….” I wonder what would happen if we indeed stepped into a Simcity creation? Here you go: For me visiting Brasília, the capital of Brazil a city planned and built in the late 1950s, is akin to visiting a Simcity creation…
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