Kaleidoscop #culture #world #travel

Back to TURKEY via Greece: Exploring Rhodes & Kos My August voyage actually started in Rhodes - something I'd call a journey within a journey like a play within a play, given the fact that I left Palermo to get to Berlin and then to Rhodes, and from Rhodes I headed to Sicily again: it was a Mediterranean summer by excellence. A summer that felt like a year… in the most positive of ways. The idea of Rhodes came as a natural follow up on my other Greek quests of 2018: a goal I had set for myself at the beginning of the year - to explore as many Greek islands as possible (considering that ALL of them would require a more considerable amount of time!). My wish was to get to know Greece better - the islands as well as the cities; identify the differences between regions, observe and meet the people. Way too many think of Greece as a sheer touristic background - I went for the direct contact with the small towns & the locals: that is what traveling is all about ...

PROTESTELE DE LA BUCURESTI in presa internațională Adevăruri despre prezent Proteste la București… din nou… De data aceasta centrate pe diaspora. Începând cu data de 10 august, centrul Bucureștiului a fost teatru pentru manifestațiile a peste 50.000 de români. Ce s-a realizat însă cu adevărat? Cu excepția nelipsitelor acte de violența față de manifestanți, a fost un “statement" rămas fără ecou la nivel guvernamental... Ba mai mult: cu stupoare aflu că și un grup de turiști israelieni a fost luat în colimatorul forțelor de ordine. Jandarmii susțin că și-au făcut meseria. Unele dintre victime, că vor intenta proces - fiecare are dreptul de a-și exprima părerea… întrebarea este: cuvântul cui va cântări mai mult într-o astfel de investigație sabotată din start, dacă nu chiar sortită eșecului înainte de a începe?… Presa internațională (în special cea nemțească) a raportat evenimentele… Titlul unui articol de ieri din Zeit Online afirma: “Justiția investighe...

Istorie, euforie și emigrație - ISTRIA Arena romană din anul 81 d.Hr. plină ochi de suporteri care mai de care înfocați. Muzică la maxim, o euforie extraordinară… în tribune, în arena pe care o puteai călca fără represalii din partea gardienilor ce păzeau ecranul menit proiectării filmelor din cadrul celui de-al 65. Festival de Film din Pula, Croația. Istria, mai exact, un ținut cu o semnificație deosebită pentru subsemnata. Și un nume de oraș impronunțabil atâta vreme de către cartografii români, ce foloseau varianta italiană pentru hărțile comuniste autohtone: Pola. Finala Cupei Mondiale de Fotbal din Rusia a.c. a fost prilejul ideal pentru a experimenta funcția inițială a acestui colos arhitectonic păstrat în mod admirabil de-a lungul a aproape 2000 de ani… ieșind din labirintul de căsuțe joase ce coboară înspre coasta adriatică, imaginea forului roman impresionează nespus!... Era primul punct pe care doream să-l văd imediat după sosire: era seara, arena ilu...

#CORFU and the 'Carpe Diem' philosophy Yes, capitalism has indeed failed - worldwide. It's not meritocracy, it's mere exploitation of the ones in need of the 'daily bread' - and that's not only the US situation, Europe is brimming with pertinent examples. When it comes to exploitation, economic issues, low wages, South-Eastern Europe is hard to beat; and Greece, in spite of the cash flow brought in by tourism every year, is still in deep economical problems. However, people got used to the shortcomings: the solution seems to be non-stop work in summer to be able to live through the winter... especially on the islands life is not easy for the locals… locals the only compensation being the landscape and the innate joie de vivre … You can virtually see it everywhere, in their naturally friendly ways, above all humane... it's their nature, they enjoy being nice, talking to others, use their sometimes basic English to start a conversation and thus...

#GranCANARIA - the essential I adore words (in particular the rare kind), languages and the secrets they entail... transcending linguistic levels is sheer intellectual pleasure... However, I do believe language is insufficient when it comes to expressing superlative, exhilarating, utterly subjective feelings, experiences - considering that adjectives would only adjust these to fit into a certain profile, term, notion, to connote a fixed image... Multifunctional terms just won't do… there are cases when not even synonyms yield... for instance, the word "unique" has been used so many times that it’s lost its meaning... The culprits? Excessive and propagandistic advertising, progressive simplification of the language, I'd go as far as to say that some notions have been "vandalized" into becoming banalities... Come to think of it, maybe too functional (thus too frequently used) lexis is not even that indispensable... there's always ...

a TOKYO panorama - A METROPOLIS WITH A SOUL Yes, I could definitely imagine actually living there - in TOKYO. The image popping into my mind now when I try to recall the highlights of my voyage is a Shinto temple I discovered among giants of contemporary architecture, not so far away from Chiyoda , the Emperor's Palace and the Tokyo Central Station… I remember the bright red pillars of the proud gate so clearly… or the numerous and very steep “steps of success” leading to another temple hidden deep inside the southern part of town, somewhere in Shimbashi… it was a real adventure to walk all the way from our temporary headquarters in historical Asakusa (home to another wonder of the city, the Asakusa Shrine and the vivid neighborhood around it - markets, bakeries restaurants etc.) to the western side of Tokyo, to Shinjuku , one of the most famous nightlife areas. And then to Shibuya and its humongous crossing surrounded by fosforescent night lights… or t...

#LEFKADA… Ionian catharsis vs. economic crisis ‘Infinite blue’ is a song I first got to listen to when I was a child - it gave me an indescribable feeling of tranquility and hope, of “huzur” as the Ottoman used to call this Oriental kind of bliss… This is exactly what I experienced when I first caught a glimpse of the Ionian Sea in Lefkada, so very different from the Italian side of the Ionian: rocky cliffs covered in sapphire green, bright turquoise waters... a dream of the clearest, most enchanting blue - this is the paradise of the Ionian islands. Superlative in all ways are especially the Lefkadian beaches of Porto Katsiki and Kathisma, pretty well hidden from the mortals in search of mammoth-size hotels and all-inclusive travel offers. The beach Agios Ioannis or the diminutive village Agios Nikitas are no less impressive… the heights complete the scenery in the most natural of ways. I fell in love with the view I woke up with every morning - the splend...