The sun sets over Lake Malaren on another cold winter day in Stockholm
Helgeandsholmen is one of Stockholm’s numerous islands. It includes the Riksdag (Parliament Building), Stockholm Palace, Gamla stan and the Museum of Medieval Stockholm.
Evening sets in over Lake Malaren
The views in and around Norrström, (the part which connects Lake Malaren with the Baltic Sea) are splendid to say the least.
Lake Malaren in full flow
Love the architecture and the colours of buildings in Stockholm
Narrow alleys of Gamla stan
Stockholm is a city of churches
Gamla stan is the old medieval town of Stockholm. It’s full of some fantastic attractions like a host of churches, palaces, souvenir and handicrafts shops and more. I bought a couple of souvenirs, bookmarks and candies.
Cobbled Streets of Gamla stan
Colourful buildings at Gamla stan
When I entered one of the shops, the shopkeeper excitedly asked “Aur bhaisaab kya haal hai? (How are you in Hindi)”. On asking, I came to know that the guy was from Afghanistan. Sweden has for long welcomed people from various parts of the world and it surely was on display at this souvenir shop. The cobbled streets throughout this town along with buildings of various shades and colours give it a unique feel.
It’s general human tendency to get attracted to anything which is free. When I was looking up for Moscow tours, I randomly happened to come across the Moscow Free tour website.
At first, I wondered as to why would someone offer a free tour. It didn’t make any sense from a monetary aspect. But then, I realized that these guys have been consistently certified by various tourists on TripAdvisor and offer a number of other tours as well. I really liked them so much so that I had also taken the Moscow Metro tour through them.
Church of All Saints
The tour starts at the Slavyanskaya Square opposite to which is the Church of All Saints. One of it’s standout features is the Leaning bell-tower.
Kremlin
Walls of the Kremlin
Guards near the Lenin’s Mausoleum
The Moscow Free Tour covers areas in and around the Red Square and starts off with the Kremlin which is the official residence of the President of Russia. The Lenin’s Mausoleum, the resting place of the revolutionary Vladmir Lenin is located right outside the Kremlin Complex.
Flying over the calm blue waters of the Aegean Sea minutes before landing
The ‘Eleftherios Venizelos’ Airport also known as the Athens International Airport is the main international gateway to the historical city of Athens.
On arrival, we were greeted to a calm clear winter day
Though the Greek economy has plummeted quite dramatically over the last few years, the increase in the number of passengers at the airport (~20 million) has coincided with more than 25 million tourists visiting Greece in 2016. This makes it one of them most visited destinations in Europe.
A380: The queen of the skies
Dubai is something of a maximum city. With the tallest buildings, the longest bridges and tunnels, the highest restaurants, the glitziest malls and more, it has created quite a name for itself across the planet.
And so how can its airport stay behind? The world’s 3rd business by passenger traffic, 6th busiest by cargo traffic and the busiest operating both wide-body jets courtesy the flagship Emirates airline (B777s & A380s), Dubai International Airport is bursting at its seams. It’s like almost everyone on the planet arrives in Dubai more often than not either on transit or for business and / or pleasure.
Sur, a city of about 120,000 people is located around 150km from Muscat, the capital of Sultanate of Oman. Sur is the capital of the Sharqiya region in this Jewel of Arabia.
Sur – Muscat Coastal Highway
The calm blue waters of the Arabian Sea
While Oman is famous for some of the best road trips on the planet, this coastal highway from Sur to Muscat is up there to rival the best.
Taking a pit stop
Beaches are places where you can relax and unwind.
Qurum Beach, Muscat
Sentosa Island, Singapore
Beaches are places where you can rewind your thoughts and give meaning to them.
Kovalam Beach, Kerala
Marina Beach, Kuwait
Beaches are places where the sound of the sea waves hitting the sea shore provides a sense of tranquility far away from the big bad world out there.
Parthenon at the Acropolis Complex
Acropolis is one of the greatest symbols of Greece. This complex with its more than 20 odd monuments is located on the top of a hill overlooking the historical city of Athens.
Parthenon
It’s amazing when you think that these monuments were constructed sometime in 5th century BC. They would have been architectural marvels during those days constructed by some of the best architects one could think of. And I am sure, the costs for the construction would have been mind – boggling as well.
Temple of Dionysus
Some of the most important buildings in the complex include the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Theatre of Dionysus among others.
As the years pass by, it seems as though we are becoming more and more intolerant of each other. Discrimination based on caste, creed, sex, religion and more is the order of the day in many societies across the planet. If we know that the individual is from a particular place and is of a particular caste or religion, more often than not we tend to form a negative bias in our minds even before talking to that individual.
Even though we are moving forwards in leaps and bounds in terms of technological developments, we are surely moving backwards when it comes to people to people contact. Xenophobia masquerading as nationalism is translating into verbal violence on social media and physical violence on the streets.
It’s just saddening that in this garb of nationalism, even after thousands of years of human evolution, we are still at war amongst each other.
Linking to Microblog Mondays
Emirates A380 in all it’s glory
“Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off. But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.”
– Amelia Earhart
Linking to Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge
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