FLYING IN TO MELBOURNE

Flying in to Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport, one is treated to some lovely views of the rolling countryside surrounding the metropolis. Many farms surround Melbourne and one can see the lushness of the vegetation in a good year where there has been lots of rain. These photos are from December 2011.

This post is part of the Scenic Sunday meme.

DAISY POND

Day's eyes are blooming
Doubly: Real and virtual;
Brief sunshine 'fore dark.

This post is part of James' Weekend Reflections,
and also part of Floral Friday Fotos.

EGYPT - PEOPLE

When visiting Egypt one cannot help but be impressed by the friendliness of the locals and their lifestyle, which although seems to be less than well supplied with material goods is nevertheless well supplied with the spiritual and emotional. These photos are from Edfu and Aswan.

This post is part of the Walking the Streets Challenge meme.

WISLEY 2008 ROSE

This is a David Austin rose called Wisley 2008, which has been introduced to the market this year. This is a rose of exceptional delicacy and charm, with flowers that are shallowly cupped and about 8 cm across; the petals arranged in a most perfect rosette formation – their colour being a very pure soft pink; the outer petals paling a little towards the edge. It bears some resemblance to an old Alba Rose such as ‘Queen of Denmark’. The growth is elegantly arching, producing its flowers along the stems and building up into a fine, vigorous shrub. This can reach up to 1.5m in height, although it can also be pruned back harder, when it can easily be maintained at around 1m, as required. There is a delightful, fresh, fruity fragrance with hints of raspberries and tea. It is a good choice for both formal and informal areas of the garden and also, perhaps, for a hedge.   Named for the famous RHS Gardens at Wisley, where many English Roses are planted. This variety should not be confused with a rose named ‘Wisley’ which, although beautiful, was unfortunately very prone to diseases.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

ALL IN A ROW

This post is part of Pat's Things in A Row meme,
and also part of Sylvia's Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of Madge's Weekly Topshot meme,
and also part of NAture Footstep's Winged meme.

DARLING HARBOUR, SYDNEY

Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, Australia. It is also a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. The locality extends northwards from Chinatown, along both sides of Cockle Bay to King Street Wharf on the east, and to the suburb of Pyrmont on the west. Cockle Bay is just one of the waterways that makes up Darling Harbour, which opens north into the much larger Port Jackson. The precinct has many attractions, parks, restaurants, cafés and is easily accessible from the city centre via a number of public transport options, including monorail. The fountains near the foreshore are always attractive to photograph.

This post is part of the Watery Wednesday meme,
and also the Water World Wednesday meme,
and also the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also the Nature Footsteps Waters meme.

RAFFLES HOTEL, SINGAPORE

Raffles Hotel is a colonial-style hotel in Singapore, and one of the world's most famous hotels. The hotel was established by the famous Armenian Sarkies Brothers. Opened in 1887, it was named after Singapore's founder Sir Stamford Raffles (6 July 1781 – 5 July 1826). Managed by Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, it is known for its luxurious accommodation and superb restaurants. The hotel houses a tropical garden courtyard, museum and Victorian-style theatre.

Raffles Hotel is reputedly where the sole surviving wild tiger in Singapore was shot and made extinct. Some stories place this event in the Long Bar. Raffles itself claims the tiger had escaped from enclosure at a nearby "native show" and chased underneath the hotel's Bar & Billiard Room (a raised structure) and shot to death there on August 13, 1902.

Raffles Hotel  is where the Singapore Sling was invented. The cocktail was invented by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon between 1910 and 1915. The Long Bar  was patronised over the decades by a host of literati, including Ernest Hemingway and Somerset Maugham.


The Hotel is the setting for Murakami Ryu's novel and film titled "Raffles Hotel". The film was shot on location.

The site of the hotel was originally the location of the oldest girls' school in Singapore (1842), now called St. Margaret's. It was founded by Maria (Tarn) Dyer, the missionary wife of Samuel Dyer.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme.

PLAKA, OLD ATHENS

Pláka is the old historical neighbourhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis, and incorporating labyrinthine streets and neoclassical architecture. Plaka is built on top of the residential areas of the ancient town of Athens. It is known as the "Neighbourhood of the Gods" due to its proximity to the Acropolis and its many archaeological sites.

Plaka was developed mostly around the ruins of Ancient Agora of Athens in an area that has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. During the years of Ottoman rule, Plaka was the known as the "Turkish quarter of Athens", and the seat of the Turkish Voevode (Governor). During the Greek War of Independence, Plaka like the rest of Athens, was temporarily abandoned by its inhabitants because of the severe battles that took place mostly in 1826. The area was repopulated during the first years of King Otto's rule. Plaka had a sizable Arvanite community till the late 19th century, which lead some to refer to it as the Albanian (Arvanite) quarter of Athens. At the same period the neighborhood of Anafiotika, featuring traditional Cycladic architecture, was built by settlers from the Aegean island of Anafi.

Plaka is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists around the year, and is under strict zoning and conservation regulations, being the only neighbourhood in Athens where all utilities (water, power, cable television, telephone, internet, and sewage) lie underground in fully accessible, custom-made tunnelling. Motor vehicles are not allowed in Plaka, and most streets are too narrow, thus not being able to accommodate them anyway.

This post is part of the Mellow Yellow meme.

One of the Plaka streets with many of the 19th century buildings well-restored 

It is hard to miss seeing the Acropolis from almost every street of Plaka. In the corner, a beautifully restored neoclassical building housing a branch of the Bank of Piraeus 

The Thesseion (Temple of Hephaestus - Vulcan) is the best-preserved ancient Greek temple in Athens; it remains standing largely as built. It is a Doric peripteral temple, and is located at the north-west side of the Agora of Athens, on top of the Agoraios Kolonos hill. From the 7th century until 1834, it served as the Greek Orthodox church of St. George Akamates

Excavation works continue throughout Athens and new discoveries of ancient buildings and artefacts are constantly made by archaeologists 

Many of the lovely old 19th century buildings have fallen into disrepair because of the prohibitive costs of restoration

Another typical Plaka street with a beautifully restored neoclassical building

19th century Athens was a beautiful small city with wonderful architecture, as can be seen in the old Athens neighbourhood of Plaka

Looking towards Mt Lycabettus in the distance. Mount Lycabettus is a Cretaceous limestone. At 277 meters above sea level, the hill is the highest point in the city that surrounds it. Pine trees cover its base, and at its two peaks are the 19th century Chapel of St. George, a theatre, and a restaurant. The hill is a popular tourist destination and can be ascended by the Lycabettus Funicular, a railway which climbs the hill from a lower terminus at Kolonaki. Lycabettus appears in various legends. Popular stories suggest it was once the refuge of wolves, possibly the origin of its name (which means "the the hill that is walked by wolves"). Mythologically, Lycabettus is credited to Athena, who created it when she dropped a mountain she had been carrying from Pallene for the construction of the Acropolis after the box holding Erichthonius was opened

A Byzantine chapel built on top of ancient ruins. The layers of history are superimposed on every site in Athens

At the end of the day it's nice to sit in one of the restaurants and enjoy wonderful Greek cuisine with retsina wine (flavoured with pine resin!)

THE AKATHIST HYMN

Greek Orthodox Faithful last week were celebrating the fifth week of Lent, and the liturgical services are reaching their peak in terms of their length and their injunctions to the faithful to repent and ensure the salvation of their soul. On Friday was the liturgy of the Akathist Hymn to the Virgin Mary. The Akathist Hymn is a profound, devotional poem or chant, which sings the praises of the Holy Mother (Theotókos) and Ever-Virgin (Aeiparthénos) Mary. It is chanted in all Orthodox Churches throughout the world during the Great Lent, and constitutes a very concrete spiritual preparation for the Holy Week and Easter Services.

Devotional Hymns to the Theotokos are as ancient as the first Christian Church. The Byzantine Empire from its very inception at Constantinople during the fourth century, closely allied itself to the Virgin Mary and always sought Her protection or intercessions. This we see from the Prayer Services to the Theotokos between the fifth and eighth centuries, and the reference to Constantinople as the 'Queen City'.

This post is part of Robert's and Louis' Psalm Sunday.

This part of the chant declaims:

Την ωραιότητα της παρθενίας Σου,
και το υπέρλαμπρο το της αγνείας Σου,
ο Γαβριήλ καταπλαγείς εβόα Σοι,
Θεοτόκε: "Ποιόν Σοι εγκώμιον προσαγάγω επάξιον;
Τι δε ονομάσω Σε; Απορώ και εξίσταμαι διό,
ως προσετάγην, βοώ Σοι:
Χαίρε, η Κεχαριτωμένη".


At the magnificence of Your virginity,
And the exceeding splendour of Your purity,
Gabriel was amazed and cried out to You:
What title of honour shall I bestow on You?
How shall I address You? I am bewildered and struck with awe.
But I shall cry out to You as I was commanded:
Hail, O highly favoured One!

MELBOURNE, FUN CITY

Whatever time of the year you visit Melbourne, there is always something going on. Whether it's a sporting event, a cultural do, a gastronomic delight, fun and games, a musical show, theatre, art exhibition, it's all happening pretty much all of the time. This is one of the advantages of living in a big metropolitan centre, especially one that prides itself as the cultural and sporting capital of Australia.

A few weeks ago we had the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and these eccentric ladies were entertaining the crowds by the Yarra River.

This post is for Madge's Weekly TopShot meme.