Thanks to Booking dot com we found a great little Bed & Breakfast place near Shaftesbury – the small English town that I planned to photograph.  I decided to stay in the B&B called The Old Forge, however, the picture shown in it’s website shows everything except the most important thing: the bedroom and the bathroom.

The entrance to the Old Forge… during day time

However, from Booking dot com, there are:

1. No pictures of how the bed/bed rooms look like. In normal condition, I wouldn’t want to go to a place where I can’t see where I would sleep – I ignored this condition.
2. No review from previous visitors about this place; as I think its important to know what people say about the place – I ignored this condition again. (this is a new place in Booking dot com, thus no body had written a review).

The reason I was so attracted to this place is because the outdoor images were so interesting; this is the country living that I could ever imagine. Fingers crossed that this place was the genuine article and good enough to stay overnight. We booked it for 3 nights, and if it was not good enough we could always run away to the next better place near by….

We arrived at The Old Forge very late that day, almost 10pm, and we failed the intelligennc test as we missed the location which was exactly by the main road.  There was no sign from the street that this is It, and it was dark already. My husband then said: “I think this is it, it looks similar to the picture on the website….”

It was darker than the picture when we arrived, and we missed the turning.

As soon as we knock on the small cottage house door we were greeted by Lucy and Tim, our hosts for the next few days. As it was very late already – at least according to our norms when we normally go to bed at 9.00 pm – they directly show us around, where breakfast was serve and our bedroom and bathroom.  Somehow they understood that we were too tired to have a little chit-chat, so they let us go to our room after agreeing breakfast time.

To my surprise, the room was beautifully clean, and it had everything there as a 3+ star hotel would have, small telly with it’s widget, kettle to heat water  in case we wanted to make our own coffee or tea. In the hallway, there’s a little fridge where Lucy put a pot of milk, for our tea with milk as some English people do.  As it is an old cottage house, there is a wash basin inside our room. however, our bedroom has no en-suite bathroom but we have our dedicated private bathroom/toilet in the very next room.

Our bed, with attic ceiling.

I loved the bathroom, very neat and cute.

The next morning, as agreed we came down to the breakfast room, the breakfast table was set nicely looking towards the window to a small garden and another cottage house they owned as an independent cottage.

Our breakfast table with home made freshly pressed apple juice waiting for us.

If you look at the picture above, Lucy offered us four different menu options, where she baked the bread every morning and the eggs are from their free range chickens.

Attention to every detail

My breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, sauteed mushrooms and toasted home made bread.

As we were the only guest that morning, Lucy and Tim show us around their interesting barn/cottage, where it turned out that they have several room to rent, as a matter of fact they have three types of accommodation:

• Conventional bed and breakfast the type we were staying.
• Self catering accommodation, with it’s own living room and kitchen, one located attached to the main cottage, and the other one is an annex to Tim’s garage.

Tim’s car restoration

• Last type of accommodation are what they call ‘Glamping’ – glamorous camping. Located on their grounds.

Self catering cottage as part of Tim & Lucy’s facility

Glamping on a Gypsy’s caravan at The Old Forge’s ground.

Added to the attraction of a unique facility of this B&B, they also has a bit of ground where they keep their animals such as a horse, a donkey called Scrumpy Jack who even has his own Facebook page

Scrumpy Jack

We stayed there for three nights and before we knew it, it was time for us to leave. Lucy and Tim had been perfect hosts and we enjoyed very much our stay with them, including their three generation dogs Willow, the black lab, Pudding and Pie, the labradoodle dogs, Scrumpy Jack, the chickens which we ate their eggs everyday and their horse.  When we left, Lucy was waiting to give us her last wave from in front of their porch.

I have even more photographs of the Old Forge which I will upload on my gallery on the 1st June.

What I did not know was they are not new in the business, they have run this business for more than 20 years, even though they are new to the Booking dot com database. If circumstances enable us to visit them again, I definitely will do that, however if you are interested to visit Tim & Lucy Kerridge then contact:

The Old Forge Bed & Breakfast 

As a good photography enthusiast, I learned that:

1. Do a reconnoiter how to get to the location of where I would shoot the picture later on and how to get there.
2. A nicer picture should be taken during the magic hour, or around sunset; and sunset was supposed to be around 6.02 pm and twilight should be at 7.01 pm.
3. Come early and prepare my photography gear for action.

Thus I decided to arrive between 5.30 to 6 o’clock, so that still plenty of time for me as well as I won’t keep my husband waiting too long… the thing that he has to put up with – waiting for me photographing nonsense. However, I did not expect is this:

The crowd who watch the singing fountain

There’s no way to find a space for me to set up my tripod and take pictures over those heads and arms with cameras. I wonder where are all these people are coming from? If they are residents, how often do they take pictures of this as the singing fountain happens everyday? If they are tourists like me, I salute Dubai for it’s ability to attract tourism so much.

Another hick-up I had was as I was using my new camera, which is a Nikon D600, a full frame camera but able to mount a DX lens. What I didn’t quite understand was how to look for the framed picture through the view finder, thus this is the result:

Top end of the building was cut from the picture.

I realized then that the location I chose to take the picture was too close to the object and too low. I needed to be further away from the object like this:

Further away, but missing the singing fountain – still too low

What do you think???

I also uploaded some picture on Nin’s Lenscape - my photography blog

Fast forward now, Dubai economy has picked up. When we arrived at the airport recently, I couldn’t believe so many tourists were coming to Dubai. The question is what are they now expecting of Dubai? What is the object of tourism? What activities are they gonna do?

Well for us, we are meeting Keith’s daughter and her new baby for nostalgia of living in Dubai/Arabia more than 25 years ago, when she was 2 to 12 year old girl. For me especially I was just going to see the Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world), the new tourist destination in Dubai, and taking it’s picture as a Photography Enthusiast and a Seasoned Travel Photographer.

Experimenting with my new camera: Burj Khalifa at sunset, too bad that the picture is a but shakey

As we are already in Dubai, why not go up to the top, to see ‘view from the top’ of Burj Khalifa. So we booked the ticket to go to the top a week in advance since  according to a friend who’s been up there told me to book well in advance, and no point to pay extra to get an express way to the top, the queue is too long to be able to squeeze in.

At the Top

The lobby and the ticket booth to go to the observation deck of “At The Top” was quite impressive; it shows where they are among the very ‘few’ tall architecture building in the world, as well as the model of the building with it’s surroundings.

Lobby to go to “At The Top” before taking the lift up

From this point, they direct us to the ticket checking point, we were led for a long walk towards the lift, with a few stops in between which explained the view point we will see once we we are “up there”

The point of the diamond is where we will take the view of Dubai. not really at the apex of the building.

The journey to go up in the lift was also unique, as to go up to the 124th floor took us only a minute in the lift, and one didn’t feel any dizziness or pressure on the ears as its traveled very fast. Once we are up there, there are plenty of telescopes to look down to the surrounding area of Burj Khalifa, and yes, the view was breathtaking.

Looking down from level 124 with a few other high rise buildings

On the way back down, we walked through a corridor showing a quick slide on milestones of the building during construction and all the pictures of people who involved with the construction.

Quick slide of the milestones of the construction of the building

However, as interesting and unique as it is the tallest building in the world at the moment, I question myself whether Dubai really needs such tall building, and once you are up there, was it a magnificent view or still a desert looking view?

View “at the top”  from level 124 of Burj Khalifa on a hazy morning and a bit under developed?

macam-macam seafood

Karena suami saya menyukai makanan laut, dan tertarik dengan seafood yang di pajang di etalase dari seafood bar yang berlokasi ditengah ruang tunggu terminal, kami lalu memutuskan untuk makan malam ringan di ‘seafood bar’ ini: ‘Caviar House & Prunier” Melihat dari lokasi dari seafood bar ini, sama sekali tidak eksotis, mirip tempat makan cepat saji (fast food) tapi cara menyajikannya sangat menarik. Saya lalu memutuskan untuk memesan makanan yang ‘agak’ eksotik :  ”signature menu” mereka: “Pourqoui Pas?”. Agak mahal memang, tapi kan kami mengakhirinya adengan GAYA.

‘Sgnature Menu’ mereka: ‘Pourqouis Pas’

Tidak lupa kami juga memesan wine – white wine (anggur putih) sebagai minuman pelengkap untuk makan makanan laut.

3 tier tray, menyajikan caviar paling atas, ikan salmon mentah di tengah dan fish pate paling bawah

Biasanya saya tidak begitu suka makan caviar – telur ikan, karena ini sangat amis, tapi ternyata cara makan caviar adalah dengan roti toast, bersama sejumput putih telur dan sejumput irisan bawang merah sebagai penyedap dan mengurangi rasa amis… hmmm rasanya bukan main, sedaap….

Salmon mentah yang disajikan bersama irisan lemon, untuk mengurangi rasa amis

Pengujung seafood bar yang lain melengkapi gaya makan mereka dengan champagne

Yang membedakan seafood bar ini tidak seperti tempat makan cepat saji atau restauran biasa adalah setelah makan kami di berikan coklat pencuci mulut sebagai komplemen dari seafood bar ini.

Coklat pencuci mulut

Yang kami tidak tau adalah bahwa di ‘darat’ restaurant ini adalah ‘speciality restaurant’ khusus makanan laut yang punya cabang di seluruh Eropa: “Caviar House & Prunier” memiliki seafood bar di banyak bandara di Eropa, Asia dan Australia, termasuk di Dubai dan Hongkong.

Ini alamat persisnya untuk Seafood Bar yang kami kunjungi:

Seafood Bar - London Heathrow – Terminal 3 LHR

Jam buka: 6.30 – 21.30

Silahkan mencoba

So what is so important of this minaret anyway? Well, this is a small fact: it is the oldest part of the mosque that is prominent and noteworthy square 45 m² minaret. The Minaret’s earliest restoration dates to 1090 during the Seljuk dynasty. The Minaret boasted intricate bands of carved Kufic inscriptions along its length that alternate with bands of stylized ornaments in patterns and moqarnas

Here are some pictures that I managed to take in 2011, a memory from it’s hay day, just days before the war erupted.

The Minaret is located at the North East end of the Mosque as seen from the inner court of the mosque

The Great Mosque of Aleppo was also called Umayyad Mosque. It was also built during the Umayyad period in the Middle East, 10 years after the Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. Originally this Great Mosque of Aleppo was built on the site of a former Roman temple and Byzantine cathedral built by St. Helen (mother of Constantine the Great). The mosque was founded by the Umayyad Caliph al Walid in 715 AD, and completed by his successor Caliph Suleiman.

Illumination tower, that should be illuminated when day turns to dark.

Ablusion gazebo, a place where people ‘wash’ before they go to pray inside, so that they are ‘clean’ in front of God

Like its sister mosque in Damascus, this one is also built off the souk. The main entrance to the mosque was directly at the extension of the souk with great traditional open market atmosphere. Thus the idea of a mosque is a place for the people gathering, not only a place to worship.

Throughout its history the building has endured multiple renovations and reconstructions in response to natural disasters (earthquakes and fire) and to modify its use, resulting in the development of its surroundings. Nural Din rebuilt in in 1169 after a great fire and the mosque was destroyed yet again during the Mongol invasion in 1260.

Inside the mosque where people used to pray

Corridor around the inner court of the Museum

The shrine inside the prayer hall, where the Shiite Muslim pay their respect to John the Baptist’s body

Because of the above reasons, the recent mosque design and layout was totally different from what was originally built, except the minaret that had survived so far. When I visited the mosque, it looked so immaculately beautiful, as it has undergone an extensive renovation (2003-4) during which, the minaret were especially restored. However, today’s civil war destroyed the mosque yet again, and this time including the long standing Minaret.

This was then, when I visited, the last time it looked beautiful, now it’s only history

The Minaret that survived for more than a thousand years…..

I think this photography collection is now precious. And another proof of the history of human civilisation has now gone just like that because of the conflict between humans. Worse of all, the destruction from the current war has the worst impact of destruction, approximately five out of six World Heritage Buildings have been damaged in this war according to UNESCO.

The entrance to the Grand Souk of Aleppo from the Citadel

As I live in the Middle East, I have the privilege of experiencing the Souk; a bazaar where people exchange goods over a friendly conversation. I love visiting the souk, the traditional ones  are more fascinating than the modern ones. However, my visit to the Grand Souk of Aleppo two years ago was like no other. It was memorable; I had to opt out of joining our tour bus to go back to the hotel, just to explore the souk slowly and do as Lonely Planet suggested to: “get lost in Aleppo souk”. I even had to go back the next day just to feel the warmth from the shop keepers, the slow moving activity along the grand corridor of souk Al-Attarine.  There’s no hustle and bustle of a real busy market; yet everything they sell and the decoration between shops are forever intricate and fascinating. Once I was outside the covered bazaar, the atmosphere changed 180 degrees, the vibrancy of a real market was there; not so intricate, but yet it was equally interesting.

Corridor of Al Madina Souk (covered bazaar) of Aleppo with it’s cloister-vault ceiling from the Medieval period

Compared to Al Hamadiyyah Souk in Damascus, where the main corridor is wide, Aleppo Souk had narrower alleyways, yet it was more interesting than the one in Damascus. First developed in the 13th century, but most of it was built during the heyday of the Ottoman Empire between 15th and 17th century. Each different alleyway reflects different ornaments and architecture finishes of the corridor’s facade. But what fascinated me most was the different ceilings types and its illumination system along each corridor, from an opening to the dome shaped ceiling to let in natural light to fancy lighting pendants that represent the traditional Middle Eastern lights.

Souk Al Atmah with different finishes to the previous souk, as well as different theme of what they are selling along the corridor.

Souk al-Shouneh, built in 1546. Currently functions as a market for trades and traditional handicrafts of Aleppine art.

Main entrance of the souk, directly looking at the best copper ornament in the region, with fascinating ceiling as well as corridor’s decoration

The fact that Aleppo has been shelled, shattered, destroyed, and left in ruins many times in the past; during the Byzantines and the Mongol period; I am sure that once the current war is over, Aleppo will rebuild again. But what was once the greatest bazaar of the Medieval period, and the finest in the Middle East is now gone, burnt to ashes.

Of course, there’s this term “restoration”, or even for the sake of tourism, there is “re-creation, which could be better than nothing, but the memory and history of the place will be forever different. And it is a fact as Kevin Rushby said: “the world’s greatest treasures has been lost”.

Today:
Inside the Aleppo Souk where fierce fighting is going on between the FSA and the government Photo: Will Wintercross for the Telegraph

I didn’t manage to explore the Souk as much as I wanted to, but I feel very lucky that I still managed to witness and to record with my camera a little bit on how it was during the early 21st century’s finest glory days.

If you are interested in my other posts about Syria, check out: I’ve been to SYRIA

The history of the building:

Built originally as a temple by  the Arameans to worship the god of storms and lightening or a temple of Hadad-Ramman. When the Romans conquered Damascus in 64 CE they assimilated Hadad with their own god of thunder or better known as Temple of Jupiter. Under the direction of Damascus-born architect Apollodorus, the Romans continued to expand the Temple as the new Greco-Roman Temple of Jupiter which was intended to serve as a response to the Hebrew temple in Jerusalem.

Temple of Jupiter at the end of Al Hamadiyyah Souq and at the entrance to the mosque

Part of the temple and Umayyad mosque wall

Towards the end of the 4th century, in 391, the Temple of Jupiter became a church, and converted into the Cathedral dedicated to Saint John (John the Baptist) by the Christian emperor Theodosius I (r. 379–395). Legend has it that Saint John’s head was buried there. It served as the seat of the Bishop of Damascus, who ranked second within the Patriarchate of Antioch after the patriarch himself

In 636 CE, after the battle of Yamouk, Damascus was conquered by the Muslims under the leadership of Khalid-bin-Waleed, and the prayer space became a shared space between the Muslims and the Christians. The Muslims prayed on the eastern section and the Christians prayed on the other side. But soon this space was not enough for the Muslims and the reign of the Umayyad Caliph al Walid I negotiated with the Christian leaders to take over the space, and pay compensation for the Christians to move to the other side of the Old Town, as it is now.

Al Gharbiyya Minaret as the most beautiful minaret

They built the Mosque on its current location in 706 to 715 CE.  The construction of the mosque was based on the mosque of the Prophet Muhammad in Madinah.  It was built with the help of skilled workers from the Byzantine Empire and that reflected on its exterior style of the building, as well as the interior decoration in the main prayer hall. The middle columns supporting the building have the Corinthian order.

The grandeur of the Damascus’ Umayyad Mosque, breath taking, considering this was built in the 8th century.

Facade of the inner courtyard elevation with Byzantium decoration

Mihrab or the niche/chamber in the mosque indicating the direction of praying

Prayer hall inside the mosque, with Corinthian Columns

The Minarets:

This mosque has 3 towers, or in the term of Islam architecture the word for tower is ‘minaret’:

1. On the Eastern side of the Mosque it located Minaret of Jesus the tallest of the three minarets at 77m, and where the locals believe that this is where Jesus will descend during Judgement Day.
2. On the North side of the Mosque is located the Minaret of the Bride, the oldest minaret
3. On the South-West corner of the mosque is located the Al Gharbiyya Minaret,

Minaret of the Bride, the first minaret built on this location

A small structure inside the prayer hall lies the head of John the Baptist, which they found during the excavation for the building of the mosque.

The shrine that housed John the Baptist’s head inside the prayer hall of the mosque

Yes, I understand, that the above information is a bit hard to take in, however, it is because of it’s richness of history and it’s existence up to the present day.  My visit to this mosque as well as the whole of Syria, made me want to learn more about the history of Near East as well as to comeback to Syria provided the condition of the country is not as it is today.

If you are interested on my other posts on Syria, check out: I’ve been to Syria

Tea for two at Al Hamadiyyah Souq

What I liked about the Old City were the alleyways, different on every corner; with it’s own specialty at every turn of the street.  Souq al-Hamadiyya for instance, is a broad street and very popular with the locals; it sells anything and everything really, from cheap Chinese products, to local handicraft for interior decor.  This is also serves as the popular gate towards the old city,  at the end of the Souq, before the great Umayyad Mosque – I will explain more about this mosque next week – stands Temple of Jupiter.

One of the many shops that sells all sorts of antiques, I wonder if they are still open for business

Temple of Jupiter is special because it was built by the Romans, at the beginning of the rule of Augustus (Roman Emperor) and completed during the rule of Constatius. It was during this time that Damascus was famous as the city of Jupiter.

The remains of Temple of Jupiter. will this survive during the war?

Part of the temple and Umayyad Mosque wall

What we see in the picture is only part of it, some other parts can be seen as part of the Umayyad Mosque.  Like the Old City which has been through different periods of human history, so was this Temple and Mosque. The question is whether it will survive the latest turmoil?

As we moved on from this area, there was this very popular cafe shop, where the locals and the tourists mingle. It didn’t serve food, only coffee or tea, if we wanted food, than we needed to order some where else. Regardless of this, the Damascene think this is the ‘in place’, where you could see people and be seen. Again, I wonder whether this place is still popular now, or even still exists?

Very popular coffee shop – An Nafura, where people sit drinking coffee or tea or even smoking shisha, while talking to friends or just seeing and be seen by passers by

Further on from this place, things get more interesting, as to me, this is where the real atmosphere started. The streets widen and narrow with an infinite variation, from a chaotic communal road to an order of small palace.
The Old City is divided into four distinct quarters that roughly align with the fame of the seven gates around the Old City.  Souq Al-Hamadiyya is the vibrant and commercial district of the Old City.  Bab Sharqi was the gate towards the Christian Quarter , where we found the House of Ananias, the Roman Arch and St. Paul’s Chapel.  Bab Salam is the entrance gate if you want to go to Shia’s Mosque of Sayyida Ruqqaya, the most impressively ornate mosque I’ve ever seen. Bab Musala is a gate for the Jewish Quarter, and home to the cities artisan community.

The chapel at the House of St. Anania, at the Northeastern corner of the Christian Quarter

Sayyida Ruqayya Mosque, the very ornate mosque mainly for the Shiite

Inside these quarters dotted around are historic places, schools, Hamam, interesting places and palaces turned into museums, like Khan As’ad Pasha, turned into a private museum.

Bab ass Sharqi – One of the better looking of the gates towards The Old City

Entrance to one of many hotels inside the Old City

The atmosphere of one of the restaurants inside the Old City, where we ate at the inner court of the restaurant

Not far outside from the Old City of Damascus, part of Takiyya as Suleimaniyya, built for the first time in 1554, by the Ottomans as a mosque and madrasah, was in bad condition, yet still a wonderful architecture

Photographs from the Jebel Qassioun, a popular viewing point (then) to look down to the greater Damascus

That was a really exciting experience that I wish a could return and visit   all those places that I missed last time….

If you are interested in my other posts about Syria, check out: I’ve been to SYRIA

Hamad International Airport – Doha

Now, more than six years on, Qatar is still working on the New Doha International Airport, or rather the Hamad International Airport; but it’s now very close to the opening time, at least the authority is sort of announcing the soft opening date, the 1^st of April 2013.   The question is whether this is for real or an April Fool?

I think this is now for real, as now I am part of the team involved in the construction of this new airport, at least I know how far it is to go for the finishing of the airport and at least I know and I can see how the airport will look like; as six years ago, I never knew anything about the design or the shape of the airport.

The Bridge towards the parking area

Did I mention that it’s only a soft opening? As only 10 airlines will fly from HIA on the 1^st of April, namely:

1. Air Arabia,
2. Flydubai,
3. Air India Express,
4. Biman Bangladesh Airlines,
5. Iran Air,
6. Nepal Airlines,
7. Pakistan International Airline,
8. RAK Airways,
9. Syrian Air
10. Yemen Airways,

The first 10 airlines that have the privilege to try out the brand new airport in Doha

So for the frequent flyers with Qatar Airways  and from the other bigger airlines, they will have to wait until at least the end of the year when officially the airport will be fully operated.

Here are some interesting facts about the new airport as of Doha News which said:

“There are 41 contact gates in the main passenger terminal – Those gates have some 88 Passenger Loading Bridges. That means no more long bus rides to and from the planes – passengers can just walk down the bridge onto the plane, like at many other airports in the world. Also, the terminal itself should be able to handle 28 million people a year.”

Does this now mean a competition between 3 airports in the region? (namely Abu Dhabi Airport, Dubai Airport and Doha Airport) and is there a need to have 3 hubs in the region? I just try to compare the competition of airports in the ‘80s between Amsterdam and Frankfurt airport, when both tried to be the European air hub, but never fulfilled it’s expectation.

“Terminal 1 will have 150 passenger check-in stations. That includes 14 check-in booths for First Class and 16 check-in desks for Business Class. Ideally that also means no waiting in long lines, although that remains to be seen.”

I guess Qatar is gearing up toward the 2022 World Cup (which is 9 years away from now) when they will expect an influx of tourists and football fans. But between now and then, I can’t see any possibility that Qatar will have so many visitors except business people and expats. I wonder what will happen after the World Cup? I just remember the building of new airports in Barcelona, just for the Olympic Games, but after that, the airport was too empty….

“The next phase of the airport will handle 50 million passengers a year. Dubbed Phase 3A, and due to be completed by 2017, it will include the development of an expansion of Terminal 1 and the addition of a training center, rail station, car rental facilities, a “sea rescue” harbor and a multi-story parking structure.”

Gate 3 to go into the airport with a reflection of the parking area in front.

Well, I don’t think I will be there by the time the next terminal opens. Will I still be a Seasoned Traveler and using  Qatar Airways to see the “New” terminal…? Who knows…..

Tired buildings that need a face lift.

As we drove along toward the city center, the buildings get denser. Our taxi driver kept on explaining about various building along the street. as he tried to help us understand a bit of the city as well as giving us some tips of surviving in Hungary. And to make the conversation more interesting, he also told us a bit of himself; really very nice man.

As my husband was listening to our driver politely, I tried to memorize quietly every little thing that our taxi driver explained to us along the way, in case we needed to comeback to see something interesting outside our holiday package.

Learning about the history of Budapest, which was arose out of two Bulgarian military frontier fortresses Buda and Pest: situated on the two banks of Danube. Buda and Pest started their development in the 12th century, however, both towns were devastated during the Mongol invasion of Europe in 1241-42; hmm… no wonder the city looks old, it’s been thru a long history. But hey, so have other European cities.

Carrying on with the history: Buda and Pest remain two totally different cities and reached their heyday in the 14th century, when the Angevin kings from France established Buda as the royal seat of centralized power. However, it was Pest becoming the cultural and economic centre of the country. The first National Theatre is built, along with the Hungarian National Museum, all that was in the 19th century.

Through out all Budapest and Hungarian history since the first settlement of the Hungarian tribe in 10th century until the 20th century, the Hungarians lost most of their wars. From the Tatar(Mongolian) invasion that destroyed both town in the 11th century and then later the Turks’ Ottomans, to the post WW II era. And believe it or not those scares from the wars especially WWII, are reflected in the city architecture.

The building at Buda side that show  gun shots of WWII on it’s preserved facade today.

Unlike Paris who try to isolate modern expression of architecture in one of it’s suburb, Budapest shows all periods of Architecture era all over the city, and maybe this is why I was not able to see Budapest as representative of a certain era. Looking back at it’s history and seeing how it looks now, maybe I needed to see the city from a different angle. Budapest represents a blend of Old and New Architecture, it has Roman’s Amphitheaters, Gothic Style cathedral, as well as Traditional Turkish Bath as the heritage  of the Ottoman occupation. The history of the city represented in the facade of the city’s architecture. Maybe that’s it, Budapest cityscape is Eclectic style; we just have to wait for the modern and high rise buildings being built, to complete the city as an architectural haven.

In memory of the Hungarian uprising of 1959, bullet decorations stuck on one of the buildings around the ‘town square’

Our visit to Budapest was to co-inside with the celebration of the Hungarian National Day, a commemoration of the start of Hungarian Revolution on 23 October 1956, the people’s power against the  government of the People’s Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policy. Despite the failure of the uprising, this actually played   a role in the downfall of the Soviet Union decades later (more info in Wikipedia).

Imre Nagy, statue at Martyrs’ square, across the Parliament House

Statue of Imre Nagy, the Prime Minister who turned hero of the uprising, was immortalized with this statue and remembered each year together with a unique Hungarian flag they fly every year during this period, including on the one they show on the Parliament House:

Looks like a symbol in in the middle of the flag, but…

I thought there’s a symbol in the middle of the white bit of the Hungarian Flag, but it’s not. It’s a HOLE! Yes, there is a whole in the middle of the flag, and that is also related to the revolution in 1956, as a symbol of the  anti soviet uprising of 1956, where the people cut out  the Stalinist emblem and use the tricolour with a hole in the middle as a symbol  (and now to commemorate) of the revolution.

OK, the facade my look eclectic, and some area are neglected, but Budapest tries hard, and it shows on so many buildings are under refurbishment period. And in terms of Interior Design, I think it retains it’s reputation as Central Europe’s capital of design. There are many nice and modern designs of galleries, cafes  and restaurants with interesting modern touches: