As I said earlier, Dhaka doesn’t have a lot of tourist sites to visit, yet, we manage to squeeze in several stops in our one-day tour. On the evening of our arrival, almost two weeks ago, I mentioned that there was even some mildly attractive modern architecture around. I hadn’t seen the Parliament Building yet! … Read more
We take two days to drive the 350 km from Podgorica to Sarajevo, again not along the shortest route, but definitely a more scenic one. Taking in some historically relevant sights, as well. (Two days, scenery and sights, so brace yourself for a lot of photographs again….) The Moraca River Just north of Podgorica we … Read more
Pristina is by no means a beautiful city; like all the towns we passed on our way in Kosovo, construction is here also a dominant feature, and it looks like not much has been finished yet. Nevertheless, there is an old town, sort of, where some of the historical buildings from Ottoman times have been … Read more
In the Adjara region we find plenty of traces of its Muslim origin, from mosques to old Ottoman bridges. And a range of surprises, high up in the mountains on both sides of the Goderji Pass. Once again we have decided to take the more direct, yet slower, rough road inland from Batumi, instead of … Read more
a few more photos from Cairo in 1992, scanned slides, I am afraid, and some have discoloured somewhat before they got scanned. Back to Egypt.
The Masjed-e Nasir al-Molk, or Pink Mosque, of Shiraz provides not only beautifully mosaiced decoration of iwans and ceilings, but also spectacular colours through its stained-glass windows.
The large Masjed-e Vakil, next to the bazaar of the same name in Shiraz, is an impressive Zand dynasty structure.
The small Sheikh Lutfallah mosque is the modest, but equally spectacular counterpart of the Mashad-e Shah, elsewhere on the Iman square.
The impressive Mashed-e Shah is the mosque that was meant to replace the old Friday mosque of Isfahan; no effort was spared to make it into the most splendid building in town, if not in all of Iran, at the time.
The Mashed-e Jameh, the Friday mosque in Isfahan, is really an Islamic architectural museum, especially of interest for its Seljuk domed chambers, built of brick, and its beautifully vaulted prayer halls.