TRAVEL TUESDAY 537 - LAS PALMAS, CANARY ISLANDS

“The whole point is to live life and be - to use all the colours in the crayon box.” - RuPaul

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and then share it with the rest of us.
Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is the capital of Spain's Canary Islands, renowned for its year-round mild climate, the iconic Playa de Las Canteras beach, and a vibrant, cosmopolitan atmosphere blending European, African, and Latin influences. As a city of over 383,000 residents, it offers historic, colonial architecture in Vegueta and bustling, modern shopping areas in Triana.

The colourful hillsides of Las Palmas are host to the historic and picturesque San Juan neighbourhood, known for its brightly painted houses that cascade down the hillside. In the foreground, the large blue building with a distinctive white dome is the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a prominent landmark characteristic of the city's coastal skyline.

The old quarter of Vegueta, home to the Santa Ana Cathedral and Casa de Colón (Columbus House) shouldn’t be missed. Las Canteras is one of the most famous urban beaches in Europe, stretching along the city's coastline. The city is a major cruise port and offers a blend of Spanish hospitality, subtropical charm, and year-round sunny weather. Nearby natural attractions include the Maspalomas Dunes and the volcanic landscapes of the island's interior.

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LOVE

“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” - Aristotle

Today, quite aptly for Valentine’s Day, Poets and Storytellers United has as its theme “Love, Glorious Love”. Here is my offering, which is a blank verse translation of a Greek poem I’ve written, that has been set to music.

Body with Body

This body which you touch,
This perfume that you smell,
Are now yours and only yours,
I’ve given them to you as gifts.

These lips which you kiss,
My eyes that you gaze into,
Are yours and only yours now,
Forever yours for all time.

This heart beating in my breast,
While my soul keeps silent,
Is full of love for you,
Walking on a secret, hidden path.

Body with body mingling
Is a harbour to shelter in;
Kiss upon kiss given
Is like drinking sweet wine.
Caress upon caress offered
Is like a tree in spring blossoming.

The words that you speak softly
Are sweet, joyous secrets
That caress the ears gently,
While I’m in your warm embrace.

All of my being is here with you,
I celebrate, I smile, I sing;
And time flies, and passes,
Gifting us only joys.

This heart fluttering, thrilling,
Looks at us with closed eyes;
Because love is all-seeing
Love is all-changing and renewing.

Body with body mingling
Is a harbour to shelter in;
Kiss upon kiss given
Is like drinking sweet wine.
Caress upon caress offered
Is like a spring tree blossoming.

The Greek poem is set to music, and you can find all my music referened in my “Otidorchestre” channel or listen to it on YouTube, Spotify,  Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, and other music sharing sites.

TRAVEL TUESDAY 536 - SIGHISOARA, ROMANIA

“In much knowledge there is also much grief.” - Marie of Romania

Sighișoara is a city on the Târnava Mare River in Mureș County, central Romania. Located in the historic region of Transylvania, Sighișoara had a population of 23,927 according to the 2021 census. It is a popular tourist destination for its well-preserved old town, which is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site since 1999. The town administers seven villages: Angofa, Aurel Vlaicu, Hetiur, Rora, Șoromiclea, Venchi, and Viilor.

Notable attractions are: The Clock Tower (Turnul cu Ceas) is the town's iconic landmark, standing 64 metres tall. It features a clock with wooden figurines that change at midnight and offers a 360-degree panoramic view from its top. Vlad Dracul House: The birthplace of Vlad the Impaler (the historical inspiration for Dracula). It is the oldest civil stone building in the city, now housing a museum and restaurant. The Covered Stairway: A 17th-century wooden staircase with 176 steps leading up to the Church on the Hill. Church on the Hill (Biserica din Deal): A Gothic church located at the citadel's highest point, known for its well-preserved 500-year-old frescoes.

Guild Towers: Nine of the original 14 defensive towers survive, each named after the craft guild responsible for it (e.g., Tailors’ Tower, Tinsmiths’ Tower).  The Sighișoara Medieval Festival in late July transforms the town filling it with knights, people in period costumes, live music, and markets.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 535 - CEFALÙ - SICILY, ITALY

“To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything. The purity of the contours, the softness of everything, the exchange of soft colors, the harmonious unity of the sky with the sea and the sea to the land… who saw them once, shall possess them for a lifetime.” - Goethe

Cefalù, classically known as Cephaloedium (Ancient Greek: Κεφαλοίδιον, romanized: Kephaloídion), is a city and comune in the Italian Metropolitan City of Palermo, located on the Tyrrhenian coast of Sicily about 70 km east of the provincial capital and 185 km west of Messina. The town, with its population of just under 14,000, is one of the major tourist attractions in the region. Despite its size, every year it attracts millions of tourists from all parts of Sicily, and also from all over Italy and Europe. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy”).

Of Siculian foundation, in the fourth century BC the Greeks gave the indigenous settlement the name of Kephaloídion, evidently derived from its situation on a lofty and precipitous rock, forming a bold headland (Ancient Greek: κεφαλή, kephalḗ, 'head') projecting into the sea. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the town remained part of the Byzantine Empire and the settlement was eventually moved from the plain to the current spur for defence.

In 1063, the Normans captured it. In 1131, Roger II, king of Sicily, transferred it from its almost inaccessible position to one at the foot of the rock, where there was a small but excellent harbour. There he ordered construction of the present Norman-style cathedral. In addition to Arabs, the area was still inhabited by its original Greek speakers (today called Byzantine Greeks, then called Rûm i.e. 'Romans,' by the Arabs), and these Christians were still members of the Greek Orthodox Church. Between the 13th century and 1451, the city was controlled by different feudal families, and then it became a possession of the Roman bishops of Cefalù. During the Risorgimento, the patriot Salvatore Spinuzza was shot here in 1857. Cefalù became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Cefalù Cathedral (Duomo) is a UNESCO World Heritage site and Arab-Norman masterpiece featuring stunning Byzantine mosaics, including the Christ Pantocrator. La Rocca is the mountain towering over the town, offering a steep climb to panoramic views and ruins of the Temple of Diana. Spiaggia di Cefalù is a long, popular sandy beach bordering the town center. Lavatoio Medievale is a medieval, covered washhouse built on a river, formerly used by local women. Old Town (Centro Storico) with its maze of narrow, photogenic streets filled with shops, cafes, and restaurants is a highlight. Museo Mandralisca known for its collection of archaeological finds and a portrait by Antonello da Messina should also be visited.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 534 - DERRY, NORTHERN IRELAND

“We may have bad weather in Ireland, but the sun shines in the hearts of the people and that keeps us all warm.” - Marianne Williamson

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and then share it with the rest of us.
Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Derry (officially Londonderry), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name Daire (modern Irish: Doire) meaning “oak grove”. In 1613, the city was granted a Royal Charter by King James I and gained the “London” prefix to reflect the funding of its construction by the London guilds. While the city is more usually known colloquially as Derry, Londonderry is also commonly used and remains the legal name.

The old walled city lies on the west bank of the River Foyle, which is spanned by two road bridges and one footbridge. The city now covers both banks (Cityside on the west and Waterside on the east). The population of the city was 83,652 at the 2001 Census, while the Derry Urban Area had a population of 90,736.

The district administered by Derry City and Strabane District Council contains both Londonderry Port and City of Derry Airport. Derry is close to the border with County Donegal, with which it has had a close link for many centuries. The person traditionally seen as the founder of the original Derry is Saint Colmcille, a holy man from Tír Chonaill, the old name for almost all of modern County Donegal, of which the west bank of the Foyle was a part before 1610. In 2013, Derry was the inaugural UK City of Culture, having been awarded the title in 2010.

“Hands Across the Divide” is a sculpture in Derry, Northern Ireland. The statue was created by Maurice Harron, and erected in 1992. It stands on the western side of the Craigavon Bridge and symbolizes reconciliation between both sides of the political divide during “The Troubles”. The statues symbolize the letting go of the past, and reconciliation.

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PEACE...

“Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.” - Baruch Spinoza

The New What’s going On Blog has given us this week the theme of “Peace” to explore. Here is my contribution.

Peace

It is the laughter of children playing outside my window,
The smell of baking in the kitchen and the larder full.
It is the hurrying steps of a returning labourer,
Content with a full day’s work, eager to come home.

It is the fields that bloom, the grain ripening in the sun,
The cows dozing as they chew their cud.
It is my love in her summer dress reading her book
Under the shade of a green-leaf tree.

It is the sound of music drifting down the empty street
As dancing couples whirl in the town hall.
It is the two adolescents that kiss beneath a full moon
While the crickets chirp in approbation.

It is the careless saunter late at night,
The lights left on inside the house, burning like beacons.
It is the sound of airplane engines in the sky, which only
Stirs the thoughts of distant exotic places and carefree holidays.

It is a rusty rifle driven into the earth to support a growing vine,
An old soldier’s helmet, now home to a budding flower.
It is the surety of watching your children surviving you,
The swelling pregnant belly and the double-joy of grandchildren.

Peace: It is a quietude and a celebration of the commonplace,
An all-increasing accumulation of small delights that add up to bliss.
Peace, it is a multiplicity of contentments and a realisation
Of what humankind has the capability of being.

TRAVEL TUESDAY 533 - SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

“Sydney in general is eclectic. You can be on that brilliant blue ocean walk in the morning and then within 20 minutes you can be in a completely vast suburban sprawl or an Italian or Asian suburb, and it's that mix of people, it's that melting pot of people that give it its vital personality.” - Baz Luhrmann

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.
There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and then share it with the rest of us.
Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Sydney is known as the Harbour City and with good reason as it is built around a magnificent natural harbour. It is the largest, oldest and most cosmopolitan city in Australia with an enviable reputation as one of the world’s most beautiful cities. It is full of history, culture, art, fashion, cuisine, design and within the city or a short distance from it are areas of great natural beauty.

The city is set next to kilometres of ocean coastline and sandy surf beaches. Recent immigration trends have led to the cities reputation as one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse cities in Australia and the world. The city is also home to the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, two of the most iconic structures on the planet. 

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 532 - NAFPLIO, GREECE

“Greece is the most magical place on Earth.” - Kylie Bax

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and then share it with the rest of us.

Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Nafplio (Modern Greek: Ναύπλιο) is a seaport town in the Peloponnese in Greece that has expanded up the hillsides near the north end of the Argolic Gulf. The town was an important seaport held under a succession of royal houses in the Middle Ages as part of the lordship of Argos and Nauplia, held initially by the de la Roche following the Fourth Crusade before coming under the Republic of Venice and, lastly, the Ottoman Empire. The town was the capital of the First Hellenic Republic and of the Kingdom of Greece, from the start of the Greek Revolution in 1821 until 1834.

Nafplio is now the capital of the regional unit of Argolis. Tourism emerged slowly in the 1960s, but not to the same degree as some other Greek areas. Nevertheless, Nafplio tends to attract a number of tourists from Germany and the Scandinavian countries in particular. Nafplio enjoys a very sunny and mild climate, even by Greek standards, and as a consequence has become a popular day or weekend road-trip destination for Athenians in wintertime.

Nafplio is a port, with fishing and transport ongoing, although the primary source of local employment currently is tourism, with two beaches on the other side of the peninsula from the main body of the town and a large amount of local accommodation. The building of the National Bank of Greece is probably the only one in the world to have been built in the Mycenaean Revival architectural style. Acronauplia is the oldest part of the city though a modern hotel has been built on it. Until the thirteenth century, it was a town on its own. The arrival of the Venetians and the Franks transformed it into part of the town fortifications. 

Other fortifications of the city include the Palamidi and Bourtzi, which is located in the middle of the harbour. Nafplio maintains a traditional architectural style with many traditional-style colourful buildings and houses, partly influenced by the Venetians, because of the domination of 1338-1540. Also, modern-era neoclassical buildings are also preserved. Around the city can be found several sculptures and statues. They are related mostly with the modern history of Nafplio, such as the statues of historical figures: Ioannis Kapodistrias, Otto of Greece and Theodoros Kolokotronis.

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WHITE

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.” - Hermann Hesse

This week, The New What’s Going Blog has set as its theme: “Letting Go”. I think that letting go of a relationship that is over and done with is a very difficult thing to do. However, unless we gather enough strength to let go, we cannot move forward, and of course cannot open ourselves up to a new relationship… Here is my poem (and song!) on precisely that.

White

My tablet’s scraped clean;
My life a palimpsest keen
New scripts to receive.
A page bleached, all blank
So white, so frank…
The past behind to leave.

I start again, hope dressed in white
Showing me paths to futures bright;
I throw all painful memories away,
And bold, I face each new day.

The sun is shining, candid above
It lights the world, fills it with love;
My heart now dares faster to beat
Wakened by Spring’s soft heat.

New love, all innocent and pale,
Grows tender, burgeons quick,
Enters my every fibre to assail;
And lights my soul’s spent wick.
On milky white page, so clean
A new story to write I’m keen…

Your snowy hand I want to hold,
My burning love to warm its cold;
Your heart vulnerable to render
Your castle strong to make surrender.

Let’s live a love that’s strong
Beautiful as a sweet song;
Through a prism our white
Will myriads of colours light.

New love, all innocent and pale,
Grows tender, burgeons quick,
Enters my every fibre to assail;
And lights my soul’s spent wick.
On milky white page, so clean
A new story to write I’m keen…

The poem is set to music, and you can find all my music in my “Otidorchestre” Instagram Channel or listen to it on YouTube,  Spotify,  Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, and other music sharing sites.

TRAVEL TUESDAY 531 - OLD CITY, SHANGHAI, CHINA

"There is something in Shanghai that is very exciting and alive - the idea of a city with two different souls, one from today and another from a long time ago, is amazing." - Alessandro Michele.

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and then share it with the rest of us.

Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

The Old City of Shanghai (Chinese: 上海老城厢; pinyin: Shànghǎi Lǎo Chéngxiāng; Shanghainese: Zånhae Lo Zenshian), also formerly known as the Chinese city, is the traditional urban core of Shanghai. Its boundary was formerly defined by a defensive wall. The Old City was the county seat for the old county of Shanghai.

With the advent of foreign concessions in Shanghai, the Old City became just one part of Shanghai's urban core, but continued for decades to be the seat of the Chinese authority in Shanghai. Notable features include the City God Temple, which is located in the centre of the Old City and is connected to the Yuyuan Garden.

With the exception of two short sections, the walls were demolished in 1912, and a broad circular avenue built over the former wall and moat: the southern half was named the "Zhonghua Road" and the northern half the "Minguo Road" (together making up "Zhonghua Minguo", or "Republic of China" in Chinese). The Old City was for decades essentially coterminous with the old Nanshi District, which is now part of Huangpu District.

Yu Garden or Yuyuan Garden (traditional Chinese: 豫園; simplified Chinese: 豫园; pinyin: Yù Yuán, Shanghainese Yuyoe Wu, lit. Garden of Happiness) is an extensive Chinese garden, first built in 1559, and  located beside the City God Temple in the northeast of the Old City of Shanghai at Huangpu District, Shanghai. It abuts the Yuyuan Tourist Mart, the Huxinting Teahouse and the Yu Garden Bazaar.  Boasting over 40 scenic spots, including pavilions, rock formations, and ponds, it is now a key site under state-level protection.

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THE STARRY SKY

“Nothing prevents happiness like the memory of happiness.” - André Gide

This week, The New What’s Going Blog has set as its theme: “The Things I’ll Remember”. Memory is a powerful force in our life and is indispensable to our wellbeing and health - one only has to look at the dire effects of dementia… My poem looks at a perfect memory that will persist till the moment I’ll no longer be able to remember or think of anything anymore…

The Starry Sky

On a clear and dark night
We gaze up and see stars;
Cold and clear is their light,
Burning in the small hours.

Your hand’s in my hand,
Our breaths synchronised;
We sit still on the sand
Making memories prized.

High up all the planets align,
Our arms firmly entwine;
Hear the music of spheres,
That’s delight to our ears.
How the sky conspires
With its starry bonfires,
Our true love to inflame
Lighting our heart’s flame.

While we wait for the dawn,
We embrace and we kiss;
Wide-eyed we look on,
Not a moment to miss.

As a star falls from above,
We wish never to part,
And swear that our love
Will forever be in our heart.

High up all the planets align
While our arms firm entwine;
Hear the music of spheres
That’s delight to our ears.
How the sky conspires
With its starry bonfires,
Our true love to inflame
Lighting our heart’s flame.

The poem is set to music, and you can find all my music in my Instagram site “Otidorchestre” channel or listen to it on YouTube, Spotify,  Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, and other music sharing sites.