TRAVEL TUESDAY 454 - BORA BORA, FRENCH POLYNESIA

"It is important to remember that the Pacific Ocean covers a quarter of the world's surface and that each Pacific country has its own cultural, historical and ethnic identity." - Jenny Shipley

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Bora Bora (Tahitian: Pora Pora) is an island group in the Leeward Islands in the South Pacific. The Leeward Islands comprise the western part of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, which is an overseas collectivity of the French Republic in the Pacific Ocean. Bora Bora has a total land area of 30.55 km2.

Bora Bora is a major international tourist destination, famous for its seaside (and even offshore) luxury resorts. Its major settlement, Vaitape, is on the western side of the main island, opposite the main channel leading into the lagoon. Produce of the island is mostly limited to what can be obtained from the sea and from the plentiful coconut trees, which were historically of economic importance for the production of copra.

Mount Otemanu (seen here) is an extinct volcano and can be seen from any point on the island of Bora Bora. With an elevation of 727 metres above sea level, it is the highest point of the island.  The mountain serves a major tourist attraction in Bora Bora for both hiking and picture taking. The island is centred around its peak although there are no major settlements or inhabitants that occupy the mountain. It is next to the smaller Mount Pahia. 

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 453 - ARLES, FRANCE

"Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it."  - Vincent Van Gogh

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Arles (Classical Latin: Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of Provence. A large part of the Camargue, the largest wetlands in France, is located within the territory of the commune, which is the largest in Metropolitan France in terms of geographic territory. The commune's land area is roughly similar to that of Singapore.

The city has a long history, and was of considerable importance in the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis. The Roman and Romanesque Monuments of Arles were listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1981 for their testimony to the history of the region. The city is famous for being the archdiocese of Caesarius of Arles and Hilary of Arles.

Additionally, many artists have lived and worked in this area, including Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin and Jacques Réattu. The Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh lived in Arles from 1888 to 1889, and produced over 300 paintings and drawings during his time there. These are held in internationally known museums and private collections around the world. An international photography festival has been held annually in the city since 1970.

Arles has important Roman remnants, most of which have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1981 within the Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments group. The town also has a museum of ancient history, the Musée de l'Arles et de la Provence antiques, with one of the best collections of Roman sarcophagi to be found anywhere outside Rome itself. Other museums include the Musée Réattu and the Museon Arlaten.

The courtyard of the Old Arles hospital, now named "Espace Van Gogh", is a centre for Vincent van Gogh's works, several of which are masterpieces. The garden, framed on all four sides by buildings of the complex, is approached through arcades on the first floor. A circulation gallery is located on the first and second floors. The LUMA Tower is a 56-meter tall construction, the centre of the LUMA Arles arts centre.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 452 - ASWAN, EGYPT

“Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife. The first question was, 'Did you bring joy?' The second was, 'Did you find joy?” -  Leo Buscaglia

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Aswan, formerly spelled Assuan, is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dams on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract. The modern city has expanded and includes the formerly separate community on the island of Elephantine.

Aswan is the ancient city of Swenett, which in antiquity was the frontier town of Ancient Egypt facing the south. Swenett is supposed to have derived its name from an Egyptian goddess with the same name. This goddess later was identified as Eileithyia by the Greeks and Lucina by the Romans during their occupation of Ancient Egypt because of the similar association of their goddesses with childbirth, and of which the import is "the opener". The ancient name of the city also is said to be derived from the Egyptian symbol for trade, or market. 

Because the Ancient Egyptians oriented toward the origin of the life-giving waters of the Nile in the south, Swenett was the first town in the country, and Egypt always was conceived to "open" or begin at Swenett. The city stood upon a peninsula on the right (east) bank of the Nile, immediately below (and north of) the first cataract of the flowing waters, which extend to it from Philae. Navigation to the delta was possible from this location without encountering a barrier.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 451 - REYKJAVÍK, ICELAND

“Contemporary poetry is a kind of Reykjavik, a place where accessibility and intelligence have been fighting a Cold War by proxy for the last half-century.” - Nick Hornby

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Reykjavík is the capital and largest city of Iceland. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world’s northernmost capital of a sovereign state, and is a popular tourist destination. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxa Bay. With a population of around 123,300 (and over 216,940 in the Capital Region), it is the heart of Iceland’s cultural, economic and governmental activity.  

Reykjavík is believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, which, according to Ingólfur Arnarson, was established in AD 874. Until the 19th century, there was no urban development in the city location. The city was founded in 1786 as an official trading town and grew steadily over the next decades, as it transformed into a regional and later national centre of commerce, population, and governmental activities. It is among the cleanest, greenest, and safest cities in the world. 

Present-day Reykjavík is a city with people from at least 100 countries. The most common ethnic minorities are Poles, Lithuanians, and Danes. In 2009, foreign-born individuals made up 8% of the total population. Children of foreign origin, many of whom are adopted, form a more considerable minority in the city’s schools, as many as a third in places. The city is also visited by thousands of tourists, students, and other temporary residents, at times outnumbering natives in the city centre.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 450 - KINSHASHA, CONGO

“A mistreated woman will drown her husband in tears” – Proverb of the Congo

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Kinshasa (Lingala: Kinsásá), formerly named Léopoldville until June 30, 1966, is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one of the world's fastest-growing megacities. Kinshasa's 2024 population was estimated at 17,032,322. It is the most densely populated city in the DRC and the most populous city in Africa, Africa's third-largest metropolitan area and the leading economic, political, and cultural centre of the DRC.

Kinshasa houses several industries, including manufacturing, telecommunications, banking, and entertainment. The city also hosts some of DRC's significant institutional buildings, such as the Palais du Peuple, Palais de la Nation, Court of Cassation, Constitutional Court, Cité de l'Union Africaine, Palais de Marbre, Stade des Martyrs, Immeuble du Gouvernement, Kinshasa Financial Centre, and multiple federal departments and agencies.

Covering 9,965 square kilometres, Kinshasa stretches along the southern shores of the Pool Malebo, forming an expansive crescent across flat, low-lying terrain at an average altitude of about 300 meters. Situated between latitudes 4° and 5° and longitudes East 15° and 16°32, Kinshasa shares its borders with the Mai-Ndombe Province, Kwilu Province, and Kwango Province to the east; the Congo River delineates its western and northern perimeters, constituting a natural border with the Republic of the Congo; to the south lies the Kongo Central Province. Across the river sits Brazzaville (seen in the distance upper right of photo), the smaller capital of the neighbouring Republic of the Congo, forming the world's second-closest pair of capital cities despite being separated by a four-kilometre-wide unbridged span of the Congo River.

Kinshasa is the largest nominally Francophone urban area globally, with French being the language of government, education, media, public services and high-end commerce, while Lingala is used as a lingua franca in the street.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 449 - PHILAE, EGYPT

“Egypt gave birth to what later would become known as 'Western Civilization,' long before the greatness of Greece and Rome.” -  John Henrik Clarke

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Philae (Greek: Φιλαί, Philai; Ancient Egyptian: Pilak, P'aaleq) is an island in Lake Nasser, Nubia. It was formerly an island in the First Cataract of the Nile River and the previous site of an Ancient Egyptian temple complex in southern Egypt. The complex was dismantled and relocated to nearby Agilkia Island during a UNESCO project started because of the construction of the Aswan Dam, after the site was partly flooded by the earlier Aswan Low Dam for half a century.

Monuments of various eras, extending from the Pharaohs to the Caesars, occupy nearly the whole area of Philae. The principal structures, however, lie at the south end of the smaller island. The most ancient were the remains of a temple for Isis built in the reign of Nectanebo I during 380-362 BC, was approached from the river through a double colonnade.

For the most part, the other ruins date from the Ptolemaic times, more especially with the reigns of Ptolemy Philadelphus, Ptolemy Epiphanes, and Ptolemy Philometor (282-145 BC), with many traces of Roman work in Philae dedicated to Ammon-Osiris. The island is reached by boat and visitors can wander around and admire the temples inside and out. No visit to Egypt is complete without visiting this amazing site.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 448 - PALM COVE, QLD, AUSTRALIA

“We evolved in a tropical climate where the smells of plants and flowers were all around us. We spent a lot of time in the trees with a lot of sunlight and no clothes.” - Helen Fisher

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Palm Cove is a beach community in Far North Queensland, Australia located 27 kilometres north of the city of Cairns. It is named after the palm trees that line the beach. At the 2006 census, Palm Cove had a population of 1,215.  Palm Cove is located in Far North Queensland on the Australian coast. Arlington Reef is the closest section of The Great Barrier Reef to Palm Cove being around 30 km offshore. The reef shelters the inshore waters from the Coral Sea swells creating relatively calm waters between the reef and the beach. To the west of Palm Cove is the Macalister Range National Park which is part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage area.

Since Palm Cove is located in a tropical climate, the average summer temperature is between 24˚C and 33˚C; average winter temperature is between 14˚C and 26˚C.  The major industry for Palm Cove is tourism. Palm Cove is also a tourist destination due to its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest. Palm Cove is the location of many world-renowned resorts and hotels such as the Drift Resort, Alamanda, the Mantra Amphora Resort, Peppers Beach Club, and the Reef House.

The pristine beaches and Palm tree lined paths are used by joggers, walkers and cyclists and netted life guard patrol swimming enclosures offer safe access to the sea all year round. The Palm cove jetty is one of the region’s most popular fishing spots where anglers regularly catch species such as mackerel, Giant Trevally or “G.T's” and shark.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 447 - OSLO, NORWAY

"For many years, it seemed as if nothing changed in Norway. You could leave the country for three months, travel the world, through coups d'etat, assassinations, famines, massacres and tsunamis, and come home to find that the only new thing in the newspapers was the crossword puzzle." - Jo Nesbø

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Oslo is the capital and the most populous city in Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. Founded in the year 1040, and established as a “kaupstad” or trading place in 1048 by King Harald III, the city was elevated to a bishopric in 1070 and a capital under Haakon V around 1300. Personal unions with Denmark from 1397 to 1523 and again from 1536 to 1814 and with Sweden from 1814 to 1905 reduced its influence.

After being destroyed by a fire in 1624, the city was moved closer to Akershus Fortress during the reign of King Christian IV and renamed Christiania in his honour.  It was established as a municipality (formannskapsdistrikt) on 1 January 1838. Following a spelling reform, it was known as Kristiania from 1877 to 1925, at which time its original Norwegian name was restored.

Oslo is the economic and governmental centre of Norway. The city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important centre for maritime industries and maritime trade in Europe. The city is home to many companies within the maritime sector, some of which are among the world’s largest shipping companies, shipbrokers and maritime insurance brokers.  Oslo is a pilot city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission intercultural cities programme.

Oslo is considered a global city and ranked “Beta World City” in studies carried out by the Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network in 2008. It was ranked number one in terms of quality of life among European large cities in the European Cities of the Future 2012 report by fDi magazine. A survey conducted by ECA International in 2011 placed Oslo as the second most expensive city in the world for living expenses after Tokyo. In 2013 Oslo tied with the Australian city of Melbourne as the fourth most expensive city in the world, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)'s Worldwide Cost of Living study. 

As of January 1, 2016, the municipality of Oslo has a population of 658,390, while the population of the city’s urban area was 942,084. The metropolitan area had an estimated population of 1.71 million. The population is currently increasing at record rates, making it the fastest growing major city in Europe. This growth stems for the most part from international immigration and related high birth rates, but also from intra-national migration. The immigrant population in the city is growing somewhat faster than the Norwegian population, and in the city proper this is now more than 25% of the total.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 446 - MADAGASCAR

"Nature doesn't need people - people need nature; nature would survive the extinction of the human being and go on just fine, but human culture, human beings, cannot survive without nature." -  Harrison Ford

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Adansonia grandidieri is the biggest and most famous of Madagascar's six species of baobabs, all in the Malvaceae family. It is sometimes known as Grandidier's baobab or the giant baobab. In French it is called Baobab malgache. The local name is renala or reniala (from Malagasy: Reny ala, meaning "mother of the forest"). This tree is endemic to the island of Madagascar, where it is an endangered species threatened by the encroachment of agricultural land.

Grandidier's baobabs have massive, cylindrical, thick trunks, up to three meters across, covered with smooth, reddish-grey bark. They can reach 25 to 30 m in height. The crown is flat-topped, with horizontal main branches. Leaves are palmately compound, typically with 9 to 11 leaflets. This is the only species of baobab with leaflets that are blueish-green and that are densely covered with star-shaped hairs.

It is a flowering tree, producing flowers that are made up of 5 (sometimes 3) calyx lobes that are bent back and twisted at the base of the flower. The lobes are fused at the base forming an open cup about 1 cm deep. Petals are white, aging to yellow, up to 20 mm long and about 5 times as long as broad. The fruits are large, dry and rounded to ovoid. They have a hard shell 2 – 4.5 mm thick and are covered with dense reddish-brown hairs. They contain large (12-20 mm long) kidney-shaped seeds within an edible pulp.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 445 - MALÉ, MALDIVES

"All we need, really, is a change from a near frigid to a tropical attitude of mind." -  Marjory Stoneman Douglas

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The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as Maldive Islands, is a country and archipelagic state in South Asia in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is named after the main island and capital, Malé. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about 750 kilometres  from the Asian continent's mainland. The Maldives' chain of 26 atolls stretches across the equator from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to Addu Atoll in the south.

Malé is the capital and most populous city of the Maldives. With a population of 211,908 in 2022 within its administrative area and coterminous geographical area of 8.30 square kilometres, Malé is also one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The city is geographically located in the southern edge of North Malé Atoll (Kaafu Atoll).

Administratively, the city consists of a central island, an airport island, and four other islands presided over by the Malé City Council. Traditionally it was the King's Island, from where the ancient royal dynasties ruled and where the palace was located. The city was then called Mahal. Formerly it was a walled city surrounded by fortifications and gates (doroshi).

The Royal Palace (Gan'duvaru) was destroyed along with the picturesque forts (koshi) and bastions (buruzu) when the city was remodelled under President Ibrahim Nasir's rule in the aftermath of the abolition of the monarchy in 1968. However, some buildings remained, namely, the Malé Friday Mosque. In the last few decades, the island has been considerably expanded in size through land reclamation. Over the years, Malé has been the centre of political protests and milestone events.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 444 - EASTER ISLAND, CHILE

“The metaphor is so obvious. Easter Island isolated in the Pacific Ocean — once the island got into trouble, there was no way its people could get free. There were no other people from whom they could get help. In the same way that we on Planet Earth, if we ruin our own world, we won't be able to get help.” - Jared Diamond

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Easter Island (Spanish: Isla de Pascua; Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park.

Experts disagree on when the island's Polynesian inhabitants first reached the island. While many in the research community cited evidence that they arrived around the year 800, a 2007 study found compelling evidence that they arrived closer to 1200. The inhabitants created a thriving and industrious culture, as evidenced by the island's numerous enormous stone moai and other artifacts. But land clearing for cultivation and the introduction of the Polynesian rat led to gradual deforestation.

By the time of European arrival in 1722, the island's population was estimated to be 2,000 to 3,000. European diseases, Peruvian slave raiding expeditions in the 1860s, and emigration to other islands such as Tahiti further depleted the population, reducing it to a low of 111 native inhabitants in 1877.

Chile annexed Easter Island in 1888. In 1966, the Rapa Nui were granted Chilean citizenship. In 2007 the island gained the constitutional status of "special territory" (Spanish: Territorio especial). Administratively, it belongs to the Valparaíso Region, constituting a single commune (Isla de Pascua) of the Province of Isla de Pascua.  The 2017 Chilean census registered 7,750 people on the island, of whom 3,512 (45%) considered themselves Rapa Nui.

Easter Island is one of the world's remotest inhabited islands. The nearest inhabited land (around 50 residents in 2013) is Pitcairn Island, 2,075 kilometres away; the nearest town with a population over 500 is Rikitea, on the island of Mangareva, 2,606 km away; the nearest continental point lies in central Chile, 3,512 km away.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 443 - SANTORINI, GREECE

"According to many archaeologists, the legendary Atlantis which is said to have sunk beneath the sea in a great cataclysm, is in actuality the Greek Island of Santorini (Thera), and the catastrophe was caused by the gigantic eruption of the volcano that almost completely destroyed the island." - Thera and Atlantis

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White Beach, Santorini, is the cove right next to the Red Beach, on the southern side of the island. It is very similar to the Red Beach, with black pebbles right on the shore, but the surrounding cliffs and scree are white. This beach is accessible by boat or on foot from the Red Beach. It is less popular than the neighbouring cove and therefore quieter. It doesn't have facilities, except for some umbrellas and sunbeds along the coast, although the surrounding rocks provide some shade and sheltered places to sit in.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 442 - VICTORIA, SEYCHELLES

"The Seychelles archipelago: a symphony of beauty and tranquility." - Seychelles Tourism

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Seychelles, officially the Republic of Seychelles, is an island nation and archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, is 1,500 kilometres east of mainland Africa. Nearby island countries and territories include the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and the French overseas departments of Mayotte and Réunion to the south; and Maldives and the Chagos Archipelago (administered by the United Kingdom as the British Indian Ocean Territory) to the east. Seychelles is the smallest country in Africa as well as the least populated sovereign African country, with an estimated population of 100,600 in 2022.

Seychelles was uninhabited prior to being encountered by Europeans in the 16th century. It faced competing French and British interests until it came under full British control in the late 18th century. Since proclaiming independence from the United Kingdom in 1976, it has developed from a largely agricultural society to a market-based diversified economy, characterised by service, public sector, and tourism activities. From 1976 to 2015, nominal GDP grew nearly 700%, and purchasing power parity nearly 1600%.

Since the late 2010s, the government has taken steps to encourage foreign investment.  As of the early 21st century, Seychelles has the highest nominal per capita GDP of any African nation. It has the highest Human Development Index of any African country. According to 2023 V-Dem Democracy indices Seychelles is ranked 43rd electoral democracy worldwide and 1st ranked electoral democracy in Africa.

Seychellois culture and society is an eclectic mix of French, British, and African influences, with infusions of Chinese and Indian elements. The country is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the Southern African Development Community, and the Commonwealth of Nations.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 441 - EXETER, ENGLAND

“Oh, to be in England now that April's there.” -  Robert Browning

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Exeter is a cathedral city in Devon, England with a population of 129,800 (mid-2016 est.). It lies within the county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. The administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district under the administration of the County Council; a plan to grant the city unitary authority status was scrapped under the 2010 coalition government.

The city is on the River Exe about 60 km northeast of Plymouth and 110 km southwest of Bristol. Exeter was the most south-westerly Roman fortified settlement in Britain, although there is evidence a Cornish tribe existed in Exeter before the Roman invasion. Exeter became a religious centre during the Middle Ages and into the Tudor times: Exeter Cathedral, founded in the mid 11th century, became Anglican during the 16th-century English Reformation.

During the late 19th century, Exeter became an affluent centre for the wool trade, although by the First World War the city was in decline. After the Second World War, much of the city centre was rebuilt and is now considered to be a centre for modern business and tourism in Devon and Cornwall.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 440 - TALLINN, ESTONIA

“I hope one day when I say I'm from Estonia, people don't say: 'What? Where's that?'” Carmen Kass

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Tallinn is the capital and most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of about 461,000 (as of 2024) and administratively lies in the Harju maakond (county). Tallinn is the main governmental, financial, industrial, and cultural centre of Estonia. It is located 187 km northwest of the country's second largest city, Tartu; however, only 80 km south of Helsinki, Finland, also 320 km west of Saint Petersburg, Russia, 300 km north of Riga, Latvia, and 380 km east of Stockholm, Sweden.

From the 13th century until the first half of the 20th century, Tallinn was known in most of the world by variants of its other historical name Reval. Tallinn received Lübeck city rights in 1248; however, the earliest evidence of human population in the area dates back nearly 5,000 years. The medieval indigenous population of what is now Tallinn and north Estonia was one of the last "pagan" civilisations in Europe to adopt Christianity following the Papal-sanctioned Livonian Crusade in the 13th century.

The first recorded claim over the place was laid by Denmark after a successful raid in 1219 led by King Valdemar II, followed by a period of alternating Scandinavian and Teutonic rulers. Due to the strategic location by the sea, its medieval port became a significant trade hub, especially in the 14–16th centuries, when Tallinn grew in importance as the northernmost member city of the Hanseatic League. Tallinn Old Town is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tallinn has the highest number of startup companies per person among all capitals and larger cities in Europe and is the birthplace of many international high-technology companies, including Skype and Wise. The city is home to the headquarters of the European Union's IT agency, and to the NATO Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. In 2007, Tallinn was listed among the top-10 digital cities in the world, and in 2022, Tallinn was listed among the top-10 "medium-sized European cities of the future".

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 439 - KASTORIÁ, GREECE

"We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form." -  William Inge

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 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.

Kastoria (Greek: Καστοριά, Kastoriá) is a city in northern Greece in the region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria regional unit, in the geographic region of Macedonia. It is situated on a promontory on the western shore of Lake Orestiada, in a valley surrounded by limestone mountains. The town is known for its many Byzantine churches, Byzantine and Ottoman-era domestic architecture, its lake and its fur clothing industry.

Kastoria is a popular tourist destination and an international centre of fur trade, having taken so the nickname “The City of the Fur Traders”. Tourism and the fur industry dominate the local economy. Indeed, the town was possibly named after one of the former staples of the trade – the European beaver (kastóri in Greek), now extinct in the area (hmmm, I wonder why?). Trading in mink fur now predominates and every year an international showcase of fur takes place in the city. Fur trade is the biggest factor in the economy of the city, and it started back in the 14th century when the city provided the ermine pelts for the lining of the robes of the Byzantine courtiers.

Kastoria is an important religious centre for the Greek Orthodox Church and is the seat of a metropolitan bishop. The Metropolis of Kastoria is one of the metropolises of the New Lands in Greece, administered as part of the Church of Greece.  The city originally had 72 Byzantine and medieval churches, of which 54 have survived, including that of St Athanasius of Mouzaki. Some of these have been restored and provide useful insight into trends in Late Byzantine styles of architecture and fresco painting.

The Museum of Byzantine History located on Dexamenis Square houses many examples of Byzantine iconography. The Costume Museum and the Monuments Museum are also located in the city. In the village of Kastanofyto lies the Folklore Museum, which preserves folk traditions from the local area.

Kastoria is filled with old manors dating to the Ottoman period, while parts of the old Byzantine walls also stand. Old stone bridges are an important part of the traditional architecture of Kastoria. The best known is the medieval bridge of Zouzouli, the bridge of Koromilia, the Koutsoumpli bridge and the bridge in Beriki.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 438 - CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION, JERUSALEM

"Be thou comforted, little dog, Thou too in Resurrection shall have a little golden tail." -  Martin Luther

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.

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The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is considered to be the holiest site for Christians in the world, as it has been the most important pilgrimage site for Christianity since the fourth century.

According to traditions dating back to the fourth century, it contains two sites considered holy in Christianity: the site where Jesus was crucified, at a place known as Calvary or Golgotha, and Jesus's empty tomb, which is where he was buried and resurrected. In earlier times, the site was used as a Jewish burial ground, upon which a pagan temple was built. The church and rotunda, built under Constantine in the 4th century and destroyed by al-Hakim in 1009, were later reconstructed with modifications by Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos and the Crusaders, resulting in a significant departure from the original structure.

The tomb itself is enclosed by a 19th-century shrine called the Aedicule. Within the church proper are the last four stations of the Cross of the Via Dolorosa, representing the final episodes of the Passion of Jesus. The church has been a major Christian pilgrimage destination since its creation in the fourth century, as the traditional site of the resurrection of Christ, thus its original Greek name, Church of the Anastasis ('Resurrection').

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