The Theatre of Epidaurus was build in the 4th century BC and is still in use today. If you look at the people standing in the center, you can see a small stone slab which is in the middle of the theatre. If you stand on it and speak (even softly), your voice can be heard in the very back row. The acoustics are simply amazing to experience.
Monastiraki is a great part of Athens for people watching. It is full of little shops and restaurants, and has a lovely market area where you can buy anything from cheap food, home-made leather goods and knock-off clothing. A great place for a bargain, and possibly its certainly cheaper than the nearby Plaka area.
The church in the top photo is very typical of the older churches you’ll find all over Greece.
While not quite as impressive as the Acropolus, the Temple of Olympian Zeus is certainly a lot quieter. It took a long time to build, it was started around 6BC, and was only finished during the reign of Hardien in 2CE, nearly 800 years later.
The columns are 17m tall, that is approximately 6 floors to give perspective of how tall it is.
The skyline of Piraeus as you leave the harbour on one of the many ferries.
When it was built in 1969 it was the second tallest tv tower in the world. It was build in the DDR (East Berlin) in 1969, and it can be seen from all over the city. It’s over 300m tall and you can vist the top, or even have a meal in the restaurant at the top.
The Reichstag Building, or parlimentry building was build ini the late 1800’s, and is the seat of the German Parmement. It was also one of the key targets in the Battle of Berlin at the end of World War 2.
Today you can visit the building, and in particular you can explore the dome that was recently added. Not only is it a spectacular architectural site, it allows natural light into the building and even tracks the movement of the sun to keep the building cool.
The view of the city is amazing as well, it feels like you can see the entire city in every direction from up there.
Inside the dome
This former airport has an interesting backstory. In the past, it was the airport into West Berlin, and hence important for transport and in particular to bring goods into the city.
Since Berlin has been unified, they build a new airport, and Tempelhof airport was no longer required. But instead of building apartment or office buildings, it has been turned into a public space. The runways and all the old signage is still there, but you can now use the space as a traffic-free play area.
So I ran the entire length of the runways, and saw people skateboarding, cycling, roller-blading etc. It was great to see the space being used by the community, but it also felt a little surreal going for a run on a runway.
By the way, the runway is over 2km long, it would make a perfect location for parkrun.
Aircraft instructions
The old terminal building. Useless fact, when the Beatles played in Berlin they landed here.
A hand-cyclist enjoying the runway
Last weekend Lois and I did something unusual. We went on a street art tour of Salt River. In itself that isn’t unusual. But what was unusual is that the tour guide, Winston Fani, is blind! It literally was a case of the blind leading the blind. Winston recently received his tour-guide certification from Cape Town tourism, and he is the only blind tour guide in South Africa (and possible even in Africa).
This mural is over 3 stories high
The “cell phone” is directly opposite the previous mural
The tour lasted about 90 minutes, and he took us on a walk through Salt River where we went past several art studio, some little coffee shops, and some amazing street art.
If you want to find out more about his tours, or even attend (highly recommended), you can contact info@awoltours.co.za, tel: +27 83 234 6428.
Here are a few more photos.
I found this lovely, peaceful canal in the middle of Berlin. It always amazes me how you can be in a bustling city, and turn a corner and suddenly find tranquility like this.
This is a lovely route to run in Slovakia. Its through the Dúbravská hlavica, a lovely forest on the outskirts of Bratislava. One of the highlights is the abandoned buildings of a former Soviet observation site that you can explore.
Some of the old buildings
At the top of the mountain (hill) is that steampunky observation tower that you can climb up. Its probably about 3 stories high, and quite scary looking down through the thin walkways. But worth it for the view.
Finally, here is the route I ran.
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