Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from 2014

A weekend in Istanbul

Dear friends, Recently my cousin Amit and I were in Istanbul for three days.  Long back during school days, we were taught about Constantinople (now Istanbul), a unique city located partly in Asia and Europe, a strategic geographic location and its importance in trade between Europe and Asia. KLM’s night flight of three hours from Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam to Ataturk airport, landed me in Istanbul at 1:30 AM. Ataturk is quite similar to our old Mumbai airport. Hotel Boutique saint Sophia is @ 20 kms from airport and located at Sultanahmet, very close to most tourist attractions. Dome of Hagia Sophia  Day 1: On the first day we visited Hagia Sophia museum. Built in year 537 by Greeks, it remained a church till 1453, and then converted in to a Mosque till 1935, and currently a museum. It is famous for its massive Dome and paintings. Painting on the Dome The Church  Bell Next, we went to Basilica Cistern. It is an ancient underground water storage facility,

Post card from Leiden, Nederlands

Dear Friends, Hope things are fine at your end. It's almost 3 months since I came to this interesting city of Leiden in Netherlands. Initial couple of weeks went away in completing relocation formalities and adjusting to the new environment.One thing I liked most about this place is Bi-cycling. Most of the people commute on Bicycle. Designated Bicycle paths are there all over the place. After coming here I was told that Amsterdam Stock Exchange is the Oldest Stock Exchange in the world. About 400 years ago, Amsterdam used to be the wealthiest city in the world. Recently I had visited a very old but still working windmill. It was constructed in 1743! It is used to grind corn and now converted in to a museum. If interested, for more details do visit  molendevalk.leiden  Best regards  Zero .