Bahrain

I took this photo about a year ago while staying at the Radisson in Bahrain but didn't pay much attention to it. I just realized that the innocent snapshot of the bridge has some nice qualities to it corresponding with the heron's neck and the architecture. I like the overall composition so here it is...

Epidaurus

The theatre of the Asklepieion of Epidaurus 2

I am tired of creating new posts for the same subject because the server screws up the load...

The theatre of The Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus

We left Poros early and headed to Epidauros. Orlando seemed to be in a good mood and we were both looking forward to this trip. Virginia supplied us with all the reading material which I gratefully accepted because telling her that we want to buy the same books for ourselves seemed pointless. The new road on the shore was supposed to be open but later we had to find out that it was not.



The theatre of the Asklepieion of Epidaurus is the ideal specimen of the achievements and experience of the ancient Greeks on theatre construction. It was already praised in antiquity by Pausanias for its symmetry and beauty.
It has the typical Hellenistic structure with the three basic parts: the cavea, the orchestra and the stage-building (skene). The longest radius of the cavea is 58 m while the diameter of the orchestra is about 20 m. The lower of the two diazomata (sections) is divided with 13 stairways into 12 cunei (with 34 rows of benches) and the upper with 23 stairways into 22 cunei (with 21 rows of benches).
The stage-building included a main room with four pillars along the central axis, and one square room at each end. The proskenium had a facade with 14 half-columns against pillars. Two ramps on either side led to the stage while monumental double gates stood at the two entrances.
The theatre was built in two stages. During the first, at the end of the 4th century B.C., the orchestra, the lower diazoma and the stage-building (in its "pre-hellenistic" phase) were constructed. During the second, at the middle of the 2nd century B.C., the cavea was enlarged at the top, and the stage building was given its "late-hellenistic" shape. The theatre was used for musical and poetical contests and theatrical performances.
For centuries the monument remained covered by thick layers of earth. Systematic excavations started in 1881 under the direction of P. Kavvadias. The cavea was brought to light quite well preserved apart from the tiers at the edges and the retaining walls. On the contrary, the stage was found in ruins levelled to the ground.
At the beginning of the 20th century the gate of the western entrance and the contiguous retaining-wall were restored. Large-scale works were undertaken from 1954 to 1963 for the reconstruction of the destroyed sections and partial restoration of the monument.

Mykenae 2

The Acropolis of Mykenae

Mykenae

Gold mask of Agamemnon, 1580 - 1500 BC

Six miles north-east of Argos, on a hill, lay the "rich in gold" ancient city of Mykenae (Mycenae). Founded by the hero Perseus and becoming favorite residence of Pelops and his descendants, it became the most important city of Greece at the times of the king Agamemnon.
Master seafarers, they traded in the whole eastern Mediterranean sea, until the 12th century.
In 1375 BC, they invaded Crete and conquered the Minoans, who had influenced them in the art, from as early as the 16th century BC. The Mykenaean people build cyclopean structures, but at the same time they created the finest works of art.
These were the heroic and adventurous people of the Iliad, the romantic poet warriors, the purest and best of Hellenes.

The Lions Gate at Mykenae.
It was the main entrance to the Acropolis and
its opening was closed by a double door with sheets of bronze.
The relief consists of two confronting lions, their heads made from different
material. The structure is dated to 1250 BC.


The Acropolis of Mykenae

The Miracle of Life

Most of us begin our days with a continuous list of things we need to do to keep our lives running smoothly, but we rarely take time to note all the things we don't need to do. For example, we don't need to figure out how to breathe. We don't need to find a way to make sure the earth continues to revolve around the sun. We don't need to concentrate to ensure that our heart beats and our cells regenerate. All of these things, and many more, take care of themselves without our having to think or do anything at all. This is the miracle of life on earth.

Heat

Work

If you have support, you can’t do no wrong. If you have no support, no matter what you do, you’re always wrong. This is the formula fitting my role in K. and I curse the moment when I agreed to become foreman.

Istanbul 2006 May No.2

The blogger didn't take my link at all for some reason and when I wanted to embed the link into the text - it disappeared also, so I will try to republish it hoping to have better luck this time. If not, I am tired of having technical difficulties with this whole damned thing and stop working on it. It happened before in the past...
http://balazsgats.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album05
Finally uploaded the latest photos that were made during my last stop over on my way to Hungary. The weather was hot and humid and everything but ideal for taking good photos, nevertheless - here they are. Except for 2 or 3, I was using only the 14-45 zoom.

Murex poppei

Yesterday I drove down to the ElJoan and finally did some serious swimming in the sea. The current was pretty strong so I didn't chance it too much, besides I was with Mike (McKinney) and the old man has a very bad knee. So bad in fact that he will have reconstructive surgery in January. In the water we just talked shit and Mike was telling me about his fights in school when he was still a young bully and his bad knee still appeared to be a good one – not to mention other parts of his aging body. Looking at his size I didn’t think about questioning any of what he said and we discussed various parts of L.A. where both of us used to be when time was still young and so were we…
On the sand I found a Murex Poppei, one of those fancy looking shells that make little Hilary Swank look like a shabby old maid, resembling nothing else to me but the nude female body – well, so nude that one may see nothing but bones. Just bones, indeed. In the past, I did find a few flawless ones, now the proud property of Orlando, back at home, in Hungary.
Robert was overwhelmed by our site and gave me my presents he bought me during his vacation on Mykonos. I still can’t believe that he didn’t only buy me one of those rare “designer” olive oil bottles that are not only the product of organic farming but extra-extra virgins as well due to the first cold press process of their production and probably cost an arm and a leg. He also bought me a nice Greek shirt that also didn’t seem to be the cheap kind. Good old Robert, bless his heart - despite all the heartache he gave me at the beginning of my “carrier” at KNB - is one of the most faithful and honest friends I’ve got since my arrival here in Kuwait and believe me, I don’t have too many…

Orlando

I will fly to Athens on the 20th of July early morning. Orlando is arriving from Budapest at 15:50 with Malev and we will go straight down to Piraeus. There we will take the 19:00 Flying Cat to Poros which will arrive at 20:10, I already bought the tickets online yesterday. Ideally we should be at Virginia’s no later than 22:00. The whole idea behind this trip is to introduce him to the place where he was conceived while taking care of some business with Alpha Bank. We will take the 14:00 Flying Cat on the 23rd of July so we’ll still have time to see some of Athens before flying out together at 05:20 in the morning next day - being his first time in Greece. I know it is short but this is the best I can do right now. Next time will hopefully not going to wait too long and with proper planning we may be able to do some serious exploring together which is way long overdue.

Istanbul 2006 May

Finally uploaded the latest photos that were made during my last stop over on my way to Hungary. The weather was hot and humid and everything but ideal for taking good photos, neverless - here they are. Except for 2 or 3, I was using only the 14-45 zoom:http://balazsgats.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album05