Dr. Filomena

Just a photo from last Sunday and a hint at where the next post is presumably coming from.

As Luka quite rightly pointed out, the green ring around Ljubljana is still called the “Path of Remembrance and Comradeship” (Pot spominov in tovarištva). It is a well-maintained gravel-paved recreational footpath running around the entire city through urban areas and the surrounding meadows and forests, along the course of the barb wire fence which surrounded Ljubljana during World War II (from 1942 onwards), when the Italian and later German occupying forces tried to prevent contacts between the city and its hinterland. The barb wire fence was guarded by around 1,300 soldiers and 400 policemen, who checked the identity papers of those travelling to and from the city.

Source and more info: Ljubljana City Website

Every year on 9 May or the Saturday closest thereto, numerous people of Ljubljana walk at least one of the stretches of the 35km hike around the city to celebrate the liberation of the city in 1945. Just as traditional is the race of teams of three runners. They have to run together and cross the finish line together. This marks the team spirit that helped the people of Ljubljana and the resistance forces outside the barb-wire ring make it through the toughest times.

Here are some random photos from the hike and race of 2008.

Today, over lunch, my favourite New Yorker claimed I posted far too few photos from the Dominican Republic. So let me try to make it up to you guys. For starters, this is Jose who kindly introduced me to the “really” fresh coconuts… one to drink from and another to enjoy the delicious taste of the… fruit? Yumm… Thanks, Jose!

The Caribbean, gorgeous weather, endless sand beaches. Dr. Fil is tempted, but still, guess what she is most interested in

Although observing animals closely can help understand the animal that has proclaimed itself superior to others.

Hope you enjoy these pics. Plenty more on their way if I find the time to connect and post.

Part of the monument of Empress Maria Theresa in Vienna (Photo by dr. Fil)

It’s Monday. Full throttle ahead!

What a trip! In more ways than one. The Chair of our Masters’ programme organized another unforgettable study journey. This time around it was an excursion to Israel where, in addition to seeing the iron repertoire sites, we were to sit in on lectures by esteemed professors. The group consisted of professors from the Faculty of Social Sciences and postgraduate students in the World Studies programme.

Chapter 1 – Istanbul

Our flight to Tel Aviv had a four-hour layover in Istanbul and I found myself buying a tourist visa along with three sociology professors just minutes after landing in Turkey and sooner than you could say hoşça kalın, we were in a taxicab on our way downtown. (By the way, check out the meaning of Omar Naber’s family name at wikitravel’s phrasebook.

What an impressive city! One word? Huge. Granted, there is only so much one can do in a new town in a bit over an hour, but we did take a stroll around Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque and had real Turkish coffee with real Turkish sweets at the famous Taksim square. If you order the “chicken breast pie”, please know that it is not simply a dessert resembling a piece of meat. It is ground cooked chicken meat mixed with milk and loads of sugar, made into a gluey thing sprinkled with cinnamon.

We had to go see the Bosphorus bridge, of course. Quite a feeling to be standing there at the very edge of Europe, looking across to Asia. Moving around the city, we made a friend. Hasan the taxi driver who happens to be happily married to a Bulgarian and so understands some basic Slavic words and phrases. What came in really handy is the fact that his neighbour is Macedonian and was able to translate for us on the cell phone. More about Hasan later. The important thing the first time around was that he got us back to the airport on time.

We arrived to Tel Aviv in the wee hours of Monday and I settled down into my hotel room at 4 am.

More… much more to follow. Action!

Here are a few photos from the walk around Istanbul at night..

collecting garbage ~ haunted house?

mysterious or spooky?

no escaping shopping malls ~ relax with Kermit the Turk

desserts of all types (chicken breast pie to the right)

Sütis Coffee Shop at Taksim Square (highly recommended) and the final stop before our return to the airport: the Bosphorus Bridge connecting two continents.

Hagia Sophia on a January Night; photo by dr. Fil

Istanbul is such a beautiful city, but sometimes the lights are dimmed by more than nighttime. The elightenment brought to the country by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk has not gone far enough to reach today’s understanding of free speech and academic debate, as Professor Atilla Yayla found, having just been handed down a 15-month suspended jail term on account of insulting the state’s founder. (Source: BBC)

Just a few photos from the opening of the Technology Park Ljubljana in December 2007 as correcty determined by Fotoholik in response to my “guess where” post.

I must say the opening ceremony was impressive and done in style. Way to go, Technology Park and the City of Ljubljana! This is exactly the type of an environment we need to secure for the future development of the country. The park’s vision is to become an internationally recognised support environment and commercial centre for the flourishing of globally competitive innovative technological entrepreneurship by ensuring a top-quality business support environment for the transfer of research findings and innovative commercial ideas to successful and internationally competitive technological entrepreneurship.

A new quiz might be in order: how many of the people in the pics do you recognize? Let’s see some names along with their titles… Fotoholik has yet to claim his free drink

Happy New Year from Srednja vas v Bohinju!

What beautiful sights while Ljubljana was exposed more to the “sounds” bit due to heavy fog setting in. See video blog report by Jonas for reference.