First sketch of the Evolutionary Tree (Source)
The Evolutionary Tree was probably considered as nebulous a concept by some of Charles Darwin’s (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) contemporaries…
Porous chondrite interplanetary dust particle (Source)
…as the Nebular Hypothesis was by the contemporaries of Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804).
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.
Saw this on my way to the Mercator shopping centre and just had to post for the Japanese connection 😀
Ljubljana, 8 February 2008, 12:00
On the occasion of the Slovenian Culture Day (a.k.a. Prešeren day), the 22nd traditional recital of France Prešeren’s poetry will be taking place at noon at his monument at Prešeren square in collaboration of the Slovenian Association of Dramatic Artists, the City of Ljubljana and Radio KAOS.
If you can’t come in person and enjoy beautiful poetry in sunny weather, you can listen to the event live at the Radio Kaos website or watch it live (also courtesy of Radio Kaos) by entering the following address into your Media Player:
mms://217.72.76.71/8FEB (click)
As predicted at this blog before, prices of real estate in Slovenia, especially Ljubljana, have continued their upward trend.
RTV Slovenija reports that an analysis has shown that the advertised prices of Ljubljana properties have increased by an average of 14.3% in one year. Apartments in the immediate surroundings of the capital have appreciated even further, by an average of 14.7%. As expected, the greatest price increase was marked in the segment of small apartments while the prices of the smallest (studios) and large apartments grew more slowly (their intense upward surge occurred in 2006).
The average advertised price for small apartments has already passed the EUR 3,000/m2 mark, which makes property purchase a growingly elusive goal to many. Quite a number of new apartments are expected to be developed in the next three years, which should help curb the trend somewhat, although it is unikely that the new supply will satisfy the demand.
In Maribor, Slovenia’s second largest town, prices are much lower and it is not uncommon to pay half the price of a comparable property in Ljubljana. In addition, prices have been rising at a much lower rate with one-bedroom apartments appreciating 5.6% since March 2007 and the average advertised prices of apartments from EUR 955 to EUR 1,675 per square metre.
The only area that compares to Ljubljana in terms of real estate prices is the coastal region with some parts of Gorenjska not lagging far behind.
Although I still do not possess a reliable crystal ball, my prediction would be for property prices to keep rising although at a slightly lower rate with properties in the suburbs and in scenic but remote areas picking up. Furthermore, it will be interesting to observe the effect these trends will have on rentals with fewer people buying and more renting.
All in all, the real estate market will be just fine. As long as people’s earnings start picking up the pace with the property value trends.
Just before you get to enjoy Luka’s Thursday Kitsune and Pengovsky’s Friday Foxy, here’s your chance to catch glimpse of another purrfect pussy. As today is Ash Wednesday (pepelnična sreda), I thought this kitty would make a good choice.
(click here for more pics of Cindy)
Meet Grand Champion Planika Pepelka of Palmetto a.k.a. Cindy, a Black Smoke Persian born at my house that went on to become a star at beauty pageants called cat shows both in Europe and in the US and became the second best of breed in the world the year she was shown in the Cat Fanciers’ Association. She was a gift to a dear friend, Pat Lichtenberg in south Georgia. Pepelka is Slovenian for “Cinderella” as ‘pepel’ translates to ‘ash’.
Cindy’s sidekick is another cat on fire 😉
And yes, it had to be a red dress.
One of the most frequently asked questions we receive from clients is what is the usual difference between the advertised and actual sale price of real estate in Slovenia.
Based on our experience and limited research done by students in the scope of their undergraduate theses (source), the difference seems to be affected by both the type and location of the property, but most sales are concluded at prices around 6% to 10% lower than originally advertised.
(source)
Thanks to DougguoD, I may have just found the true reason why I like high-heel shoes. I always thought it had to do with my less than extra-tall height or the effect they have on the style of walking, but here’s another take:
BBC reports that high heels may improve sex life. Apparently, wearing higher heels may improve pelvic floor muscles and in doing so boost your sex life. In a letter to European Urology, Dr Maria Cerruto said her research showed it was time to stand up for the heel. “Like many women, I like high-heeled shoes,” she added. “It’s good to know they have potential health benefits.” (read more)
As abbym0308 says (great choice of photo, btw), heels also look sexy, which might make you feel more confident and therefore appear more attractive to a potential mate… which might make you score a date that leads to a romp in the sack… which also may be an improvement in your sex life.
Still have to get to the bottom of the red dress thing, though. Whoops 😉
After yesterday’s re-election of Serbia’s pro-Western President Boris Tadić, the European Union is talking of speeding up Serbia’s progress towards membership while at the same time deciding to send 1,800 police and legal officials to Kosovo where they are to take over from the United Nations forces under UN Security Council resolution 1244 which refers to an international security presence. (see BBC)
I read Lisa’s post on the elections and have been thinking a bit. Tadić and Nikolić are not as different in their POV as portrayed, especially when it comes to Kosovo. I will go out on limb to suggest that possibly, Nikolić would have been (will be?) able to negotiate better when the initial after-independence-declaration limited outbursts of violence subside. Then again, I could be wrong.
So you’ve decided you’d like to build your own property in Slovenia and are looking to buy a plot to develop. Assuming that you can buy real estate in accordance with Slovenian legislation (in case of doubt, read this), these are the basic steps you’ll be taking once you’ve found a plot to your liking:
Once the above steps have been taken, you will have full title of the plot and can continue the process by obtaining a building permit.
It is advised to use a competent real estate agent that will guide you through the process and minimize your worries and involvement with paperwork.
In order to sign a sales contract, you will need to first obtain a Slovenian personal registration number and a tax number if you do not have those papers yet. (Again, a good real estate agent will handle that bit of paperwork for you as well.)
