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Las Vegas – 2019

Posted on 24 August, 201924 August, 2019 by pierreo

I first went to Las Vegas in 1998, on a package deal and stayed at the Luxor Hotel. They made us enter through a back entrance, with a small registration desk, away from the main reception! I felt small and decided that I would never go to Las Vegas on a package again.

I came back to Las Vegas in 2014, during a business trip and stayed at the Hilton, which was a little out of either the strip or the downtown area – sort of near nothing.

This time, we stayed at the Tropicana – recently renovated and now part of the Hilton Chain and on the strip! I finally got it right.

Since we are not big gamblers, we decided to rent a car and visit areas around Las Vegas first.

The first day, we went to Hoover Dam.

We went on a tour of the Nevada Side turbine room.

The room is very impressive wit 8 original turbines (seven were in operation while we were there)

They are equipped to repair all machines right there. This is the eighth turbine going through maintenance.

The highway used to go right over the dam – it was usually a major traffic jam and became very dangerous for pedestrians. A few years ago, they built a new bridge that by-passes the dam and the road on the dam is now essentially a dead-end with limited traffic.

The downstream side of the dam as seen from the Visitor’s Center

The upstream side of the dam from the Arizona side – water level is low (very low) as there has been only limited rain and snow on the mountains.

The dam as seen from the new bridge. The Nevada and Arizona turbine rooms are visible, respectively, on the left and right of the photo. The dam remains a very important source of electricity for both states, but even more important is the water reserve that is used in many surrounding states, including California. Continue reading “Las Vegas – 2019” →

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Culture, Travel

Peru Episode 2: Cuzco and the Sacred Valley

Posted on 21 June, 201524 November, 2015 by pierreo

We arrived in Cuzco in mid-afternoon and by the time we settled into our hotel (right next to Plaza De Armas) and met our tour leader Holy for a quick orientation chat, it was already dark. We decided to go for a stroll and discover the immediate neighborhood around the hotel. We also wanted to scope out several restaurants in the area and decide where we would eat.

Near the hotel, we saw our first Inca Wall, down a narrow pedestrian street. Little did I know when I took this picture that somewhere down the wall on the right there is a 12-cornered stone – we found it later…

A little further, in the square in front of the Monasterio Hotel where we will be staying later, there were school children hard at work rehearsing a dance routine. We saw several such events in the next few days and were told that it is not unusual for classes to organize something special for “Mother’s Day” which would be celebrated on the second Sunday in May.

Plaza de Armas – the central square in today’s Cuzco (actually it was already the central square in Inca Times too).

Before dinner, we had a drink in a cafe overlooking the Plaza; Cuzco is surrounded by hills and one of these is visible on the left. In the distance, a statue of Christ (similar to, but smaller than the one in Rio) seemed to float above the city like a ghostly figure.

The next day, Bee and I explored the city on our own. We first stopped at an attraction that is not in any of our guides as it was only discovered and developed a few years ago. Right in the centre of Cuzco, the remains of several Inca houses have been discovered. The site is called Kusicancha and I was able to find very few references to it even on Google search! The church in the background is Santo Domingo, part of the Qorikancha Complex which we will visit later with our group.

Continue reading “Peru Episode 2: Cuzco and the Sacred Valley” →

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Travel

Napoli and Amalfi – Part 1

Posted on 15 September, 201413 February, 2015 by pierreo

If it is not obvious already from the amount of time that I spend there, I love Italy. I have been there many times and every time I do, I come back more enchanted and convinced that I should come again.

In all my previous trips, I had spent a grand total of 3 or 4 days in the area around Naples, and all of that when I was 11 and 13 years old. I had memories of Paestum, Monte Cassino, Heculaneum and Castel del’Ovo. But these were very vague, and I was not sure what was what any more.

Bee and I decided to spend the time between Easter and May Day in and around Naples so that we could take advantage of two holidays. We arrived in Naples on 19 April, rented a car and drove to our hotel right in the center of the city. The hotel was situated on a pedestrian street and so had left good instructions of where to park. We found the parking and walked to the Hotel Il Convento. We had booked a room with balcony, at the very top of the hotel and it was very nice.

We went for a walk in order to discover the neighborhood. On Piazza Plebiscito (Suffrage Square), we saw this sight of a cruise ship leaving harbor. Naples and, as we will see later, Sorrento are major stops on the cruising Italy scene.

There was not much going on in the low town around the square, so we decided to go up with one of the old cable cars (Funicolare Centrale) up to the Vomero Hill. The car runs underground all the way up to the top of the hill.

We first went to visit the Castel Sant’Elmo, located right at the top of the hill and built by the Spanish in 1538, with spectacular views of the city and Mount Vesuvius just behind it. At first, I was not sure that it was Mount Vesuvius, as I did not remember the second “hump” on the side of the mountain, and all the photos and paintings of the volcano showed it more with the typical conical shape. However, comparing with the location of Vesuvius on the map, and when we went there, I can confirm that the big mountain just outside the city is indeed Mount Vesuvius.

Here is a wider panorama of the Bay of Naples. Vesuvius is on the left and then you can see the low hills of the Amalfi Peninsula. The last two dark spots on the right of the photo are the two hills of Capri – we had excellent visibility that day as the sun started to come down.

After the castle, we went to the Certosa di San Martino, located only 100 m from the castle. It used to be a Monastery, build in the 14th century and rebuilt in the 17th. A constructed view (180 degrees) of the cloisters inside the monastery – this is Chiostro Grande.

There are ancient carriages used by the former occupants of the Certosa – I guess the chief abbot was used to travel in style!

Continue reading “Napoli and Amalfi – Part 1” →

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Culture, Travel

Andalusia 2013

Posted on 1 February, 2014 by pierreo

Our trip to Andalusia continued in Cordoba, another city that was heavily influenced by the Moors who occupied it until late in the 15th century.

Cordoba was ‘freed’ earlier than Granada and Ferdinand and Isabella established their royal seat here while they were fighting for Granada. They lived in a former Muslim palace which is now known as the “Alcazar de los Reyes Catolicos” or Palace of the Catholic Kings. It is clear, however, that the origin of the buildings and gardens has nothing to do with catholic kings.

One look at these gardens and you know immediately who designed them.

The palace itself is not very interesting, and there has not been a significant effort to make the interior look like it must have either during the Moors’ occupation, or the later royal affectation, which was not very long as the royal court eventually moved to Granada instead.

However, the gardens are the real attraction of this palace.

There are fountains everywhere and several different levels which are all just slightly different from each other.

This group was added later, I am sure. It is the representation of Christopher Columbus requesting funds from Ferdinand and Isabella for his trip to India via the Atlantic Ocean. We all know how that ended.

However, there were conflicts in what we heard from different guides. Granada was freed from the Moors in January 1492 and the court moved there soon thereafter. So in Granada, they claim that this discussion took place in the Alhambra. In Cordoba, they claim that this occurred before the court moved and therefore it happened in Cordoba. Looking at several sources of information (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikipedia and Royal Greenwich Museum) there is consensus that the decision to go West was made in January 1492 but only Wikipedia mentions that this occurred in Cordoba while Britannica does not say where the final agreement took place. It could be that it is not documented and therefore both cities have a legitimate claim!

The other major attraction of Cordoba is the Mezquita, the most confused building in the world. It started life as a Mosque and is now the Cathedral of Cordoba. There are contrasting views throughout the building, with clearly Muslim architecture surrounding obviously catholic details.

When they established (and built) the cathedral inside the old mosque, a lot of the building was left unchanged. There are thousands of columns supporting the roof around the core which is now the cathedral. This is an “illegal” photo! I took it with the camera sitting on the floor so that I could have a longer exposure. Immediately after I took this photo while sitting on the floor, I was told to stand up as sitting is not allowed!

Continue reading “Andalusia 2013” →

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Culture, Travel

Granada 2013

Posted on 17 January, 201426 January, 2014 by pierreo

I first came to Granada, in Andalusia, Spain, in 1999. I only spent 2 nights there on a tour of Andalusia.

The pictures I took back then can be seen on my other site: www.twimpg.net

Bee and I stopped in Granada for 4 nights before our Eclipse Cruise – more on that later. It was a great opportunity to see the Alhambra again, and discover more of this wonderful historical city.

We arrived just before lunch – lunch time in Spain that is, so got to the hotel around 1:30 PM. We stayed at the Alhambra Palace, just a stone throw away from the Alhambra itself. On the way to the restaurant for lunch, we saw our first glimpse of the outside wall of the complex and the imposing fortress.

In the afternoon, we went to visit the town and stopped at the main cathedral. It is a very impressive building that was designed and built after the moors were chased out of Andalusia and Granada was the seat of the Spanish Royal family.

We discovered that, on week-ends, the gardens of the Generalife are opened to the public in the evening, after sunset. We had therefore booked for going there on our first evening.

We tried to be early (I did not have to try very hard!) so that it would not be too crowded and we succeeded. The one palace on the Generalife was almost empty and very peaceful.

It is amazing that this was built in 1400 when the rest of Europe was in the “Dark Ages”! Granada was actually a place of great learning during that time, with scholars from all over the known world visiting and lecturing thousands of ‘students’ who came there to learn.

From the Generalife, we had a good view of the Alhambra complex, but could not go there. Actually, we probably could have walked around there too as most of the area around the Alhambra is public, but we only found that out on the next day, during our daytime visit of the palaces.

The detailed work of carving on the stone and the wood is always incredible in these buildings. It is amazing that this survived during the last 700 years. Notice how the patterns are different on top of each archway over the doors! Continue reading “Granada 2013” →

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