charuavi

Rio de Janeiro -- the ‘Marvelous City’ We left Igaussu Falls behind with a yearning in the heart to visit it again and again and yet again, though we knew perfectly well that perhaps we will not be able to visit it again in this lifetime. It is not easy visiting it from Mumbai with long flights resulting in jet-lag, long hours spent waiting at airports for connections and long periods of sleeplessness resulting in long faces at the end of the journey. May be just our age is catching up with us because I remember I had traveled to Hawaii from Mumbai via Atlantic Ocean, once upon a time without much trouble. Igaussu Falls are absolutely wonderful, but now we were looking forward to enjoying Rio de Janeiro, which my cousin had described as ‘European ... read more

Tourists go to Cordoba basically to see the ‘Mezquita-Cathedral’. Then, if time permits they will see other things like the Jewish Quarter, the Moorish Baths, The Alcazar and if they can, they visit ‘Medina Al Zahara’, a palace-complex about 7 kms away from Cordoba. The ‘Mezquita-Cathedral’ should actually be called ‘Roman Temple-Visigothic Church-Muslim Mezquita-Catholic Cathedral’. However, I am just going to call it ‘Mezquita’ for the sake for brevity. This is one building which has disparate, diverse elements from the Roman, Moorish and Christian eras and which have become combined into a handsome whole – by a lucky chance, I am afraid, not by any ingenious human design. Elsewhere in Andalucia, the Roman and Moorish ruins as well as Catholic churches occupy separate locations. Sometimes, the mosques have been just converted into churches with a little ... read more

Malaga (Spain) Normally, before going on a vacation, I spend some time on The Net and do a lot of research about the region we are planning to visit. However, our Andalucía vacation was an exception, because my daughter had decided that we should spend some time with her family at a home-stay at Malaga. We were, of course, very willing. Who wouldn’t like to spend time with their grand-daughter, daughter and son-in-law? We also decided to visit Brazil as a side-trip from Malaga and as this was an afterthought, we had to juggle our flights and travel-plans quite a bit. This kept me rather too busy because now the focus had shifted from Spain to Brazil. Crazy? Yes, everybody called us that and we agreed but we DID finish this crazy itinerary ultimately. The only ... read more

Lalbaug Flower Show, Bengaluru The past week, while I was uploading my South Africa-Zimbabwe travelblogs on Sulekha from Mumbai, Avi was in Bengaluru, on office work. He managed to visit the annual Lalbaug Flower Show during one evening and take photos. Here is a treat for your eyes from his camera. ... read more

Belgaum and Sulga Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, "This is my own, my native land!" Whose heart hath ne’er within him burn’d, As home his footsteps he hath turn’d, From wandering on a foreign strand! - Sir Walter Scott I remembered those lines when I started packing for our annual get-together of school-friends, which was at Belgaum, our own ‘native place’. The joy of revisiting Belgaum permeated my being. Well, Mumbai is not exactly a ‘foreign strand’ and we are quite ‘at home’ here, or so we thought. At our earlier get-togethers, there was great enjoyment in meeting the school-friends but this time, it was doubled by the venue, Belgaum. For forty-odd years, w... read more