4 Days in Berlin

I had wanted to come to Berlin essentially to see the Pergamon museum and it is magnificent.

Apart from almost overdosing on museums we made an excursion to Potsdam and rode the buses. The #100 bus goes past the main sites such as the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. We also took #200 from end to end and as that ventures well into former East Berlin we got a hint of what a difference there was formerly.

We also found time to get to The History of Berlin exhibition which was excellent.It did not gloss over the dark Nazi past and also had fascinating artifacts from East and West. The exhibition included a tour of a Cold War bunker. In the event of a nuclear attack the advice was take cover. i,e, protect your head with your briefcase! 

Tonight we found a local restaurant for dinner. It was a lovely evening and we sat on the street and were joined by some German tourists from Cologne. Asparagus is in season and the fat white sort is delicious. The Creme Brulee was to die for.

Typical new apartment blocks

Detail of the frieze from the Zeus altar from Pergamum, 2ndC B.C.

Extremely fine parrot mosaic from Pergamum

The market gate from Miletus,near Pergamum (now Bergama) in Turkey. It makes Victoria Market in Melbourne look pretty ordinary.

Detail from the processional way leading to the Ishtar gate in Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon.

 The dyes used 400 years ago in these Turkish carpets are still bright.

The Brandenburg Gate hardly needs identifying.

Waiting for tourists at the Brandenburg Gate.

Typical grand baroque gateway in Potsdam.

Facade of Schloss Sanssouci at Potsdam. In the 18thC the German court spoke French,but the English Royal family spoke German.

Baroque details at Sanssouci

View of the grounds at Schloss Sanssouci.

The Chinese teahouse in the gardens at Sanssouci.

Detail from the Teahouse.

 Potsdam has its own Brandenburg Gate dating from1770.

In Potsdam, artificial lawn comes complete with flowers.

A visit to Berlin would not be complete without a visit to the remaining remnants of the wall.

The Altes museum in the Neo classical style which was popular in Berlin in the 19thC.

Funerary bust of a wealthy lady from Palmyra in Syria, 2ndC A.D.

East Berlin had a very cute little green man on pedestrian lights.

Bicycles are very popular in Berlin, but helmets are rare.

The entrance to the zoo. We kept passing it on our various buses.

Checkpoint Charlie - another Berlin icon.

Kurfurstendamm Strasse, West Berlin's answer to Unter den Linden. It is an elegant boulevarde and as yet Unter den Linden has only partially regained its former cache and does not really rival it..

Last post from Italy, 20th May, 2012

Last Thursday we went first to Segesta supposedly founded by Aeneas and Co.on their way home from the Trojan wars. The huge Doric temple was never finished - the building was probably interrupted by war with neighbouring Selinunte. Today the temple stands in isolation and some distance away on the next hill is the well preserved 5thC B.C. theatre

Once again there were Senegalese hawkers in the car park. Mohammed who we struck up a conversation with (in French) had been 3 years in Sicily and was still trying to get established.

We spent the afternoon at Selinunte which must have been an important Greek city as the temple acropolis is huge. It was destroyed first by Carthage in 409 B.C. and then an earthquake completed the job.

Friday was our last day in Sicily. We drove east from Palermo along the coast road to Cefalu.  At one point the autostrada was blocked by workers from a Fiat plant which was closing. All traffic had to stop and chat to them. The carabinieri just observed it all. In Cefalu we ran to get to the cathedral before it closed for its afternoon siesta. Cefalu is an attractive resort town dominated by the massive cathedral and even more massive rocky outcrop known as La Rocca. 

Back in Palermo there was time for a final stroll through the centre, before making our way to the port area to catch the overnight ferry to Naples.

The sea was like a mill pond and we had a good sleep on board and docked in Naples at 6 a.m. My brief impressions of Naples included the grand palazzos along the waterfront (now apartments) and narrow medieval streets in the old town. 

It was a 3 hour drive to Rome where we stayed in a religious house. The view from their terrace included the dome of St Peter's.

On Sunday morning we caught a plane to Berlin and it is quite a contrast with Italy.= although both are in the euro zone it seems a little more expensive, but blissfully peaceful - bicycles instead of motorbikes. All for now.

Doric temple at Segesta standing in splendid isolation.

Detail showing the protuberances around which ropes were slung during construction

Wildflowers at Segesta

The 5thC B.C. Greek theatre at Segesta contrasts with the modern Autostrada

Ruins of one of the enormous Doric temples at Selinunte.

The  modern town of Selinunte from the ruins of the old town.

Fiat workers blocking the autostrada in protest at the closure of the plant

The cathedral at Cefalu dominates the town

Byzantine mosaics in the cathedral at Cefalu

The modern stained glass windows are quite a contrast

The beach at Cefalu

Street scene in Palermo

The ever present accordionist in Palermo.

Pitcher plants for sale in Naples.

The austere facade of a Jesuit church in Naples

The opulent baroque interior of this church

The old city of Naples is renowned for producing clay figurines of Nativity scenes.

they have branched out into political figures

And even nuns and priests.

the Galleria - a grand shopping arcade built at the end of the 19thC.

Horoscope mosaics in the floor of the galleria. The TV Italian news had the day's horoscopes near the  top of the bulletin.

Typical elegant baroque buildings in Naples.

Outside at Gambrinus coffee shop on Plebiscite square in Naples

The elegant interior of Gambrinus

Mouth watering selection of pastries.

I was a bit slow, but these nuns had been posing and taking each others photos against the background of roses.