• Interrail Trail 2023
  • Interrail Trail 2023

Interrail Trail 2023

En 81-dags äventyr från Interrail Trail 2023 Läs mer
  • Weaving Wonders

    24 oktober 2023, Turkiet ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    A visit to a live demonstration of a Turkish carpet being woven🧵

    Woven from Wool, Cotton, or Silk, the time and cost increases in this order. Women are salaried $600 per month, with looms and materials provided to rural areas. The thought crossed my mind: Is this skilled work being undervalued at the women's expense?Knowing the # of months it took to make a carpet multipled by salary at least gives you an idea if paying a few $$$$ for one.

    The art started with the Seljuks in Anatolia in the 13th century. The province of Usak had an essential place in the Ottoman carpet business and the Classical Period began with the carpets of Usak, with some examples housed in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art. In the following periods, some carpets also were weaved in regions such as Gördes...

    www.gordesrug.com/
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  • Islamic Istanbul

    25 oktober 2023, Turkiet ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    A walking tour aimed at improving visitors' understanding of Islam 🕋, an Arabic word for peace and submission, practising in line with 5 pillars:

    (1) Shahadah (Testimony), which is the declaration of faith; that there is no God but Allah.

    (2) Salah (five daily prayers), the timings of which are calculated by the movement of the sun. The Muazzin calls Muslims to Prayer from the Minaret.

    (3) Sawm (fasting) at Ramadan to teach a sound social conscience, patience, and unselfishness. It helps the wealthy understand the difficulties of those who suffer from hunger.

    (4) Zakat (purification of wealth), an annual payment of 2.5% of net savings to be spent directly on poorer sections of the community to reduce inequality.

    (5) Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), all prayers are made towards the Ka'bah 🕋 and if you are able, you are expected to make the pilgrimage once in a lifetime.

    We stopped at the Centre for Crosscultural Communication, aiming to unite cultures through Islamic teachings 🕌🕍⛪️🛕

    www.crossculturalcenter.org/
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  • Ceaușescu Communism

    30 oktober 2023, Rumänien ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Romania became a Communist Country in 1947, shortly afterwards establishing a concentration camp system in 1949.

    The experiment of Pitești took place in the maximum-security prison
    created to re-educate prisoners through physical terror and
    psychological torture. Two or more prisoners who knew each other or had friendly relationships were imprisoned
    together in the same cell, assuming different roles: some were
    executioners, while others were victims.

    In power from 1965 until the revolution in 1989, Nicolae Ceaușescu implemented his communist regime with brutality, controlling all aspects of life. Timisoara, here I come...
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  • Not Dracula's Castle

    31 oktober 2023, Rumänien ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Bran Castle is NOT Dracula's 🏰

    In 1897, the Irish writer Bram Stoker gave the world an imaginary character that even today fascinates audiences from all over the world.

    Dracula 🧛‍♂️ an immortal Transylvanian count, thirsty for innocent blood. The legend created by Stoker is based on the fictional image of the 15th century Wallachian prince, Vlad Tepes, who was famous at the time by his severe punishment of the law breakers. Bran Castle, described in literature as a great fortress difficult to conquer, located in a mysterious place in the midst of the Carpathians Mountains. Vlads real home is located in Poenari Citadel.

    Hungry after being a typical tourist for the day, I headed out for traditional Romanian food (fully clothed for the first time during my trip)!
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  • Romanian Revolt

    3 november 2023, Rumänien ⋅ 🌬 20 °C

    In 1989, the beginning of the end for Communism began in Timişoara.

    Trying to hold on to power, Ceaușescu ordered the army to fire on protestors... It did not stop the movement: other cities followed until the regime fell! 1006 people died, with 2988 injured during the revolution. No justice ⚖️

    A section of the Berlin wall was here too, serving as a reminder of division and reunification, of conflict and resolution, of constraint and liberty ✊️Chocolate Crepe to lighten up 😋
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  • Budapest Bound

    4 november 2023, Ungern ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    🚉 # 21

    Budapest... It was: find the hostel, food, and a quick turnaround to make a 3.30pm walking tour. It became too dark for 📸 😔

    Ruin Bars! Once the site of the Jewish ghetto, the historic Jewish Quarter became dilapidated in the decades following World War II, after the deportation of 10,000s Jews. Szimpla began as a small experiment, a bar set up in an abandoned building, offering affordable drinks for the young and creative crowd.

    An evening out there with other hostel guests turned out to be fun! 🍸
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  • House of Terror

    5 november 2023, Ungern ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

    Szimpla transformed into a food market on Sunday morning, as if by magic after the chaos of a Saturday Night 🪄 I stopped in for a cuppa and a pastry with a new friend before heading for the House of Terror.

    The building used to be the Arrow Cross Party HQ, the Hungarian National Socialist Movement who first collaborated with, before being occupied by Nazi Germany during WWII. The 'liberators', the Soviet Union, occupied Hungry from 1945 to until the fall of the USSR in 1989, with the last soldier leaving in 1991 🪖

    This was the place where members of the Arrow Cross tortured and killed hundreds of people before it was continued under the Soviet Regime; first in persecution of Jews then in forcing Communism under Starlin ☭
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  • Jewish Quarter

    5 november 2023, Ungern ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    In the afternoon, it was a visit to the Great Synagogue and Jewish Museum 🕍

    Synagogues are places of worship, study, and community; for the living! Typically, burials are not permitted on the grounds. However, it was necessary to bury 2281 people in mass graves due to the volume of deaths in the Ghetto.

    The Tree of Life is sculpted with 6000 leafs to represent the 6 million Jews who lost their lives in WWII. Leaves are inscripted with the names of Jews who lost their lives in the Budapest Ghetto 😔
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  • Memento Park

    7 november 2023, Ungern ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    The ideological battle; the process of turning communist concepts
    into practical reality and the events involved in creating and building
    a proletariat state, presents a difficult task that very often has conflicting points of view. This makes interpretation difficult, leaving aside for a moment the challenges of implementation without resorting to totalitarianism.Läs mer

  • Danube Drifting

    7 november 2023, Ungern ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    It was very dark and wet 🌧 but floating the Danube was still a pretty sight 😍

    I realised that I need to learn how to use my actual camera 📷 better to take pictures at night 🤭