Nicosia cathedral/mosque

Nicosia's old Gothic Lusignan-built cathedral (used for crownings of medieval Frankish Cypriot kings, efter their crownings as titular kings of Jerusalem in Famagusta) was made into a mosque in Ottoman times. It was difficult to get an outside view of it in the crowded streets, and it was less impressive than it's Famagusta counterpart, but still quite nice.

Nicosia sights

Northern Nicosia (or Lefkosa, in Turkish) gave a quite impoverished and rundown impression. We didn't think to bring passports and time wasn't enough for us to even get down to the "Green Line", but the upper quarters were pretty but unkept, I guess one could say. More to come...

This nicely restored Han was among the nicest sights actually, and the whole place had potential.

Fruits growing

Apart from the vines on the terrace, the hotel garden offered bananas, figs and pomegranates!

Harry Potter

Having now read the last (latest?) book on Harry Potter during my vacation, I have to comment on it for you. First, a personal coincidence is that I read the first one also on a Mediterranean island suring a nice vacation with a friend, and the last one on a beach in Cyprus.

I liked it a lot - it ties up nicely with the previous stories and the level of lessons and horrors escalate nicely as Harry and his friends grow older and mature. An interesting feature is the struggle between good and evil and the parallels to our muggle world - but here no-one ever prevails through force alone. Being loyal and caring carries a premium and an important feature of how evil cannot win is that evil does not understand the power of goodness, love and care.

But I have to say the end disappointed me, just a bit - by being too easy, cosy and uncomplicated. When the hallmark of the books really is the many dimensions they carry and how nothing is ever quite what it seems, wasn't that a bit too good an ending?

Anyway, some links here on Harry Potter also, of course. J K Rowling has an official site of course (but when I write this it doesn't seem to have been updated since 3 days before the book release last month...). I haven't really kept up on the Internet fan-discussions ever but there seems to be no end to the forums on this and a full virtual world to explore for fans - I've found 2 here and here for starters.


And lastly two literary critics/comments on it in Swedish, both from Svenska Dagbladet: here and here.

Frangipani

We had an abundance of frangipani or temple trees, my absolutely favourite flower ever, all over the hotel area. Lovely!

Vacation view

The top two photos are of the view from our Kyrenia hotel balcony, overlooking the small cove with the beach. Very nice, isn't it!

And these 2 are of the vine-covered terrace where dinner was served in the evening - lovely in the moonlight!

Vacation me!

Photos of me are fairly rare and I am really not a photogenique type - I vastly prefer to take photos before posing myself. But here are an assortment of me... note the surprise in the top photo!

DN-galan

Yes, this is where I spent yesterday evening in a sunny Stockholm at the DN-track and field gala! Swedish race results really lifted the ambience in the audience - as usual!

Black Madonna

Black Madonnas are mostly known from the south of France but are also quite prevalent in Poland - with which Lithuania has a long historical association. This one is from Vilnius, in a chapel near the city wall, overlooking a small street from above.

City bus

Vilnius has these cool electric city buses - I don't even know what they're called in English... Trolleybus?

Foreign policy days

Both Dagens Nyheter and Swedish radio have foreign policy theme days in the coming week, where you can meet their foreign correspondents.

Teaser

Just for the hoots ;-) of it - a brief look at Istanbul and at Kyrenia!

Bernadino

A very pretty medieval church - some a little blurry indoor shots and some very nice outdoor ones.

Back in business!

My computer is now up and running again so photos soon to come! I'll not confuse the chronology though and so go back to the last June photos from Vilnius first...

In the meantime, some reading links:

ICG has a new report on Gaza, warning the world for the consequences of seeing (too) positively on viewing the Palestinian rift positively for a renewed peace process.

A short MERIP followup on the Turkish elections.

Some comments on the morality crackdown in Iran, on clothes and parties.

And Newsweek on the booming development in the Gulf. The following 2 links are Newsweeks Internet-extra-material, on Abu Dhabi labour sources and on Sharjah's thwarted cultural bid.

Finally, MERIP also on Dubai.

And some travel tips in Turkey from the English-language Zaman: on Ishak Pasha's Palace near Mt Ararat and on lesser-known Istanbul favourites (even if some of them will be familiar to you through this blog!).

BBC on Alexander the Great's Kuwaiti legacy!

Thank you Carpet-blogger for this piece on a rundown Istanbul neighbourhood, but with both human and cultural potential.

Another photography volume...

... that I have glimpsed at lately is this - it even comes with a complimentary CD-rom (hopefully of photos).

Photo book recommendation

Lacking photos of my own right now, I will instead share this recommendation with you:


A magnificent-looking volume of early photos from Mediterranean historical sites. Click the photo and come to the amazon.co.uk purchasing page for it!

Spirit and Life

I really would like to see and want to encourage those of you who have the chance to visit London to go see the Spirit and Life exhibition on Islamic art over the centuries at the Ismaili Centre (Aga Khan Foundation). Here is an article from the BBC on it.

Back to posting

I've been away from the internet for over a week know and my computer needs intensive care - so I'm not sure when I can show you photos of what I've been up to! :-( I still have photos from Lithuania in June to show and since I've been briefly to Istanbul, and perhaps more notably on a week's vacation to a country that doesn't really exist - we spent time outside Kyrenia/Girne in Turkish north Cyprus... a very beautiful but vaguely unreal place. And the fact that we are cut off from some lovely examples (mainly architectural) of European cultural heritage present there is very saddening.

I'll keep up the web presence by posting links and books though - I promise. And I will post photos again as soon as I can...

For now, I'll give you a brief reflection of the meaning and importance of Turkish names, from Svenska Dagbladet...

Vacation reading?

This posting has been unpublished due to lack of internetaccess since more than a week. But on July 24th, I wrote:


Packing my home to relocate has taken most of the last few days and blogging has not been a priority. Now vacation on a beach awaits us, but before that I would like to share some reading from the last few days, not least on the Turkish elections. You all know by now that the result was a resounding message from the Turkish electorate to continue the course of the last few years.


But first, a Dagens Nyheter op-ed on antiterrorism expertise and it's place in the open debate. It is actually very notable for many reasons and I can not recommend it highly enough!

And then as promised a few background pieces on the elections in Turkey:

from Svenska Dagbladet: an op-ed on islamists as the political future and again on a similar theme
And here some articles on women, on nationalism and losing sons, on conspiracy theory, on election proceedings...

from Expressen on forward-looking politics and the now again-ruling AKP (even if the article precedes their re-election)

A Swedish-Kurdish journalist was killed in a Kirkuk-bombing in July.

A very interesting article whose theme belies the assumption that Palestinian politics are wholly clan-dominated and family-steered, on 2 brothers who make opposite political decisions on the future of Gaza.

Even if water has run under the bridge, this expose of Israeli reflections after last years war in Lebanon may be of longer-term interest.

And finally some BBC picture features, this one on Palestine and this on the re-vitalization of society in Algeria.

Fish soup recipe

I can't resist sharing my favourite fish recipe with you - depending on the amount of liquid, it makes beautiful fish stew or soup. The recipe is very flexible as to what fish, vegetables and spices you like, as long as you stick to the rough proportions.

This made us (2 adults) 2 dinners earlier this week and I think there was still some left for a light lunch:

+1 kilo of fish (choose your favourite kind, we had salmon, but mixing 2-3 kinds is also possible)
1 onion
other vegetables of your choice (I used zucchini and sweet corn)
1 tin of crushed tomatoes in their own juice
1 stock cube vegetable
1 - 1,5 litres of liquid (generally water is fine, but adding 1-2 dl of white wine is great too)
salt & peppar
herbs
olive oil

I added a touch of saffron and some fresh shrimps too, but those are an optional luxury.

Stirfry the onion and other vegetables in oil, add salt and peppar. When slightly softened, add the tin of tomatoes, water (and wine if you choose to), the stock cube and herbs (and saffron, if you have). Let it boil while you cut the fish in 2x2 cm pieces. Add the fish and continue to boil until ready (which shouldn't take many minutes). Add other seafood at the very end and let it get hot, but don't boil it so long that the shrimps go tough or anything.

If you choose the lower amount of liquid you can serve it with rice or bulgur as a stew. Otherwise it makes a fine soup, add salad and bread to make it a full meal. Both ways, some parmesan on top is highly recommended!