Pearl Of Latin America: The Corcovado

My most important target in 10 years is to learn Spanish and Portugese and stay in Brasil for several months. According to me, you can find anything exotic and fun in the Latin American countries. If you are bored of going to the European countries, believe me. Brasil is the right spot! The Corcovado, which means "hunchback"(spinal deformity causing a humped back) in their official language Portugese, is a mountain in central Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The city is known worldwide for the 38-meter statue of Jesus, situated on the highest peak of the city which is entitled Cristo Redentor or "Christ the Redeemer".The peak and statue can be accessed from a narrow road or by the 3.8 kilometer Corcovado Rack Railway which was opened in 1884 and refurbished in 1980. The railway uses two-car electrically powered trains, with a passenger capacity of 360 passengers per hour. The rail trip takes approximately 20 minutes and departs every half hour. After getting off the train, you must walk 222 steps to reach the statute which is a bit tiring. However, I think anyone can do that before dying in order to discover the great view of the Atlantic Ocean.

In the past, the important visitors who visited the mountain peak includes Pope Pius XII, Pope John Paul II, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Albert Einstein and Diana, Princess of Wales.

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MOSCOW!!

Jewel Of The Muslim Art: The "Taj Mahal"

The Taj Mahal is one of the number 1 places that I really want to see at the moment. Since I'm very interested in architecture and especially Islamic architecture, The Taj Mahal would be a great example for me in order to discover the features of the Islamic architecture. The Taj Mahal , is a mausoleum located in Agra, India, which is just 200 kilometers from the capital New Delhi. The transportain in India is not as good as in the European countries so it takes 2 hours from New Delhi to Agra by train. However, if prefer a private car, it is a 6 hour drive. Taj Mahal is the best example of the combination of Indian, Turkish and Persian styles of architecture. That is in fact why the mausoleum became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

The owner of the ancient mausoleum is Shah Jahan. The Taj ahal was constructed for Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of Shah Jahan, after her death while giving the birth of their 14th child, Gauhara Begum. Emperor Shah Jahan described the Taj Mahal in these words:
Should guilty seek asylum here,

Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.

Should a sinner make his way to this mansion,

All his past sins are to be washed away.

The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;

And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes.

In this world this edifice has been made;

To display thereby the creator's glory.

Meanings of some words:

asylum-shelter

shed-pour

edifice-large and impressive structure

thereby-by that

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CORCOVADO/BRASIL!!

The Eternal City: Rome

So this is my first post and I wanted to write about Rome which is the city I liked the most between the cities I've visited. When you first go out from the largest Italian Airport, Fiumicino of Rome, you feel like you are captivated. Rome has a significant place in the story of Christianity up to the present. It contains The Vatican City where Pope lives, who is the most important religious person in the Christian world. Today, Rome is a modern cosmopolitan city which is the thirdmost visited touristic destination among the EU countries. Due to its architectural structures and ancient vision, Rome has been described as a global city. In my opinion, the best thing that can be done in the ancient city is to go and eat a piece of delicious pizza or to drink a cup of coffee in a small cafe in front of the Spanish Steps which is themain square in the heart of the city. Via Del Corso which is the home to Italy's top designer stores such as Armani, Prada, Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci and other notable names is also the street where the shop owners used to charge you just for walking in the door:D. Some other "must see" places of the ancient city are of course the Collosseum and the Trevi Fountain. The Trevi Fountain is a great place to propose marriage. When I was there, a young man proposed and you know what, he was successful. According to the tradition, if you throw coins to the fountain, you would come to Rome once more. An interesting fact about it is that there is a man living near the fountain who collects the coins at night and donates to handicapped children's chairty. There are pages of other informations I would like to write but these are the most important ones. I hope you will visit Rome one day...

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THE TAJ MAHAL!!

Hi Again Everyone!!

Today, I've decided to create a new blog about "must see places" after reading the great book "1000 Places To See Before You Die". It was a marvellous book I must say. Since travelling is a passion for me, I wanted to write about the most interesting sighs of the world. I hope you'll be interested. This way, if you're bored of following my music blog or if it doesn't interest you, you can start folowing my second "travellers' blog".