Sightseeing in European, Israeli cities, pictures, information, photo tours, attractions in Europa and Israel. Tips and tools for travelling in blog.

 


 

Grodno or Hrodna (Belarusian: Гродна [ˈɣrodna]; Russian: Гродно [ˈɡrodnə]; Latin: Grodna, Grodnae; Lithuanian: Gardinas; Polish: Grodno; Yiddish: גראדנא) is a city in Belarus. It is located on the Neman River, close to the borders of Poland and Lithuania (about 20 km (12 mi) and 30 km (19 mi) away respectively). It has 327,540 inhabitants (2009 census).
The modern city of Grodno originated as a small fortress and a fortified trading outpost maintained by the Rurikid princes on the border with the lands of the Baltic tribal union Yotvingians. Its name derives from the Old East Slavic verb gorodit’, i.e., to enclose, to fence (see “grad” for details).
 

  • Modern city

The city has one of the largest concentrations of Roman Catholics in Belarus. It is also a center of Polish culture, with the considerable number of Poles living in Belarus, residing in the city and its surroundings. All the while, the Eastern Orthodox population is also widely present here. The city’s Catholic and Orthodox churches are important architectural treasures.

This city is known for its very important Medical University, where many students from different parts of Belarus acquire an academic degree, as do a good number of foreign students as well. Other higher educational establishments are Yanka Kupala State University (the largest education center in Hrodna province) and Agricultural university.
 

  • Grodno History

Mentioned in the Primary Chronicle under 1127 as Goroden’ and located at a crossing of numerous trading routes, this Slavic settlement, possibly originating as far as the late 10th century, became the capital of a poorly attested but separate principality, ruled by Yaroslav the Wise’s grandson and his descendants.
Central Street

Along with Navahrudak, Hrodna was regarded as the main city on the far west of so-called Black Ruthenia, a border region that neighboured the original Lithuania. It was often attacked by various invaders, especially the Teutonic Knights. In the 1240–1250s the Grodno area, as well as the most of Black Ruthenia, was controlled by princes of Lithuanian origin (Mindaugas and others) to form the Baltic state—Grand Duchy of Lithuania—on these territories. After the Prussian uprisings a large population of Old Prussians moved to the region. The famous Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas was the prince of Grodno from 1376 to 1392, and he stayed there during his preparations for the Battle of Grunwald (1410). Since 1413, Grodno had been the administrative center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship.
 

  • Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

To aid the reconstruction of trade and commerce, the grand dukes allowed the creation of a Jewish commune in 1389. It was one of the first Jewish communities in the grand duchy. In 1441 the city received its charter, based on the Magdeburg Law.

The city was the site of two battles, Battle of Grodno (1706) and Battle of Grodno (1708) during the Great Northern War. After the First Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Grodno became the capital of the short-lived Grodno Voivodeship in 1793.
As an important centre of trade, commerce, and culture, Grodno remained one of the places where the Sejms were held. Also, the Old and New Castles were often visited by the Commonwealth monarchs including famous Stephen Báthory of Poland who made a royal residence here. In 1793 the last Sejm in the history of the Commonwealth occurred at Grodno. Two years afterwards, in 1795, Russia obtained the city in the Third Partition of Poland. It was in the New Castle on November 25 of that year that the last Polish king and Lithuanian grand duke Stanisław August Poniatowski abdicated. In the Russian Empire, the city continued to serve its role as a seat of Grodno Governorate since 1801. The industrial activities, started in the late 18th century by Antoni Tyzenhaus, continued to develop.

Up to the Second World War and the Holocaust, like many other cities in Europe, Hrodna had a significant Jewish population: according to Russian census of 1897, out of the total population of 46,900, Jews constituted 22,700 (around 48% percent).

A pictures and panoramas photos of Grodno photo gallery added 29 of April, 2014.

Once over the encircling canal and inside the city walls, Bruges closes in around you with street after street of charming historic houses and a canal always nearby. In recent years, the city has turned so much towards tourism the locals sometimes complain they are living in Disney-land. And if you can get away from the chocolate-shops, you can visit some more quiet areas s.a. St. Anna, and imagine what life in the late middle ages must have been like.

The Bruges Card provides discounts to most of the major attractions, and can be picked up at any of the hostels around town. The reduced rate cannot be used in conjunction with a student rate (both student and Bruges card rates are identical) and hence is most useful for older travellers.

Several Youth Hostels (Bauhaus), and probably the train station and tourist information, offer a useful map with some very interesting, ‘non-tourist’ places to see during the day and some unique places to visit at night. It provides a good way of getting an authentic feel for the town whilst avoiding the tourist honey-pots and allows you to find some hidden gems.

Some highlights:

Groeninge Museum, Dijver 12, B-8000. 7 days 9:30AM-5PM. Known as ‘The city museum of Fine Arts’, it houses a collection of artworks that span several centuries (14th-20th), focusing mainly on works by painters who lived and worked in Bruges. €8 / €6 (audioguide and ticket Arents House and Forum+ included in the entrance).

Basilica of the Holy Blood (Heilige Bloed Basiliek), Burg 10. Apr-Sep 9:30AM-11:50AM & 2PM-5:50PM, Oct-Mar 10AM-11:50AM & 2PM-3:50PM. A beautiful church on the Burg square. It houses a relic – a vial of blood that is said to be that of Jesus – and was built in the Gothic style. Try and get there early so you can view the chapel when it is quiet and not filled with tourists. And don’t forget to visit the chapel underneath, in heavy Romanesque style – a contrast to the lovely light Gothic above. Free.

Brewery De Halve Maan, Walplein 26. Apr-Oct M-Sa 11:00-16:00, Su 11:00-17:00. This brewery annex beer museum offers a tour of the beer making process. A history of the brewery is provided, as well as an overview of the city from its tower. The tour lasts for 45 minutes and is a good way to get a feel for Belgian beer making. The tours start at the exact turn of the hour, be at least fifteen minutes early as there is a maximum amount of people that can join. The entrance price includes one drink of Brugse Zot or Straffe Hendrik and is served after the tour at the outside terrace or indoor bar. €6.50 including 1 beer.

Onze Lieve Vrouwkerk, Mariastraat. A fascinating church with architecture from the Romanesque and Gothic periods. In the east end of the church are very fine tombs of Charles the Bold and his daughter Mary of Burgundy – in contrasting Gothic and Renaissance styles, despite their superficial similarity. The church also houses one of the few Michelangelo sculptures outside of Italy, the “Madonna with child”. Free.

Jerusalem church. In a quiet area of the city, a highly unusual church with octagonal tower built by the Adornes brothers, merchants of Italian extraction. It includes a fine black tournai marble tomb, late Gothic stained glass, and a tiny and rather spooky chapel containing an effiggy of the dead Christ. The entrance fee also covers the Lace Museum in the former Adornes mansion, where you can see local women and girls learning this traditional craft.

The Begijnhof. Also known as the convent, between the centre of the station and the city, with white painted small houses and fine plane trees, is a quiet place to walk – groups are discouraged.

The Hospital of St John. 09:30 – 17:00, Closed Mondays. Sint-Janshospitaal contains a museum of six paintings by Hans Memling, within the early medieval hospital buildings. €6 with Bruges card / €8.

Choco-Story Museum, Wijnzakstraat 2 (Sint-Jansplein). 10AM-5PM. This museum is a must see for chocolate enthusiasts as it describes chocolate’s transition from cocoa into chocolate. Its low cost tasty exhibits make it well worth the time (and Belcolade’s gently overt marketing). Be sure to stay for the chocolate making exhibition to get some excellent samplers. €6 with Bruges card / €7.

DiamantMuseum, Katelijnestraat 43. 10:30AM-5:30PM. Diamond museum has a large range of exhibits ranging from mining all the way to polishing and all the history in between. Everyday at 12:15 there is a live polishing demonstration. Individuals €6, Groups €4.5, Students €3.

The Friet Museum, Vlamingstraat (opposite Academiestraat). 10AM-5PM. Check out the world’s only frites (fries or chips) museum which tells the story of the humble potato from South America and how it has evolved into a fry. Don’t forget to try the tastiest fries cooked by the guy who cooked for the Belgian Royal Family. 6 € : adult 5 € : group (from 15 people, reservation required) 5 € : students, 65+ 4 € : children from 6 to 11 years.

Bruges is visited by a huge number of tourists and it sometimes becomes quite annoying, especially around the Markt and Burg squares. The important thing to remember, however, is that very few tourists venture far away from the main shopping area, so if you want some peace and quiet you should simply explore the many small cobbled streets away from the main squares.

Lucifernum (retsin’s lucifernum), twijnstraat 6-8 (city center). An amazing (private) art gallery with gothic cemetary in a subtropic garden located in the old Freemasons temple (1756 – 1882) 1000m2 art and mystery in bruges old city center open on sundays from 18u00 till 21u00 entrance: 6 euro.

Bruges (French). Brugge (Dutch).

【LIVE】 Webcam Bruges - Market Square

 

wikitravel.org

A spotlight on days gone by – reawakening memories, rekindling emotions and conjuring up that typical gurgly chugging sound that a Beetle boxer engine makes.

Impressions that move us all – whatever our age. Located in close proximity to Volkswagen’s Autostadt, the Volkswagen Auto Museum documents a remarkable piece of German automobile history, indeed, of the history of the Federal Republic of Germany itself.

The Auto Museum opened in April 1985. Its display agenda is devoted to Volkswagen-brand product exhibits as well as prototypes and one-offs. That includes screen star Herbie and the first prototypes of the Golf and other models alongside novelties such as a Beetle made of wood and an aqua Golf with hydraulic pontoons.

A tour of the “Milestones in Automobility” display at the Autostadt’s ZeitHaus and the exhibit at the Volkswagen Auto Museum, which showcases jewels in the crown of the Volkswagen brand itself, are a must for automobile enthusiasts of all ages.

A total of 140 vehicles are set out for display on 5000 square metres of Museum exhibition space. Regularly scheduled special display shows and additional exhibits attract regular visitors to the Auto Museum time and again

See photos of the Autostadt, Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, in this travel photo gallery from Verde Wanderer. Pictures taken at 12 of December, 2013.

 

Dresden carries visitors away with a synthesis of the arts: fascinating buildings and art treasures, impressive museums, as well as orchestras and choirs of worldwide reputation. Dresden offers attractions in great variety and combines three aspects which complement one another: notable art treasure, architectural sights and a charming landscape.

During the last months of World War II, residents expressed the desire to rebuild the church. However, due to political circumstances in the GDR, the reconstruction came to a halt. The heap of ruins was conserved as a war memorial within the inner city of Dresden, as a direct counterpart to the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, which by German bombing destroyed in 1940 and also serves as a war memorial in the United Kingdom. Because of the continuing decay of the ruins, Dresden leaders decided in 1985 (after the Semperoper was finally finished) to rebuild the Church of Our Lady after the completion of the reconstruction of the Dresden castle.

The reunification of Germany, brought new life to the reconstruction plans. In 1989, a 14-member group of enthusiasts headed by Ludwig Güttler, a noted Dresden musician, formed a Citizens’ Initiative. From that group emerged a year later The Society to Promote the Reconstruction of the Church of Our Lady, which began an aggressive private fund-raising campaign. The organisation grew to over 5,000 members in Germany and 20 other countries.

The project gathered momentum. As hundreds of architects, art historians and engineers sorted the thousands of stones, identifying and labeling each for reuse in the new structure, others worked to raise money. After all, the historic city center was rebuilt.

The Striezelmarkt in Dresden is one of Germany’s oldest documented Christmas markets. The annual market celebrated its 578th anniversary in 2012.

It was first mentioned in 1434, under Friedrich II, an Elector of Saxony, when it was held the Monday before Christmas on the Altmarkt square. Over the centuries it has developed into a huge event with 250 stands, taking up a large part of Dresden city centre and lasting throughout the Advent period. Today the Striezelmarkt attracts 2 million visitors a year from all over the world. ABCnews featured Dresden market as having the most authentic holiday market experience in Europe.

The word Striezelmarkt comes from Strüzel or Stroczel, which was the name of a type of cake sold at the market, now famous as Stollen or Christstollen. Stollen is a light airy fruitcake which is quite low in sugar, today available in many parts of the world. The true Dresden Stollen, however, is produced in the city and distinguished by a special seal depicting the city’s famous king, August the Strong. The shape of the cake is meant to be reminiscent of the entrance to a mine tunnel (the literal meaning of Stollen) reflecting the area’s silver and tin mining history.

At the centre of the Striezelmarkt stands a 20m high spruce, brought from the nearby Tharandt woods and decorated with lights. At the back of the market square there is a painted wooden fairy-tale castle which is also a giant Advent calendar. A door is opened every day by children’s entertainers, with a puppet show, and on Fridays there is a visit by Father Christmas himself.

See photos of Dresden (including historic centre, Zwinger Palace, the Elbe river, the Semperoper, view over Altmarkt during Striezelmarkt, Dresden Academy of Fine Arts), in this travel photo gallery from Verde Wanderer. Pictures taken at 13 of December, 2013.

wikipedia.org

 

Live stream Warsaw Zachodnia railway station

Real time view.

 

 
 


 
The medieval capital of Poland was the southern city of Krakow, but Warsaw has been the capital of the country since 1596, and has grown to become Poland’s largest city and the nation’s urban and commercial center. Completely destroyed during World War II, the city managed to lift itself from the ashes. Today, almost every building in Warsaw dates to the postwar era – with what little remains of the old structures being confined largely to the restored districts of Stare Miasto (the ‘old city’) and Nowe Miasto (‘new city’), as well as selected monuments and cemeteries.
After the war, a five-year reconstruction campaign by its citizens resulted in today’s meticulous restoration of the Old Town, with its churches, palaces and market-place. It is an outstanding example of a near-total reconstruction of a span of history covering the 13th to the 20th century.

See photos of Warsaw, including historic centre, in this travel photo gallery from Verde Wanderer. Pictures taken at 10 of December, 2013.