One of the first things you notice when driving into Nicosia is the huge Turkish flag on the mountain to the north of the city. Its not a waving material flag but a huge flag on the actual side of the mountain which lights up at night. That is one of the strangest and saddest things about Nicosia – it is divided into two, one side Greek Cypriot and part of the EU and the other Turkish Cypriot. The city is split by a border which requires you to produce a passport to keep walking down the street. Once through the checkpoint you step out of Europe and into Turkey and both sides have quite a different feel to them. I visited what used to be St Sophia Cathedral in northern Nicosia and has been converted into the Selimiye Mosque and other ancient places. Another interesting thing about Nicosia and Cyprus is the amount of different rulers it has had from the Venetians, the Franks, the Ottamans and the British (twice). It is a small island caught in the middle of everyone and contains architecture from many different cultures. Cyprus is an island with a very long history and has many ancient places to visit. The culture is rich and vibrant and it is such a shame that the island has such a sad division.
Spirit not in the city for a week!
Königssee, what an enchanting place, a fairy tale. I see how Bavaria must have inspired the Brothers Grimm. This spot in particular simply cannot be put into words, calm, serene, beautiful. A small pure oasis. There was a small shop on the far side of the lake that sold fresh milk, home made bread and cheese. The perfect place to just walk, observe and enjoy your senses.
Königssee in Berchtesgaden National Park is the deepest and cleanest lake in Germany and was formed by glaciers during the last ice age.
An electric boat takes you from Schönau to the other side and from there you walk. Along the shore of the calm lake that reflects the mountains that rise straight out of it. Up a hill behind the shop for about twenty minutes is a waterfall and cliffs that rise into the clouds.
Sometimes I think maybe I dreamt about the place and it only exists in my imagination.
What does Easter mean to me? I started thinking about this question and realised that it doesn’t mean anything to me, I even realised that I don’t even know what the word Easter means? To me it was a time when we had a break from school as kids and Mum and Dad made corn fritters while Jesus movies were on TV. There were only two channels back in those days so if you wanted to watch telly it was Jesus or nothing! As I got older it meant days off work – in my younger days it was a chance to have longer time to recover from drinking 
Because religion was not much of a feature in my upbringing or my culture Easter had no real meaning to me. I decided to go to Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, I felt that there, some dogmatic religious nutter could tell me what it was all about. Unfortunately today there were no speakers… oh well, so I reminisced on previous trips to the corner. Its a very interesting experience and I recommend going there if you are in London and have interests in psychology or human nature and beliefs. The speakers I have seen are so unbelievably locked into their way of thinking that no rationalising or debating with them will let them see any other point of view. Their way is THE way and they believe it so strongly they will stand up in front of others to let them know about it. It is raw ego acting through these peoples dogmatism and it can be very ugly and quite frightening. There can often be a very heavy atmosphere in the place as people argue with each other which often leds to violence. It’s like a microscopic view of the worlds peoples and views clashing, where everybody is right (in their own mind) but what do we have to back up our view point? Why do we have a belief, how was it formed and how true is it really? Often the beliefs we have run so deep we dont even consider them. I remember someone asking one of the extremely rascist speakers once a question once where the answer would have been something that contradicted what she had been speaking about. An odd look appeared on her face while her brain scanned her belief structure unsuccessfully for the right answer. The mask of bitterness finally returned to her face and she reacted in the only way she knew how – with anger, spite and attacked the person by belittling them and bullying them with her words.
Just cos you stand on a platform doesn't mean they will listen to you...
Bit of a different day out this, went to see The Thames Barrier, which is the largest in a series of 36 barriers used to keep millions of us safe from tidal flooding up the Thames. It is a series of 10 seperate moveable gates positioned end to end across the river 520 metres wide. The gates usually rest on the river bed but pivot up between the towers, like garage doors, to seal off part of the upper Thames from the sea. It was built in response to constant floodings of London which have occured throughout history. The worst one in living memory was in 1953 which prompted planning of this barrier.
The long term problem is that the ice caps are melting and the seas are rising. Add to this the fact that South East UK is sinking into the ocean at about 2mm per year means that the barrier will not be effective for ever and new defences will be needed in the future.
One idea that has been put foward, which is a bit horrifying, is to raise the embankments in London effectively creating a wall between the shore and the river. This idea is obviously unpopular as it will block the view of the river… It is a bit ironic that we may one day be returning to the walled London of old. The difference now is that the original wall was built to keep out barbarians where as now the enemy of London is mother nature and Old Man Thames.
Next to St Boltophs Church on Aldersgate Street is Postman’s Park. Its a small green space near the Museum of London, where the first mail coaches used to set out from an inn called the Bull and Mouth. The inn later became the post office where Guglielmo Marconi transmitted the first wireless signals from the roof.
The amazing thing about Postmans Park is the The National Memorial to Heroic Men and Women. Inspired by G F Watts, its a sheltered wall of 47 ceramic tiles, each one tells the story of someone who gave their life to save somebody elses. Whats interesting, is that none are famous people, they are just ordinary folk who died in selfless acts of bravery but who received no recognition and if it wasnt for this memorial they would have been forgotten.
For instance there is the story of Thomas Simpson, who died of exhaustion after saving many lives from the breaking ice at Highgate Ponds in 1885; and Joseph Andrew Ford, aged 30, from the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, who saved six people from a fire in Gray’s Inn Road but burned to death himself in 1871.
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We recently went on a day trip to Bruges, it involved busing to Dover, crossing the channel on the ferry then a bus ride from Calais to Bruges. Its a great place to visit, the historic city centre is a Unesco World Heritage Site and is filled with canals and is known as the Venice of the North. Most of Bruges’ medieval buildings are still intact and although there are many tourists you can easily imagine what life would have been like for the people that lived there in the past, particularly from the canal where the small walkways and paths to the canal and the little jetties and houses back onto it. There are many notable buildings in Bruges like the Church of our Lady one of the tallest brick buildings in the world which contains Michelangelo’s sculpture of The Madonna and Child. Another is The Basilica of the Holy Blood which holds The relic of the Holy Blood, which was brought to the city during the First Crusade and is paraded every year through the streets of the city. This was one of the main things I noticed in Bruges – that there were so many religious references throughout the medieval city, religion seemed to really dominate peoples minds and lives. The patron saint of the city is the Virgin Mary and statues of her can be found everywhere – over doorways, on the corner of buildings and standing alone in squares. Churches and holy places were everywhere and were focal points in the city. The difference between then and now seems very obvious. Religion has its place now whereas back then it seemed to permeate peoples lives a lot more, weather that means they were more evolved spiritually or not I really cant say. Another thing that was common were statues of Jesus and all I saw were of the Crucifixion. Why is that? Our most enduring and common image of Jesus is his death on the cross. Is it meant to remind us of him sacrificing his life for humanity or is it something deeper as well? It makes me think of sacrifice, our own sacrifices we make and the reasons for them. We do something painful if we know that on the other side our lives will be better, what if in the case of religion and spirituality, it means sacrificing our very lives and who we are to feel peace and something spiritual inside? It is harder because when we sacrifice something in the normal way we have an idea of what the physical or emotional benefit will be like, however when we sacrifice for something spiritual we need faith because we often don’t really know what that spiritual benefit will be like.
In the middle of central London is one of many small spots of calmness. Built in the 12th century is Temple Church, an amazing old church built by the Knights Templar. The Knights Templar started when nine noble knights formed a brotherhood in arms, and made a solomn vow to protect pilgrims from Europe on their way through Palestine to the Holy Places. They were led by a Frenchman, Hugues de Payens and were very poor. King Baldwin of Jerusalem was so impressed by their valor and devotion that he gave them a base on the Temple Platform of Mount Moriah, in the space between the Dome of the Rock and the Mosque of El Aksa. They built the Temple in High Holborn in the circular design of the Dome of the Rock. Gifts were showered on the Knights and as owners of a lot of property they became wealthy bankers. Philip the Fair of France brought many charges of sodomy, blasphemy, and heresy and persuaded Pope Clement to persecute the Knights. In London, knights were arrested, put into the Tower, and their properties were confiscated. Eventually their properties were passed to the Knights Hospitaller but with a lot of resistance. Its a lovely spot and I recommend it for anyone with time to see more then the usual tourist spots in London or for residence who are looking for an ancient spot in central London that can offer a moment of calm in the capital.
For an interesting video on the Knights Templar – http://cli.gs/6uP55Y
Stopping in Hong Kong for three days, travelling from one side of the planet to the other introduced me to smog as I have never seen it before. The first day was ace, clear skies, 22 degrees celsius (in January), I caught the cable car up to the big seated Budha. There was a hint of particles in the air and I assumed that was considered a bad day for smog. However, the next day was a real shock to me. It was as if the city was literally in a cloud, and not a nice fluffy white cloud you fly through. It was full on thick, dark smog, ten times the safety limit set by the World Health Organisation. I walked around all day for two days in it, but I didnt really notice any effects physically which surprised me.
By the way Hong Kong is a fantastic city, I really enjoyed it and would love to do a one or two year stint there. It has that brilliant energy of a large Asian city, excellent building, interesting history, efficient clean public transport, loads to do and see, and there is English everywhere so it caters for westerners.
Interesting smog stat – London’s Great Smog in 1952 which lasted for four days caused nearly 4000 deaths. (According to Wikipedia)
An interesting series of videos uploaded by The Gnostic Movement taking a look at the Christian Gnostics, who have emerged in different forms throughout history, walking the hidden path towards spiritual transformation.
Part One, Part Two, Part Three
