Tag Archives: architecture Like other Indian cities, Madurai in the southern state of Tamil Nadu offers up some magnificent palace and temple architecture. But, it was the life in the streets that I loved best. I was travelling around South India with a small group. We had driven to Madurai from Thanjavur the day before, stopping to visit […]  They had me at “walk”. Then they told me I’d visit ancient Orthodox monasteries and be treated to Coffee & Greek Delight. What a joy! I was travelling around Greece with a small group: we had wound our way east from Olympia on the Peloponnese Peninsula (see: In the Footsteps of the Gods), and driven […]  Wherever you go in India, you will find colour and crowds, heat and history. This is particularly true of South India where the humidity rolls in from the surrounding waters, and the distinctive Dravidian Hindu temples punctuate the cities. Take, for example, the city of Tiruchirappalli (commonly known as Trichy or Tiruchi) in the middle […]  Every square inch of Greece has a story to tell. History imbues the ancient structures and the fallen stones. Even without an education in what was called in the West “The Classics”, the names were all familiar to me from childhood, and I recognised many of the stories. At Olympia, I saw Hera’s alter, where […]  Rishikesh is a magical city of fairy tale ashrams and colourful gods. The city sits at an auspicious place, where the Ganges – one of the most sacred rivers to Hindus – flows out of the Himalaya and towards the plains. For me, the city’s name alone is evocative of sitar music, pastel-coloured Hindu temples, meditation, […] |
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