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25 Best Tourist Attractions in Coimbra, Portugal

January 24, 2020 by Amy M. Leave a Comment

Universidade de Coimbra

Coimbra’s Unesco-listed university, one of the world’s earliest, was initially founded in Lisbon at 1290. It was then relocated a few times before being eternally established in Coimbra in 1537. Its showpiece center is your Pátio das Escolas, a huge courtyard surrounded by imperial 16th- to 18th-century buildings. These include the Paço das Escolas, Torre da Universidade, Prisão Acadêmica, Capela p São Miguel and Biblioteca Joanina.

Biblioteca Joanina

The university’s baroque library in Coimbra’s headline sight. Named after King João V, that sponsored its structure between 1717 and 1728, it sports a remarkable central hallway adorned with intricate ceiling frescoes and spacious rosewood, ebony and jacaranda tables. Towering gilt chinoiserie shelves hold some 40,000 publications, largely on philosophy, law and theology. Oddly, the library also houses a colony of bats to safeguard the novels — they consume possibly harmful insects.

Museu Nacional de Machado de Castro

This fantastic museum is a highlight of central Portugal. Housed in a 12th-century bishop’s palace, it moves across the town’s ancient Roman forum, remains of which may be understood from the maze of eerie tunnels beneath the building — even the cryptoporticus. When you emerge from that, you can begin on the intriguing art collection, which runs the gamut from Gothic religious sculpture into 16th-century Flemish painting and ornately crafted furniture.

Sé Velha

Coimbra’s 12th-century cathedral is one of Portugal’s best examples of Romanesque architecture. The most important portal site and facade are especially striking, particularly on hot summer evenings when the gold stone appears to shine in the soft light. Its construction was funded by Portugal’s first king, Afonso Henriques, also finished in 1184 in a time once the country was threatened by the Moors, thus its crenellated narrow and exterior, slit-like reduced windows. Interior highlights include an elaborate late-Gothic retable plus a beautiful 13th-century cloister.

Museu da Ciência

Coimbra’s science ministry is fantastic, with all from kid-friendly interactive machines into ancient scientific tools, fossils and skeletons. The diverse collection is dispersed over three segments in 2 buildings: the chemistry labs in which the ticket office is, and, over the street, the physics and natural history galleries. Highlights include a part on matter and light as well as also a riveting display of richly crafted physics devices, many dating from the 17th to 19th centuries.

Paço das Escolas

Housed in a former royal palace, this really is the historical center of the college, in which conventional academic ceremonies continue to be held. The key ceremonial hall is that the Sala dos Capelos (named after the instructional cape given to graduating doctorate students), a former exam room wrapped with dim portraits of Portugal’s kings and red quilt-like decoration. Nearby, the Sala do Exame Privado (Personal Assessment Room) is where graduates are covertly analyzed through the night.

Igreja de Santa Cruz

Overlooking the Wild Praça 8 de Maio, this is one of Coimbra’s oldest forts, dating to the 12th century. Little remains of the first Romanesque construction, and it borrows a lot of its existing appearance to some 16th-century makeover. Measure throughout the Renaissance porch along with showy 18th-century arch into the echoing tiled inside where you’re come across the fancy tombs of both Portugal’s first championships, Afonso Henriques and Sancho I. Also notable is its controlled Manueline cloister.

Prisão Acadêmica

This previous prison for misbehaving pupils sits in the cellar of their Biblioteca Joanina. Initially located under the Sala dos Capelos, it was afterwards moved back into the medieval prison underneath the library (amazingly, the university managed to run its own separate legislation ). In 1834, following the liberal revolution in Portugal, the prison has been used as a deposit for books and illuminated manuscripts from convents and monasteries.

Jardins da Quinta das Lágrimas

According to legend, this really beautiful pocket of parkland is really where Dona Inês p Castro (aka Portugal’s Juliet into the Infante Pedro’s Romeo) was killed on the orders of King Afonso IV, Pedro’s daddy. Nowadays it is house to a five-star resort, however anyone can take a twist about the amorous grounds and track the Fonte dos Amores (Lovers’ Fountain), that further marks the place where Inês was struck . Look too for a sequoia tree planted by the Duke of Wellington.

Sé Nova

The landmark’brand new’ palace, initiated from the Jesuits at 1598 and finished a century afterwards, overlooks the square of the exact same name high from the old city. Additionally, it comes with a bunch of reliquaries containing bones and worse in small saints and bishops, such as St Francis Xavier and St Luke (therefore it is maintained!) . Climb into the stage to get uplifting town views.

Torre da Universidade

Some of the university’s trademark landmarks, this 18th-century tower — along with its own bells and clock — modulates life. Constructed between 1728 and 1733, to the assumption that there might be no order with no clock, it had been initially coined as’that a cabra’ (‘goat’; or’bitch’ in modern lingo) since it rang out to end the day’s courses, representing the curfew (from days when pupils had to be home by 7pm or face prison) and there could be classes the next day.

Convento de Santa Clara-a-Nova

On west side of this river, this imposing convent was constructed in the 17th century to substitute the initial Convento de Santa Clara-a-Velha, which frequently suffered flood. It is dedicated almost exclusively to Queen Isabel (Coimbra’s patron saint), whose remains are encased in a silver casket over the altar. Paintings across the aisles exemplify her entire life story. Also of note is that the convent’s appealing 18th-century cloister.

Jardim Botânico

A serene spot to catch your breath, the more beautiful university-run botanic garden sits at the shadow of this 16th-century Aqueduto p São Sebastião. Founded from the Marquês de Pombal, the backyard combines formal flower beds, meandering paths, and elegant fountains.

Parque Dr Manuel Braga

A fantastic place to get a curative timeout, this tranquil riverside park has been planned from the landscape gardener Jacinto de Matos from the 1920s. Amidst its coastal paths, you will encounter a bandstand (made by Silva Pinto) plus a set of sculptures, such as a bust of Antero de Quental, the famed Portuguese author and philosopher (1842–91), by Diogo de Macedo.

Statue of João III

Lording it on the primary university square, King João III turns his back into the sweeping city views supporting him and faces his great center of learning. It had been he who re-established the college at Coimbra in 1537 and encouraged big-shot scholars to instruct here in what had formerly been a royal palace.

Capela de São Miguel

Section of the principal university complicated, this elaborate 16th-century chapel includes a brightly colored ceiling, lush tilework, Manueline features plus a gilded 18th-century manhood with about 2000 pipes. Concerts continue to be held here on event.

Porta Férrea

The university’s most important entry is the Iron Gate, a 17th-century confection made by architect António Tavares at 1634 on the orders of Rector D Álvaro da Costa. It stands on exactly the exact same place as the first gateway into Coimbra’s Moorish citadel and was the first significant work after the purchase of this Royal Palace by King Felipe I in 1597.

Arco de Almedina

This heavy duty Moorish gateway, just off the primary shopping drag, contributes through to Coimbra’s upper city. Follow through the arch and head up the steep stairs called the Rua Quebra-Costas (‘Backbreaker’) and you will end up in the center of the town’s historic center. This labyrinthine quarter of tightly-packed homes and dim cobbled escape was once a Moorish stronghold and to get a century served as the chair of Portugal’s kings.

Palácio de Sub Ripas

The early-16th-century Palácio p Sub Ripas, currently home to the university’s Instituto de Arqueologia, is a striking case of 16th-century architecture. It is closed to the general public but from external, it is possible to respect its prominent facade. The most apparent characteristic is its own flamboyant Manueline door however, the building also boasts a few nice Renaissance windows and stone ornamentation, the work of Jean de Rouen, whose workshop was local.

Núcleo da Cidade Muralhada/Torre de Almedina

Housed in the medieval tower across the Arco de Almedina, this small island features a plaster cast of this town’s ancient design, complete with defensive and castle walls, and an audiovisual demonstration of its 2km of walls. Up top you can enjoy good rooftop perspectives and look down through the matacães (embrasures), where hot oil has been traditionally poured on enemies under.

Convento de Santa Clara-a-Velha

This Gothic convent was founded in 1330 from the saintly Queen Isabel, Dom Dinis’ spouse; it functioned as her final resting position until flood compelled her to be transferred uphill. The adjoining museum exhibits archaeological finds and reveals two movies, one concerning the nuns who lived here, another recording the 20-year renovation which removed the river ooze which had murdered it because of the 17th century.

Jardim da Manga

This little square, previously a portion of the cloister of this Mosteiro de Santa Cruz, is dominated by its own enormous centerpiece: a lemon-yellow, four-buttressed fountain which symbolizes the origin of existence. An ancient example of Renaissance architecture in Portugal, it owes its title into a legend which King Joao III sketched its layout in his sleeve (manga in Portuguese).

Casa Museu Bissaya Barreto

Bissaya Barreto was a local physician, scholar and obsessive hoarder of fine arts, along with his late-19th-century mansion is now a small museum. A manual (not always English-speaking) communicates guests via chambers filled with Victorian sculpture and painting, Oriental ceramic, older azulejos (hand-painted tiles) and period furniture.

Portugal dos Pequenitos

The brainchild of local collector Bissaya Barreto, this really is really a cute theme park where children clamber around, into and about micro variations of Portugal’s most famous temples, whereas parents clutch cameras at the ready. Additionally, there are 3 minimuseums devoted to marine life, furniture and clothes.

Parque Verde do Mondego

At the bottom of the old city, this park goes from Parque Dr Manuel Braga across the riverfront. It’s wooden paths in addition to a giant green keep and kids’ playgrounds. A pedestrian bridge, the 275m-long Peter and Inês Bridge crosses the Rio Mondego.

Filed Under: Coimbra, Portugal, Travel Guide

21 Best Tourist Attractions in Bursa, Turkey

January 23, 2020 by Amy M. Leave a Comment

Muradiye Complex

This Ottoman-era complicated features a scenic medrese (seminary; 1426) as well as the both handsome Sultan Murat II (Muradiye) Cami, additionally constructed in 1426, however its most intriguing elements will be the 12 royal türbes (tombs) from the Peninsula. Numerous those tombs are adorned with tiles painted calligraphy and inlaid woodcarving. Do not overlook the 14th-century grave of Cem Sultan (the next son of Mehmet the Conqueror) and also 16th-century tombs of both Şehzades Mahmud along with Ahmed, the sons of Beyazıt II.

Yeşil Cami

Constructed for Mehmet I, the Yeşil (Green) Cami has been finished in 1422 and signifies a departure from the preceding, Persian-influenced Seljuk structure that dominated Bursa. Exemplifying Ottoman styling, also it includes a compatible facade and lovely carved marble operate round the central door. The mosque has been named after the interior partitions’ greenish-blue tiles.

Ulu Cami

This huge Seljuk-style mosque (1399) is a fundamental Bursa’s controlling feature. Sultan Beyazıt I constructed it at a massive compromise — having vowed to construct 20 mosques after beating the Crusaders from the Battle of Nicopolis, he settled for one mosque with 20 little domes. Two enormous minarets fortify the domes whereas the giant square columns and portals inside are equally striking. The minber (pulpit) boasts fine wood carvings, as well as the walls, contain intricate calligraphy.

Muradiye Tombs

Muradiye Peninsula 12 tombs (dating from the 15th and 16th centuries) comprise the richly decorated tomb of Sultan Murat II (r 1421–51) and all the elaborate tombs, including exquisite İznik tiles, all of 11 of the descendants. Murat did the difficult work, annexing lands from enemy nations throughout his reign, so setting the scene for his son Mehmet II, who’d move on to capture Constantinople.

Emir Sultan Cami

An ancient Ottoman mosque, the 14th-century Emir Sultan Cami is appointed for Sultan Beyazıt I am son-in-law and advisor, a Persian scholar-dervish. Now’s structure reveals renovations created following an earthquake in 1766, at the then-fashionable Ottoman baroque design, echoing the amorous decadence of baroque and rococo; it is full of timber, curves and outside painted designs.

Bursa Citadel

A few ramparts and walls still live in the steep cliff that’s the website of Bursa’s citadel and its earliest area, Tophane. Walk Orhan Gazi (Yiğitler) Caddesi to achieve at the Hisar (Fortress). At the summit, a playground Includes the Tombs of Sultans Osman & Orhan, the Ottoman Empire’s founders. Osman Gazi’s grave would be the richly decorated.

Kapalı Çarşı

Bursa’s sprawling Kapalı Çarşı (Covered Market) complex consists of many historical buildings strung out across Kapalı Çarşı Caddesi, the economy’s principal thoroughfare.

They comprise the 14th-century Bedesten, constructed by Sultan Beyazıt I (rebuilt following an 1855 earthquake), along with the Eski Aynalı Çarşı, that started its life as the Orhanbey Hamamı at 1335. Notice its domed ceiling with skylights. Several stores in the Eski Aynalı Çarşı sell traditional handicrafts such as Karagöz shadow puppets.

Yeşil Türbe

The mausoleum of all 5th Ottoman sultan Mehmed I Çelebi (and a few of his kids ) stands at a cypress-trimmed park contrary to the Yeşil Cami. During his brief rule (1413–21), he reunited a fractured empire after the Mongols’ 1402 invasion. Despite its title, the türbe (grave ) isn’t green; it’s blue Kütahya tiles out that postdate the 1855 earthquake. The construction has a sublime, simple beauty, the first inside tiles exemplifying 15th-century decoration.

Koza Han

The finely restored Koza Han, using its own leafy interior courtyard full of cafes, is the very popular spot to break your marketplace explorations. The encompassing chambers where dealers formerly bunked down at night are currently home to costly silk stores. The han (caravanserai) was built in 1490 and its own little courtyard mosque (1491) honours Yıldırım Beyazıt.

Tombs of Sultans Osman & Orhan

The tombs of Sultans Osman and Orhan, founders of the Ottoman Empire, are interred at a park in the summit of Bursa Citadel. The first structures were destroyed in the earthquake of 1855 and rebuilt at Ottoman baroque design by Sultan Abdül Aziz at 1863. Osman Gazi’s tomb would be the ornately decorated of both.

Turkish & Islamic Arts Museum

Housed in the prior medrese (seminary) of this Yeşil Cami, this tradition comprises 14th- to 16th-century İznik ceramics, jewelry, embroidery, calligraphy, dervish artefacts and Karagöz puppets. It had been closed for extensive restoration work if we were last in the city, which was anticipated to be completed by 2021.

Karagöz Museum

Housed in the prior medrese (seminary) of this Yeşil Cami, this tradition comprises 14th- to 16th-century İznik ceramics, jewelry, embroidery, calligraphy, dervish artefacts and Karagöz puppets. It had been closed for extensive restoration work if we were last in the city, which was anticipated to be completed by 2021.

Murat I (Hüdavendigâr) Cami

This odd mosque from 1366 includes a barrel-vaulted Ottoman T-square layout, and contains ground-floor zaviye (dervish hostel) rooms. The only visible portion of this 2nd-floor facade gallery, initially a medrese (seminary), is that the sultan’s loge (box), over the mosque’s rear.

Eski Aynalı Çarşı

Originally Constructed in 1335 since the Orhanbey Hamamı (the bathhouse of This Orhan Cami Külliyesi), Eski Aynalı Çarşı is a Portion of This Historical Kapalı Çarşı plus Includes a domed ceiling with skylights. It is a fantastic place to search for Karagöz shadow puppets and other traditional products.

Emir Han

Camel caravans Traveling the Silk Road into Bursa once Booted at Emir Han, entered in the Back of Ulu Cami. Drovers and retailers slept and did company upstairs, using their precious cargo kept at the ground-floor rooms. The courtyard tea garden has a nice old fountain.

Hüsnü Züber Evi

Knock to obtain entry for the restored 19th-century Ottoman home, situated uphill behind Sultan Murat II Hamamı. The collection interior includes elaborate musical instruments and intricately painted and stained Anatolian wooden spoons. Beyond lie twisting alleys, stores and crumbling Ottoman homes.

Bedesten

The 14th-century Bedesten, constructed by Sultan Beyazıt I and rebuilt after an 1855 earthquake, is included inside Bursa’s sprawling Kapalı Çarşı.

Fidanhan

This han (caravanserai) is one of the calmest, leafiest corners of this crowded bazaar location. It had been assembled through Sultan Mehmet I am reign by the Grand Vizier Mahmut Paşa.

Tofaş Museum of Anatolian Carriages

Old automobiles and horse-drawn carts have been put within this former silk mill with gardens. It is a 550m walk , signposted shortly following the Setbaşı street bridge.

Ulumay Museum of Ottoman Folk Costumes & Jewellery

Initially the Sair Ahmet Paşa medrese (seminary; 1475), this museum shows approximately 70 costumes and over 350 different bits of jewelry.

Irgandı Köprüsü

Crossing the gorge, north of this Setbaşı road bridge, that revived Ottoman bridge houses stores, cafes and touristy artisan workshops.

Filed Under: Travel Guide, Turkey

21 Best Tourist Attractions in Tartu, Estonia

January 23, 2020 by Amy M. Leave a Comment

University of Tartu Museum

Atop Toomemägi would be the ruins of a Gothic cathedral, built in the 13th century from the knights of the Livonian Order after forcing the ancestral Estonians from the organic defensive formation. It was substantially rebuilt in the 15th century, despoiled through the Reformation in 1525, utilized as a barn, and partially rebuilt between 1804 and 1809 to house the college library, and is presently a museum. Indoors there is a selection of fascinating exhibits chronicling student life.

Estonian Print & Paper Museum

A cure for term nerds, layout hounds and publish junkies alike, this interactive museum concentrates on the history of printing and paper-making. Machinery from throughout the ages is on permanent display, and there is a gallery with rotating displays plus a small choice of handmade laptops for sale. Tickets contain an hour-long excursion in English from the beautiful museum manager, Lemmit, full of demonstrations and the chance to produce your own prints or paper onto one of the classic presses.

Estonian National Museum

This huge, low-slung, glass-clad construction is arresting — both Estonians and design fans purred as it started in late 2016. The permanent exhibition’Encounters’ covers nationwide prehistory and history in some detail, paying lots of attention to the period of Soviet jobs (fittingly — that the memorial has been built over a former Soviet airstrip). Under ground, the lovely’Echo of the Urals’ display provides a summary of the several individuals creating the Finno-Ugric language family, and there is a hallway for the wonderful temporary displays.

Tartu Old Observatory

Constructed as a member of Tartu University in 1810, this fascinating observatory on Toomemägi is essential for lovers of astronomy and the history of scientific discovery. The sober, studious-looking centre, topped with a moving observational tower, houses a number of the most well-known artefacts of all 19th-century astronomy, all exhibited in excellent order. It is possible to scale the towerwhere a huge Zeiss Refractor stays in place; there is a basement display on seismology; and interactive-learning shows wait at the Western Hall.

Tartu Art Museum

If you have been socialising in Tartu’s bars and can not see directly, do not use this construction to anchor your own eye. Subsidence resulting from the neighboring Emajõgi River provides the 1793 construction — former residence of an exiled Scot who identified himself from the Russian military — a queasy lean of 5.8°, which will be over the Tower of Pisa.

KGB Cells Museum

This former KGB headquarters and prison, also called the’Grey House’, was given to Tartu City Museum from the household to which they had been returned following the Soviet era. Chilling in components, the memorial has produced an extremely rewarding exhibition covering deportations, life in the gulags, the Estonian immunity, and that which went on here. Guided tours are $20 additional. Temporary exhibits visit, and intermittent’Dark Nights’ reveal how frightening the cells might be.

Aparaaditehas

Aparaaditehas (the Widget Factory) is an outdated 14,000-sq-metre Soviet-era industrial complex where pipes equipment and key submarine components were created with umbrellas and zips which didn’t operate, to fool the people. Now it is Tartu’s hippest dining, drinking, shopping and cultural hub — smaller kin into Tallinn’s Telliskivi Creative City. Broad painted stripes evoke its industrial past, while stencils and graffiti decorate its current.

Tartu University

Fronted by six Doric columns, the impressive principal building of Tartu University was built between 1803 and 1809. The college itself was founded in 1632 by the king Gustaf II Adolf (Gustavus Adolphus) to train Lutheran clergy and police officers. Modelled at Uppsala University in Sweden, its primary campus and also the website of its historical buildings are located behind this neoclassical heap, one of the trees and meandering paths of beautiful Toomemägi.

Tartu Toy Museum

A major hit with all the under-eight audience (and you won’t find a lot of adults worried to depart ), this is a superb spot to while away several rainy hours. Place in one of those best-preserved late-18th-century buildings in the region, this fantastic museum showcases dolls, model trains, rocking horses, toy soldiers and plenty of other desirables. It is all aimed to be well interactive, with displays in pull-out drawers along with a kids’ playroom (open 10 am to 4 pm).

Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum

Chronicling over simply Estonian Olympic excellence (even though the glittering decoration screen serves that purpose ), this offbeat museum features a true sense of fun. While the photographs of puffed-up early-20th-century bodybuilders in posing components imply that they took themselves exceptionally seriously, there is no requirement that you need to. If you feel motivated, have a spin on the exercise bicycles, test your stamina to the interactive tug-of-war, push a digital rally car or modify the action on a genuine one.

Science Centre AHHAA

This hot center’s interactive displays are accountable to bring out the scientist in children and grownups alike. Allow at least a few hours for button-pushing water squirting and knob-twiddling, it all made to inculcate a few scientific principles. Workshops delve into the mysteries of caffeine crystals or crystals; the Planetarium runs hot hour-long displays, and upstairs there is a nightmarish meeting of pickled organs and deformed fetuses in Tartu University’s collection.

Town Hall

Constructed between 1782 and 1789, this graceful building was designed by German architect JHB Walter, who built it on a normal Dutch city hall. The clear focus of a cobbled square harmoniously lined with classical facades, it is topped by a tower and weather vane, and a clock has been added to promote punctuality from Tartu’s pupils. In addition to the council offices, it includes the tourist information center and a drugstore.

Town Hall Square

Tartu’s most important square is lined with grand buildings and echoes using the chink of glasses and plates in summer. The centerpiece is the city hall, fronted by a statue of pupils kissing beneath a spouting umbrella. On the south side of the square, keep an eye out for its communist hammer-and-sickle relief which nonetheless remains about the facade of Number 5.

St John’s Lutheran Church

Dating to 1323, this imposing red-brick church is exceptional for the infrequent terracotta sculptures put in markets around its exterior and interior (appear ). Shattered with a Soviet bombing raid in 1944, it lay derelict and was not fully restored until 2005. Climb the 135 measures of this 30m steeple to get a bird’s-eye view of Tartu.

Upside Down House

Seeking something out of The Wizard of Oz, the Upside Down House is precisely that: a normal home perched on its mind, with everything inside — ceilings, flooring, furniture inverted. It is a little harmless fun as soon as you’re tired of those substantial attractions of the local Estonian National Museum.

Citizen’s Home Museum

This handsome wooden home, relationship to the 1740s and nestled in one of the earliest surviving sections of town, is supplied to demonstrate the way the bourgeois family in the 1830s lived. The attention to detail is striking: entire rooms stick to the Biedermeier style’ which has been in vogue at the moment.

Tartu University Botanical Gardens

Launched in 1803, these lush, mature gardens blossom 6500 species, such as a massive group of palms and other exotics from the greenhouse. In summer it is often filled with neighborhood families drifting paths lined with 20th-century sculptures, or catching some bud from the ornamental lake.

Tartu University Art Museum

Within the primary college building, this group includes chiefly 19th-century plaster copies of ancient Greek sculptures, also some mummies along with other original artifacts exhibited from the Chamber of Mummies painted to look just like the inside of an Egyptian grave. The remaining part of the group was evacuated to Russia in 1915 and hasn’t returned. Admission includes entry to the loft lock-up, in which recalcitrant pupils were held in solitary confinement, sometimes for months — several examples of the 19th-century graffiti stay.

Raadi Manor Park

On the primary street heading north from town stands the gloomy remains of Raadi Manor, one-time house of the von Liphartide family. It passed into the University of Tartu from the 1920s, but the Soviets took a portion of this property to construct a WWII airfield, bringing bombing that left the once-beautiful baroque-style constructing a red-brick shell. Even though the surrounding parks can not match its 18th-century prime, most locals still come to roam about and swim in the lake.

A Le Coq Beer Museum

Occupying an 1898 tower at Tartu’s famous brewery, 10 minutes’ walk northwest of the center, compulsory tours of the museum trace the background of beer because of early Egypt, before focusing on contemporary processes and machines, then dispensing free samples. There is also a gift store with various brews and tons of products available (10am to 5 pm Tuesday to Friday, to 4.30 pm Saturday).

Sacrificial Stone

In pagan times, offerings were abandoned at the cup-shaped depressions carved into this stone and the hundreds like it which are scattered around the nation. In fact, offerings continue to be abandoned; you will frequently find flowers or coins, even on these stones which have made their way to museums, and with this specific stone, pupils depart burnt offerings of the lecture notes.

Filed Under: Estonia, Tartu, Travel Guide

15 Best Tourist Attractions in Avignon, France

January 22, 2020 by Amy M. Leave a Comment

Palais des Papes

The biggest Gothic palace built, the Palais des Papes was built by Pope Clement V, who abandoned Rome at 1309 at the aftermath of violent disorder after his election. Its immense scale exemplifies the medieval could of the Roman Catholic church.

Ringed from 3m-thick walls, its cavernous halls, chapels and antechambers are mostly bare now — but tickets today consist of pill’Histopads’ showing virtual-reality representations of the way the construction would have appeared in most of its papal pomp.

Pont St-Bénézet

Legend states Pastor Bénézet (a former man ) had three dreams urging him to create a bridge across the Rhône. Finished in 1185, the 900m-long bridge connected Avignon with Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. It had been rebuilt a few times before all but four of its 22 crosses were washed away from the 1600s, leaving the far side marooned in the center of this Rhône. There are nice (and free) perspectives from Rocher des Doms playground, Pont Édouard Daladier and Île de la Barthelasse’s chemin des Berges.

Musée du Petit Palais

Even the archbishops’ palace throughout the 14 th and 15 th centuries today houses outstanding collections of primitive, pre-Rennaissance, 13th- to 16th century Italian religious paintings from artists including Botticelli, Carpaccio and Giovanni di Paolo — that the very famous is Botticelli’s La Vierge et l’Enfant (1470).

Musée Angladon

Tiny Musée Angladon harbours an astonishing assortment of realist, impressionist and expressionist paintings, such as works by Cézanne, Sisley, Manet, Modigliani, Degas and Picasso — although the star part is Van Gogh’s Railway Wagons, the sole painting from the artist on screen in Provence. Impress your friends by pointing out that the’ground’ is not actually paint, however bare canvas.

Place du Palais

This striking vast square enclosing the Palais des Papes provides knockout photo ops. On top of the Romanesque 17th-century cathedral stands out a gold statue of the Virgin Mary (weighing 4.5 tonnes), although alongside the palace, the hilltop Rocher des Doms gardens deliver excellent views of this Rhône, Mont Ventoux and Les Alpilles. Opposite the palace would be your 17th-century Hôtel des Monnaies, when the papal mint and also adorned with intricate carvings and heraldic beasts.

Musée Lapidaire

Housed within the city’s spectacular Jesuit Chapel is that the archaeological group of this Musée Calvet, recently displayed since 2015. There is a fantastic show of Greek, Etruscan and Roman artefacts, however it is the Gaulish bits that actually draw the attention — such as some gruesome masks and profoundly odd figurines.

Collection Lambert

Reopened in summer 2015 following substantial renovation and growth, Avignon’s contemporary-arts museum concentrates on works in the 1960s to the presentday. Work spans out of conceptual and minimalist to photography and video in stark contrast with the traditional 18th-century mansion home it.

Musée Calvet

The tasteful Hôtel p Villeneuve-Martignan (constructed 1741–54) gives a fitting background for Avignon’s fine-arts museum, together with 16th- to 20th-century acrylic paintings, persuasive ancient pieces, 15th-century wrought iron, along with the elongated arenas of Avignonnais artist Joseph Vernet.

Basilique St-Pierre

Basilique St-Pierre, at the middle of the walled town of Avignon, has been constructed between the 14th and 16th centuries at the Flamboyant Gothic style.

Église et Cloître des Carmes

Building with this Romanesque and Carmelite church and cloister started from the 13th century. It turned into one of the very first theater and dance places of this Festival d’Avignon.

Porte St-Charles

Porte St-Charles is one of the entryways into Avignon’s Unesco-registered underwater town, situated around the walls’ huge border; it is a modern-day violation cut in the walls.

Porte de la République

Porte de la République is one of those gateways into Avignon’s remote city, situated on the southern border of their walls, also across from the train station.

Porte du Rhône

Porte du Rhône is one of the entryways into Avignon’s Unesco-registered underwater city, situated on the northwestern border of the partitions, close Pont St-Bénézet.

Porte de la Ligne

Porte de la Ligne is one of those entry ways into Avignon’s Unesco-registered underwater metropolis, located on the northern edge of their walls, close to the River Rhône.

Porte St-Dominique

Porte St-Dominque is one of those entry ways into Avignon’s Unesco-registered underwater city, on the western border of the walls, nearby the River Rhône.

Filed Under: Avignon, France, Travel Guide

18 Best Tourist Attractions in Verona, Italy

January 22, 2020 by Amy M. Leave a Comment

Roman Arena

Constructed of pink-tinged marble at the 1st century AD, Verona’s Roman amphitheatre lived a 12th-century earthquake to develop into the city’s most legendary open-air opera house, with seating for 30,000 individuals. You can pay a visit to the arena year-round, although it’s at its best throughout the summer opera festival. In winter , festivals are held at the Teatro Filarmonico. From October to May, admission is $1 to the first Sunday of this month.

Galleria d’Arte Moderna Achille Forti

At the shadow of this Torre dei Lamberti, the Romanesque Palazzo della Ragione is house to Verona’s jewel-box Gallery of Modern Art. Reached via the Gothic Scala della Ragione (Stairs of Reason), the group of paintings and sculpture spans the time from 1840 to 1940 and includes influential Italian artists such as Giorgio Morandi and Umberto Boccioni. Among the various highlights are Francesco Hayez’ arresting portrait Meditazione (Meditation), Angelo Dall’Oca’s haunting Foglie cadenti (Falling Leaves) and Ettore Berladini’s darkly humorous that I vecchi (Old Guys ).

Giardino Giusti

Across the lake from the historical center, these manicured gardens are known as a masterpiece of Renaissance landscaping, and are named after the royal family that has faked them considering launching the gardens to the general public at 1591. The vegetation can be an Italianate combination of this manicured and natural, graced by soaring cypresses, one which the German poet Goethe immortalised in his travel writings.

Museo di Castelvecchio

Bristling with fishtail battlements along the river Adige, Castelvecchio was constructed from the 1350s from Cangrande II. Severely damaged by Napoleon and WWII bombings, the fortress was blindsided by architect Carlo Scarpa, that built bridges over vulnerable foundations, stuffed gaping holes glass panels, and balanced a statue of Cangrande I above the courtyard onto a concrete gangplank. The complex is currently home to a varied assortment of statuary, frescoesjewelry, jewelry, medieval artefacts and paintings.

Torre dei Lamberti

One of Verona’s most popular attractions, this 84m-high watchtower offers panoramic views of Verona and nearby mountains. Begun at the 12th century and ended at 1463 — too late to detect invading Venetians — it matches an octagonal bell tower whose first 2 phenomena retain their ancient names: Rengo formerly called meetings of the town council, whereas Marangona warned taxpayers of passion. A elevator you up two-thirds of this way, however you have to walk the last couple of storeys.

Piazza dei Signori

Verona’s beautiful open-air salon has been ringed with a collection of elegant Renaissance palazzi. Chief among them are the Palazzo degli Scaligeri (aka Palazzo Podestà), the 14th-century house of Cangrande I Della Scala; the most arched Loggia del Consiglio, built in the 15th century as the town council chambers; and the brick and tufa stone Palazzo della Ragione. At the exact middle of this piazza is a famous statue of Dante, that was handed refuge in Verona after he was exiled from Florence in 1302.

Basilica di San Zeno Maggiore

A masterpiece of Romanesque architecture, the striped brick-and-stone basilica was constructed in honor of the town’s patron saint. Input throughout the flower-filled cloister to the nave — a vast space lined with 12th- into 15th-century frescoes. Painstaking restoration has revived Mantegna’s 1457–59 Majesty of this Virgin altarpiece, painted with such astonishing view that you actually think there are garlands of fresh fruit hanging beneath the Madonna’s throne.

Casa di Giulietta

Juliet’s home is a spectacle, although maybe not for the reasons you may imagine — inputting the courtyard away Via Cappello, you are greeted with a young multinational audience, everyone milling around at the very small space seeking to take selfies together with the well-rubbed bronze of Juliet. The walls are lined up to 2m high with love notes, many attached with chewing gum. Above you’re the famous balcony, tourists taking their turn to have pics taken against the’romantic background’.

Piazza delle Erbe

Originally a Roman discussion, Piazza delle Erbe is ringed with buzzing cafes and a few of Verona’s most sumptuous buildings, such as the elegantly baroque Palazzo Maffei, that currently houses several stores at its northern end. Only away from the piazza, the monumental arch referred to as the Arco della Costa is wrapped using a whale’s rib. Legend maintains that the rib will probably fall on the very first only individual to walk beneath it. Thus far, it remains intact, even though visits with popes and kings.

Ponte Pietra

At the northern border of town center, this bridge is still a silent but remarkable testament to the Italians’ love of the artistic heritage. Two of the bridge arches date in the Roman Republican era in the 1st century BC, although another three were replaced from the 13th century. The ancient bomb remained largely intact until 1945, when retreating German soldiers blew this up. Locals fished the fragments from this river, and painstakingly reconstructed the bridge stone from stone from the 1950s.

Chiesa di San Fermo

At the lake end of Via Leoni, Chiesa di San Fermo is actually two churches at one: Franciscan monks raised the 13th-century Gothic church directly within an original 11th-century Romanesque construction. Within the main Gothic church, then you are going to observe a magnificent wood carena di nave, a ceiling reminiscent of an upturned boat’s hull. In the ideal transept are 14th-century frescoes, such as a few fragments depicting episodes from the life span of St Francis. Stairs in the cloister lead underground into the spare but atmospheric Romanesque church under.

Duomo

Verona’s 12th-century duomo is a stunning Romanesque creation, using bug-eyed statues of Charlemagne’s paladins Roland and Oliver, crafted by medieval master Nicolò, on the west coast. Nothing about this sober facade tips at the extravagant 16th- to 17th-century frescoed inside with angels aloft amid trompe l’œil architecture. At the left end of the nave is your Cartolari-Nichesola Chapel, made by Renaissance master Jacopo Sansovino and featuring a vibrant Titian Assumption.

Basilica di Sant’Anastasia

Dating from the 13th to 15th centuries and featuring an elegantly decorated vaulted ceiling, that the Gothic Basilica di Sant’Anastasia is Verona’s largest church and a showcase for local art. The great number of frescoes is overwhelming, but do not miss Pisanello’s storybook-quality Fres-Co St George and the Princess above the entrance to the Pellegrini Chapel, along with the 1495 sacred water ribbon featuring a hunchback carved by Paolo Veronese’s father, Gabriele Caliari.

Teatro Romano e Museo Archeologico

Only north of this historical center you’ll come across a Roman theatre. Built from the 1st century BC, it’s cunningly carved into the hillside at a strategic spot overlooking a bend in the lake. Take the elevator at the back of the theatre to the prior convent above, that houses an exciting range of Greek and Roman bits.

Arche Scaligere

Walk through the archway at the far end of Piazza dei Signori to those ornate Gothic funerary monuments, and the most elaborate tombs of the Della Scala family, facing the tiny Santa Maria Antica church. From the courtyard behind the Arche, have a peek at that the scavi (excavation job ) that’s been done with this part of medieval Verona.

Loggia del Consiglio

Occupying the north of Piazza dei Signori is your 15th-century Loggia del Consiglio, the prior city council construction and Verona’s best Renaissance construction. It’s attached to the Palazzo degli Scaligeri, when the main home of the Della Scala clan.

Ponte Scaligero

Located in what was formerly the Jewish Ghetto, this neoclassical synagogue was created by Giacomo Franco and Ettore Fagiuoli and finished in 1864. It is not available to the general public.

Dante Alighieri Statue

The famous, rather pensive statue of Dante seeming just like a tourist, stands Piazza dei Signori at which he dwelt from 1312 into 1318 at Cangrande’s home. It is the job of Ugo Zannoni and was built in 1865.

Filed Under: Italy, Travel Guide, Verona

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