Tag: travel

Posted on

Hagia Sophia

 

Structurally an architectural wonder and aesthetically an incredible monument for both the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Hagia Sophia is a former Greek Orthodox cathedral that later became an Ottoman imperial mosque, and is now a museum in the Turkish Republic.

Built in 537 as a cathedral in Constantinople with two floors centered on a nave that holds the great domed ceiling measuring 180 feet above the floor, along with smaller domes that extend upward. An engineering marvel for its time of great architectural beauty.

During the Byzantine period the apse was decorated with mosaics of a representation of the Virgin Mary with a young Jesus Christ on her lap. Most mosaics are made of pieces of stone or glass of different colors known tesserae.

Travel stylishly,
K

Posted on

Summer Blues

Lately, discussions at work have been wrapped around weather, as this has been the wettest summer on record. In a meeting last week everyone in our group spoke of the wanting the effects of autumn to begin immediately so, while we waited for the workshop to begin each of us took shared favorite aspects of fall, starting with the crisp coolness in the air, along with leaves swirling across the ground, and the smell of wood wafting in the air from fireplaces.

Going through photos the other day I came across a few items which seemed to possess a most magical blue color of the season, and though we rarely saw clear skies I would like to bid summer adieu in hopes that the soon we may take long walks in the evening out under the twinkling stars.

View of the Aegean from atop a cliff in Rhodes, and photo above Washington state during flight to British Vancouver.

Photo taken of a purple iris during sunset in garden at Heath that resulted in this fabulous shade of blue.

K