Zanzibar fleet

Long before Vasco da Gama reached India, dhows sailed the Indian Ocean from coast to coast. Usually it is said that dhows are Arab sailing ships but they have also been used by Swahili seamen for centuries. In the past they sailed from Africa to India (it was on the Swahili coast that Vasco da Gama found a pilot who showed him the way to cross the ocean to India). There are even reports of a Swahili prince sending his ships to China with a giraffe on board. On the Swahili coast the dhows are still in use. Perhaps they don't sail to China any more but between Zanzibar and the coast of Tanzania they certainly do. Not just old squeaky boats, new dhows are still being built as they have always been.

Yazd

The city of Yazd in central Iran is sometimes called 'the pearl of the desert'. It exists thanks to the water brought from distant mountains by underground canals. It's main mosque has been built in 13th century (like the Notre Dame in Paris) and is perfectly preserved, together with tile work calligraphy. It looks like some houses around the mosque are in a less perfect state. However, the most famous place in the city is not the old mosque but a fire temple of the Zoroastrians. The building itself is not very old but the fire was lit millennia ago and is still burning.

Women in Yazd (at least some of them) wear colourful chadors instead of black ones, as elsewhere in Iran. 

Yazd from above.

The old mosque in Yazd

Inside the old mosque in Yazd

Wall calligraphy in the old mosque in Yazd

Mullahs in Yazd

Colourful chador of a Yazd woman

Atashkade, or Fire temple, in Yazd.

The sacred flame in Yazd

Byzantine painting in Macedonia

The church of St. Panteleimon near Skopje was built in 12th century. It was Yugoslavia not so long ago, now the country is called Macedonia and its people speak a Slav language called Macedonian. In the12^th century this was Byzantium and the people spoke a Greek dialect also called Macedonian.

The murals in the church of St. Panteleimon are clearly mediaeval but I haven't found any proper book on the subject (not in a language I would understand, anyway). The paintings are clearly in two very different styles. There are even the same Biblical scenes painted in two different styles. Today they are uncovered and can be seen next to each other but it is quite likely that they were not created at the same time. The paintings with a lot of blue and green colours are supposed to have been painted just after the church was built, in the 12th century and considered to be in what is called 'the linear style'. I haven't found any info about the paintings in yellow-purple colours. They seem to me to be in the so called 'Paleologue style', which was used later (14th century). This style is much more dynamic and expressive. This is just a guess, I am not a specialist in the subject of Greek icon painting.  

The church of St Panteleimon near Skopje

The church of St Panteleimon near Skopje - interior

Murals inside the church of St Panteleimon near Skopje

Transfiguration in linear style

Raising of Lasarus in linear style

Transfiguration in Paleologue style

Raising of Lasarus in Paleologue stule

Agony at Gethsemane in Paleologue style

The flying ships of Gdansk

In the early modern era the city of Gdansk lived off the trade between Poland and the rest of Europe. Especially The Netherlands, a tiny country with the world colonial empire, was partly fed by Poland. Polish grain was carried down the Vistula river to Gdansk and from there in big ships to Amsterdam. The ships were the pride of Gdansk. Their models decorated public buildings in the city. They still do. Today they can be seen floating in the air in Dwor Artusa, the old guildhall of sailors. 
Some of these models are said to be exact copies of actual ships. In reality it was the other way around, the model served as a blueprint for shipbuilders and when the ship was ready, the model was exhibited in the guildhall. There are other models that are not copies of any real ships. Some were built in modern times but based on paintings from the era. One, a model of a Turkish galley, was built by a man who spent some time as a slave on one but later escaped.

Pilioko

Aloi Pilioko is an artist who lives in Vanuatu. He actually comes from the neighbouring archipelago named Tuvalu but now lives in Port Vila. I visited him in his home. Quite interesting interior (and exterior) design there.  

I didn't climb Uluru!

Uluru is a sacred mountain of the Aborigines. They ask visitors not to climb it. Many people climb it anyway. To me it seems comparable to going into a church and sitting on an altar. After all if we don't believe in God then what's the problem? Anyway I think the top of the mountain is the worst place to be because you miss the best sight, which is the mountain itself. The pictures here are from a trail around it. 

Indian boats at Fort Rupert.

Fort Rupert is a little Indian Reservation on the northern tip on Vanouver Island. It shouldn't be confused with Prince Rupert, which is a port town much further north, at the mouth of the Skeena river. 
The boats are not here all the time. In the summer 2014 there was a rally of traditional Indian paddling boats in Bella Bella and the boats from the south passed Fort Rupert on their way and stopped for the night. I happened to be there and thought that the boats on the beach at sunset look pretty photogenic. So I took some pictures and here they are.