The iconic Palazzo della Civilta Italiana, known as the white marble square colosseum (Colesseo Quadrato. Currently the headquarters of Fendi, the building was designed in 1937 to host the Mostra della Civilta Romana during the 1942 World Fair by Italian architects Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto Bruno La Padula and Mario Romano. It lies in the district of Rome known as the Esposizione Universale Roma (also known as E.42 and EUR).
Megalohori is a delightful sleepy traditional village and hidden gem on the hugely popular Greek island of Santorini. On an island as small as Santorini it’s just so totally unexpected to find a village not overwhelmed with tourists. Megalochori narrow cobbled alleys, some with tiered Belltowers, burst with typical Cycladic architecture, some quintessentially white washed and some others pastel in colour and most have contrasting colourful wooden doors. The village also has several iconic Churches that the Cyclidic Islands are famous for.
The J549 is a oil burning steam locomotive built in 1954 by the Vulcan Foundry Limited, which was a British locomotive builder sited at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire England. The beautifully restored J549 is owned and operated by the Victorian Goldfields Railway and operates the tourist railway service between the central Victorian historical towns of Castlemaine, Muckleford & Maldon. (Victoria is a state of Australia).
Naxos town (Chora) capital and largest town of the Cycladic Greek island of Naxos.
Amphitheatrically set on a hillside and crowned by a magnificent old Venetian castle, Chora (Naxos town) has been continuously inhabitated for over 5000 years and is undoubtedly one of the most attractive and historical towns in the Cyclades.
Colourful fishing boats docked with fishermen mending their nets bob up and down in the crystal-clear waters of the harbour whilst the bustling waterfront stirs the visual and aromatic senses with the many cafes, bakeries and restaurants.
Exploring the interior part of the town is like stepping back in time. Narrow twisting cobblestone lanes with low stone archways slowly ascend around shops and whitewashed houses draped with trellises of flowers and emerge at the highest point of the town, the well persevered ramparts of the medieval Venetian castle.
A causeway connects to the islet of Palatia where the towering marble Gateway of the 6th BC Temple of Apollo. The gateway’s roots, like those of Naxos lay deep in mythology; Locals believe it to be portal of the palace of Ariadne, the lover of legendary hero Thesues who abandoned her here after she helped him escape the Minotaur of Crete. Legend has it that she then took solace in the arms of Dionysus, Greek god of the vine and protector of Naxos.
Ancient Akragas, modern day Agrigento, on the central south coast of Sicily, 129km from Palermo and home to the UNESCO World Heritage listed site 'Valley of the Temples' which has some of finest examples of ancient Greek temples and largest known assemblage of colonnaded temples in the Greek world.
It was founded in 581 BC by Greeks colonists from the nearby city of Gela, founded a century earlier by settlers from the Greek islands of Rhodes and Crete.
The golden age of ancient Akragas was in the 5th century BC when it became one of the most prosperous and beautiful cities in the ancient Mediterranean world. It population grew to over 200,000, literature and the performing arts flourished and it had successes in the Olympic Games.
Nearly all the famous temples of the city were all built during this period, including the largest Doric Temple of the ancient Greek world, the monumental Temple of Olympian Zeus, built to celebrate the victory over the Carthaginians at Himera in 480 BC in northern Sicily, affirming Greek supremacy in Sicily.
In 406 BC, ancient Akragas suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the returning Carthaginians, who sacked and burned the city after a siege of eighth months.
The city recovered and was rebuilt, however it was only the shadow of the splendid city that the ancient Greek poet Pindar described as "the fairest and most beautiful city inhabited by mortals".
An oasis in the Syrian desert, Palmyra was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world. From the 1st to the 2nd century, the art and architecture of Palmyra, standing at the crossroads of several civilizations, married Greek-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences.
Palmyra prospered in ancient times as a caravan staging post, primarily due to its location on one of the main ancient routes from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates and to markets further east including those on the Silk Route.
The ancient monuments captured by me in these images at Palmyra have since been severely damaged or completey destroyed by the devastating civil war in Syria.
The Karnak religious complex at Luxor, ancient Thebes, Egypt. In the heart of the complex is the Great Temple of Amun. This spectacular vast complex (247 acres) which was built and enlarged by numerous Pharaohs trying outdo each other over a period of 1500 years (beginning from the 11th - Dynasty) has a avenue of sphinx's at its entrance and inside has numerous temples, obelisks, pylons, enormous sculptures, colonnaded courtyards and sacred lake. The highlight would have to be the awe inspiring Hypostyle hall which covers 6000 square metres and has a remarkable forest of 134 colossal stone pillars. It is still the largest room of any religious building in the world.
The Karnak religious complex is a Unesco World Heritage listed site as part of the Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis listing.
The popular artist's village of Sidi Bou Said, located 20 Kilometres north of Tunis, capiyal of Tunisia.
The cliff top village of Sidi Bou Said is named after Sidi Bou Said, a 13th century Sufi Saint or Holy man who settled here on his return journey from his pilgrimage to Mecca.
The 19th century French baron Rudolph d'Erlanger was responsible for the distinctive blue and white scheme in the village which is reminiscent of a Cycladic Greek island with its whitewashed cubical homes with blue shutters and colourful doors and cobbled and narrow alleyways overflowing with bougainvillea.
The majestic rose red city of Petra, the remarkable ancient carved rock capital of the Kingdom of the Nabataeans.
Hidden in the mountains between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, Petra is a distinctive city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataens, a productive Arab people who settled here more than 2200 thousand years ago, turning it into an important trade crossroad that linked the near East, Africa, India, with the Mediterranean.
Rediscovered in 1812 after being lost for hundreds of years, Petra -which means "stone" in Greek - is nestled away in the mountains south of the Dead Sea and is the most famous attraction in Jordan and Middle East.
The splendours of its architecture are a fusion of Greek, Syrian, Arabian and Roman elements and a walk through the city will reveal of hundreds of rock carved tombs, elegant Hellenistic temple facades, funerary halls and rock reliefs and even a theatre.
It is a UNSECO world heritage listed site and UNESCO has described it as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage.
Magnificently sited on the water's edge of the palm fringed white sandy west coast of Libya and North Africa, the ruined city of Sabratha shines majestically as one of the most beautiful and spectacular Roman cities of the ancient Mediterranean.
Originally founded as trading post by the Carthaginians around 500 BC, Sabratha's importance and wealth attracted settlement by Hellenistic Greeks around the second century BC and then by the Romans in whose control the city prospered considerably and in which the ruins seen today are a legacy of.
The ancient theatre is considered as perhaps the most graceful and spectacular of the ancient Roman world and the mosaics of the Roman and later Byzantine eras are also very impressive. Sabratha is one of the three cities of ancient Tripolis which included Leptis Magna and Oea (Tripoli) and is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site.
The medieval walled citadel city of Mdina is perched on a rocky outcrop in the south-west of Malta and has been a place of sanctuary since the Bronze Age due to its naturally defensible location. Mdina served as the island's capital from antiquity to the medieval period and during that period was centre of the Maltese nobility and religious establishments.
Nicknamed the Silent City (only 300 inhabitants), Mdina is an elegant and well preserved fortified city with a fascinating maze of twisting narrow alleyways flanked by yellow-sand stoned Baroque influenced architecture, some with hidden courtyards and adorned with elaborate balconies, balustrades and door knockers. In its heart is the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Paul, founded in the 12th century on the very site where Publius, Roman Governor of Malta met St. Paul following his shipwreck.
Mdina is on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is a popular tourist attraction in Malta.
The Tombs of the Kings, a vast ancient archaeological necropolis with impressive underground tombs located at the city of Paphos on the south west coast of Cyprus. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980.
Known as the Tombs of the Kings, no royalty are actually buried there, rather, the tombs are the burial place of affluent senior government officials and aristocrats dating from the 4th century BCE to the 3rd century AD (Hellenistic and Roman periods).
The site name refers to the size and magnificence of the underground tombs, some very elaborate with decorated walls and some others with open atrium's, surrounded by majestic Doric columns. Similar Tombs have been found in Alexandria, Egypt.
