Tunisian Tourism

[John Landon]

For the love of god Newcastle change the record, its getting a bit tedious now.. The Druids were long in the past, and times have changed a lot since then.

I am looking forward to a bright future. I hope to see it unfold more before I shed this mortal coil....


Beliefs are all well and good, but facts should change beliefs. Beliefs are not just religious I hasten to add.

You and Horus never read ALL of what I put down, you quote the bits you want and forget the rest, usually the more vital snippets. there is also much written in the silent parts.


I will do you the courtesy of having the last word, its in your nature to do so. Good Night..

[newcastle]

The Druids were long in the past, and times have changed a lot since then.

Are you sure about that?



Still around, spouting boll*cks

Sweet dreams

[Horus]

Horus wrote:

The fish that live in the Sacred Lake are river fish, and could not survive in standing water like a lake has. Therefore there has to be a feed from the Nile to the Sacred Lake..

Why is it that river fish cannot live in a lake or any other water source that contains fresh water and open to sunlight?
What species of fish is it that live in the lake?


The fish I saw in the lake are the same as those you see nesting in the shallows of the Nile after the floods..

Most river fish require the higher oxygen content that is inherent in flowing water.
While they may be able to tolerate standing water in a pond for a short time, it is not conducive with their breeding and feeding requirements, so they will die off sooner or later in a confined lake.

My theory is that something connects the sacred lake to the Nile and these fish have found their way in there. If it was a body of standing water it would go stagnant very quickly. Especially in Egypt...


____________________________________________
Give us an inch, and we'd take a mile, and squeeze under the door.

My friend, people usually quote the part that they wish to discuss or disagree with, hence there is no reason to quote the whole of a persons post, but I have done so above just to prove a point that there is nothing selective in my reply to you. I would agree that it is wrong to take any one part out of context with the rest of the post, but may I ask exactly where I have left any relevant part of your theory out?

I countered your claim regarding fish species living in rivers or fresh water lakes/ponds and the other one of the Karnak Sacred Lake being fed via an underground tunnel from the Nile. Unlike yourself I gave factual supporting pictorial evidence that others besides yourself can either accept or dismiss, but and here’s the point, I did at least give some evidence to support my claim and not some vague ‘dawning of the age of Aquarius’ and “all will be revealed” talking in mystical riddles post that really says nothing.

I am completely open to any proper debate on just about anything, but do not expect to just make some sort of fanciful claim and expect that others will share your belief. If for example you KNOW how they moved large statues, or you Know how they quarried them, or you know there is a tunnel connecting the lake with the Nile, then tell us, give us some facts to go on, back up your theories, give us some evidence, but expect that people will challenge what you say just as you are free to argue against my evidence and support for how the Egyptians and other ancient cultures actually did it.

[newcastle]

I am completely open to any proper debate on just about anything, but do not expect to just make some sort of fanciful claim and expect that others will share your belief. If for example you KNOW how they moved large statues, or you Know how they quarried them, or you know there is a tunnel connecting the lake with the Nile, then tell us, give us some facts to go on, back up your theories, give us some evidence, but expect that people will challenge what you say just as you are free to argue against my evidence and support for how the Egyptians and other ancient cultures actually did it.

Hear , hear!

[Who2]

So the Romans tried to wipe out a pretty sensible religion to be replaced by a man reproduced by 'divine intervention.
Was crucified, died then popped up three days later.
And what about all those stupid Saints the dumb masses heap adoration upon ?
Catholic Church ? riddled with kiddy fiddlers throughout it's despicable history....
Ps: And that ruddy Jonathan Sacks on Radio4 again....

[John Landon]

Christianity works if you put an Eastern slant on it... Ego Sacrifice that's all it was in a nutshell with J.C Hence Golgotha, the place of the skull...

Anyway, enough of the Mumbo Jumbo and all those fishheads in the dustbin..

Back on Topic, here are a few snaps from a back in February, I know a certain forum member likes doors, so I have included a couple for her..
These are form around Hammermet and the Southern area. The rest are in my album..

[Horus]

Nice holiday snaps, thanks for posting

[HEPZIBAH]

John Landon, thanks for sharing some Tunisian photograps. Mine are all film photos, stored away in a box somewhere waiting for that freetime when K'm going to sort and put in an album.

The door photographs conjure up human images for me. The green one is a beautifully woman showing off her kholed eyes and henna tattoos. The blue door is a Toureg, strong proud and veiled.

I think if I were ever to do any international study it would be on the decorative art and symbolic messages on doors around the world.

[John Landon]

At Home Hepzibah, I have an arabesque yellow door with 2 opening doors, that open up into a mirror...


I am looking forward to doing some more travelling into other areas of Tunisia in February, so hope to be able to share more.
was taken in the southern desert and is a desert salt field taken in the moonlight.

I probably need to invest in a decent camera, but that will come once I hang up my working boots and start travelling properly.
For now, the Samsung mobile suffices. like a Swiss Army Knife.
clock / alarm clock, camera, voice and video communication device ( beam me up Scotty ), email, travel document storage, flash light, picture and movie viewer, music player ! Wow !!!!

Who would have thought 40 years ago, how far the humble telephone would progress ?

[HEPZIBAH]

I broke my first decent camera, a Canon, a few years back whilst in Essaouira, Morocco. I managed to trip over a grain of sand and spectaularly splatter myself across the pavement, my camera sliding like an ice skater on speed up the alleyway. I just happened to be inspecting and photographing doors at the time. Having said that, thankfully I discovered that it was only a bit of the camera casing that was damaged and it still takes good photographs (as good as the photographer's limited ability anyway).

I did decide that I should buy a new camera, for fear the old one would give up on me one day. I remember this was about the same time that Livinginluxor (Stan) had been discussing his latest camera, a Nikon. Having looked at various camera models and, in my usual manner, getting lost in all the details, specifications and terminology, and not getting very far I just decided I'd follow his recommendation. I had the funds at the time but was very pleased to be able to get one on special offer. It is now my regular travelling companion and has been with me to Morocco, Egypt, Japan, Portugal, and infact is usually with me if I go further than my dustbin in the UK. Yesterday I visited the Flower Festival at Winchester Cathedral and, needless to say, took many photographs there.

[Horus]

I am the same Hepzi, I have several cameras and one usually accompanies me on my travels.
I tend to collect various cameras as I am quite a keen (but casual) photographer, I have several bridge cameras that combine a telephoto zoom lens that will also go right down to focusing at the macro level, very useful as they will cover most photographic situations. I have a wildlife camera that can be left to record badgers, foxes etc. and I have a small video type camera that I sometimes fit to my dog when she is on a walk, you get some unusual shots with that as he messes about in the undergrowth. I even have a Quadcopter that I can fly and take aerial shots and video, thinking about it I do have quite a lot of cameras.

[John Landon]

That's a nice collection Horus Puts my Praktika MTL3 to shame... A very robust camera with a very good standard Pentacon 50mm Lens, though I did "aquire" a 125 MM lens and a tele convertor in latter years.
now of course that has all fallen by the wayside, although I probably still have my developing kit somewhere in the loft. I used Black and White mostly and colour reversal to create slides.

These days you can just fire away at the subject like an American soldier on foreign soil and then just pick the best shots, and edit them at will on the PC.

[Horus]

I know where you are coming from, but the digital revolution made photographers from us all, it is so easy to just snap away. However it does lead to lots more opportunities to get creative, I like others take lots of pretty mundane shots, in fact I know that I take far too many, but if something interests me then I usually photograph it. Having said that I do spend a lot of time during the Winter months just ‘messing’ about with my images and trying to create something else from them on my PC, here are a few examples of what I mean:

This image is created from several of my photographs and then put together in such a way as to look sort of 3D. I added a frame to a sunset image I took of the Nile, photographed one of my many Egyptology books and came up with this.


Some like these two are just HDR images where a normal photograph I took was changed by adding more dynamic ranges either side of the original exposures


I did a similar thing with this one by combining a full moon shot that I took with another that was a macro close up of a Dandylion head after I had plucked out a few seeds to make it look like an island with coco palms (well to my mind at least)


This one one achieved by photographing rising smoke from some joss sticks and then imagining what I could see in the swirls
I thought I could see an Eagle, so I added wings and an eye


And of course even a common house plant can be made to look interesting

[HEPZIBAH]

My Nikon is a Bridge Camera with very good zoom, and an excellent multi angle flip out screen. One day I might even learn how to use it properly and at its best on the different settings!

The only real problem I have with it is its size. It is by no means a huge camera, as camera's go, but it is much bigger than I intended buying. My Canon camera was not a slimline one but it was still reasonably small, not too heavy, and would fit into a fairly normal size handbag. I've always tended to use rather large handbags, but had reached a stage, especially when I broke my shoulder, when I decided that I could not continue to carry so much around and should downsize weight and bulk of what I carry, thus meaning I could use smaller handbags. Having bought the Nikon, that all went by the board and I seem to end up carrying an even bigger bag than before (I'll be after one on wheels before long).

When it comes to taking and saving photographs, I never delete anything from my SDcard. I download everything onto my computer. I can see so much more then and often see things that I hadn't noticed with the naked eye. Of course some of those things need editing out but others actually enhance the photograph. I would like to play around with them more but seldom get the time to do more than cropping if I am going to show them to someone or share them online. Anything more in the photo editing line will have to wait until I'm 84 and retired.

[Major Thom]

Looks lovely and clean John!

[carrie]

Yildez my next water colour project the white buildings with the blue window gratings. Thanks J inspired to have another go at water colour.

[HEPZIBAH]

Yildez my next water colour project the white buildings with the blue window gratings. Thanks J inspired to have another go at water colour.

Carrie, Tunisia and Morocco both have a number of towns which are predominantly blue and white to one degree or another. Perhaps among the most well known are Sidi bou Said in Tunisa, and Chefchaouen in Morocco. Both are an artist's dream and it is well worth having a look at photographs of these towns online. When I was in Chefchaouen with Sue, she bought some of the paint powders for her own art use at home Sadly, I never got to see her finished work before she died.

[Yildez]

Yildez my next water colour project the white buildings with the blue window gratings. Thanks J inspired to have another go at water colour.

Ok, just had a look. It will work with very loose, graded washes, leaving the whitest white as untouched paper. Good luck!

[John Landon]

Looks lovely and clean John!

Tunisia is a world away from Egypt regarding cleanliness and attitude to tourists.


Now I have to add that the particular "attraction" that Egypt had for me, and indeed still holds, allowed me to see way beyond the hassle and dust and dirt.
One has to clean the Oyster to find the pearl. That process didnt take very long at all in my case.

I enjoyed a total of around 4 months in Egypt spread over 6 and a half years, and I had no regrets when I knew I would not be returning after December 2012, which was my last visit to Luxor.

Will I return ? I do not know, but a particular "A" from Egypt keeps calling me...
But, one does not have to physically be in Egypt, to be in Egypt if you catch my drift..


Tunisia is a sedate and relaxing place, and I do enjoy going there also.

I'm looking forward to going back in February to the same place, and the southern views across the sea..
We have seen the Great Mosque, the Amphitheatre of El Jem, the salt flats and souther desert and visited Matmata ( which you can see no one actually lives there any more, its an illusion, they have moved on quite a bit since those days) and many more places, and that was just in a week.

cant wait to get back to do more... Though we have another trip to Turkey to look forward to in 3 weeks time all being well.

We go into the mountains above Olu Deniz, That's a place the would have suited you MT. You would not even suspect you were in a Muslim country, but then there is a difference between Muslims and Arab Muslims.

My Grandad warned me about Arabs, even though we both like them very much and they are an education in themselves, there is one thing you should NEVER do with them.

[carrie]

Not true of all Turkey John, a friend told me that the black sea areas are very much like Egypt. Where I stayed in Datca I was surprised to see Turks in the restaurants and cafe's during Ramadan no one gave them a second look, except me!