Igue, The Festival Of The Ancient City

By Pascal Sylvester

 

He dances under the scorching sun, arms outstretched as if welcoming the world, his feet beating the brown earth in rhythm to the music of the leopard skin drums. The ivory beads strung around his neck, fifteen thick, dancing along gracefully. Ivory anklets and bracelets sit majestically, complementing the ceremonial skirt and native chalk that adorn his torso. On either hand are the ceremonial swords, known in these parts as the ada and eben, which he twirls in such a way that leaves none of the numerous spectators in doubt that he is indeed Oba, king of the Benin race.

Welcome to the ancient city of Benin in Edo state of Nigeria. If you are one of the approximately two thousand tourists who flock in annually to witness this spectacle, then you were present at the annual IGUE festival, a holiday celebrated by all in this city. This celebration goes back many centuries, and has come to be taken as a staple, as people from far and wide troop down to the palace grounds to witness the spectacle.

The occasion which is usually celebrated in December is a one week affair, with each family in the kingdom looking forward to the culmination of activities at the palace of the great King. On the morning of the last day, every one jostles his way to the expansive palace grounds to catch a glimpse of the spectacle. The king sits on his throne, receiving tributes and obeisance from his chiefs all morning. The chiefs are distinctive in their traditional garb of white shirts and skirts. Then, at about noon, it is time for the royal parade, where the king engages in a sacred dance, praying for the peace of the land, and offering sacrifices to the ancestors. It is not uncommon to see leaves being passed around, as this signifies peace, prosperity and long life.
Do not however forget to acquire the bronze works from the smiths, they having perfected their skills from countless generations. And if you are an aficionado of foreign cuisine, the exotic array would sure blow your mind away. All in all, the occasion serves to signify the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one for the average Edolite, as they prefer to be called.

This age old tradition is not without its challenges though. With the advent of modernity and newer religions, the popularity has waned as most youth prefer the new hip hop culture than that of the fathers. Many people now label the practice as demonic and satanic, much to the chagrin of the core traditionalists.
It is expected however, that as Nigeria's tourism market expands, more people will be drawn by the lore of this mythical land.

Thrill Your Senses With a Stimulating Tour to Dhaka

By Chandan Aman

 

Dhaka is the city that is purely steeped in historical tales. It is loaded with plenty of historical attractions that are really amazing and can't afford to be missed.

If you are an enthusiastic rover who likes to travel from one location to another, chances are that you may have covered most of the hot spots on the planet that are worth every penny. However, there may be some that you have not set off a venture to. Now, the question arises here is why? The planet on which we dwell in is simply too gigantic to explore and covering all the destinations is certainly not a piece of cake as it requires time and effort. So, what would you do now? How to go about planning a holiday? Which destination would you head to? Allow us to help you. Asia is one of the continents that are dotted with several places of interest to pay a visit to.

Would you take a trip to Bangladesh? We are certain that you must have heard about this Asian country being a passionate globe trotter. Before you make your way to this nation, it is feasible if you perform an extensive research on the Internet so that you can be familiar with a plethora of sightseeing spots that are worth a visit.

Dhaka - The city has truly become the hub of cultural, industrial, commercial, educational and political activities of the country.

Regarded as Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka is contemplated to be one of the key cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of Buriganga River, the city was founded in 1608 AD. When the Mughal Emperor Jahangir was in his reign, the city was known by the name of Jahangir Nagar. The city is known to have created a magic on the travellers who book cheap flights to Dhaka from far off and within the country.
What is there in this city that should not be unobserved?

Well, there are a number of attractions most of which were created during the Mughal period. They yet exist to reveal their magnificent tales that belonged to the olden times and are still their part that can never be erased from the minds of those who have already felt their charisma the instant they came face-to-face with them. Dhaka has been known the world over as a city of mosques and muslin.
Below mentioned highlights of Dhaka are bound to provide a good time to history buffs:
- National Memorial
- 1857 Memorial
- Armenian Church
- Dhaka Zoo
- Central Shahid Minar
- Parliament House

Chandan Aman is an expert in the tourism industry and has extensive knowledge about Dhaka flights and cheap flights to Dhaka from Heathrow. You can contact him at +44 (0) 208 385 6850.

Moving to Portugal: Sights and Attractions in Lisbon

By Dominic H Milner

 

Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and the country's largest city. It is estimated that Lisbon Metropolitan Area is home to over 2,831,000 people. Whether you are planning to move to Portugal and want to visit this city, or you are already living here, there are a few places that you can't miss. This thriving city boasts a modern culture that is making its mark in today's Europe. Here are some of the most famous sights and attractions in Lisbon:

Museu Calouste Gulbenkian
Museu Calouste Gulbenkian (Calouste Gulbenkian Museum) houses treasures collected by the Armenian oil magnate with the same name. The collection includes over 6,000 pieces, including Egyptian artworks, sculptures, printed books dating from the 13th century, Italian and German illuminated manuscripts, and documents that marked Egyptian civilization. There is also a café-restaurant where visitors can relax after seeing the museum.

The Tower Vasco da Gama
Built in 1998, Torre Vasco da Gama (The Tower Vasco da Gama) is a 145-meter tower with skyscraper. It is Lisbon's tallest building. The steel structure represents a nautical sail. The viewing platform at the top provides breathtaking views over Vasco da Gama Bridge, Lisbon, and the Tagus river.
Pena National Palace

Pena National Palace is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most famous attractions in Portugal. The palace can be easily seen from Lisbon. It features a unique mix of architectural styles, including Neo-Manueline, Neo-Gothic, and Islamic. Almost the entire structure stands on rock. Pena National Palace is considered a major expression of 19th century Romanticism in Europe.
Igreja de São Roque

Igreja de São Roque was the earliest Jesuit church in the country. Inside its walls are some of the finest examples of Jesuit sacred art. This religious building was originally a shrine that housed a relic from Sao Roque. The church is also home to a museum and a chapel. The Museum of Sao Roque is home to a unique collection of oriental artworks, liturgical objects, sculptures, and paintings that belonged to the Society of Jesus.

The Cafe a Brasileira
This is one of the oldest and most popular cafés in the old quarter of Lisbon. Famous poets, intellectuals, and writers have visited this place over the years. Its interior is built in the Art Deco style, featuring a long oak bar, brass fittings, and mirrored walls. The Cafe a Brasileira has remained unchanged since opening in 1905.

Portugal is home to some of the most famous museums and religious sites in Europe. The Algarve, Lisbon, Porto, and Silves feature numerous art galleries, churches, and monuments of great historical value. Moving to Portugal is an amazing experience for those who love art and culture.

Shantang Street - The Jewel in the Crown of Suzhou, China

By Christine F Dalgliesh

 

Have you found Shantang Street yet? This charming little street, somewhat hidden from the view of passers by is a well-preserved ancient street near the downtown, where we can get a sense of the glory and prosperity of Suzhou in ancient times, when it was the most important city in southern China. This street is the epitome of Suzhou, a picture postcard of the 'real China of long ago' where the dark wooden roofs cap the white walls, displaying the ancient architecture still so well preserved throughout Suzhou's downtown area.

There are various estimates as to the age of this ancient street, but the general consensus is between 1100 and 1500 years old. The young men came here to find their friends and write poems by the river while merchants in the boats displayed lanterns and merchandise to greet passers-by.

Historical records tell us that in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) emperors fell in love with Shantang Street at first glance. Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795), whose ancestors were from nomadic tribes, was haunted by the beauty of the Shantang Street and ordered a replica built in Yuanmingyuan in Beijing (now called The Summer Palace) to celebrate his mother's 70th birthday. The Dowager Empress Ci Xi (1835-1908) rebuilt this replica after it was destroyed in 1860, naming it Suzhou Street.

The Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi (722-846), who built the street and the canal to improve water transportation, could never have imagined the wonder he left behind along with his great poems.
To improve water transportation links, Bai, who was an official in Suzhou at that time, ordered that a canal be dug, and a 3.5-kilometre-long waterway stretching west from Duseng Bridge at the Changmen City Gate to Wangshan Bridge in the Tiger Hill area was created. It was named "Shantang", and the street was gradually built up along it.

By the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the street had become a busy commercial centre, crowded with merchants and tourists. Boats plied up and down the canal and traded with the residents who opened their back doors to buy goods. The residents often put money in a basket and let the basket down on ropes for the vendors to fill with fresh fish or white wine. The boatmen sometimes would anchor their boats near a house and climb up the stone stairways leading to a restaurant or a shop on the bank. The front doors of the houses face a pathway and back doors open out to the canal. Wooden benches still lie near the back doors and lanterns hang near the windows.

Most of the buildings here, being genuinely really old, were well past their expiry date when the government had them all renovated a few years ago. But somehow, the aura of 'long ago' has been retained. You feel like you are really being part of the history of this city. There are places where you can sit a while, rest your feet and just soak up the atmosphere, where you can feel and smell the history, where it is easy to imagine yourself way back there.

Today it is possible to take a boat ride along these canals, and you feel as if you can still see people leaning out of their windows to purchase the needs of the day.

The entrance to Shantang street is somewhat hidden. If you ask a taxi driver to take you to the bridge by Shantang Street in Shi Lu you can look eastward down the canal, where both sides are lined cheek by jowl with restaurants, shops selling silk, paper cuts, wooden articles, jewellery, and every conceivable type of souvenir. One of the best things about shopping here for souvenirs is that there is no 'hard sell'.

You feel absolutely free to wander and browse, in and out, to compare and investigate at your leisure. So if you have visitors bring them here, or if you need some nick-nacks to take home as little gifts, this is a good place to check out. You will find some most unusual wooden nested boxes, travelling clocks in wooden cases, along with a huge variety of silk slippers, embroidered pictures, framed paper cuts, lipstick cases etc. You could try your hand at bargaining, but the prices are already very competitive. Even the most hard-hearted shopper will succumb and spend a few RMB along the way.

You can walk or take a boat from Shantang Street, along to the base of Tiger Hill. If you haven't been up Tiger Hill yet why not choose a coolish day, and meander from one to the other, having your fill of Suzhou's history. If you don't feel so energetic, just wander eastwards along Shantang Street until you emerge back into the modern walking area of Shi Lu.

The most magical time of the day to go would be early evening, as the last rays of the sun filter down on the houses and water. Sit and watch the fading light, have a meal at one of the many delightful restaurants along the way, and absorb the beauty of the scene as the many red paper lanterns or brightly coloured embroidered silk lanterns lining the waters edge are lit.

Take some photos, have a ride along the canal, and store some fabulous memories for your old age. You won't regret it!

For more of my experiences of living in China go to http://www.englishstoriesforfun.com and check the 'Book' link for my book about living in China.

Norwalk CT Historic Luxury Homes: Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

By Steven Penny

 

One of New England's finest examples of a Second Empire style luxury home is the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion in Norwalk, Connecticut. Built in 1864 by LeGrand Lockwood, this stunningly elegant white stone mansion is widely regarded to be the first true summer estate built in the northeast.
LeGrand Lockwood made his fortune as a financier and railroad baron. He started a horse-drawn rail car line in 1862, was very successful acquiring financing for railroad projects and eventually became the controlling stockholder of the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad.
Lockwood journeyed to Europe during the Civil War to sell American Bonds to finance the conflict that was costing the government two million dollars a day. He made an important and widely appreciated contribution to the financing of the war effort and upon his return in 1863 was elected Treasurer of the New York Stock Exchange.
His railroad dealings that began in the New York and Connecticut area later expanded to the west after the Civil War which, along with his steamship interests made LeGrand Lockwood one of America's first millionaires.
The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion was designed by Detlef Lienau and has been described as "One of the earliest and finest surviving Second Empire style country houses ever built." The three story white stone mansion with its octagon, turreted entryway, staggered stonework that accents the mansion's corners and steep roofline are all executed on a massive and magnificent scale.
The interior represents the finest of Victorian Age splendor. The entrance room is decked with exquisitely carved Italian woodwork with marble statues and columns.
The stunning three story central rotunda has been beautifully restored. The Lockwood-Mathews mansion was featured in the movies House of Dark Shadows and The Stepford Wives, and Paramount Pictures donated $400,000 for the mansion's restoration. The film production also donated several large paintings that help to dramatize the scale of the brick red and white rotunda.
Each of the rooms adjacent to the rotunda - the dining room, drawing room, music room and library all represent the finest in gilded age Victorian elegance. From the dining room's imported Italian woodworking and exquisitely upholstered chairs, to the drawing room with its ethereal mauve and sky blue painted dome ceiling, the music room's crystal chandeliers, to the library's massive doors, patterned wooden ceiling and hearth all represent the finest workmanship of the day.
The mansion was ahead of its time having faucets and hot running water in the 1860's - something even the White House didn't have yet -and the central heating system required a ton of coal a day.
However, Lockwood had financial reversals in 1869, his health declined and he died in 1872. Foreclosures resulted in the loss of the estate by Lockwood's heirs in1874. Charles D. Mathews, a wealthy retired New-York provisions dealer bought the property in 1876 who used it as his summer estate.
The 62-room mansion located at 295 West Ave. Norwalk, CT is on the National Register of Historic Places and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971. Widely regarded as one of the first summer estates in New England with its stunning, beautifully restored interior makes the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Norwalk, Connecticut's most important historic luxury home.

Author of Hiring The Best People, Steven Penny writes on Connecticut's best communities to live for your home and family. If you are looking for Norwalk CT Luxury Homes please visit http://www.Prudentialct.com

Fairfield CT Historic Homes: David Ogden House

By Steven Penny

 

Fairfield, Connecticut's David Ogden House was built in 1750 and is an exceptionally well preserved example of a mid 18th Century Connecticut farmhouse. It was built in the style of a traditional saltbox with a lean-to roofline and massive central stone chimney topped with brick.
The house is believed to have been built for David Ogden at the time of his marriage to Jane Sturges. Its mentioned in an 1750 deed as the "New House". They had 10 children, three of whom died in infancy. For the next 125 years it was home for the Ogden family.
The David Ogden House exterior is composed of hand-hewn shingles and brick red windows, door and trim overlooking Brown's Brook in the Mill River Valley. A bridge across the brook leads to a foot trail lined with native Connecticut shrubs and wild flowers.
It has an eighteenth-century style kitchen garden behind the house featuring herbs used in the era. Without much of a cash economy in the 1750s, the Ogdens made cider and grew corn and other veggies that they bartered for the things they needed to survive.
The interior of the house is centered around the massive fieldstone fireplace lined with cooking pots and tools. To the left of the fireplace are shelves lined with cups, drinking mugs and jugs with a powder horn and laundry irons of the period. Butter churns, barrels and other food preparation tools line the hardwood floors.
The well worn work table where Ogden kept records of his trades with his neighbors has a five inch "Sugar cone" as it was kept in the day. Children where said to be "Nippers" who stole bites from it. The upper portion of the David Ogden House was the family's sleeping quarters, including a master bedroom with a four-post bed and fireplace.
One of the reasons the David Ogden House is one of the few standing structures in the area from the mid 1700's is that it escaped the burning of Fairfield by the British during the Revolutionary war. On July 7, 1779 the British anchored warships in the Long Island Sound off the coast of Fairfield. An estimated 2,000 British troops, under the leadership of General William Tryon had been sent to burn Fairfield for being a stronghold of support for the Patriot cause in Loyalist territory.
The British were forced to wait for the fog to lift before coming ashore, and when the ships were spotted by townspeople many fled to safety in nearby Greenfield Hill, while others stayed to protect their property. Once ashore, the troops quickly went to work and before they finished the next day left the town in ashes burning 97 homes, 67 barns, 48 stores, 2 schools, the courthouse and other community buildings.
A decade after the burning, President George Washington visited Fairfield and commented on the extent of the devastation still visible saying, "The destructive evidences of British cruelty are yet visible both in Norwalk and Fairfield; as there are the chimneys of many burnt houses standing in them yet."
Many of Fairfield's citizens who had lost their homes were offered an equivalent value of land in what was known as the "Connecticut Western Reserve" in what today is part of Ohio. When these early settlers left for what came to be known as the "Fire Lands" they didn't come back leaving the land more depopulated, and changed Fairfield's boundaries with areas eventually being annexed to form the town of Westport.
Today, the David Ogden House is a museum for the Fairfield Historical Society, which also operates the Fairfield Museum and History Center. The Museum has a stunning, 360 degree view of the house - both interior and exterior that is a delight to view on its website at: http://www.fairfieldhistory.org/visit/ogden-house/

The David Ogden House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, making it one of Fairfield, Connecticut's most important historic homes.

Steven Penny author of Hiring The Best People writes on the best places for your home and family in Connecticut. If you are looking for Fairfield Luxury Homes for Sale please visit http://www.Prudentialct.com

Branford CT Historic Homes: Swain-Harrison House

By Steven Penny

 

In Branford's quaint business district around the old town green stands the Swain-Harrison House, a classic Connecticut saltbox colonial home that today serves as the Branford Historical Society's headquarters.
Daniel Swain was one of the first settlers who was granted the land by the town of Branford in 1679. When he died in 1697, his heirs sold the property to Nathaniel Harrison, who was Branford's deputy of the Assembly, Justice of the Peace and a widely respected citizen playing a pivotal roll in the community's early years. This is how the house came to be known as the Swain-Harrison House.
The Swain-Harrison House at 124 Main Street, Branford is a dark red two and a half story structure with a five-bay Colonial clapboard facade and gable overhangs that gives it a broad appearance. It is the oldest extant building in the Canoe Brook Historic District around the old town green.
The date of house's construction was originally given as 1680 in its application for listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. However, The Branford Historical Society's website that is now headquartered in the structure states that the current building dates from 1724.
Originally built with two rooms on each floor, a rear lean-to extension was added between 1730 and 1740 giving the house the salt box roof line. This was common during that time as families expanded. The lean-to accommodated a large kitchen behind the central stone chimney together with a bedroom and pantry at opposite ends.
The interior has been beautifully restored with the hand-hewn wood walls, the strong oak corner posts and exposed joists that make you feel you have stepped back in time to 18th Century America. The Swain-Harrison House has a unique corner cupboard, and furnishing that include rope beds and a bedspread made for a dowry centuries ago.
One room of the Swain-Harrison House is a museum filled with Branford artifacts, memorabilia and archives. The house is maintained by the Branford Historical Society and Branford families are encouraged to bring their ancestral records, products, pictures and collections for exhibits which are held periodically.
The Branford Garden Club maintains a fine herb and colonial garden on the two acres of land. The Swain-Harrison House is open on Saturdays, 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. June to September or by appointment. For more information about visiting one of Branford, Connecticut's most important historic homes please visit the Branford Historical Society's website at http://www.branfordhistory.org that has the Swain- Harrison House as its logo.

Steven Penny author of Hiring The Best People writes on the best places for your home and family in Connecticut. If you are looking for Branford Real Estate for Sale please visit http://www.Prudentialct.com