Unassuming Melbourne: Arts Heart of Australia

As so often in Australia’s history, Melbourne was founded through fraud when adventurer John Batman, an Australian who spoke in several aboriginal languages, made a “deal” with aborigines to lease land on behalf of investors.

While offering the Aborigines any compensation at all was progressive in a colonial culture that preferred to simply run them off the land, the fact that the native people had little understanding of rents, leases or indeed, the concept that land was something to be bought, sold and leased at all, made his arrangements no less exploitive. In return for a long term lease of 240,000 hectares of the finest grazing land in Australia, Batman gave the aborigines axes, salt, flour, blankets and jewelry. The total value of the goods is estimated to be around £200.

Colonial rulers later declared his leases unlawful, claiming that the government, not the Aborigines, were the true owners of the land. After paying Batman compensation, they took over the lands and founded a settlement as the seat of regional government. The settlement became the city of Melbourne in 1837, named after Viscount Melbourne, the British prime minister at the time.

A strict grid plan
Melbourne’s location was its strongest suit. While the “acquired” farmland was of excellent quality, the city’s location on the banks of the Yarra River and well protected Port Phillip Bay contributed to its rapid commercial development. The influx of energetic immigrants and eager investors from England were determinants in the economic growth of the young city.

Once the city had 5,000 residents, city planners intervened and imposed a strict grid plan to check chaotic growth in every direction. Melbourne’s planners decreed that every main street would be exactly 30 metres wide, with perpendicular side streets one third that width. The strict grid plan has been in place ever since.

Melbourne became the capital of the new Victoria Colony in 1851. As luck would have it, miners in the outback came upon a rich seam of gold just four days later. Melbourne prospered like no other city on the continent, even after the gold rush waned.

A second boom was sparked by industrial development and immigration after World War II. Melbourne’s population more than tripled, and the plains around the Yarra River gradually grew crowded as 3 million people from 140 nations arrived to claim their piece of the Australian dream.

City planners again stepped in, authorising the construction and development of suburbs and satellite towns. In the downtown commercial districts, Melbourne began building upward and skyscrapers shot up on the horizon.

A rather unassuming city, Melbourne’s grand sights are few in comparison to trendy Sydney. Of course, there is still a great deal to see, including the Melbourne Museum, the State Parliament, the royal exhibition buildings, the Stock Market, majestic St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Flinders Street Station. Freshwater Place is a luxury residential complex, with a striking, elegant design that makes it Australia’s thinnest building as well as one of its tallest.

Melbourne is well known for book shops, live shows and the arts. Many northerners desperate for culture travel south to Melbourne for their arts fix. Melbourne hosts a world class writers festival and comedy festival.

Melbourne is also renowned for sports. The annual Melbourne Formula 1 Grand Prix held at the Albert Park Circuit is famous around the world, but there are many more sporting highlights to experience.

The professional tennis season starts here with the Australian Open, drawing the best players in the world to compete in the first of four major tournaments. Local sports attract an even greater following.

When the Magpies, Bombers and Kangaroos take the field, life is frozen in time. Melbourne’s football players have always been their sports heroes, but cricket and rugby are also popular. The Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL) takes place each year at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. One of the eight Melbourne teams usually participates.
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Copenhagen: Capital of Denmark and Home of the Little Mermaid

Almost everyone who comes to Copenhagen visits the little mermaid harbour. Hans Christian Andersen’s popular fairy tale is about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince.

Love is capricious. In the end, the unhappy mermaid looks on mutely as her beloved abandons her in favour of a real woman. In Andersen’s fairy tale, the little mermaid throws herself into the sea, dissolving in the foam. Today, the bronze mermaid cast by Eric Eriksen sits on a rock on the harbour.

Vandals have attacked the statue on several occasions, but luckily, city officials keep the original bronze moulds in a secure location. Identical replacement parts are always available.

When Denmark became a kingdom in the tenth century, what would later become the great city of Copenhagen was a small, non-descript fishing town named Havn. Located at the entrance to the Baltic Sea, its strategically advantageous location attracted the attention of the Danish crown. Recent archeological discoveries show that by the 11th century, Copenhagen had already grown into a small town with a large estate, a church, a market, at least two water wells and many smaller suburbs spread over a fairly wide area.

Havn was transformed virtually overnight into an important business hub. The building of Slotsholm Fortress in 1167 is usually said to mark the city’s founding. Three years later, Copenhagen was given its current name, which in Danish means “merchant’s harbour”. In 1443, the emergent city became the official capital of the Kalmar Union of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. When the union disbanded in 1523 it became capital of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Amalienborg, the famous winter palace of the Danish royal family, stands on a broad, paved, octagonal plaza. Four nearly identical palaces were built along the four diagonal sides of the octagon. At the centre of this beautiful rococo complex, one of the loveliest in Europe, is an equestrian monument honouring King Frederik V. A changing of the guard takes place outside the palaces each noon.

The best view of the Old City of Copenhagen may be from the wide platform on top of the Round Tower. Although the tower is only 36 metres high, the spiral staircase to the top winds around 209 metres. It was once possible to ride to the top on horseback, as Peter the Great did when he visited.

Unfortunately, horses are now banned from the tower. Trinity Church is adjacent to the tower, with the shopping districts of Stroget and Straedet nearby. Most of the Old City is off limits to cars, making it one of Europe’s biggest pedestrian zones. Christiansborg Palace is on the small island of Slotsholm, the site of the original fortress, which is today joined to the rest of the city by several bridges.

The palace was once home to the Danish royal family, and is now the seat of the Danish government and its parliament, the Folketing. This is the sixth building to stand here since the 1167 founding of the city. Invading armies, fires and modernization have all taken their toll. While the first castle on the site stood from 1417 into the late eighteenth century, rebuilding and renovation has been fast and industrious ever since.

The present Christiansborg was built in the early twentieth century. Accessible from every quarter of the city, Tivoli Gardens amusement park first opened on 15 August 1843. Visitors can take a trip in a small boat on the moats once used for Copenhagen’s defense or take a pleasant ride on the big wheel looking down at the city from on high. It has a new, zero-G roller coaster (”the Demon”) and twenty-five other rides, as well as many restaurants and concert venues.

The mime presentations in the Pantomimes are extremely popular. After 150 years of continuous operation, neon signs are still banned in Tivoli. Instead, more than 110,000 incandescent lanterns brilliantly illuminate one of Europe’s oldest surviving pleasure gardens. The white bulbs hung from trees contribute to Tivoli’s uniquely old-fashioned atmosphere, even as the roller Demon hurtles by.

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Tehran - Capital of Iran - City Profile

Tehran is currently among the most densely populated capitals on the planet, yet for many centuries Tehran was nothing more than a small, insignificant city on the stage of world history.

Aga Muhammed Khan, founder of the Qajar dynasty, chose Tehran as the capital of the Persian Empire in 1795, largely because of its location on the cool Elbur hillsides. And so it has remained to this very day. Only after a terrible earthquake in May 2004 was there heated discussion of moving the seat of government from Tehran to a less earthquake prone region of the country.

Palaces and museums
The bulk of Tehran’s older buildings date back to the period of Qajar rule in the 19th century. Foremost among these structures is the Golestan, or Rose Garden Palace, the old seat of the shahs until 1979. Today it serves as a museum, and its most famous exhibit is the stunning Peacock Throne. Exactly 26,733 precious stones decorate this amazing throne of the former Persian rulers. While there are always crowds in the museum, the palace garden is a peaceful and beautiful oasis in the heart of Tehran.

The Iranian capital has a large number of museums worth seeing in addition to the Golestan Palace, including the Archaeological Museum and the National Museum. Many other cultural sites are inviting and worthy of a visit. Tehran’s bazaar is legendary and one of the biggest in the world.

The traditional Zurkhaneh (House of Strength) in the center of the bazaar is a special kind of sports venue: up to twenty five athletes at a time emulate their forebears, swinging maces and rings to the accompaniment of drums and tribal music. This distinct form of athleticism, called bastani in Persian, originated under the reign of the Mongols, who forbad the locals to engage in any kind of physical training. The Persians trained in secret in order to be ready for the day when they would free themselves from Mongolian rule.

Modern Tehran
Impressive testaments to Persian rule in this city include not only historical monuments and the traditional souk, but also numerous modern structures. The symbol of modern Iran is a more recent building, the Shahyad (Freedom) Tower on Azadi Square, built in 1971 during the reign of the last shah.

From the observation deck one has a fantastic view of the entire city, and can see all the way to the distant, snow capped Elbur Mountains. Another important symbol of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini Mausoleum, is located in southern part of the city. Four narrow minarets, each 90 metres high, surround its shining gold cupola.

Those who would prefer to flee the noise of the city head out of Tehran travelling north, toward Darband and Darrake at the foot of Tochal Mountain in the Elbur Range. While travelling through the northern neighbourhoods of Tehran, a visit to the Saadabad Palace, the summer residence of the last shah, is definitely worth making.

Once you reach your final destination, there is a chance to enjoy the clear mountain air and to sojourn at one of many traditional cafes and restaurants. For a taste of adventure, you can also take the longest cable car ride in the world up Mt. Tochal, and come down via one of the five ski slopes.

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