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Greencaviar Travel

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Greetings from Istanbul

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Istanbul Turkey

Location: Istanbul Istanbul

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The Church of the Holy Sepulcher: Photo Essay

The Holy Land: The Church of the Holy Sepulcher Seeing is believing! I saw the light from the flickering candles rising up into the dark and the natural light seeping through the dome to light the dark space. I was standing in line to see the tomb of Jesus Christ. The line to the Aedicule (the location of Christ's tomb) was long that I had a few moments to observe my surroundings and to reflect on the words "It's all about faith" that our guide unwittingly told me when I asked him about the authenticity of some relics early on in this pilgrimage. We were at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City of Jerusalem, the holiest Christian site in the world. It stood at the site where Jesus was crucified (Calvary) and the tomb where he was buried. Today, the church is shared by five Christian denominations: the Greek Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, the Armenian Orthodox, Egyptian Coptic and the Eastern Orthodox Church, thus the different chapels. The heart of...

Scenic Musandam, Oman

Musandam is the Northernmost part of Oman that borders the straits of Hormuz, which is the entrance to the Arabian Gulf and one of the most important waterways in the world. At their narrowest, the straits are approximately 30 kilometers separating Oman and Iran. Most visitors arrive in Khasab, Musandam's capital city, by ferry from Muscat or by cruise ship. The Musandam Peninsula is a great place for nature lovers. You can take the traditional Omani Dhow boat and sail towards Masandam longest fjord with calm turquoise water that contrasts with the creamy white limestone cliffs and enjoy the breathtaking view of mountains rising from a distance or you can enjoy the same breathtaking scenery from the beach. Take a short trip from Khasab to Bhuka and experience one of the most dramatic coastal roads in Oman. It's pretty amazing. You will skirt through the narrow road between the mountains and the sea. Massive rock formations seemingly growing out of the waters with all sorts...

Ethiopia: Axum, the Cradle of Ancient Civilization

Chapter 6: Axum, Cradle of Ancient Civilization After days of winding mountain roads, rugged landscapes, and stone castles that felt pulled straight out of legend, we finally reached Axum. This wasn’t just another stop on our Ethiopian journey—it felt like stepping directly into the heartbeat of history. Ethiopia calls itself the Land of Origins, and in Axum, I understood why. With more than 2,500 years of history, Axum was once the capital of an empire that traded with Rome, India, and Arabia. Its name alone carries the weight of myth, faith, and mystery. Most famously, Axum is believed to guard one of the greatest treasures in religious history: the Ark of the Covenant. The Church of St. Mary of Zion The Stelae of Axum Our first stop was the Stelae Fields, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These towering granite obelisks are unlike anything I’ve seen before. Some stretch nearly 20 meters high, carved from a single piece of stone, their faces etched with windows and doors as tho...

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The Banaue Rice Terraces: A Living Cultural Landscape

My interest in exploring the northern part of the Philippines started from looking at a piece of art at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California. Among the display of ceramics and pottery engraved with gold and other decorative stuff, a wooden carving of a male figure squatting on a platform with the lower arms on top of each other, resting upon his knees, caught my eye. According to the docent, the wooden sculpture was called "Bului" which literally means "granary guardian" in the "Ifugao" tribe dialect. The carved wooden sculpture was set on a platform on top of another platform, a mortar. Our docent explained the significance of the wooden mortar (which was used with the pestle, to separate the husk from the rice, sort of rice mill) and linked the story to the Rice Terraces in the Cordillera Mountains of the Philippines built 2000 years ago by the “Ifugao” tribe. So two years and three hundred kilometers north of Manila later, we explo...

Ethiopia: Axum, the Cradle of Ancient Civilization

Chapter 6: Axum, Cradle of Ancient Civilization After days of winding mountain roads, rugged landscapes, and stone castles that felt pulled straight out of legend, we finally reached Axum. This wasn’t just another stop on our Ethiopian journey—it felt like stepping directly into the heartbeat of history. Ethiopia calls itself the Land of Origins, and in Axum, I understood why. With more than 2,500 years of history, Axum was once the capital of an empire that traded with Rome, India, and Arabia. Its name alone carries the weight of myth, faith, and mystery. Most famously, Axum is believed to guard one of the greatest treasures in religious history: the Ark of the Covenant. The Church of St. Mary of Zion The Stelae of Axum Our first stop was the Stelae Fields, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These towering granite obelisks are unlike anything I’ve seen before. Some stretch nearly 20 meters high, carved from a single piece of stone, their faces etched with windows and doors as tho...

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher: Photo Essay

The Holy Land: The Church of the Holy Sepulcher Seeing is believing! I saw the light from the flickering candles rising up into the dark and the natural light seeping through the dome to light the dark space. I was standing in line to see the tomb of Jesus Christ. The line to the Aedicule (the location of Christ's tomb) was long that I had a few moments to observe my surroundings and to reflect on the words "It's all about faith" that our guide unwittingly told me when I asked him about the authenticity of some relics early on in this pilgrimage. We were at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City of Jerusalem, the holiest Christian site in the world. It stood at the site where Jesus was crucified (Calvary) and the tomb where he was buried. Today, the church is shared by five Christian denominations: the Greek Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, the Armenian Orthodox, Egyptian Coptic and the Eastern Orthodox Church, thus the different chapels. The heart of...

Transylvania, Romania: The Land of Dracula

When we hear the place Transylvania, we almost always think about Dracula, the bloody vampire, that always makes a good Halloween story. So, when I visited Transylvania early this year, it's hard not to associate the places, like the Bran Castle to the famous novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. It’s said that Bram Stoker’s inspiration for the Dracula was a historical character Vlad Tepes or Vlad III, the ruler of Wallachia in the 15th century. During Stoker’s research on the region of Transylvania, he came across the brutal accounts of the atrocities committed by Vlad III, also known as Vlad Dracul, aka Vlad the Impaler. He was known for committing brutal acts of war and was under constant threat of attack from the Ottoman and Hungarian forces. During his infamous retreat from the Ottoman forces, Vlad the Impaler had the bodies of his enemies and his people alike impaled on large spikes in the field surrounding his county. The inspiration for the made-up character ma...

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Greetings from Istanbul

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