Soroca Fortress

This fortress was originally built by Moldova's most famous and admired leader, Stefan cel Mare in 1499.  His son Peter later it was rebuilt in stone, and successfully withstood the attacks of the Ottomans.  It was also used as a strategic location by the Russian tsar Peter the Great.  The most amazing thing is that all the walls are still intact.

Today its situated in the middle of a charming town sharing its name.  Besides the fortress Soroca is also known internationally for the drug trafficking kingpins who live there. You would not guess that judging by the peaceful and somewhat sleepy streets.  The only evidence of anything unusual than any other Moldovan town are the monstrous villas surrounded by nine foot fences.  I did not photograph any of those. 

Because its off season the fortress was closed. :( You can see the inside in this video.  I pretty much agree with  all of the observations made by this guy. 

There are hundreds which actually felt like hundreds of thousands of stairs that lead to the monument up top, which is actually a small chapel.  Its an amazing viewpoint to the area. 

Landscape.

 Looking up at the tower.

View from the top.  Ukraine on the right and Moldova on the left. It was a beautiful day!

R&B: Blue

Supposedly blue is the favorite color of about 70% of Americans.  Its not a surprise considering our eyes are actually more relaxed when they rest on something blue.  Every day I am fascinated by the number of meanings and emotions colors bring out in us.  For example; blue can be soothing and calm, or depressing and dark.   Its believed that the first synthetic color pigment was invented by the Egyptians.  Egyptian blue was used across the Mediterranean for centuries.   In fact the word "blue" in ancient Egypt is the same as the word for "the eye of Ra", who was their greatest god.  As part of this project, I found THIS little video by the British Museum, their findings prove what some art historians have suspected for hundreds of  years...


Nebamun hunting in the marshes, fragment of a scene from the tomb-chapel of Nebamun.  Copyrights belong to the British Museum.

Speaking of eyes.... when I was about six, I decided that in heaven I will have blue eyes and blond (curly) hair.  No amount of  explaining and rationalizing by my Mom could convince me otherwise.  P.S. Secretly, I still believe that it is possible.


Some of Picasso's most sought after paintings were painted during his Blue Period.  The "Old Guitarist" is perhaps the most well known of them all.

Old Guitarist. Picasso, 1903. Art Institute of Chicago.

I want to go to there!

Mexico, by Daniel Usenko

Photo by Steve McCurry. Copyright belongs to National Geographic 

A a very talented  friend Anastasia, of Anastasia Marie Handcrafted Cards and Stationery  creates these beautiful palettes on her blog for inspiration.

The original palette along with the photo sources can be found HERE