Irum's Clicks

“Mama look so many candles, but where is the cake?” Proceeds with singling happy birthday to everyone.

White washed town of Ostuni, great for wondering around the labyrinth of hilly streets, ceramic souvenirs shopping, dinners at piazzas and some more churches

Punta Prosciutto- one of the best beaches we have been to for kids, long stretches of sand and crystal clear shallow sea. .pugliaofficial

Leave to the sari howi vienna ki awam (especially on the underground metro) and their general attitude towards kids to ruin an experience. Eye brows at quick to shot up with scrunched up faces and some murmurs as soon as a kid behaves AS A KID! Maybe it was the cold?

Ah wouldn’t it be nice to take the kids to museum of one of my favourite painters. Had fond memories of going there almost a dozen times, myself, with fiends, as a couple. With kids, as soon as we talked in, we were barked at by the lady at the reception and she trailed off a set of instructions. Got another lecture by the staff because Alia touched the glass of the model city architecture.

At least the staff at the cafe was nice.

Double decker merry go rounds of the Christmas markets

Christmas markets of vienna used to be great (once upon a time without kids). With kids, in what feels like a minus bazillion degrees… no thank you. Though still pretty. with kids

Matera

“The most interesting and unusual city is Matera, a troglodyte town of prehistoric grottoes, cave tabernacles, abandoned hovels and Renaissance houses, all built into the limestone tufa. The rock-cut dwellings, known as the Sassi, date from Byzantine times. Until the 1950s, they were home to peasants who lived here alongside their donkeys; now they are the region’s main tourist attraction – recognised by Unesco as the finest ‘cave architecture’ in the Mediterranean. Across a canyon are the original cave habitations, dating from 6BC” insight guides

Fichi d’india - a prickly pears cactus plants that grow everywhere. “The prickly pear is a natural survivor of everything from drought to fire; it is symbolic for this region. This fruit grows around the thick leaves of a cactus, which creates the necessity of negotiating thousands of prickles. The complexities are made even more difficult by the plant’s habit of finding a home in odd places like between boulders, on high walls, around electrical poles, on the edges of superhighways and through fences. Often found thriving in abandoned, viper-infested ruins or in rocky valleys and mountain ridges, which makes getting to this fruit something of an extreme sport.” 🌵

Monopoli- where Alia’s fascination with churches started, there is one on every other corner. “ mamma no talking in the church” “shhh mamma be quite”. “Let’s go church”

Exploring Italy’s southern Adriatic coast. Polignano a Mare where beaches were pebbly white, September sun was too strong, kids were too cranky, combination of all of above with a trek down to a busy beach was not appealing. We opted for exploring for gelato instead and found a more accessible beach further on

The Cave of the Seven Sleepers is a historical and religious site in al-Rajib, a village to the east of Amman.It is claimed that this cave housed the Seven Sleepers, اصحاب الكهف, aṣḥāb al kahf as mentioned in the Quran- a group of young men who, according to Byzantine and Islamic sources, fled the religious persecution of Roman emperor. The men hid in a cave around 250 AD, emerging miraculously about 200 or 300 years later. Considerable debate remains concerning the exact location of this cave - various locations in Turkey have been suggested in addition to the al-Rajib site. The site is surrounded by the remains of two mosques and a large Byzantine cemetery. ~ wiki

When we got there the cave entrance was closed due to Jummah prayer, how amazing it would have been to visit it. The site houses a mosque which was brimming with visitors.

Memorial for prophet Musa ( Moses peace be upon him) one of the most mentioned prophets in the Quran. It is beloved Moses died at Mount Nebo, there is no grave or tomb. Scholars continue to dispute whether the mountain currently known as Nebo is the same as the mountain referred to in the Torah. Today its a site for Christ pilgrimage with an active monetary and church at the top

Salt deposits of the Dead Sea “The Dead Sea is the lowest place on the earth’s surface and among the world’s hottest, lying around 400 metres (1,310ft) below sea level. Though many large wadi systems empty their silty floodwaters from the surrounding mountains into it, there is no outlet for the sea itself. This, combined with the soaring air temperatures, produces a high rate of evaporation – almost 10 million tons of water per day. The evaporation leaves a residue of salts and minerals (magnesium chloride, sodium chloride, bromide salts and potash) close to saturation point, giving the sea its famously glutinous texture and surface and creating the buoyancy for which the sea is famous. With a salinity rate of over 30 percent, the Dead Sea is almost ten times saltier than any ocean.”

Excerpt From
Insight Guides Jordan

Wadi rum

Wadi Rum “The area takes its name from the largest and grandest of a whole network of wadis (valleys), which for millennia offered the easiest passage through the area to the nomadic Bedouin and trading caravans en route to or from the Arabian peninsula. “Rum” itself is believed to derive from the ancient Semitic word irum, meaning “high” or “heights”, a probable reference to the enormous crags that erupted from the sands millions of years ago.
Rum is also a window through which one can view the history of the earth itself, for the stratification of some 600 million years has been identified here.”

Excerpt From
Insight Guides Jordan

Monumental Nabatean tombs carved into the cliff face.

Petra treasury part 2. After a peaceful long walk through the siq it’s rather overwhelming, not it’s magnificence but the busy crowds, camels and cafe.
“Suddenly, the Siq opens to the drama of the iconic Treasury (known locally as Al–khazneh), Petra’s most famous monument. Its name reflects the local legend that the urn on top of the monument held the pharaoh’s treasure. This monumental tomb was probably built for the Nabataean King Aretas III in the 1st century BC. Its facade still shows a variety of classical and Nabataean architectural elements, including statues of gods, animals and mythological figures. The Outer Siq leads from here past the stalls of the local sand artists towards the theatre and the city centre, also passing several large tombs and tricilinia (singular: triclinium, a funerary banqueting hall with benches along three sides).”

Excerpt From
Insight Guides Jordan

…and then the first glimps of the magnificent treasury, constructed 2000 years ago.

“Suddenly, the Siq opens to the drama of the iconic Treasury (known locally as Al–khazneh), Petra’s most famous monument. Its name reflects the local legend that the urn on top of the monument held the pharaoh’s treasure. This monumental tomb was probably built for the Nabataean King Aretas III in the 1st century BC. Its facade still shows a variety of classical and Nabataean architectural elements, including statues of gods, animals and mythological figures. The Outer Siq leads from here past the stalls of the local sand artists towards the theatre and the city centre, also passing several large tombs and tricilinia (singular: triclinium, a funerary banqueting hall with benches along three sides).”

Excerpt From
Insight Guides Jordan

Road to Petra - The Siq- a narrow gorge that leads into Petra. The siq resulted from a natural splitting of the mountain and it is 1.2km long. As well as presenting a dramatic entryway to Petra, the siq also holds many relics from Petra’s past.

Kings highway - in landscape

The kings highway - in portrait

What to do when you happen to be at a 2000 year old Roman city of Jerash: play pretend Spider-Man, follow millipedes, and learn about their earthquake warning system.

“Jarash was first built by the Greek armies of Alexander the Great in the 2nd century BC. It flourished as a provincial trading city after the Romans conquered the region in 63 BC.

Jarash is a fine example of the grand provincial urbanism found in all Roman cities in the Middle East, comprising paved and colonnaded streets, soaring hilltop temples, handsome theatres, spacious public squares and plazas, baths, fountains and city walls pierced by monumental towers and gates.”

Excerpt From
Insight Guides Jordan

Surrealism beyond borders. The tate kids activity booklet was awesome, we went around talking about what was our favourite painting in each room and what one word would we use to describe it. Raffi then got a second booklet to fill for his sister.

Yayoi Kusama's Obliteration Room begins as a white space which visitors are invited to cover with stickers. Over the course of a few weeks the room is transformed from a blank canvas into an explosion of colour, with thousands of spots stuck over every available surface.

Somewhere around Oxford ...

Teeny tiny art works at

Resuming services - with this sunset over Islamabad.

Countless memories sparked by a door….. ( well not this one, the one after)

Some more Pakistani truck art to add colour to the day

Feast your eyes on some Pakistani truck art

Gur making: part 4 = quality control and price negotiation

Kinnnow ( mandarin) season in Pakistan! Sargodha is renowned for its rich kinnow harvest = daily fresh orange juice

2in1 - art gallery + practiced our reading skills. Don’t cry over spilled milk: neon art gallery

“ we live in clothes, we live in buildings, do they fit us?”

London street art and flaming tuba performer