The World Through Gabor's Lens

The Almudena Cathedral in Madrid is a stunning blend of Neo-Gothic, Neo-Classical, and modern design. Completed in 1993 after over a century of construction, it sits beside the Royal Palace, symbolizing Madrid's deep ties to the Catholic Church and Spanish monarchy. Inside, the bright, contemporary stained glass and art contrast beautifully with traditional elements. Don’t miss the crypt and panoramic views from the dome. The cathedral is also where King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia were married in 2004.

The Margaret Island water tower is situated right in the middle of Margaret Island in Budapest, near the Margaret Island Outdoor Stage. Inside this historic tower, which got a facelift in 2013, you can find Visual Art exhibitions.

If you climb the art nouveau spiral staircase to the viewing room with its eight balconies, you’ll be treated to an amazing panoramic view of Buda, Pest, and the Danube bridges.

Back in the Art Nouveau era, many amazing architectural works were created by architect and designer Vilmos Rezső Ray, including the Margaret Island water tower. This landmark of Hungarian reinforced concrete architecture is a distinctive feature of Margaret Island’s landscape.

The water tower was built to ensure the island's continuous water supply. Dr. Szilárd Zielinski, a teacher at the University of Applied Sciences and a pioneer in the use of reinforced concrete in Europe, was tasked with this major architectural and engineering challenge.

Finished in 1911, the designer nailed the dual function, making the building work as both a water tower and a lookout tower.

The Turul-Phoenex house - between Raoul Wallenberg / Katona József / Pannónia /Tátra streets

Its construction ended almost 100 years ago, in 1929. The house was built and owned by one of the many private insurance companies operating in Hungary at that time, the Vienna-based Phönix Life Insurance Company and its Hungarian subsidiary Turul - Magyar Országos Biztosító Rt. As it had two financiers, the main entrance to the building on Pannonia Street was inscribed with the name Phoenix House, while the main entrance on Tatra Street (the other) was inscribed with the name Turul House.

When the tenants - all well-off, at least middle-class, intellectuals - moved into the six-storey block of flats at the end of the summer or beginning of the autumn of 1929, they were greeted by a luxury that was unusual for the time. First of all, there was the vast green garden, which perfectly offset the noise of the surrounding streets with its silence, and which had a more spacious and peaceful atmosphere than the fenced courtyards of other blocks. It was not unusual in those days either for the taps in the four- and six-room apartments to be filled not with ordinary water but with the thermal water of Margaret Island. And then there was the ground-floor communal laundry and drying room, equipped by the Hungarian Washing and Disinfecting Machine Works Ltd. with twelve modern washing machines and a steam dryer.

The block originally had 146 apartments, which meant that it could have accommodated the entire population of a small Hungarian village. But the Phoenex-Turul-House not only included apartments, a garden and a laundry room, but also quite a few shops, stores, services and offices in a circle around the entire block (there was even a Jewish elementary school in the early years). Although a lot has happened since the building was first opened, including regimes, wars and armed conflicts coming and going, two units are still in operation as they were when they opened in 1929. One is the pharmacy on the corner of Pannónia and Wallenberg streets, with some of its original equipment, and the other is the Húsimádó butcher's shop on Tátra Street, which of course is only now called that, its name and owner having changed several times over the years, but never in one respect: it has always sold meat.

Nubian Village near Aswan

The faces of Egypt 🇪🇬

The Philae temple complex is an island-based temple complex in the reservoir of the Aswan Low Dam, downstream of the Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser, Egypt.

Until the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the temple complex was located on Philae Island, near the expansive First Cataract of the Nile in Upper Egypt. These rapids and the surrounding area have been variously flooded since the initial construction of the Aswan Low Dam in 1902.[3] The temple complex was dismantled and moved to nearby Agilkia Island as part of the UNESCO Nubia Campaign project, protecting this and other complexes before the 1970 completion of the Aswan High Dam

The Aswan Dam is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. When it was completed, it was the tallest earthen dam in the world,

The construction of the Dam became a key objective of the new regime the Free Officers movement of 1952; with its ability to better control flooding, provide increased water storage for irrigation and generate hydroelectricity, the dam was seen as pivotal to Egypt's planned industrialization.

The Dam has resulted in protection from floods and droughts, an increase in agricultural production and employment, electricity production, and improved navigation that also benefits tourism. Conversely, the dam flooded a large area, causing the relocation of over 100,000 people. Many archaeological sites were submerged while others were relocated. The dam is blamed for coastline erosion, soil salinity, and health problems.

Kom Ombo is an agricultural town in Egypt famous for the Temple of Kom Ombo. It was originally an Egyptian city called Nubt, meaning City of Gold. Nubt is also known as Nubet or Nubyt. It became a Greek settlement during the Greco-Roman Period.

The town's location on the Nile, 50 kilometres north of Aswan, gave it some control over trade routes from Nubia to the Nile Valley, but its main rise to prominence came with the er****on of the Temple of Kom Ombo in the 2nd century BC.

The Temple of Edfu is an Egyptian temple located on the west bank of the Nile in Edfu, Upper Egypt. The city was known in the Hellenistic period as Apollonopolis Magna, after the chief god Horus, who was identified as Apollo under the hellenistic period

It is one of the best preserved shrines in Egypt. The temple was built in the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 237 and 57 BC. The inscriptions on its walls provide important information on language, myth and religion during the Hellenistic period in Egypt. In particular, the Temple's inscribed building texts provide details of its construction, and also preserve information about the mythical interpretation of this and all other temples as the Island of Creation

Medinet Habu is situated near the foot of the Theban Hills on the West Bank of the River Nile opposite the city of Luxor. The location is today associated almost synonymously with the largest and best preserved site, the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III.

Sphinx

Karnak comprises a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BCE) in the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000–1700 BCE) and continued into the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305–30 BCE), although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom.

It is part of the monumental city of Thebes, and in 1979 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List

The key difference between Karnak and most of the other temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Construction of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued into Ptolemaic times. Approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere.

It also contains evidence of adaptations, where the buildings of the ancient Egyptians were used by later cultures for their own religious purposes, such as Coptic churches.

Valley of the Kings

In the Valley of the Kings, also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings, for a period of nearly 500 years from the Eighteenth Dynasty to the Twentieth Dynasty, rock-cut tombs were excavated for pharaohs and powerful nobles under the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt.

It is a wadi sitting on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes (modern-day Luxor). There are two main sections: the East Valley, where the majority of the royal tombs are situated; and the West Valley, otherwise known as the Valley of the Monkeys.

The Valley of the Kings is known to contain 65 tombs and chambers.
It was the principal burial place for the New Kingdom's major royal figures as well as a number of privileged nobles.

Almost all of the tombs seem to have been opened and robbed in antiquity, but they still give an idea of the opulence and power of Egypt's pharaohs.

Cairo and Giza

Marché

Oysters for dinner

Am Israel Chai!