Travel Pictorials

Hollywood Travel Pictures

2009-05-24T01:58:00.000-07:00

Illustrated Travel Guide to Hollywood. Part 3

El Capitan and Egyptian

Right across the street from Hollywood and Highland center is El Capitan Theatre. It was built in 1926 and now is operated by The Walt Disney Company and hosts Walt Disney Picture’s movie premiers. Below the theater is a small exhibit space, often used to display props from the films, such as costumes or set pieces.
Next door is the adjacent Disney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store, where patrons can purchase ice cream themed to the film currently playing in the cinema next door. A wide variety of Disney and movie merchandise is available there.

A couple of blocks east another landmark historical movie theater is located - Grauman's Egyptian Theatre. It is the oldest among all Holywood Blvd theaters as it was opened in 1922 and was a host to venue for the first-ever Hollywood premiere. The film was Robin Hood starring Douglas Fairbanks. The theater architecture is in the Egyptian Revival style. It is probable that this was due to public fascination with the multiple expeditions searching for the tomb of Tutankhamun by archaeologist Howard Carter over the preceding years. The exterior and interior walls contain Egyptian-style paintings and hieroglyphics. The theatre's main entrance is marked with the four massive columns. Theater also has large courtyard in the front, complete with a fountain and queen palm trees. This is actually the "entrance hall" (the theatre doors used to open directly into the auditorium) and was specifically designed to host the theatre's famous red carpet ceremonies. Now this historic movie theater is operated by American Cinematheque, an independent, non-profit cultural organization dedicated to movies.

Hollywood Travel Pictures

2009-05-17T03:56:00.000-07:00

Illustrated travel guide to Hollywood. Part 2

Hollywood Walk of Fame

Walk of Fame begins at intersection of La Brea Avenue and Hollywood blvd. It is marked with sliver gazebo topped with a vertical sign that read “Hollywood” supported by statues of four actresses in evening gowns. They are Mae West, Dolores Del Rio, Dorothy Dandridge and Anna May Wong.

As you walk east along the boulevard you will see historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel which hosted the presentation of the 1st Academy Awards in 1929 at its small ballroom. Later ceremonies were much larger than this banquet for 250, so there was never an attempt to host the awards at the hotel a second time.

Further down the boulevard a probably main Hollywood tourist attraction is located: Grauman's Chinese Theatre (also known as Mann's Chinese Theatre). Theatre is one of the oldest movie theaters in Hollywood and was opened May 18, 1927. In its early years it used to host Academy Awards ceremonies. Nowadays it hosts major movie premieres, so if you plan to visit the area check with entertainment news, during the premiere the area is usually closed for regular people and is reserved for celebrities and movie stars. Chinese Theatre is also famous for its courtyard paved with the concrete blocks, which display the signatures, footprints, and handprints of popular motion picture personalities from the 1920s to the present day.

The sidewalk in front of Chinese Theatre is always crowded with tourists. A costumed Hollywood characters a lined up along the sidewalk and available for photo opportunities. Usually you need to tip them and they can be quite annoying at busy times.

Next to Chinese Theatre are Kodak Theatre and Hollywood and Highland hotel, shopping and entertainment center. Since its opening on November 9, 2001, the theatre has been the home of the annual Academy Awards Ceremonies (The Oscars), which were first held there in March 2002, and is the first permanent home for the awards.

Hollywood Travel Pictures

2009-04-28T03:58:00.000-07:00

Illustrated travel guide to Hollywood.

Hollywood is probably one of the most famous places in the world. Everyone has heard this word and can picture a giant sign overlooking the crowded city from the hills.

Historical home of the USA movie industry Hollywood attracts large crowds of tourists and people dreaming of instants success. Like Madonna put it in her "Hollywood" song:

Everybody comes to Hollywood
They wanna make it in the neighborhood
They like the smell of it in Hollywood
How could it hurt you when it looks so good

Shine your light now
This time it's gotta be good
You get it right now (yeah)
'Cause you're in Hollywood

There's something in the air in Hollywood
The sun is shining like you knew it would
You're ridin' in your car in Hollywood
You got the top down and it feels so good

The Hollywood sign itself is located on the southern side of Mount Lee in Griffith Park, north of the Mulholland Highway. One can get pretty close to it by driving north up Gower Street from Hollywood Boulevard and then north along Beachwood Drive.
However, it is not possible to hike up to sign itself, it is protected by security system and there are stories of cops jumping out fo helicopters and arresting trespassers.

The main tourist spot is a stretch of Hollywood boulevard between La Brea avenue and Vine street. It looks just like any other boulevard in Los Angeles: wide, tall palm trees, lots of cars, store windows, coffee shops. You may not even realize that you are in Hollywood until you look down and see stars underneath your feet.

That is the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. Movie and entertainment stars and other celebrities (even fictional) are commemorated with pink five pointed stars embedded into pavement. Each star has the name of the honored celebrity and a round bronze emblem indicating the category for which the star was given. The emblems are:

Motion picture camera for contribution to the film industry
Television set for contribution to the broadcast television industry
Phonograph record for contribution to the recording industry
Radio microphone for contribution to the broadcast radio industry
Twin comedy/tragedy masks for contribution to live theater

Hollywood Travel Pictures. Part 2. Hollywood Walk of Fame

Bulgaria Travel Pictures

2008-03-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

Illustrated travel guide to Bulgarian Black Sea coast

Bulgarian black sea coast is a premier summer destination for beach aficionados from around the world. The warm weather and sand beaches offer great resort experience.

Varna is the largest of Bulgarian cities located on the Black Sea coast and a gateway to numerous resort towns further north and south along the coastline.

It also has numerous attractions such as architecture, museums, archaeological sites, parks and recreation areas.

The Dormition of the Theotokos Dormition of the Theotokosis the largest and most famous Bulgarian Orthodox cathedral in the Bulgarian Black Sea port city of Varna and one of the symbols of Varna.
The Stoyan Bachvarov Dramatic Theatre is a theatre in Varna, Bulgaria, founded in 1921 as the Municipal Professional Theatre. It occupies a historic building in the centre of the city designed by Nikola Lazarov It is named after the prominent theatre actor Stoyan Bachvarov.The theatre has a main auditorium, a branch stage and a small auditorium. It has a monthly audience of around 3,500 and features 14 plays at every moment, 6 of which premiere.

There are also remains of ancient roman baths

The main recreation Areas is the Sea Garden which is the oldest and perhaps largest park in town containing an open-air theatre (venue of the International Ballet Competition, opera performances and concerts), an aquarium (opened 1912), a dolphinarium (opened 1984), the Nicolaus Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium, the Museum of Natural History, a terrarium, a zoo, an alpineum, a children's amusement park, and other attractions. There is also a Naval Museum nearby with open air exhibitions of various vessels

If you go north you find Golden Sands, Kranevo, Albena and Balchik. It is easy to get there by local bus from Varna or by taxi.

Golden Sands and Albena are modern world class resorts with high rise hotels with all sort of amenities and night life entertainment such as Dobrudja Hotel.
Kranevo is more quiet family oriented village with small budget hotels. Although it is being rapidly developed into a resort.

Picture below shows an overhead view of Kranevo and Albena. Albena high rises can be seen in top right corner.

The wide long sandy beach is excellent for relaxing under the warm sun. There are also full set of bech activities available. Beach volleyball, parasailing, jet skiing, horseback riding.

There are also more exotic activities available such a sea trip on soviet era amphibian vehicle.

For those travelers who are interested in history and culture numerous sightseeing opportunities exist in the area.

One of them is the Aladja Monastery. It is one of the cave monasteries that existed in 13-14 centuries. Christian monks were hiding in caves carved in sandstone in mountain areas.

There are some wall paintings that survived until present time.

The site is well developed, there is charge to get in. There is a museum and gift store and website

It is located near Golden Sands, you can get there by local bus from Varna to Albena, just tell the driver that you going to Aladja and he will drop you off at intersection were you just need to walk half mile up the road.

Balchik is seaside city north from Varna and Albena. It climbs from seaside up the hills with its narrow winding streets.

The main attraction there is Quiet Nest Palace and Botanical Gardens. It is a former residence of Queen Marie of Romania. It was constructed between 1926 and 1937. The palace complex consists of a number of residential villas, a smoking hall, a wine cellar, a power station, a monastery, a holy spring, a chapel and many other buildings.

Marie of Edinburgh, the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania, visited Balchik in 1921 and liked the location of the summer residence, ordering the vineyards, gardens and water mills of local citizens to be bought so a palace could be constructed at their place. Balkan and Oriental motives were used in the construction of the palace that was carried out by Italian architects Augustino and Americo, while a florist was hired from Switzerland to arrange the park.

The Palace “Quiet Nest” is a modest building constructed upon three terraces combines elements of the Moor style, the Mediterranean architecture and the typical Bulgarian house. The extravagant minaret renders a touch of oriental opulence to the building.

Today many of the former royal villas and other buildings of the complex are reorganized inside and used to accommodate tourists. Some of the older Bulgarian water mills have also been preserved and reconstructed as restaurants or tourist villas.

The Romanian Queen chose a secluded corner to be her eternal rest – a humble stone grave dominated by a cross, brought over from Bessarabia with a short inscription on it, narrating a life history.

The park which is now a botanical garden has waterfalls, stone compositions and numerous ponds with water lilies which was Queen's favorite flower

There is an official website for Palace where more information can be found. There is a charge to visit the place. You need to buy two tickets, one for Palacae, one for the Botanical Gardens