Xanthos

Who is Online

Details: Written by: Richard_McKie; Parent Category: Travel; Category: Middle East; Published: 25 December 2019; Hits: 21606

Article Index

Page 6 of 13

The ancient city of Xanthos was on our way. This was once an important Lycian centre conquered by the Persians and then by Alexander the Great, after which it became Hellenised.
It was later occupied by the Romans and in due course became the seat of a Byzantine bishopric. After Constantinople fell to the Turks in the 15th century it declined and was eventually abandoned. Most of the ruins, including the theatre, are from the Roman/Byzantine period, although a small Greek temple from here is in the British Museum. The site is now under desultory restoration, no doubt with tourism in mind so we can expect a demand for the return of the temple.

The ruins of the ancient city of Xanthos - under restoration one stone at a time - Rome wasn't built in a day

No comments

Travel

Ireland

In October 2018 we travelled to Ireland. Later we would go on to England (the south coast and London) before travelling overland (and underwater) by rail to Belgium and then on to Berlin to visit our grandchildren there.

The island of Ireland is not very big, about a quarter as large again as Tasmania, with a population not much bigger than Sydney (4.75 million in the Republic of Ireland with another 1.85 million in Northern Ireland). So it's mainly rural and not very densely populated.

It was unusually warm for October in Europe, including Germany, and Ireland is a very pleasant part of the world, not unlike Tasmania, and in many ways familiar, due to a shared language and culture.

Fiction, Recollections & News

Bonfire (Cracker) Night

We children were almost overcome with excitement. There had been months of preparation. Tree lopping and hedge trimmings had been saved; old newspapers and magazines stacked into fruit boxes; a couple of old tyres had been kept; and the long dangerously spiky lower fronds from the palm trees were neatly stacked; all in preparation.

Opinions and Philosophy

Electric Cars revisited (again)

Electric vehicles like: trams; trains; and electric: cars; vans; and busses; all assist in achieving better air quality in our cities. Yet, to the extent that the energy they consume is derived from our oldest energy source, fire: the potential toxic emissions and greenhouse gasses simply enter the atmosphere somewhere else.

Back in 2005 I calculated that in Australia, due to our burning coal, oil and sometimes rural waste and garbage, to generate electricity, grid-charged all-electric electric cars had a higher carbon footprint than conventional cars.

In 2019, with a lot of water under the bridge; more renewables in the mix; and much improved batteries; I thought it was worth a revisit. I ran the numbers, using more real-world data, including those published by car companies themselves. Yet I got the same result: In Australia, grid-charged all-electric cars produce more greenhouse gasses than many conventional cars for the same distance travelled.

Now, in the wake of COP26, (November 2021), with even more water under the bridge, the promotion of electric cars is back on the political agenda. Has anything changed?

Terms of Use

Terms of Use Copyright