Dubai: memories from the past

_MG_6048 [Dubai: memories from the past]

 

The boat in the picture is a boat-restaurant.

Tourists on board enjoy a night view of Dubai or they take advantage of an opportunity to try a selection of local and international specialties for their evening meals while the boat is on a cruise along Dubai creek.

 

The picture was taken from our boat-restaurant that happened to be moving the opposite direction at that moment.

 

Dubai memories from November 21, 2007

 

Please click on the picture for a better view.

Colchicum bivonae

803_7818 [Colchicum bivonae]

 

This colchicum blooms as soon as we have the first cold in Autumn. So, the fact that the flower above was the only one bivonae I found on my recent visit to Parnitha most probably indicates that cold weather is on the way! [Some sort of primitive Meteorological Service!!!]

 

Beautiful but the whole plant contains colchicine, a poison that Medea used to kill her children in Kolchida! 

 

Photographed on Mt. Parnitha on September 12, 202

 

 

Patroklos and the Milky Way

803_2235 [Patroklos]

 

I had just taken a series of photos of a lunar eclipse over the Temple of Apollo on Cape Sounio [You can see the eclipse here.] and was about to return home when the boats near the little island of Patroklos and their reflections on the water looked tempting to my sleepy eyes at 1:30 in the morning. I confess, I am not strong enough to resist photographic temptations, so I decided to take 1-2 more photos - the last ones - for the night. The stars above were not visible to the human eye but PhotoPills - my mobile photo-advising App - ensured me that part of the Milky Way was still over the little island of Patroklos at that time.

So, I turned my camera towards a new direction and once again yielded to the temptation.

The outcome on the computer screen on the following day reminded me of David’s Psalm that reads:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; The skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

 

Photographed at Sounio on July 27, 2018 

 

Please click on the picture for a better view

 

 

Pancratium maritimum

801_6220 [Pancratium maritimum]

I consider Pancratium maritimum one of the most attractive plants in the Mediterranean countries.

Its large, pure white, trumpet-shaped flowers are of striking beauty and appear from July onwards.

Its leaves, contrary to most flowers, are green in winter but they get dry when the flowers appear.

 

 

302_9242 [Pancratium matitimum]

 

It grows from a bulb which is buried deep into the sand:

a fact that allows the plant to withstand the heat in the hottest months of the year.

 

 

IMG_8712 [Pancratium maritimun]

 

We rarely see single plants emerging from the sand.

Instead, we see it come out in clusters.

 

 

IMG_8674 [Pancratium maritimum]

 

IMG_8699[Pancratium maritimum]

 

The fruit of the plant.

 

 

All photographs were taken at Legrena on various summer dates over the last 3-4 years.