Chikmagalur is located in a lush valley south of the Babu-Budan range. The district houses fascinating monuments of all religions - the Kondadarama Temple, a beautiful blend of Hoysala and Dravidian styles of architecture, the Jamia Mosque and the new St. Joseph's Cathedral with an attractive shell-shaped portico. Hiremagalur which is now a part of Chikmagalur town has an Ishwara Temple with a 1.22 metre high, intriguing figure of Jademuni. The temple also houses a Yoopastambha, believed to be installed by King Janamejaya, during his serpent sacrifice. An ancient fort and its moat are the other places of interest.
The Goree Island (meaning good harbor in French) is 3.5 kms off the coast of Dakar, Senegal (measuring 27 hectares or 900 meters by 300 meters). The island has 1,800 inhabitants (1,000 Christians and 800 Moslims). This island has no car or no crime. Between 15 th to 19 th century, it was the largest slave trading center on the Africa coast. It is estimated that 2 Million Africans were shipped or passed through the island to work in the plantations in Europe and the Americas. Ruled earlier by Portugese, Dutch, English and French, it continues to remind us of human exploitation (slave trading). As I understand, 1.2 to 2.0 Million Africans died during the transport. The small fort called slave house was built in 1776. This house of slave ( Maison des Esclaves) on Goree Island and the story is that millions of African slaves passed through the house's “Door of No Return”, facing the west across the Atlantic ocean. The slave houses had 150 to 2...