The real-life locations for Game Of Thrones

Stunning locations where TV’s smash hit swords and sorcery show is filmed

There are actually very few people who haven’t heard about the Game of Thrones, the American fantasy-drama television series, based on A Song of Ice and Fire novels written by George R. R. Martin. The story follows nine noble families who fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros. But though the plot is set in a fictional world, the locations where the series is filmed are real-life ones. From Northern Ireland to Malta, Croatia, Morocco and Iceland the settings of ice and fire have become popular places to visit with the cult programme’s fans.

The following photos have recently been published on the  Daily Mail:

The beech tree lined road is known as the Dark Hedges to locals near Stanocum in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

 But to fans of Game of Thrones it will be more recognisable as the Kings Road and the Dark Hedges of Armoy.

 The Stangford Castle Ward Estate and the Castle Ward tower stands proudly in County Down, Northern Ireland.

In Game of Thrones the castle towers are transformed into Winterfell, where the head of House Stark rules over his people.

The limestone Azure Window, in Gozo, Malta, was used for filming in the first season.

The archway provided the backdrop for Daenerys and Khal Drogo’s wedding in season one of Game of Thrones.

The Minceta Tower and fortification is a UNESCO World Heritage site on the Dalmatian Coast in Dubrovnik.

The House of the Undying, the site of the season two finale, was the real-life Minceta Tower.

The Ounila River and the red citadel of Ait-Ben-Haddou in Morocco impressed the Game of Thrones producers.

It provided the setting for the fictional city of Yunkai, featured in the third season of the Game of Thrones.

For the icy scenes, programme makers favoured the Hverfjall volcano in the Lake Myvatin region of Northern Iceland.

It is also recognisable as the Beyond the Wall area, the large area of Westeros in the hit show.

These and many more photos along with a video about the making of season 4 can be found on Dailymail/Game-Of-Thrones-Stunning-locations 

Announcement

ΕΚΘΕΣΗ ΜΑΘΗΤΩΝ ΤΟΥ ΤΜΗΜΑΤΟΣ ΕΙΚΑΣΤΙΚΩΝ

ΤΗΣ ΣΧΟΛΗΣ ΤΟΥ Φ.Σ. «ΠΑΡΝΑΣΣΟΣ»

Την Παρασκευή 13 Ιουνίου 2014 και ώρα 19:00 θα γίνουν

τα εγκαίνια της έκθεσης των μαθητών Σχεδίου και Ζωγραφικής,
στην αίθουσα εκθέσεων του Φ.Σ. «Παρνασσός»,
πλατεία Αγ. Γεωργίου Καρύτση 8.

Η έκθεση θα διαρκέσει μέχρι την Παρασκευή 20 Ιουνίου και θα είναι ανοικτή στο κοινό από Δευτέρα μέχρι Παρασκευή, 10:00 – 13:00.

Την ημέρα των εγκαινίων το Σύνολο «Κέλσος» θα παρουσιάσει φωνητική και οργανική μουσική του 17^ου αιώνα, με όργανα εποχής.

April Fools' Day

April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day, is a notable day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by hoaxes and jokes. There are many theories concerning its origin but the most prevailing one is that April 1 was counted the first day of the year in France. When King Charles IX changed that to January 1, some people stayed with April 1. Those who did were called "April Fools" and were taunted by their neighbours.

Among the Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time
(as judged by notoriety, creativity, and number of people duped) are the following:

#1: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

1957: The respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter, Swiss farmers were enjoying a spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with a video of Swiss peasants pulling spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, "Place some spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best".

#8: The Left-Handed Whopper

1998: Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to ask for the new sandwich. Also, according to the press release, "many others asked for their own 'right handed' version.

#11: UFO Lands in London

1989: On March 31, 1989 thousands of drivers outside London looked up in the air to see a flying saucer descending on their city. Many of them stopped to watch the strange craft in the air. The saucer finally landed in a field where local people immediately called the police to warn them of an alien invasion. Soon the police arrived on the scene, and one brave officer approached the craft. When a door opened, and a small, silver-suited figure emerged, the policeman ran in the opposite direction. The saucer turned out to be a hot-air balloon that had been specially built to look like a UFO by Richard Branson, the 36-year-old chairman of Virgin Records. The stunt combined his passion for ballooning with his love of pranks. His plan was to land the craft in London's Hyde Park on April 1.

#12: Flying Penguins

2008: The BBC announced that camera crews filming near the Antarctic for its natural history series Miracles of Evolution had filmed penguins flying in the air. It even offered a video clip of these flying penguins, which became one of the most viewed videos on the internet. Presenter Terry Jones explained that these penguins took to the air and flew thousands of miles to the rainforests of South America. A follow-up video explained how the BBC created the special effects of the flying penguins.

Forthcoming Exams - kpg

It has just been announced by the Ministry of Education that the Exams for A (A1 & A2), B (B1 & B2) and C (C1 & C2) levels of KPG will take place on the 10^th & 11^th May 2014. You can register from Tuesday, 4 March to Friday, 14 March. As for the exam fees, you should pay 60 euros for A level, 80 euros for B level exams & 100 euros for C level exams.

For more information please visit:

kpg-May2014

The highwayman - A love story

As a treat on Valentine’s day I’d like to remind you of Alfred Noyes’s poem talking about a doomed love.

You can watch it…

You can read …

The Highwayman (by Alfred Noyes)

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.   

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.   

The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,   

And the highwayman came riding— riding— riding.

The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

He’d a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,   

a coat of  claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin.

They fitted with never a wrinkle. His boots were up to the thigh.   

And he rode with a jewelled twinkle, his pistol butts a-twinkle,

his rapier hilt a twinkle, under the jewelled sky.

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard.

He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred.   

He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there   

but the landlord’s black-eyed daughter,Bess, the landlord’s daughter,

plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked

Where Tim the ostler listened. His face was white and peaked.   

His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,   

But he loved the landlord’s daughter,The landlord’s red-lipped daughter.

Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—

“One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I’m after a prize tonight,

But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;

Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,

then look for me by moonlight, Watch for me by moonlight,

I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.”

He rose upright in the stirrups. He scarce could reach her hand,

But she loosened her hair in the casement. His face burnt like a brand

As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;   

And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,

(O, sweet black waves in the moonlight!)

Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.

He did not come in the dawning. He did not come at noon;   

And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon, 

when the road was a gypsy’s ribbon, looping the purple moor,   

a red-coat troop came marching—marching—marching.

King George’s men came marching, up to the old inn-door.

They said no word to the landlord. They drank his ale instead.   

But they gagged his daughter, and bound her, to the foot of her narrow bed.

Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!   

There was death at every window; And hell at one dark window;

for Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.

They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest.

They had bound a musket beside her, with the muzzle beneath her breast!

“Now, keep good watch!” and they kissed her. She heard the doomed man say—

Look for me by moonlight;

         Watch for me by moonlight;

I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!

She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!

She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!   

They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years

Till, now, on the stroke of midnight, Cold, on the stroke of midnight,

The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horsehoofs ringing clear;   

Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?

Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,

The highwayman came riding— riding— riding.

The red coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still.

Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!   

Nearer he came and nearer. Her face was like a light.

Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,   

Then her finger moved in the moonlight,

Her musket shattered the moonlight,

Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death.

He turned. He spurred to the west; he did not know who stood   

Bowed, with her head o’er the musket, drenched with her own blood!   

Not till the dawn he heard it, and his face grew grey to hear   

How Bess, the landlord’s daughter, the landlord’s black-eyed daughter,

had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

Back, he spurred like a madman, shouting a curse to the sky,

With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high.

Blood red were his spurs in the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat;

When they shot him down on the highway, down like a dog on the highway,

And he lay in his blood on the highway, with a bunch of lace at his throat.

And still of a winter’s night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,

When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,   

When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,   

A highwayman comes riding— riding— riding.

A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

Or you can listen to Loreena Mckennitt singing it

In Our Time

In Our Time is a successful radio series on BBC Radio 4. Melvyn Bragg, the presenter, and his expert guests discuss the history of ideas, and explore subjects in culture and science.

Apart from being really interesting to listen to the show in real time, an important feature is that you can go back and explore the archive of all the previous discussions. So you are actually given the opportunity to download previous episodes and listen to them when and where you want. Finally, while on a topic, you are offered a list of related links and further reading suggestions.

If you want to get an idea, click on the following link to listen to the episode that the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm are discussed.

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, The Brothers Grimm

A unique and weird painter

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (also spelled Arcimboldi) (1526 or 1527 – July 11, 1593) was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of such objects as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books – that is, he painted representations of these objects on the canvas arranged in such a way that the whole collection of objects formed a recognizable likeness of the portrait subject.

At a distance, his portraits looked like normal human portraits. However, individual objects in each portrait were actually overlapped together to make various anatomical shapes of a human. They were carefully constructed by his imagination. Besides, when he assembled objects in one portrait, he never used random objects. Each object was related by characterization.  In the portrait called The Librarian, Arcimboldo used objects that signified the book culture at that time, such as the curtain that created individual study rooms in a library. The animal tails, which became the beard of the portrait, were used as dusters. By using everyday objects, the portraits were decoration and still-life paintings at the same time.

His portraits were greatly admired by his contemporaries and still remain a source of fascination today.. 

The "Four seasons" and the "Four elements" are among his best known paintings.

Here you can watch a short video about Arcimboldo and his unique style of portraiture: