# The World from Above



## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*October 23, 2019*

8:29 am. I’m still in awe at the humongous size and beauty of the new Istanbul airport as the plane pulls away from the terminal:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

8:33 am. I have spent the entire 2 hours between my flights simply moving between two neighboring concourses, and taking pictures of this wonder of architecture and civil engineering:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

8:34 am. The new airport was opened in April 2019, 6 months before my passage, to replace Ataturk airport as the main one serving the city, since the latter couldn’t be expanded anymore to deal with the ever increasing traffic:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

8:35 am. Its opening will cement the status of Istanbul as one of the busiest global air transit hubs, and one can see in the number of planes taxiing before us (right side)…


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

8:36 am. And behind us, how unrelenting the traffic here is:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

8:38 am. One of the new airport’s drawbacks is the increased time needed to taxi from the runway to the terminal, and vice-versa:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

8:50 am. Finally, more than 20 minutes after the plane has started taxiing, we are airborne again. In the back we can see Lake Durusu (a):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 1*
Which satisfies 20% of the water needs of Istanbul:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)




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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 2*
8:51 am. Soon we leave behind the Black Sea coast, with the cape of Karaburun (Turkish for “Black Cape”) just behind the motor, and Lake Durusu in the back:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 3*
8:52 am. Lake Durusu was once a lagoon, but is today a freshwater lake, separated from the Black Sea by a 700-meter-wide strip:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 4*
9:00 am. A little later we cross over land again, flying over Kırklareli Province:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 5*
The north and northeastern parts of the province, seen here, are among the least populated parts of Turkey:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 6*
9:01 am. The city of Kırklareli itself (a), capital of the province, soon becomes visible:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 7*
9:02 am. Two artificial lakes are slightly visible on either side of the city (b): the Kırklareli reservoir (a) and the Kayaliköy reservoir (c):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 8*
9:03 am. This part of the country is largely covered with forests:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 9*
9:05 am. We pass yet another artificial lake, the Süloğlu reservoir (a), before crossing over to Bulgaria:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 10*
9:06 am:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 11*
9:07 am:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 12*
9:08 am:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)




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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 13*
9:10 am. The southeast part of Bulgaria is covered by a sea of clouds, through which poke the steam columns emanating from the cooling towers of the large Maritsa Iztok power plant complex. Located in a large lignite coal basin, the complex consists of three lignite-fired thermal power stations: Maritsa Iztok-1 (a), Maritsa Iztok-2 (b) and Maritsa Iztok-3 (c):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 14*
9:11 am. Maritsa Iztok-2 in particular (hidden by the motor) is the largest single thermal power plant in the Balkans, and is ranked by the European Environment Agency as the industrial facility causing the highest damage costs to health and the environment in Bulgaria and the entire European Union:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 15*
9:17 am. A little later, we start flying over the foothills of the Balkan mountains, which cross Bulgaria from east to west, and give their name to the entire Balkan peninsula:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 16*
9:18 am. Passing over the city of Karlovo (a), famous for its rose oil, and the neighboring town of Sopot (b):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 17*
9:19 am. Both located at the foothills of Botev peak, the highest in the Balkan mountains:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 18*
9:20 am. We can faintly see the Pyasachnik reservoir (a) on the plateau between the Balkan and the Rhodope mountains (in the far back):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 19*
9:21 am. This part of the mountains is dominated by copper mining, as can be seen from the tailings ponds of mines (a) and the Pirdrop copper smelter (b):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 20*
9:22 am. The smelter (a) is located between the towns of Pirdop and Zlatista:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 21*
9:23 am. A little further ahead we get a better view of the tailings ponds (a and b), as well as the Elatsite copper mine (c), located above the town of Etropole (d):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 22*
9:28 am. I take the last shot of Bulgaria while flying above the city of Vratsa. The Vratsa Balkan natural park is visible in the center (b), while in the back beneath the smog is the capital Sofia (a):


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Interesting, very nice thread, cat


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)




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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 1*
9:33 am. We cross onto Serbia. The city of Pirot (a) can be seen in the center of the picture, with the Beleva mountain (c) next to it, and the Zavoj reservoir (b) at the bottom left:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 2*
9:34 am. A little further ahead is the town of Bela Palanka (a), with the Suva Planina mountain (b) rising above it:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 3*
9:35 am. The Suva Planina (a) extends further west:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 4*
9:37 am. And reaches Niš (a), the 3rd largest city in Serbia and the birthplace of 3 Roman emperors. The city is served by Constantine the Great airport (b), the country’s 2nd busiest after Nikola Tesla airport:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 5*
9:49 am. We continue flying over Serbia’s mountainous south and past the Zlatar reservoir (a), reaching the fog-drenched valley of the Lim river (b), which forms the border with Bosnia:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 6*
9:50 am. The borders of Montenegro are not far behind the narrow valley, and the column of steam visible in the back comes from the Pljevlja power plant (a), which produces a third of Montenegro’s electricity:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 7*
9:52 am. In the foreground, the Lim river valley continues in an east-west direction, while in the back are the Pljevlja power plant (a) and Bobotov Kuk (b), one of Montenegro’s highest mountains at 2,523 meters:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)




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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 6*
11:48 am. Leaving the Garonne (b) east of us, we continue our descent in a southeasterly direction, passing the village of Aucamville (a):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 7*
11:49 am. Then the town of Grenade (c), situated west of the Garonne (a), and surrounded by several quarry ponds (b, d):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 8*
11:50 am. Located southwest of Grenade (a) is the Marianne hippodrome (b), which is among the largest ones in the Haute-Garonne department:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 9*
11:50 am. More ponds (b) can be seen behind the Garonne (a), among which a large one (c) belonging to the Domaine de Borde Blanque event venue, while part of the town of Merville (d) is visible on the right:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 10*
11:52 am. The last town we fly over is Aussonne. In the back, we can see the golf course of Toulouse Seilh (a), and the north part of the Toulouse urban area (b):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 11*
11:52 am. Southeast of Aussonne is a large wooded area, and further southeast the Toulouse exhibition and congress center (MEETT), nearing completion (c):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 12*
11:52 am. A better view of MEETT (a) can be enjoyed here. Across the road is the Aeroscopia aviation museum (b) and the huge hangar housing the Airbus 380 final assembly line (c):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 13*
11:53 am. The hangar is part of the Airbus factory Jean-Luc Lagardere, located just north of Blagnac airport:


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 14*
11:53 am. The first part of the airport that we see is the maintenance site of Air France and its client companies (a):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

We touch down at Blagnac at about 11:54am, with the terminal to our left (northeast):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

Turning east to leave the runway, we get this beautiful view of the whole terminal, with halls a,b, c, and d, and the ATC tower (e):


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

While to the other side is the other Airbus factory at Saint Martin du Touch. Welcome back to Toulouse, the European capital of aeronautical industry!


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Great, very nice updates once again, cat


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

I'm back!
Here are now a series of old aerial pictures, taken between 2000 and 2007 when I used to travel between Lebanon and Greece, sometimes through Cyprus. Most of them are of mediocre quality, as I only had a simple analog camera back then and scanning them reduced the quality even further, but hopefully you will still find them interesting.


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 1*
Preparing to land in Beirut on a winter day. The campus of the AUB university, the country’s oldest and one of the most prestigious in the Middle East, can be seen in the foreground (1), as well as the city’s famed seaside promenade, known as the Corniche (2), while further in the back is the large area of land reclaimed on what used to be the Normandie landfill (3), created just west of the port during the civil war years, and yet to be fully redeveloped. The huge white structure further back (4) is the port's grain elevator which has become a worldwide icon of the August 4, 2020 tragedy, pictured still standing amidst an area of complete devastation.


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 1*
Further south, the most discernible structure is the Camille Chamoun stadium (1), the city’s largest. In the foreground, we can see the southernmost part of Ramleh el Baida (“The White Sand”) beach, also the city’s largest (2), then the Kempinski Summerland Hotel and Resort (3), and finally a small part of the extensive slums (4) lining the coastline all the way until the airport.


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 1*
On takeoff, which is usually done from the other runway, a view of the city from a different angle can be enjoyed. The airport with its two intersecting runways (the third one in the middle is nowadays only used as a taxiway) can be seen in the right half of the picture.


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 1*
The passenger terminal, rebuilt in 1998, is clearly visible (1).


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## WasabiHoney (Jan 31, 2011)

*Map: 1*
North of the airport, one can recognize the Camille Chamoun stadium (1) and the Beirut golf course (2).


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