Morituri te Salutant
There were basically two types of shows that filled with public Roman amphitheatres: those where couples or groups of fighters fought each other, known as munera, and those where protagonists were wild beasts facing their hunters or fighting among themselves. Read more See the pictures
Happy New Year 2023
To the 256.280 readers that have visited us along this 2022 now over.
Thanks to everybody for your time and we hope 2023 will be a greater and better year for everyone. Cheers!
Beaumaris, by the window
“L'absence n'est-elle pas la plus certaine, la plus efficace, la plus vivace, la plus indestructible, la plus fidèle des présences?”
Marcel Proust
Stavkirkes, the Dragon Churches
In Denmark and Sweden, as in other Northern Europe regions, old churches progressively replaced by stone buildings, however the tradition of building them out of wood endured in Norway and admirably revived in the 12th century. They are characterized by the lines of their roofs evoking, someway, oriental pagodas with the figures of dragons that stand out in the corners. Read more See the pictures
Ebre's Delta
The accumulation of sediments carried by Ebro River over the centuries has created this great changing space of more than three hundred square kilometres, which, in its wetlands, hosts an abundant wildlife protected by the Natural Park and an agriculture characterized by the rice crops. Read more See the pictures
In Joyce's Tower
Following with the centenary of the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses, today we visit the Martello Tower in Sandycove, south of Dublin, scene of the first chapter of the novel and today converted into a museum dedicated to the memory of the Irish writer. “Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressing gown, ungirdled, was sustained gently-behind him by the mild morning air. He held the bowl aloft and intoned: -Introibo Ad altare Dei”. Read more See the pictures
Joyce's Dublin on Ulysses Centenary
This year marks the first centenary of the publication of Ulysses by the Irish writer James Joyce. A controversial work when it was released, it was not easy to find a complacent publisher and a reading that, at least, requires some attention. In any case, it is a good excuse to tour the Dublin where the action takes place and from which the writer fled. Read more See the pictures
Ulster Murals
Belfast has scars from the Troubles days. Scars as the seventeen sectors separated by walls even today in some areas of the city closings doors at six o'clock in the evening. Read more See the pictures
Tiles of rhe Blessed
Valldemossa, located on the Mallorcan Tramuntana Mountains, is mainly known for its Real Cartuja, the old royal friary. Mallorca’s King Jaime II ordered its construction to his son Sanç in the thirteenth century. In 1399 Martí l'Humà yielded to the Carthusian friars who lived there until the Mendizabal’s secularization in 1835. Visits to the monastery are mainly concentrated in the cell that inhabited Frédéric Chopin and his lover, the French writer George Sand. Read more See the pictures
Il Santo
I gently slide the palm of the hand on the green porphyry surface, as I saw other pilgrims done once walked the line that led to the Ark. I felt neither cold nor heat nor any strange feeling more than the actual feel of marble. I followed the path to the Madonna Mora Chapel towards the Relics circular chapel, behind the high altar. Slowly I climbed the steps to glimpse the golden reliquary containing the remains of the Saint’s incorrupt tongue, chin and larynx cartilage. Read more See the pictures
Venezian Nizioleti
Being postman in Venice, or at least an inexperienced one, may be a kind of nightmare. Streets repeat with some regularity its names are not numbered consecutively. Corresponds, more or less, to the order in time when buildings were raised. The scheme is shared, with the same pattern in each city sestiere –district -. Not surprisingly, after have seen number 500, turn a corner and found number 2000. Or just facing a 500 is found a 700 in the opposite facade in a street that has no more than fifteen gateways. For example, the number 1918 exists in Pignater Street, in the Fondamenta de la Tana, in Bollani courtyard or in the campo San Fantin, in different sestieri. Read more See the pictures
Fascio Architecture
In the years when the Dodecanese was administered by Italy, two architects landed on the island of Leros with the task of developing a new city to house the personnel and services of the naval base. Those were the heydays of rationalist architecture and Art Deco. But also those of Mussolini fascism. Read more See the pictures
Il Cagalibri (The Bookshiter)
Niccolò Tommasèo was a linguist, journalist and essayist, forerunner of the irredentist movement that advocated the incorporation of the eastern Adriatic territories to the 19th century Italy unification process. His featured work was the making of a comprehensive Italian dictionary. His nickname came after a statue raised in Venice. Read more See the pictures
Frenchs in Akaroa
Few kilometres south Christchurch, almost in its outskirts, stands a large volcanic crater open to the sea in its south side. Kai Tahu for Maori, Banks, in recognition of Joseph Banks, naturalist aboard James Cook’s Endeavour, who in February 1770 was wrong to believe that it was an island rather than the peninsula actually is. In the cove, a perfect natural harbour, sits the quiet town of Akaroa which houses its six hundred inhabitants. Read more See the pictures
The Island of God Bes
Ybshm or Iboshim was the name given by the Phoenicians to Ibiza. It means the Island of God Bes, a dwarf and paunchy god that was imported from the East, from the Egyptian pantheon. Bes was a benevolent and protective god associated with good luck, which seem to adore the new idol worshipers who, in season, cram discos and nightclubs, the current temples of Ibiza. Read more See the pictures
Jordaan
This neighbourhood located to the west of the Dutch city has gone from being an inhospitable slum to a desired residential area exempt of the tourist massification of the urban centre along a slow process of gentrification. Read more See the pictures
Haiku Masters
Poets, sensitive writers, haiku composers… they are countless in Japan. These are just a few, although the most relevant, among those who cultivated this brief genre, even before it existed as such. Read more See the gallery
The Last Dogaressa
Venier dei Leoni palace overlooks the Grand Canal waters between Da Mula Morosini mansion and the damn Ca Dario. It does not stand out precisely for its height, it is the only one on one floor among its neighbours, however, it houses an outstanding collection of contemporary art, that of Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979), whom the Venetians fondly called l’ultima dogaressa, the last duchess. Read more See the pictures
A Cup of Tea close to the Heaven
It could be said Nuwara Eliya is an unusual place in the heart of Sri Lanka and in the warm southern Asia. That’s why is one of the few towns on the island where to buy a raincoat or a sweater, and, moreover, it must be used. Read more See the pictures
Black Gold
Each time I look at her silently I have the same sentence in my thoughts: my Goodness, she’s so good! Before I have been watching quietly, catching every small detail, with the certain imminent hedonistic pleasure, with the same calm with which she becomes full, and knowing the subtle and deep colour she reflects in the gloom, a dark ruby shadow. The ceremony how I gently bow her with the left hand while the right gently caress. The patient waiting before slowly bringing her closer to my lips. The nice black velvet bitter taste that transpires. And it all started with a muffled scream among the crowd. Read more See the pictures
Molokai
- Who? Jack ... who??
- London, Jack London.
And the man turned his back and not even bothering to say goodbye or look back he opened the door and left away. As briefly as he came.
Visions of Paris
On this month of August 41 years have gone from the first of the visions of Paris, a simple envelope with its stamps and postmarks printed in a small post office near Étoile. Follows the urge to evacuate the bladder periodically in the French capital and the memories that pile up one on top of the other, sometimes in no apparent order. They are particular visions. They are my visions of Paris. Read more See the pictures
Collioure’s Belfry
At Boramar’s beach northern tip, Notre Dame des Anges church bell tower is the main landmark of Côte Vermeille most visited town. It does not only show the hours, it has also marked the rhythm of the changes town has lived along history. Read more See the pictures
The Straits Settlements
Malacca and Sunda Straits or simply the Straits, separates peninsular Malaysia from the great island of Sumatra and concentrated most of the trade between India and China, between the East and the West. Even today it is a major naval artery where piracy is still present. One hundred and ten incidents were reported in 2004. The British Empire tried to control its waters through three major ports: Penang, Malacca and Singapore. Read more See the pictures
Satori in Brest
The word Satori, in Japanese, means understanding, comprehension. Also, in Zen Buddhism is applied at the time of deep and ultimate enlightenment. A clairvoyant instant related to creation and discovery. And that happened in a taxi! Or maybe the reason could have been the Brest foggy streets, or a waiter who firmly felt that Paris was rotten or a Mozart requiem heard in Saint Germain des Prés. Perhaps it was everything. Read more See the pictures
Sahel's Pearl
Farhat Hached square distributes a little bit the city human traffic. Send some to the station where they took trains to the nearby Monastir or farther and away, towards Tunisia. Others expect traffic lights change to speed towards the northern beaches or Port el Kantauri and yet there are those who, without haste, head their steps to the streets of Sousse Medina, the pearl of the Sahel. Read more See the pictures
London's Two Most Unfortunate Years
In the seventeenth century two fateful years were inscribed in the history of the British capital hurting mercilessly its population and its goods. It was 1665, the year of the Plague followed by that of the Great Fire, 1666. Read more See the pictures
Beer's Madonna
The Bank House is a small bed and breakfast strategically located on the main street of Beer. The affable Bob Pearse every morning gently bend over backwards to serve the full English breakfast, i.e. two eggs any style, bacon, sausage, beans, mushrooms and tomatoes, usually parboiled or fried. Coffee or tea. The house has three rooms for guests, so in season is easy to find in the window next to the front door and under the Union Jack and Devon flag, a sign stating simply: no vacancies. Read more See the pictures
Sa Penya and Erwin Broner
Sa Penya means nothing else than the Rock and is the name of a neighbourhood looking out over the port of Ibiza. Here disembarked, in the mid-fifties, the architect Erwin Broner. Read more See the pictures
The Grand Duchy
When in the tenth century Sigfried Count exchanged some lands in the Ardennes for a rocky ledge between the Alzette and Petrusse rivers to build a fortress, he couldn’t imagine how it would grow. Bastions and casemates turned the rock into a gruyere that would be nicknamed the Gibraltar of the North. It is Luxembourg.
Caldes Modern Style Spas
In Roman times, the hot springs invited the creation of a town, Aqvae Calidae, today Caldes de Malavella. Its waters continue to be exploited, both for treatments and for bottling water. Between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, they attracted the attention of wealthy families who built summer residences following the architectural currents of the time: Art Nouveau or Modern Style. Read more See the pictures
A Wall's Piece
Thirty years have gone since the fall of the one hundred fifty-five kilometres of concrete wall that split for almost three decades the current German capital. Before November 9, 1989, the day the border between the Federal and the Democratic Republic was opened, no one would believe that the Berlin wall could be put up for sale. Read more See the pictures
Antigone
Sophocles’ classic tragedy gave name to a newly created neighbourhood east of Montpellier’s old town; a reinterpretation of the architectural classicism that emerged in the late seventies from the Catalan architect Ricard Bofill’s workshop. Read more See the pictures
Ένα μηδέν ένα (101)
An anthology of contemporary Greek poetry, the number of a hotel room and other diverse coincidences make up a kind of casuistry, a dose of Hellenistic serendipity. Read more See the pictures
Lewis Chess
Lewis is the largest of the Hebrides Islands, west of Scotland and, even to the west of it, in the Bay of Uig, a curious treasure was found in 1831. Seventy-eight outstanding 12th century chess pieces carved in ivory. Read more See the pictures
A Walk around Philopappos
Athenian Acropolis faces a large green area which, in the heart of the Greek capital, becomes a relaxed space where walk away from the urban bustle and beneath the shade of holm oaks and cypress trees. It is Philopappos Hill. From here there are privileged views over the Parthenon, Athens and even up to the waters of the Saronic Gulf, in the Aegean. Read more See the pictures
Notte a Burano
The night radically changes the appearance of Burano. With the last vaporetto returning to Venice disappear all the visitors who had filled the streets throughout the day. Read more See the pictures
