Pass by German Aachen Cathedral continue… September 16, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Europe, France, Germany, Greece, Hotels, Ireland, Istanbul, Italy, Jerusalem, London, Museum, Paris, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour , 3commentsAmong the classical texts translated at Aachen was the highly influential treatise by the first- century Bc Roman architect Vitruvius Pollio, in which the principles and traditions of earlier architecture, secular and sacred, were incorporated. The palace chapel can be seen to be essentially Vitruvian in nature. It followed Vitruvius’ octagonal scheme (which involved geomantic consideration of the ‘eight winds’). (more…)
Backpacking in Mani continue… August 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Europe, Greece, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trip, Vaccinations , 3commentsAnother memorable walk was the nine kilometres from Yerolimena to Vitheia. This is the deep Mani, almost as far south as one can go on mainland Greece. The road passes through a landscape dotted with crumbling towers, those ‘brooding castellations’ which are the most striking feature of the region. It was from their gaunt tower houses that the feuding Maniot families of the eighteenth century bombarded each other with musket, cannon and rock, while a cowed population of serfs crept from their semi-troglodyte hovels between the fusillades. (more…)
Backpacking in Mani August 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Greece, Hotels, Tickets, Tour, Vaccinations , 3commentsFive hundred drachmas for the room: the matter was soon settled. Just over £3 for a generous bed, a vine-clad balcony with a splash of bougainvillea, two lemon trees in the garden below, and a view over olives to the sea — not a bad deal. Then the old lady took me firmly by the arm and led me into the bathroom. She pointed to a large hole in the ceiling. The sight of it seemed to provoke in her a torrent of recrimination. She spoke fast, too fast for my rudimentary Greek. What was she trying to convey? ‘You can’t get a plumber these days, not for love nor money. “You simply can’t trust the workmen any more, can you?’ Together we contemplated a knotted cord dangling from the black hole. Ipárhi Fero zestó?’ I persisted tiresomely, ‘Is the water hot?”Zestó, zestó,’ she echoed shrilly, irritated by a fatuous question, and launched into another dramatic monologue with a wealth of expressive gestures. Then suddenly she was gone, leaving me to ponder along the unpredictable and intractable nature of language as a medium of communication. (more…)
Greece Delphi: the Sacred Centre, the Navel of the World August 8, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Cars, Destination, Greece, Museum, Tour, Trails, Trip , 4commentsWorld Heritage List Number 157 Archaeology, Consciousness, Energies, Gemancy, Myth
This is the site from which the term originally derives: in myth, Delphi is the sacred centre, the navel of the world. Plutarch, the famous priest of Apollo at Delphi, recorded that the legend was that Zeus sent out two eagles (the birds associated with Zeus) from each extremity of the Earth. Where their flight paths crossed, at Delphi, was the centre of the world. In other versions, it is swans or ravens (Apollo’s birds) that are sent out to find the geomantic centre. This legend is the reason archaic depictions of omphaloi often have two birds perched on them facing in opposite directions (although Robert K. G. Temple has argued that they refer to a pigeon- carrier message system between chief oracles of the ancient world‘). (more…)
Secret and Scared Ancient Greece Places: World Heritage Epidaurus continue… August 5, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Greece, Hotels, Istanbul , 3commentsSouthwest of the temple are the remains of a curious rotunda-like building known as the Tholos, also described on the stele. This was built very shortly after the temple, perhaps in 360. It stood on a platform three steps high, had 26 Doric columns around its outer side and 14 beautiful marble columns forming an interior colonnade. The foundations of three inner walls seem to have formed a labyrinth, above which was a chequered pavement arranged in a spiral. The purpose of the building is unknown, but reasonable suggestions have been made that it housed a sacred well or snake pit. (more…)
Secret and Scared Ancient Greece Places: World Heritage Epidaurus August 5, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Cairo, Egypt, Europe, Greece, Hotels, Museum, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Travel Gear, Trip , 3commentsWorld Heritage list number 158 Consciousness, Evolved, Geomancy, Myth
The ruined sites of the Sanctuary of Aesculapius (Asklepios), or the Hieron of Epidaurus (Epidavros), is situated in an isolated valley between Mount Velanidhia (the ancient Titthion) to the northeast and Mount Kharani (the old Kynortion) to the southeast, in the vicinity of Ligourio on the Peloponnese Peninsula across the Saronic Gulf from Piraeus and Athens. (more…)
Mount Tai Shan, Five Peaks, one of the Nine Sacred Mountains of China continue… July 27, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Airlines, Cars, Destination, England, Greece, Hotels, Malaysia, Sightseeing, Sweden, Trails, Trip, Venezuela, Wales , 4commentsShortly after midnight, a monk with a lantern awoke them with the cry: ‘The Bodhisattva has appeared!’ They threw on their clothes, their teeth chattering with the cold, the excitement, or both, and they scrambled across the temple courtyard and mounted to the tower. As they entered they found themselves facing one of the windows looking out on the vastness of the space beyond. Everyone gasped in surprise — none of them was prepared for what they saw. Numerous orange spheres of light where floating ‘majestically’ through the darkness of the mountain night beyond the window. (more…)
Climbing, Riding, Sightseeing Midnight on Mont Blanc continue… July 2, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Cars, Europe, Germany, Greece, Hostels, London, Memorial, Mexico, Motel, New York, Travel Insurance, Travelling Bag, USA , 3commentsBernie pulled on the rope and cursed me for stopping; I plodded on. My feet hurt.
Four days later, the train heaved its way out of the valley towards the end of the Bionnassay Glacier. Through the glass I stared at the pine trees and the brilliant meadow flowers. The carriage filled with the perfume of tourists, up for the day, and the sweat of climbers, rucksacks balanced on their knees, all heading for the Blanc. When the track wound alongside a cliff the small girl sitting opposite looked out in disbelief as the trees gave way to nothing. She pulled her eyes away in fear and looked around the train — the view there was worse, rucksacks, hairy knees, ice-axes, unshaven climbers lost in contemplation of the weather.
We arrived at the top station and the train disgorged. Tourists wandered slowly across to the cafe or to the viewing platform from which they could look up at the great bleak sweep of the mountain opposite. Down the valley the world became more sane, as the stone desert below the glacier gave way to meadows and woodland. (more…)
My Perugia Travel Diary continue… June 19, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Aquarium, Art Gallery, Asia, China, Coliseum, Denmark, Destination, Dolphinarium, Egypt, England, Europe, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Gymnasium, Iceland, Istanbul, Italy, Library, Memorial, Morocco, Museum, Norway, Oceanarium, Paris, Planetarium, Poland, Restaurant, Round The World, The Nile , add a commentMass cremation pits containing ashes and charred bones indicate that he feared a plague, but Carthaginian skeletons with all their teeth have been disinterred as well as the tombs, yielding cataphracts as well as bones, of thirty Carthaginian nobles.
Spello, the most appealing of the Umbrian hill towns, is still enclosed by Roman walls with five gates, the main one bearing the legend “Splendidissima Colonic Julia Hispellum” over the arch. According to Spellan tradition, a phallus carved in the inner wall of the Porta Urbica does not celebrate Orlando’s (Roland’s) amatory prowess but the range and perfect arc of his actus mingendi. Spello is noted for its restaurants and truffled cooking, its steep, winding, and narrow streets—all one-way only—its Roman towers and amphitheater. A Vocabolaro del Dialetto Spellano, compiled by NicolettaUgoccioni and published here last year, contains, at a thumb-through guess, 20,000 words in current usage—by a population of only 6,800. (more…)
The Doge’s Palace continue… May 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Greece, Museum, Paris , add a commentLinking the palace to St Mark’s basilica is the Porta della Carta, the main entrance to the courtyard. (The name of the gateway seems to derive from a later custom of fixing public notices on to it.) Its richly carved decoration (begun in 1438) was designed by Bartolomeo Bon and his son Giovanni. The central panel of the doge Francesco Foscari kneeling before the Lion of St Mark was renewed in the 19th century, after its destruction during the Napoleonic occupation of Venice; but the figures of Justice, Strength, Temperance, Prudence, Charity and of St Mark are all original works of the early Renaissance style in Venice. In its original state, the surface of the gateway was richly coloured, with blue and gold predominating. (more…)
The Alhambra: Cool courtyards of the Moorish kings overlooking Granada May 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Airlines, Beach Resorts, Cars, Destination, Greece, Hostels, Hotels, India, Library, Lodges, Memorial, Motel, Museum, Travel Insurance, USA , add a commentIt is the imaginative setting of the Alhambra which stars the originality of the Arabs and not only demonstrates them as being decorators of genius but, above all, eminent poets in the siting of their fortresses. Seen from the heights above Albaicin, the rectangular geometry of the twenty or more towers shows a magnificent Cezanne-like rhythm of descent down to the ravine below. Though sharp black stabs of tall cypress trees give some hint of the many hidden courtyards, yet for all its intricacies the Alhambra remains secret and even austere, as compared with any trellised and domed rose-pink Moghul palace. Together with the gardens of the Generalife, the setting of this unique citadel is further enhanced by a magnificent backdrop — the perpetual white-capped brilliance of the Sierra Nevada, shimmering against the cloudless turquoise sky. (more…)
Corfu: The place erected in honour of St Michael and St George continue… April 21, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Beach Resorts, Credit Card, Greece, Hotels, Lodges, Memorial , add a commentIt comes therefore as a surprise to learn that the architect was a British soldier. Colonel (afterwards General Sir George) Whitmore was an officer in the Royal Engineers, attached to the Corfu garrison for the purpose. In his unpublished memoirs, recently unearthed by Mr Stelio Hourmouzios, Whitmore described the difficulties by which he was beset. It was only after his design had been approved that he was told that the legislative chamber was to be housed under the same roof; and the parsimony which hampered his first designs was gradually relaxed as the work progressed (a strange experience for an architect) and he was obliged to spend on the embellishment of the interior what he would have gladly earmarked at an earlier stage on the design as a whole. (more…)
Corfu: The place erected in honour of St Michael and St George April 21, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Austria, Beach Resorts, Greece, Ireland , add a commentThe visitors to corfuwho wishes to see the palace, is invariably asked, ‘ Which palace?’ For this incomparably beautiful island, pricked with cypresses and cacti and serrated round the edges by a gently gnawing sea, contains three of them. There is the Achilleion, the villa built by the tragic Empress Elizabeth of Austria in 1890, and subsequently bought by Kaiser Wilhelm II; Mon Repos, originally the private residence of the British High Commissioner and now the summer villa of the Greek Royal Family; and the Royal Palace in the centre of the town, known to cultured Corfiots as the Palace of St Michael and St George. (more…)
The Ptolemies Rule Egypt April 11, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Egypt, Greece, The Nile , add a commentDuring the many centuries that followed the end of the New Kingdom, Egypt was weakened by both internal rivalries and external pressures, often being literally invaded and ruled by foreigners, including Assyrians and Persians. By the time Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 B.C., the world had already changed profoundly. The Mediterranean basin had become the center of all political and economic life. The sea was dominated by Greece and Carthage; the power of Rome was beginning to take shape. Alexander’s general, Ptolemy, ruled Egypt after Alexander’s death in 323 B.C., and his successors, Macedonian-Greeks known as the Ptolemies, continued to rule Egypt for almost three centuries.
Ptolemaic Egypt was but one of the monarchies into which Alexander’s empire had been divided. This is not the place to discuss the profound changes made in the ancient world’s political system by these states; suffice it to say that each of these monarchies followed a policy of trying to make itself the leading country, each according to the particular social situation. (more…)
Alexandria and Egyptian Culture April 10, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Egypt, Greece , add a commentPtolemaic Egypt found its most illustrious symbol in the city of Alexandria, which, if not strictly speaking the capital of the country, was the residence of the new rulers. Presumably founded by Alexander during his brief sojourn in Egypt, at the western fringe of the Delta on the Mediterranean Sea, Alexandria soon became the depository of the new Hellenistic culture. Well aware of Alexandria’s cultural and political importance, and above all of the “public relations” role it would play in the world of that time, the Ptolemies made sure that this city never became integrated with the rest of the country. It remained essentially Greek; not “in” Egypt, but “near” it. This is not the place to discuss the tremendous influence Alexandria had on its age ; this is already well known and is part of Western history. But from the Egyptian point of view, the Alexandrian culture was almost exclusively Greek, in that it was the expression of the Greekruling class and its policy, which was in turn directed toward the broader Hellenistic world. However, it is obvious that, although isolated and yearning for past glories, there must have existed in Egypt another official culture, that of the local ruling class. Inevitably the Ptolemies had to take this into account. (more…)
The Royal Archaeologists of Ancient Egypt continue… April 9, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Egypt, Greece , add a commentAnother rather exceptional piece of pharaonic archaeological documentation is a series of papyrus documents concerning an investigation into the violation of tombs. The investigation was conducted in the Theban zone under Ramesses IX of the Twentieth Dynasty. It seems obvious that the royal tombs could not remain inviolate for long. As far back as the First Intermediate Period, there is a rather pessimistic text that describes the various acts of “wickedness” committed in the temples because of a lack of stable authority, and among the acts listed was the violation of tombs. Tomb robbery probably never completely ceased, but during the late Twentieth Dynasty, when the state was in the midst of a great economic crisis, (more…)
ROCOCO April 4, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Australia, Austria, Brazil, England, Europe, France, Germany, Greece, Hotels, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, The Nile, USA, Wellington , add a commentAfter the great days of Baroque, the High Renaissance, led by Bernini and Borromini, and followed variously by Mansart and le Vau in France, Fischer von Erlach and von Hildebrandt in Austria, Zimmerman in Germany, Churriguera in Spain, and Wren,Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh in England, and before a period of Revivalism, France emerged from the reign of Henri IV (reigned 1589-1610) to establish a wealthy bourgeoisie under the political patronage of high taste in the salons of country chateau and hotels. In the next century, during the transitional period from Louis XIV (1638-1715) to the regency of his great grandson, Louis XV (1710-74), a demand for comfort, intimacy and ornament led to the late Baroque variant of Rococo.
The word Rococo derives from the French word rocaille, meaning sea rocks and shells, and it is applied to the highly ornamental and decorative strain of late Baroque architecture. (more…)
BAROQUE April 4, 2008
Posted by dodo in : England, Europe, France, Greece, Hungary, London, Poland, Russia , add a commentWhile Europe celebrated the dawn of the 17th century with a new Baroque architecture that was to survive for 200 years, Jones followed his mentors, Alberti and Palladio, to Rome, where he studied neoclassical buildings in the company of his patron, the Earl of Arundel. His return to England led to an extraordinary paradox. While Europe had moved from the austerity of Bramante’s classicism, through the French “Fontainebleau style“, to the decorated sensuality of Baroque architecture, England emerged from a stone, timber and brickwork craft tradition to embrace an apparently revolutionary style, which, under Jones’s hand, returned the Renaissance to the rigour and scholarship of the early period.
From 1618 until his death in 1652, Inigo Jones dominated architecture, and he left to the Stuart period of English history a new tradition of classicism or Palladianism, which challenged the Dutch-influenced brick and stone style and established a platform on which Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) continued to build. After a distinguished career at Oxford University as Professor of Astronomy, Wren was appointed surveyor- general of the King’s Works. He was influenced by the French Baroque, a style that is evident in many of his great buildings, especially those designed after the devastations of the Great Fire of London in 1666. (more…)
