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ARCHIVES: EUROPE
TENERIFE - A FUN-FILLED FIESTA: Canary Islands, Spain
While whizzing along Tenerife's scenic west coast, a sea of flags and gently swaying streamers entices us to stop. It was a fiesta in honour of La Virgen de Candelaria, the Canary Islands patron saint. A coastal town, Alcala changed its name to Candelaria (meaning Candle Mass) when the saint’s image was washed up Chimisay beach.
FINDING INSPIRATION AT THE TEMPLE OF OLYMPIAN ZEUS: Athens, Greece
It was warm for Athens in October, really warm. The sun was intense, and my feet tired from touring the Acropolis the day before. as I headed to visit the largest temple of antiquity, The Temple of Olympian Zeus. I had spied on the awe-inspiring collection of columns from high atop the Acropolis the day before and could not wait to get a close-up look.
APOLLO ORACLE: Didim,Turkey
Will the oracle talk to me? Will the Medusa turn me to stone? I laugh at myself, as these thoughts go through my mind while I trudge up the steep road which leads from my holiday place in Didim, about 150 miles south of Izmir on the west coast of Turkey to the complex of the oracle in Didiyma about 3 miles away.
ÐAKOVACKI VEZOVI: EMBROIDERING A COLORFUL CROATIAN FESTIVAL: Ðakovo, Croatia
The 43-year old festival lasts for two weeks. Starting from mid June, people come to Ðakovo to enjoy the best of the Slavonian traditions - delicacies, wines, arts, music and horse breeding. The last day of the celebration, always a Sunday, attracts the largest crowd. The grand day this year was on July 5.
CELEBRATING MALTESE HERITAGE: Mdina’s Flower and Pageantry Festival
They call it “The Silent City,” but Mdina in the tiny Mediterranean country of Malta is anything but silent on this April day. It’s Mdina’s (pronounced Medina which is Arabic for city) annual flower and pageantry festival, marking the beginning of spring and also commemorating the warlike history of this alluring walled settlement.
VISITING ISTANBUL ONE DAY WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA: Istanbul, Turkey
Last April, I was in Istanbul when United States President Obama paid a visit to the city. We followed the same itinerary, except I didn’t have the political meetings that Obama had. It was Obama’s first visit to a country where ninety percent of the people are Muslim. I am there on my second visit to the city to write about how it has changed in the last ten years.
LOVER’S SPAT WITH THE ETERNAL CITY: Rome, Italy
I love Rome so much I live there two months every year. But last year, Roma morphed from lover to spouse who no longer strived to satisfy, much less delight me. I did not have an aha! moment, that moved my passion for Roma to the echoes of Medieval bells and memories of riso gelato. It was good while it lasted. And then it was over.
VENICE, MISTRESS OF THE SEAS: Venice, Italy
Venice is a city dappled with light, tremulous and flashing, shimmering gently beneath the bridges and seeping into the shadowy lanes. Once known as Serenissima, the most Serene Republic, for centuries the sun shimmering on gilded domes and pinnacles, the soft splash of the gondoliers' poles ...
GRONINGEN, A VERY DUTCH CITY: Groningen, The Netherlands
It’s Sunday morning and Groningen is still sleeping. A huge number of bikes are locked everywhere, the streets are quite deserted and the shops closed. Only a few hours ago the atmosphere was completely different: pubs and discos were crowded with people, streets were full of boys and girls walking across the town or getting something to eat at one of the ambulant food sellers.
WELCOME TO THE REALM OF HADES AND PERSEPHONE, THE ORACLE OF THE DEAD: Greece
Mystra, a ghost city near the Peloponnese city of Sparta, dates from the Byzantine period. Usually I prefer exploring the Classical or Bronze Age sites of Greece. But who can ignore a mother’s guidance? I packed my tent and began the five-hour trip to Mystra at the bus terminal in Athens.
THE OASIS: Poperinge, Belgium
From the outside, No. 43, Gasthuisstraat, in the Belgian town of Poperinge looks like a typical 18th Century town-house of a type commonly found in the Low Countries, but, it’s famous world-wide. I was in Poperinge researching an article about the war, and wanted to see the building my Grandfather had often spoken of.
WALKING THE WALLS INTO ANTIQUITY: Dubrovnik, Croatia
My husband and I had one goal in mind when we visited Croatia: to stroll Dubrovnik’s magnificent walls. But first, we had to immerse ourselves into the atmosphere of that ancient city that had come into existence between AD 598 and 615.
PASSEGGIATA: Strolling Through Italy
In Italy, life proceeds at its own pace and with its own rhythm. When a hotel manager says that the room will be ready, “In ten minutes,” he doesn’t mean by the clock. He means, “In a little while,” an indeterminate amount of time. Maybe it will be soon but more likely later. Once we accept this, we relax.
A ROYAL SCHOOL FOR NOBLE BOYS - MIEZA: Macedonia, Greece
Located near the royal city of Pella, Alexander and his chosen companions were sent there to study under the tutelage of the eminent philosopher Aristotle. There could not have been a better teacher for the future king of Macedon, who would in time become known as Alexander the Great.
THE CRADLE OF HISTORY: Gibraltar, Europe
Gibraltar is visited by millions of tourists each year; many to enjoy the sea and the sunshine, whilst others demand something a little different from their visit to the former British colony. Getting to grips with the history of its turbulent past provides an excellent backdrop from which to enjoy the many sights and attractions which lend themselves to Gibraltar’s present.
CYCLING THE DUTCH CAPITAL: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
From edgy contemporary art to classic architecture to modern engineering marvels, the city has something for everyone. The best way to see this wide array of sights is by bike, the primary mode of transport in Holland and without argument the most efficient.
VENICE, MISTRESS OF THE SEAS: Venice, Italy
It is my first morning in Venice and I am anxious to explore her ancient promenades. Venice is a city dappled with light, tremulous and flashing, shimmering gently beneath the bridges and seeping into the shadowy lanes.
THE GHOST CITY OF MYSTRA: Greece
Mystra, a ghost city near the Peloponnese city of Sparta, dates from the Byzantine period. Usually I prefer exploring the Classical or Bronze Age sites of Greece. But who can ignore a mother’s guidance? I packed my tent and began the five-hour trip to Mystra at the bus terminal in Athens.
MILL POWER: WINDMILLS THROUGH HISTORY: Europe
Windmills first appeared in Persia in about the 7th Century AD, but were unknown in Britain until the end of the 12th Century, when the idea was brought to northern Europe by the Crusaders. They spread rapidly, for windmills and water mills were the first machines used by Man which didn't depend on his own strength, or that of his animals.
AWAY FROM HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: Athens, Greece
Christmas in 1983 was the first time I had ever spent Christmas away from my family. I couldn’t have been any farther away from Vancouver, Canada than Athens, Greece. It looked as though it would be a dismal time. Donald and Barry became my saviors, cheering me with their Irish humor and lively music.
A PLACE FOR DREAMERS: Bologna, Italy
One of the last big cities left in Italy that refuses to cater to the influx of tourists, Bologna packs as much culture into its winding vias and shady piazzas as its more popular cousins, Rome and Florence. There is a potent feeling of opportunity that hangs in the air, a vibrancy and excitement for life that radiates from the young residents of this college community.
DEATH AND DOLCE IN THE DOLOMITES: Italy
Here I was, in a cramped machine-gun post 8,000 feet up on Lagazuoi in the Italian Dolomites, where ninety years previously the Austrians had defended their Alps front line against Italians who had joined the war on the side of the Entente Powers.
A REMEMBRANCE DAY MEMORIAL: Ypres, Belgium
The author of the poignant, well-known poem 'In Flanders Fields' was Lt. Col. John Alexander McCrae, a soldier from Guelph Ontario. And still today, on Remembrance Day, November 11th, this beautiful poem resonates to remind us all of the tragedy of war.
WALLPECKERS - CHIPPING AWAY A PIECE OF HISTORY: Berlin
"In Berlin we don’t have woodpeckers; we have wallpeckers," Eva, a native Berliner, tells me. "People come to the Berlin Wall with picks and hammers trying to take home a piece of history." I can understand why. I have thought about doing this myself. Why pay twenty Euro dollars for a small piece of the wall when you can get your own much larger piece free?
A FORMER SOVIET CITY WITH AN EUROPEAN HEART: Riga, Latvia
In 1997, the old town of Riga was made a World Heritage site by Unesco. I explored those neat streets in a cold November afternoon. Old buildings and beautiful monuments stood behind every corner. I crossed the Daugava river to have a look at the wonderful skyline of this city, which impressed me with its sharp and long towers.
SEARCHING FOR ALEXANDER: Thessaloniki, Greece
By the harbour in Thessaloniki, stands a magnificent statue of the young warrior-king, Alexander the Great, astride his fabled horse Bucephalus. I first became acquainted with Alexander when I was in my teens and he has become part in my life. I have realized a dream, coming to northern Greece to trace his footsteps.
HIKING THE SAMARIA GORGE: A SENSORY EXPERIENCE: Crete, Greece
From the moment I reached the threshold of the trail leading through the Samaria Gorge, on Crete, I became acutely aware of the limitations of conveying my experience in text or on film. The sheer magnitude of this landscape is impossible to capture in a photo or even in words. And yet my camera lens was resilient when it came to struggling to capture the pristine vistas or vivid colours of the floral and fauna.
THE FORTIFIED CITY: Nauplion, Greece
On my first visit to Nauplion, in 1978, I recall it only as a dusty little town dominated by an impressive citadel, with a small Venetian fortress out in the Bay. Recently, on a quest to explore Greece‘s medieval past, I decided to return there. What I learned was that Nauplion has been a fortified city since the Bronze Age, and an important part of Greece’s history of the struggle for independence.
THE GHETTO OF VENICE: A Visit to Judaism’s Historic Past
Traveling in Europe, from Spain to Germany there are remnants of lost civilizations with little signs of current Jewish life. Of course there are exceptions, but they just do not seem to balance out the wealth of synagogues that have been turned into museums or churches. However, when I arrived in Italy, I discovered a pulse of Jewish life.
WALL POEMS: Leiden, Holland
As I walked in the historic center of Leiden, the Netherlands, I noticed some words written on a wall. It was neither a commercial advertisement nor a street sign. As I stepped closer I had a wonderful surprise: it was a poem. “The poems, which were written in many different languages, are meant to be for everybody” the initiators of this project explained.
PIERREFONDS GOTHIC GEM: Valois, France
We were driving in the old province of Valois, France. Ahead was a shimmering castle with pot-bellied turrets that crowned a lush meandering coppice. With such rich pickings is it any wonder that these springy-floored footpaths, roads and hills rising to hundreds of feet, were once the favorite hunting ground of emperors and kings?
IVORY AS ART: Erbach, Germany
In the central German town of Erbach Count Franz I of Erbach brought a new skill to his subjects - the art of ivory carving. In 1783, he founded the Ivory Carvers Guild of Erbach. The town rapidly moved toward prosperity, testimony of which is given by the town itself and the local museums.
POURQUOI? Oswiecim, Poland
It was the beginning of February and the weather was predictably Polish; snowing and –10 degrees C. It stopped snowing on my arrival at the small town of Oswiecim, which was a quaint and isolated town for most of its 700 years history until the twentieth century when it gained notoriety by its German name, Auschwitz.
THE OLYMPICS ... RUNNING NAKED FOR THE OLIVE CROWN: Olympia, Greece
This year, the Games of the XXIX Olympiad are being held in Beijing, China. As in the past, athletes from all over the world will compete for the gold medals. The first competition held at Olympia, was nothing to do with going for the gold. In fact, it was a chariot race that would determine who would win the hand of a beautiful princess, and inherit her father’s kingdom.
THE MINOANS: Knossos, Greece
The eruption of the volcano of Santorini, in the Aegean Sea, in 1450 BC, has been the subject of many television documentaries. I’ve been curious about the ancient Minoan palace of Knossos, on nearby Crete, ever since I visited Santorini. Was a whole civilization centred upon Knossos really wiped out at a stroke by the eruption of the volcano and the resultant tsunami in?
MARKET DAY: Vushtrri, Kosovo
In Vushtrri, market day is always on Friday. I followed the old man down the steps and into the traffic circle, which was jammed with trucks, their beds piled with potatoes and other vegetables, but most of all—now that winter had begun—with cabbages. More trucks were arriving behind us, and they drove up onto the sidewalks and circled us like a wagon train under siege.
PILGRIMAGE TO DELPHI: Delphi, Greece
Delphi, located on the slopes of Mt. Parnassos, was the most important sacred sanctuary of ancient Greece, home of Apollo, god of light. No important decisions were made politically or personally in antiquity without first consulting the Delphic Oracle in Apollo’s sanctuary.
AN EASTER PILGRIMAGE: Patmos, Greece
Patmos, a small island with about 2,000 residents, is one of the Greek Dodecanese Islands near the Turkish coast. It was once noted for its shipbuilding and trade and many of the traditional mansions have been restored. Today Patmos is known mainly for the Monastery of St. John the Theologian and for the pilgrimage at Easter, which attracts visitors from all over the world.
INSIGHTS FROM TUSCANY - THE ART OF SIMPLICITY: Prato, Italy
It strikes me that aside from a bicycle horn, the only sound I hear on this small street in Tuscany is the foreign chatter of a content population. It is as if the harsh industrial world of machinery, pollution, and environmental distress has been left at the town border.
PAYING IN WORDS FOR A PRICELESS EXPERIENCE: Avila, Spain
I was accepted to participate in an English-language program in the Spanish medieval town of Avila, a World Heritage site. The program’s creator, Richard Vaughan, based the program on his philosophy that the best language learning occurs under conditions where full immersion is possible.
WHEN IN ROME: Rome, Italy
We wander through the vast Forum. It looks like an archaeological dig, with its mounds of dirt and randomly scattered monoliths. Its ancient, imposing edifices are resplendent under the sun. Despite the majestic glory surrounding me, I can’t help musing about the pathologies of the ancient Romans.
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