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  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierViajante

    Evora

    28 de junho de 2018, Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Yet another UNESCO World Heritage site going back centuries. It sits on a bump on the plains which all ages of Mankind have chosen for safety.
    Surprisingly, the population at roughly 13,000 heads is equivalent to that of its heyday in medievil times, which gives it the unstressed feeling of a comfortably well-off market town. It is hard to believe that for a time it was the capital city.
    ⦁ Apparently all visitors start with this view of the remains Temple of Diana, although there is no evidence that it was in honour of the goddess.
    ⦁ This is really what people see first, a gate into the city.
    ⦁ One of the reasons that the Romans favoured the place is that the nearby water supply is higher than the city, so can be gravity fed into it.
    ⦁ The single story aquaduct enters by the Temple but is channelled down the Rua Nova to the fountain in Praca de Giraldo. It is still in use today, though not quite what the builders had in mind. Look closely at the left side of the picture.
    ⦁ The Praca de Giraldo is full of military folk standing in front of the parochial church, which is so boring it is not even mentioned on the guide. The airmen are kitted out with pikes in order to defend the city walls. Today is the Fiesta for the patron saint of Evora and they have to stand on parade in the sun listening to interminable speeches from local functionaries. 2 ambulances are present in case of need: one for heat and the other for tedium.
    ⦁ A look at the cathedral through the Porta de Moura from one of the many fountains around.    Leia mais

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    Cat da Se

    28 de junho de 2018, Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    The Catedral da Sé in Evora is a highly fortified church built in 1280 over a mosque. The growth of importance of Evora between the 13th and 14th centuries saw the medieval Gothic cathedral incorporate Romanesque extensions.
    The cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and a rare representation of her heavily pregnant is located at the altar. Images and statues of Mary’s pregnancy were commonly found in Europe during the medieval age, but were eradicated on the orders of the Pope during the late 15th century. The gothic statue of Mary pregnant is the only example found within Portugal.
    Most Romanesque-styled buildings have a clear line of symmetry running the length of the building. The Sé is markedly different by having two asymmetric towers: one tower finishes with a blue tiled coned spire, while the other is a fortified clock and bell tower.
    The stonework in the giant rose window of the cathedral is quite delicate compared to the rest of the structure, and the cloisters remarkably plain.
    The Sé Cathedral name is derived from the two letters S and E, which in Latin stands for Sedes Episcopalis (the seat of the bishop); therefore, the Sé de Evora is the Bishop’s seat in Evora.

    Stuck away on the roof out of sight is this little white plaque of 2 grumpy people. What they represent is open to conjecture.    Leia mais

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    Bishop's goodies

    28 de junho de 2018, Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Some of the treasures inside the cathedral, to inspire awe at the wealth of the church and a reminder of the fires that await you if you don't follow instructions.
    The crucifix contains pieces of the one true cross
    The painting is an unusual scene - or at least differs from the stereotype.    Leia mais

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  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierViajante

    Guns and poses

    28 de junho de 2018, Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    ⦁ Is this why the airmen were issued pikes? The Portugese Airforce has reduced the size of the budget for aircraft so they are redundant.
    ⦁ Maybe when the Ministry asked for ladders to mount on the Humvees, the same thinking resulted in this.
    ⦁ Actually, it is all part of the design for upgrading the city defenses. F16s are now being sited inside the walls to ensure the Moors don't return.
    ⦁ Together with Alphajets for the little soldiers
    ⦁ And real guns.    Leia mais

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    Fiesta

    28 de junho de 2018, Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    ⦁ When they have a fiesta here they go all the way. Lights and bunting everywhere
    ⦁ Its a cross between a music festival, carnival, market, exhibition, conference and freshers week stalls.
    ⦁ We are talking about 2 kilometres of stalls, open from sort of 11 until about 2 a.m. They have all the usual artisanal products, plus stall for every political, social, sporting organisation seeking members in the area, as well s the usual volunteer agencies.
    ⦁ I saw a performance by the Flamenco Dance Academy
    ⦁ and smelt Churritos (like fat waffles or pancakes, with the distinct odour of sweet batter) everywhere    Leia mais

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    Igreja San Francisco

    28 de junho de 2018, Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    ⦁ This church stood out even more than the cathedral from the outside.
    ⦁ On the inside it was different too. All the stonework is quite modern looking.
    ⦁ And the side chapels simply and clearly delineated.
    ⦁ Couldn't help smiling at the statue of Pedro and Rosita underneath the Virgen de ...
    The blue tiles set off the baroque gold ornamentation really well
    The cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and a rare representation of her heavily pregnant is located at the altar. Images and statues of Mary’s pregnancy were commonly found in Europe during the medieval age, but were eradicated on the orders of the Pope during the late 15th century.    Leia mais

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  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierViajante

    Meaning of modern art

    28 de junho de 2018, Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    The Museum of Modern Art is a satisfying example of minimalistic architecture. White walls, wooden doors and everything else granite. Sounds easy, but very difficult to get the proportions and balance of dark and light correct. They did.
    I just have to share these two examples that I found inside.
    You may find them utterly banal and mundane to look at but surely this is to miss the point of modern art? Its all in the subtext.
    And the subtexts here are beauties.

    The last artwork doesn't have a subtext. Yet. Working on it.    Leia mais

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  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierViajante

    8th Wonder of the World

    2 de julho de 2018, Espanha ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Some said that this huge building, built in 1563 -83 by Philip II to bury his father the Holy Roman emperor Charles V, was the 8th WoW. In this case it probably was. Phil was helped in his decision by the codicil in his dad's will for the establishment of a religious foundation in which he was to be buried beside his wife, Isabella of Portugal.
    In 1560 a rectangular area (226m × 177m) with a royal apartments area to the east (40m × 55m) site was chosen near Madrid at the foot of the Guadarrama Mountains, 2 km from the town of El Escorial.
    The new monastery was named San Lorenzo el Real del Escorial, after St Lawrence of Rome, a martyr of supposed Hispanic origin, and was intended to serve as the royal pantheon. Or maybe it was dedicated to San Lorenzo de la Victoria, in fulfillment of a vow made by Philip II to atone for the destruction of a church dedicated to St Lawrence at the Battle of San Quintín in 1557.
    Within its walls as well as a Monastery,(originally Hieronymite,) is fitted the Royal Palace, a Basilica, a Pantheon and a Seminary. All of these were designed at the same time by the same firm. The first architect, Juan Bautista de Toledo, designed the ground plan on a gridiron scheme, recalling the grill on which San Lorenzo, the patron of the building, was martyred. Unfortunately he died after setting out most of the work and his pupil Juan de Herrera took up work on the project. He was so good at it that the style they developed is called "Herrerian".
    His symbolic blending of Faith and Reason, the former in the church and monastery and the latter in the geometry of the site, was modern at the time and reflects the rise of Humanism in Spain. Looking at the plan of the building, you can easily see how the 4 quarters fit together in combinations of square, triangles (3/4/5 and isosceles,) and circles.
    The part I like is the monastic simplicity of the structure. Mostly plain stonework and simple repeated patterns all in proportion to one another.
    Did I say it was big? 15 cloisters, 13 oratories, 86 staircases, 88 fountains, more than 1,600 paintings, nine towers and 73 sculptures. Big enough.    Leia mais

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    Bad News

    2 de julho de 2018, Espanha ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    "No photo" shouts the security guard, one present in every room.
    No explanation either: perhaps being a catholic monastery they think this will make tourists buy more books. No flash is common to avoid damage but why none at all?
    Tourists however are not very obedient, especially when many use their phones to take snaps. So I too managed to snap a few piccies to share the experience.
    ⦁ The first two are the main entrance staircase to the royal apartments.
    ⦁ A hall leading to the Royal Apartments
    ⦁ The Pantheon, which is a series of tombs built into the fabric of the building at ground level containing mausoleums with most of the kings and queens of Spain.
    ⦁ Last is my foot. What the mark on the floor is called I forget, but I was intrigued by its function which was to record the sun shining through a hole in the wall in order to set sundials correctly.    Leia mais

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    Clean lines

    2 de julho de 2018, Espanha ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    NO PHOTOS!!!
    Managed to grab a few shots to show the understated style in most of the place.
    But I also managed to record the inlayed wooden doorways connecting an entire wing of rooms. They were splendid and worth some detailed analysis but the guards moved closer whenever my head moved closer to them even though I blatantly held my hands in my pockets.
    In fact, I was to be disappointed by more than the "No photo" policy. The rooms that I was really keen to see are called the precious or exotic wood rooms. There are 3 beautifully inlaid or marquetry rooms which are pretty unique in the world. "Closed to the public"
    The angel body surfing, about to squash the travellers, is a frescoe in one of the cloisters. Looking down from one end of the corridor it appears bleak without ornament, but moving down each frescoe in turn is revealed.    Leia mais

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    Pre-modern brutalism

    3 de julho de 2018, Espanha ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    No photos!!@%$
    The entrance to the basilica and a view of the main altar.
    I tried to show how it reminds me of the modern architectural school of concrete brutalism, but also how the balance of the side chapels soften the effect to something inconspicuous.
    In the Virgen de xyz they even did away with everything except the statue.
    The church is organized as a Greek cross within a square, and this main area was inspired by Michelangelo’s St Peter’s Basilica, but with the original apses squared in the manner of Alessi’s S Maria Assunta in Carignano, Genoa.
    Everything is much wider than other churches and this serves to set off the height of the altar, which is about ten feet in the air. The building seems higher because the cupola is housed above a cylinderical drum. These factors make it seem like everything is normal size, its you that is small.
    Fuzzy close up of the main altar was taken from the kings bedchamber before anybody realised the door into the church was open! The king and queens 3 room apartments are tiny by their standards. The bed chamber is the size of 2 or maybe 3 double beds. But the really amazing thing is that he can lie in bed and by turning his head to the left can see through the door into the high altar and by turning it to the right can see into his garden. And the reverse for the queen's chambers on the other side.
    Philip was known as an austere and difficult to please man but his grip on the decorators of the place and his small, comfortable and practical apartments suggest another character. I'll put him on the list of people to have dinner with.
    I'd still like to know why the Hieronymite Order was expelled (like the Jesuits,) from Spain three times (in 1808, 1837 and 1854) and finally replaced in 1885 by the Augustinians, who are still there.    Leia mais

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    Biblio heaven

    3 de julho de 2018, Espanha ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    No photos!!
    This room is a book lover's dream. The enormous library is decorated with frescoes by Tibaldi of the Liberal Arts and Sciences personified by individuals who had cultivated these disciplines. Scenes on the friezes refer to the trivium and quadrivium. Of the former, Grammar is represented by the School of Babylon and the Tower of Babel, Rhetoric by Hercules the Gaul and Cicero Defending Gaius Rabirius, and Dialectics or Logic by SS Ambrose and Augustine and Zeno of Elea Showing the Gates of Truth and Error.
    Of the quadrivium, Arithmetic is represented by the Gymnosophists and Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Music by Orpheus Rescuing Eurydice and David Playing the Harp before Saul, Geometry by the Death of Archimedes and the Priests of Egypt Dividing the Lands and Astronomy by the Solar Eclipse at Heliopolis after the Death of Christ and King Hezekiah Contemplating the Orbit of the Sun.
    Philosophy on the north wall (the School of Athens with Zeno and Socrates) and Theology on the south (Constantine the Great at the Council of Nicaea) complete the programme encompassing knowledge.
    In the middle there are some toys or scientific instruments. The black rocks hanging in the pendulum are iron and designed to swing according to the forces of the magnets. You can still get them today, 500 years or so later!
    In each bookcase there is a scriptorum which can be pulled open to make a lockable reading desk.
    All the wood is inlaid and in excellent condition. And I also managed to get a shot of one of the 40,000 old books they possess, although this is a facsimile on show.    Leia mais

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    Really, really cross.

    6 de julho de 2018, Espanha ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    First glimpse of this monumental crucifix is from just over 30km away: it is carved directly from a granite outcrop and stands 150m tall. Of course I had to check it out as it is the biggest cross in the world.
    Just up the road from el Escorial is the peaceful, pine covered Cuelgamuros Valley in the Sierra de Guadarrama, with good views of Madrid from 150m above the plain. At the bottom of the hill, the gateman took Euros 9 from me as a 'park' tourist fee but then I could wander around for nothing.
    There is a Benedictine Monastery there and this photo I thought was of it. But no, it is a hotel. The Monastery is opposite beneath the cross - across the courtyard.
    Intending to walk up a track to the base of the cross I set off jauntily under the barrier and up the road to it. 20m later there was a loud shout and a man in a uniform blowing his car horn with one hand whilst gesticulating with his other. Instantly I realised that he was addressing me (actually there was absolutely noone else there at the time,) and expediently turned back. I say 'expediently' as when the angle of the car permitted I could see that he Guardia Civil and not to be messed with.
    We had quite a pleasant chat in as he explained that the base was too dangerous to walk around and I should stay in the main area. Not at all the officious specimen I was led to expect. Later I learned that this closure of the monument is considered by some to be unnecessary and a political act, but I still hadn't a clue what it was all about.
    After a quick look at the hotel which did not live up to the Herrerian style of its exterior but was a whole lot more comfortable, I crept behind it up a path which supposedly was out of bounds to a vantage point to take some photos. Escaped without being detected and went to the other side of the mount.    Leia mais

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    Valle de los Caídos

    6 de julho de 2018, Espanha ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Here I discovered what it was all about. The "Valley of the Fallen" is a Franco inspired 13.6 km sq monument to honour and bury those who died in the Spanish Civil War, the main features being the cross and the church, whose nave lies 150m below the former.
    The church, which Pope John XXIII declared to be later proclaimed to be the "Basílica de la Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos" was made from a shaft bored out of the solid rock like an underground railway with side passages for the transept. Did we say Herrerian? It's big.
    In fact the Basilica of the Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen would have been even bigger than St. Peter's Basilica in Rome had they not partioned and refrained from consecrating the first 50 or 60m of it.
    No photos allowed of course, and the security guards who x-rayed my back pack confiscated by penknife in case I was tempted to carve revolutionary slogans into the solid, marble clad granite. My first, and final so overwhelming was it, impression was of a vast Wagnerian drinking hall, reminiscent of the Hitler Youth training camp I had once stayed at in the 1970's. I grabbed a photo surreptitiously, knowing now what kind of fascists I was up against. I also managed to get one of the paired and winged angels guarding the entrance as well, but I failed to get the hooded Templar Knights forming the light bases on the wall. (I also stole the ceiling cupola photo and the entrance gate for your viewing pleasure.)
    About 40,000 people are buried in the valley so they say, and two within it. And this is proving to still fuel controversy. The one, Francisco Franco, buried the other, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, who founded the Falange movement and was executed in 1936 by the Republican government on the same day and month that FF did 36 years later. So every 20th Nov when a memorial Requiem mass is held for them, it turns into a Fascist Rally.
    On the other hand, there have been several limitations of site access which the Church and the Political Right Wing have claimed to be discrimination against them. Protesters also like to remind everyone that the monument is tainted by the blood of the 10% of construction workers who were Spanish Republican political prisoners.
    When one looks into though, the prisoners used in the construction came from both political sides and volunteered in order to get a reduction in their sentence.
    The irony in this, which itself fuels continuing arguments, is that whilst Franco is buried there with fresh flowers on the grave each day, he had expressed a wish to be buried in Madrid and not in the monument!    Leia mais

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    Axlent work boys

    9 de julho de 2018, Espanha ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Alas, a vibration at above 60kph proved to be a broken axle half-shaft which these boys fixed for me. It turned out to be rusted in place and they had to take everything apart, so I got them to replace both at the same time. 250 Euros each. Amazingly they only charged 4hrs labour and the total was 780 Euros so I am not completely wiped out.
    What to do now is the big question- one whose solution needs a solution of something amber to extract.    Leia mais

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    Workaway

    5 de agosto de 2018, França ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    This is Laura Tassi an Essex Maid transplanted to the Gars near Mont-de-Marsan after 40 years in Cologne. She had to leave Germany when, after 30 years living in an affordable apartment in the old quarter, the developers moved in and forced her out. As an elderly freelancer she could not find any other accommodation in the area so was constrained to move to this house in a remote village in France. She did not leave the German abruptness behind her though, which at first disguised her goodwill and generosity, though that soon became evident with all the little treats she bought me to eat!
    What she had not realised fully was how overgrown the acre plot had become with running bamboo; and how difficult it was to remove. Having made a good start with a bulldozer she is now left with small pockets of growth and regrowth. So here I am clearing it all away. Before and after photos to prove that I am not slacking!    Leia mais

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    Perigueux

    9 de agosto de 2018, França ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Truffle town has a large integrated pedestrian area, full of shoppers and stalls on the Wednesday night I arrived as there was the bi-weekly market everywhere. Most of it has been very well cleaned up and renovated which creates a lovely homogenous feel to the place. Very liveable.
    I confess to a moments doubt about the longevity of all the building work when I noticed the name of the builders.
    And the Camino shell reminded me that the journey is never over.    Leia mais

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    La Rochelle

    10 de agosto de 2018, França ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    La Rochelle is made from a whitefish sandstone and council building regulations have ensured that every door and window is painted a uniform grey. The effect is to unite the town architecturally. The main attractions are the 3 towers guarding the large marinas. The earliest dates from the 13thC and was a lighthouse, whereas the other two guarded the boatway with a chain boom - and canon.
    Surprisingly, the cathedral was started in the late 18thC and never completed: so there isn't much to recommend it. The scalloped font was unusual though and pretty striking.
    Struck me as a good place to work but not as pleasant as Perigueux.    Leia mais

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    100 Years War

    11 de agosto de 2018, França ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    This is where the Black Prince and his longbowmen decisively bashed the French in 1356 though they don't seem to commemorate the event in any way and there doesn't seem to be any marker for the battleground.
    A few buildings and the town outline remain from the times.
    Unlike most urban centres, churches were relegated to the rim of the built-up areas and the spectacular 1868 Hotel de Ville is quite separate.
    The Cathedrale St Pierre was commenced in the reign of Eleanor and Henri II in about 1150. A couple of stained glass windows remain to remind us that the people really were not as primitive as there sanitation suggests. The 1790 organ is a classic by Henri Cliquot - not as well known as his wife who focussed her attentions on wine when the organ maker blew his last.
    Small detail to fire up Dan Brown: the church has a labyrinth enshrined on the wall. This used to be drawn on the ground in pagan times and the route to the centre walked ceremoniously by the people on special days for reasons unclear but much speculated upon, (although there is no reference to ancient rituals written beside it).    Leia mais

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