You are currently browsing articles tagged Holiday.
The Girl is slowly getting over her sinus infection. I am fighting off a mild attack of the sniffles (no comparison!). Let us cheer ourselves up with a quick miscellany of jolly images of sun-drenched Zihuatanejo (where the maximum temperature varies by less than 5 degrees C – across the whole year!)…
“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
Newton’s third law of motion
There are some – particularly amongst those who feel compelled to seek correspondence between their understanding of science (such as it maybe) and their religious beliefs – to seize upon the encapsulation of scientific principles and – by treating them as apothegms – to claim that therein lies the justification/basis for some scarcely connected spiritual practice.
Such folk take – for example – Newton’s third law of motion (“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”) and find a parallel with the Hindu and Buddhist concepts of ‘karma’ – and in particular the idea that one’s fate or destiny is shaped by one’s previous actions.
Now – I have no truck with such notions… except where they afford me with a cheap headline for a blog post.
Such as the one above…
Naturally I also vigorously reject any suggestion that – in The Girl’s case – our cheeky week in sunny Zihuatanejo was repaid by the universe by her going down with a sinus infection the very second that our feet hit the ground back at Victoria International (YJJ). I am sure that all gentle readers out there in InterWebNetLand will join me in saying a heartfelt “There, there” and sending empathetic and positive vibes for a speedy recovery.
Falling ill on immediate return from a holiday is a double edged sword. Not only does one feel terrible – with the contrast to the recent relaxing and sun-drenched delights only rendering the agony yet more palpable – but being off work the moment that one has returned tends to increase the antipathy of one’s colleagues – particularly those that did not themselves recently get away somewhere lovely and warm. Hardly fair given the fact that one is not simply swanning around at home having a gay old time of it!
Of course, the fact that spring has not yet fully sprung here in BC and that this particularly wet start to the year shows no signs of being any less so in the immediate future does little to help.
It is frankly about time that things perked up here!
“ANDY: Think you’ll ever get out of here?
RED: Sure. When I got a long white beard and about three marbles left rolling around upstairs.
ANDY: Tell you where I’d go. Zihuatanejo.
RED: Zihuatanejo?
ANDY: Mexico. Little place right on the Pacific. You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That’s where I’d like to finish out my life, Red. A warm place with no memory. Open a little hotel right on the beach. Buy some worthless old boat and fix it up like new. Take my guests out charter fishing.”
The Shawshank Redemption – by Frank Darabont
Based upon the story – ‘Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption’ – by Stephen King
“I’m Mexican. I eat salsa with everything.”
Anjelah Johnson
I believe that I have mentioned previously within these musings that The Girl and I were going to take advantage of the College having a ‘reading week’ this February to run away to Mexico for a little R & R – not to mention some much needed sunshine and warmth.
And here we are – in a rather lovely and luxuriously verdant resort near Xtapa – which is itself but a stone’s throw from Zihuatenajo. As ever I cannot travel without taking pictures. Herewith a random introductory selection:
It has taken a good seven weeks since we returned from Europe to reach my last missive on the subject of our jaunt to the UK and to the Greek islands. In part this is because our experience over there was so varied and so rich (and I found I had taken so many photographs that I wanted to share) that it has taken this long to get all of my thoughts and all of the images organised for presentation. I hope that this extended rumination on our adventures has not too badly outstayed its welcome.
Anyway…
When in Athens…
…one must visit the Acropolis and see the Parthenon (along with much of the other antiquity on offer in the city). We hired a young archeologist to act as a guide and set forth under the blazing sun. Photographs were very much in order. Here are the barbarian hordes, storming the Propylaea.
The Acropolis hill hosts a number of major structures in addition to the Parthenon itself. This is the Erechtheion with its famous porch of Caryatids.
It is no surprise that the monument is under continual – and, nowadays, sympathetic – restoration. There are strict limits on how much non-original material is permitted in the rebuilding and the use of different shades of stone enables the casual visitor to understand what is reproduction and what is not.
The site also encompasses the Odeon of Herodes Atticus…
…which is still used for opera and concert performances – and the Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus, which is not.
The new (a mere ten years old this year) Acropolis museum lies outside the historical site itself, but has been constructed parallel to the Parthenon and with an interior core that is identical in size to the temple. Extensive use of reflective glass allows the Acropolis hill to be reflected on the outside of the museum, with sweeping panoramic views of the hill from the inside.
The museum site is itself of archeological interest and the building effectively sits on stilts above the ground, whilst glass floors and subtle lighting enable the visitor to view the excavations below.
The museum houses many of the precious artifacts recovered from the Acropolis site itself.
One of the most affecting displays is the recreation at the top of the building of the frieze that once surrounded the top of the Parthenon. This extraordinary work comprises a mixture of original carvings and new stonework reproductions. These are clearly delineated so that one can gauge how much (or little) of the original frieze remains, how much has been destroyed – and how much removed to collections in other parts of the world. The majority of the latter – of course – include that extensive number that were removed to London and make up the bulk of the so-called Elgin Marbles in the British Museum.
It as truly startling to see just how much material was plundered from the site and carried away in this manner.
“An Aristotle was but the rubbish of an Adam, and Athens but the rudiments of Paradise.”
Robert South
Athens, Athens… what can I say of Athens?
At the end of our Greek island cruise we had a couple of days in Athens, a city that neither of us had previously visited but both were eager so to do. I will, naturally, dwell upon such cradles of antiquity as the Acropolis and the Parthenon in another missive, but those aside our few brief days were just a whirlwind of wonderful impressions. That being the case I felt that I might simply try to pass on to the gentle reader a similar excess of imagery. In the words of Elias Canetti:
“Explain nothing. Put it there. Say it. Leave.”
One of the main reasons for our choice of cruise line for our recent adventure in the Cyclades was that we wanted to visit Ephesus. As a result of recent political tensions between Turkey and certain other nations many of the larger cruise companies have of late eschewed the customary stopover at nearby Kuşadası – thus ruling themselves out as far as we were concerned.
On Ephesus the ever resourceful Wikipedia offers us this:
“Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, three kilometres southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of the former Arzawan capital by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era it was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League. The city flourished after it came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC.
The city was famed for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Among many other monumental buildings are the Library of Celsus, and a theatre capable of holding 25,000 spectators.
Ephesos was one of the seven churches of Asia that are cited in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written here. The city was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils (see Council of Ephesus).
The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263, and although rebuilt, the city’s importance as a commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River. It was partially destroyed by an earthquake in AD 614.”
But enough of the chit-chat… what you want is the pictures! Here they be!
Our excursion included the ongoing archeological dig on the site of the astonishing ‘Terrace Houses’ – luxury ‘apartments’ cut into the hillside (so as to keep them cool!). These featured central heating, plumbing and all mod cons.
From Santorini our Greek island cruise led us south to the island of Crete – specifically to its capital, the port city of Heraklion.
Amongst other things that we encountered during our brief sojourn there I was particularly taken with these two tugs in the harbour. Specifically I was fascinated by the extraordinary disparity in size between them. The little one looks like a toy!
I also like the dancing cranes in the port – and the decorative umbrellas in this little backwater in town:
What one really goes to Heraklion for, though, is to prospect the site of the ancient palace of Knossos – regarding which Wikipedia helpfully offers us this:
“Knossos is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe’s oldest city. Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the name Knossos survives from ancient Greek references to the major city of Crete. The palace of Knossos eventually became the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace was abandoned at some unknown time at the end of the Late Bronze Age, c. 1,380–1,100 BC. The reason why is unknown, but one of the many disasters that befell the palace is generally put forward.
The site was excavated and the palace complex found there partially restored under the direction of English archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age, Arthur Evans, in the earliest years of the 20th century.”
Most of the recovered artifacts are now in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, whence these images were taken:
Images of bulls feature heavily, of course, as does the absurdly macho amusement of bull-leaping!
In the centre of the caldera of Santorini there are two new(ish) islets that appeared after the eruption that created the outer ring of islands. These form the visible part of the dormant – though potentially still active – volcano. On our second day in Santorini we boarded a lovely traditional Greek boat to visit the islands and to climb to the top of the cone. We also got to to swim into a small bay on one of the islands in which there is an underwater hot spring. One cannot but be very aware of the immense power the lurks beneath the surface of this beautiful and peaceful spot.
Images below… double click as ever for the big picture!
The Greek islands were so beautiful and photogenic that I could not resist capturing images at every opportunity. Herewith a selection of those that would not otherwise find a place:
…and could this chap look any more Greek?
Recent Comments