Category UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico: classic geeks, architecture nerds and trompe-l’œil freaks hold hands and say GAH!
I’ve been meaning to write about visiting Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy in an academic way, letting you all know that it was constructed in 1580 from Andrea Palladio’s plans based on a reconstruction of an ancient Roman theater ,etc, etc, because you, my readers, need the facts. But I’ve got to be straight with you: as soon […]
Lübeck, Germany: brick Gothic or bust
We walked to the peninsula that encloses the old town of Lübeck, in the far North of Germany, towards….hmmm, a giant cone bra??? Well, actually, it was the Holstentor: a fortified medieval gate and my introduction to brick Gothic. I’ve long been a drooling aficionado of Gothic architecture, especially it’s carved stone elements and sculpture. Bricks, though, […]
Temple of Olympian Zeus, Agrigento: he’s an atlas, he’s a column: HE’S SUPER TELAMON!
19th century romantics must have gone wild with nostalgic indulgence at the ruins of Temple of Olympian Zeus, in the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, Sicily. It has such a literal “feel small before the mighty ruins of past civilization” vibe about it. And to my 21st century eyes, the scale and ambition of […]
Picnic at the Greek theatre of Syracuse
It’s not every day I can chow down on a can of tuna fish sitting in a theatre built in the 5th century BC, though as someone who has worked in and around theatres most of my adult life, I was thinking of mostly practical matters. For example: if this theatre sat 15,000 or more people, […]
Panini picnic at the Duomo of Syracuse
The entire gorgeous city of Syracusa is a UNESCO World Heritage sight, and if it were up to me, I would extent UNESCO status to it’s panini. Specifically, Caseificio Borderi Elefteria located at Via Emanuele de Benedictis, 6, Siracusa, Italy. We walked through Ortygia island neighborhood of Syracusa, towards the Ionian Sea, avoiding the rements of […]
Campy corbels in Ragusa
I generally have a hard time appreciating Baroque, which I associate with frosting covered architecture encrusted with obese putti and over-inflated grandeur. Ragusa, a UNSECO protected Baroque town in Southern Sicily, just may have converted me into a Baroque lover. The town, largely destroyed in a massive earthquake in 1693, was rebuilt by its wealthy […]
Chasing the sunset in the Valley of the Temples, Agrigento
We arrived at the Valley of Temples in Agrigento, Southern Sicily, near opening time, and were still walking around late afternoon when a heavy rain drove us under a temporary shelter. We waited it out reading a history of the Temples. When the rain cleared we said, why not one more picnic at the Temple of Concord? […]
Goslar: all fairytale, no twee
Easter Sunday in Goslar, at the foot of the Harz mountains in Germany, with a carillon in the town square at noon and a snowfall I never knew existed outside of musical theater: a fairytale village, but real. Realness is what sets Goslar apart. We’ve visited charming half-timber villages before, and enjoyed them, but they often […]
In which we visit the caves of Matera
We got on the bus in Naples and departed six hours later in another millennium. Matera, in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy, has been continually occupied by humans since Paleolithic times. We were there to see the Sassi di Matera, cave dwellings and churches that people have been living in for over 9000 years.When […]
No one told me there would be cats in the Hagia Sofia
The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is overwhelmingly grand, which I expected. What I didn’t expect were the cats. The cats of Istanbul are apparently unimpressed by this famous Byzantine church-turned mosque-turned museum, and they’re just hanging out or snoozing just as nonchalantly as can be. Actually all of Istanbul was full of stray cats and […]
Picnic at the Cathedral 