Or the old roads of Ireland. Boreens, the early roads that criss-crossed the island of Ireland.
(more…)-
Five Ugly Ducklings
More cute than ugly, but that’s the description Danish poet and author Hans Christian Anderson dreamed up for his cygnets. This family of swans however, reside on a pond in Llanfairfechen, a coastal town in North Wales.
(more…) -
Still going up…
Stepping out of church gloom into the bright Andalucian sunshine of Comares, a lovely, Moorish, white village, located in the foothills of the Montes de Málaga 703 meters above sea level.
The origin of the name Comares is from the Arabic word Qumaris or Hins Comarix, which means “Castle in the height.” However the village wasn’t founded by Arabs, but by the Greeks and Phoenicians who arrived on the coast of Málaga Province in the seventh century BC.
Moorish Castle on Comares Village, One of the highest pueblo blancos in Andalucía (739 metres above sea level), Malaga Province, Spain The steps featured in the main image lead to the site of the eighth century CE Moorish fortress (seen above), one of the defensive bastions of Omar ben Hafsun in his fight against the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba. Inevitably, Comares was finally conquered in 1487 by the Catholic Kings from the north, as mentioned in my last post…
-
The only way is up
Rising out of the gloom is a staircase in the Church Mayor of Santa María de la Encarnación in Alhama de Granada, a beautiful Moorish white village in Granada Province.
(more…) -
Colours
“There are no lines in nature, only areas of colour, one against another,” said Eduard Manet, but forgot to tell shop front designers in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland
-
Le Petit Train Jaune
Also known with affection as The Little Yellow Train, Le petit train travels through stunning alpine scenery via small villages frozen in time.
(more…) -
Big Brother is Watching…
A little way from Avignon’s Palais des Papes featured in my post of two weeks ago, are some Trompe L’oeil wall paintings of historic French people gazing out of what would-have-been blank windows. Realistic figures keeping a friendly “eye” on the passing young lad. While a 21st century street camera is also watching street activity…
-
Still life at Gruissan
Fishing implements silhouetted in the lagoon at Gruissan, in Languedoc-Roussillon, France.
-
Renaissance Town, Italy
Nestling below clouds and mountains, the hilltop town of Castel del Monte is part of the Gran Sasso and Laga Mountains’s National Park.
(more…) -
Palais des Papes
The main gate of the Palais des Papes in Avignon, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azurin, Southern France, a fortress, palace and the seat of Western Christianity during the 14th century.
(more…) -
Spiritual 1
It was just like on the occasion of my first glimpse of the Rock of Cashel in Ireland’s County Tipperary, in 1979, an image still etched in a corner of my brain. It took a while, 30 years in fact, before I could recreate that first impression…
(more…) -
Mediterranean Blue
The quintessential colour of vernacular architecture in the southern regions of France featured on a beautiful and stylish house is in the former fishing village of Gruissan in the French Languedoc-Roussilion region…
-
Wild Beauty
One man and his dog on a stormy beach next to Bunmahon, a coastal village in County Waterford, Ireland. During the 19th century, it was a mining village mostly for copper and hard to believe but just inland from the headland in the pic’s background the deepest shaft dropped some 1,000 feet, before extending out to sea.
(more…) -
Tales of Hadrian and Robin
Climbers on the craggy escarpment below Hadrian’s Wall, a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia – that’s England by the way. It originally ran a total of 73 miles (117.5 kilometres) across England from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east, to Bowness-on-Solway on the west coast.
Built near the border with Scotland, it was probably planned before Hadrian’s visit to Britain in 122 AD, part of a wish to “keep the empire intact”. On Hadrian’s accession to the throne in 117, there was unrest and rebellion in Britain and in various conquered lands across the Roman Empire. And to cut a long story short, like all empires, the logistics of maintaining it proved too much and the occupiers gradually retreated back to their homeland, leaving the wall abandoned.
The edifice came back to life in Medieval times when the Sycamore Gap Tree, standing next to the wall by Crag Lough, featured in the 1991 Kevin Costner film ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’, when Robin travelled an oddly circuitous route from the White Cliffs of Dover to Nottingham. The maps weren’t too reliable in those days!
Much of the wall has now disappeared with long sections of it used for roadbuilding in the 18th century. The remnants were declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and in 2005 Hadrian’s Wall became part of the trans-national “Frontiers of the Roman Empire” World Heritage Site.
Apart from climbing, there’s also the Hadrian’s Wall Hike, a long-distance trail measuring 84 miles (135km), normally completed in 5–10 days. It’s a beautiful and relatively easy wander through history, heritage, and some of the most famous landscapes in Northumberland.
But all is not well with Hadrian’s legacy; despite signs pleading with visitors not to clamber over the wall, sections have collapsed after being repeatedly climbed on by sight-seers looking to take the perfect photo.
-
Market Interlude
The Sunday Flea Market in Saint Leon sur Vezere, Dorgogne, France is a popular and busy affair and borrowing a pose from “Whistler’s Mother”, one old lady takes a break from the haggling.
(more…)
George Munday Creative 