The US Air Force Thunderbirds headlined the 16th Annual Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, flying the thrilling red, white and blue F-16s. The event over Memorial Day Weekend draws almost 400,000 in the course of three days.
Most thrilling at this year’s Memorial Day weekend
Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach, Long Island, were the number of women doing
the most daring feats: US Air Force Thunderbirds pilot Michelle Curran,
commanding the “Opposing Solo”; Jessy Panzer, the only civilian woman aerobatic pilot in the
country, mimicking the astonishing stunts of Sean D. Tucker, a “living legend”
of aerobatics; Golden Knights parachutist Maj. Marissa Chierichella and the Red
Bull Air Force sky diving team had Amy Chmelecki.
This was the 16th
annual Jones Beach air show – I’ve seen almost all of them – and though many of
the performances repeat year after year, or follow a two-year cycle, this show
was particularly exciting with the infusion of new energy.
The headliners, the US Air Force
Thunderbirds, are a team of
six F-16 Fighting Falcons that roar through the skies, to demonstrate the power
and dexterity of these fighting crafts. Most thrilling is when the two opposing
solos race at each other at combined speed of 1000 mph.
We were treated to the final appearance of Sean D. Tucker’s specially-engineered plane that enables him to do feats never before imagined, the Oracle Challenger 3, will be donated to the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum in Washington, where it will be part of a new Thomas W. Haas We All Fly gallery, opening in 2021.
This year, for the first time, Tucker flew in tandem
with Jessy Panzer, the only female civilian air show pilot in the USA. Together,
Team Oracle performed the most
exquisite, thrilling pas de deux in flight, with incredible precision at 200
miles mph, at bone-crushing G-forces, with Panzer magnificently following the
smoke trails of Tucker. Her skill is all the more apparent since she is flying
a different plane from the Oracle Challenger 3 biplane. And the back-story –
that each were afraid of flying initially, he because his father was an
aviation lawyer who knew all too well the risks, and she because her father
died in an airplane crash.
GEICO Skytypers, a team of advanced training aircraft used in World War II, are
fascinating because they demonstrate actual fighting techniques – an implosion
run where they evade the enemy by actually flying into each other to create
confusion, missing each other by mere feet; opposing craft which come at each
other at incredible speed.
The airshow
traditionally kicks off with a ceremonial parachute drop by a representative of
the US Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights, delivering the
American flag to a tiny target on Jones Beach. The whole team then returns for
a demonstration performance. They barrel out of their plane from an altitude of
12,500 ft, at a speed of 120 mph before pulling the cord to release their
parachute; in one demonstration we see what happens when a chute fails at just
5,000 ft. (they have a spare chute). We learn that the parachutes they use, use
the same aeronautical techniques as the original Wright Brothers plane in 1903.
Red Bull Air
Force launch out of a plane from 13,000 feet, speeding like
a cannon ball at almost 200 mph, crossing in flight, before releasing the
parachute, and sailing down at 60 mph to the target. The helicopter is the only
aerobatic helicopter in the US.
Red Bull Air Force sky diving team (c) Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
The F-18 Super
Hornet, traveling at 700 mph, nearly breaking the sound
barrier, where the pilot experiences bone-crushing Gs. The fighter is flown by the United States Navy and Marines
John Klatt Airshows
and Jack Link’s Beef Jerky teamed up to create a one-of-a-kind plane, the Screamin’
Sasquatch, powered by dual powerplants: a Pratt & Whitney 985 Radial
Engine and a General Electric CJ610 (J85) Jet Engine with 3,000 lbs of thrust.
This system allows the plane to achieve feats other stunt planes are unable to
do. During his performance, Ret. USAF Lt Colonel John Klatt experiences forces
of plus and minus 4Gs, which means a 200 lb. man would weigh 800 lbs. He
travels at 250 mph. Considering the ridiculous aerobatics Klatt performs in the
plane, it is astonishing to learn that the plane is a Taperwing Waco made
famous by the barnstormers of the 1920s and 1930s, and is based on a 1929 Waco,
modified and “beefed up” big time.
David
Windmiller, Long Island’s
hometown hero (from Melville), thrills spectators in his Zivko Edge 540
aircraft, built especially for aerobatics, with seemingly impossible feats at
speeds of up to 220 mph that keep his peers and his fans in awe. Windmiller has
been flying since 14 year old, soloed at 16 year old and started aerobatic
flying before he got his license and has accumulated 18,000 flight hours,
including 8,000 doing aerobatics. He performs snap rolls, inverted flat spin
(where the plane falls from the sky), 4 knife edge tumblers, inside-outside
octogan loop.
US Coast Guard demonstrated a rescue by helicopter into churning seas – on a typical
day, the Coast Guard, with fewer members than can fit in Yankee Stadium, save
15 lives, patrol some 96,000 miles of coastline through the US, as well as
South China Seas, Pacific, Persian Gulf and wherever the US has forces.The air
show also pays homage to aviation’s heritage.
US Coast Guard (c) Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com
The
Bayport Aerodrome Society, formed
in 1972 ands composed of aviation professionals, recreational pilots, and
people interested in preserving aviation history, flies aircraft from the 1920s.
As a “living museum” they have a variety of antique aircraft flying on the
field including Bi-Planes, Champs, and Cubs. One of their pilots, is 92-year
old pilot who served in World War II, who flew with his grandson.
World War II vintage aircraft from the American Air Power
Museum, at Republic Airport (flights available over Memorial
Day weekend) were flown, including the B-25 Mitchell Bomber used in the “Catch
22” series on Hulu.
When I signed up for Biketours.com’s guided eight-day “The Emerald
Tour of Slovenia’s Gems”bike tour, I was expecting
sprawling landscapes and quaint villages. What I wasn’t expecting was to be
surprised each day by some unique attraction. The final days of the trip
bring us to the stud farm in Lipica where the famous Lipizaner horses,
so identified with Vienna, were first bred, to Skocjan Caves, so special as to
be designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the enchanting medieval city of
Piran.
Day 5: Štanjel – Lipica – Divaca (30
miles/48 km)
Our fourth day of riding brings
us first to the lovely village and botanical garden in Sežana, which is at the
stop of a high hill (all castles are), in a very quaint village.
Then it’s on to the stud farm of
Lipica, where we visit these beautiful thoroughbred Lipizaner horses whose
glistening white coats and gentle, graceful dancing have earned them a
worldwide reputation. The history of the Lipica horses is closely linked to the
Vienna riding school, because this part of the country used to be part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. They continue to breed and train the famed horses
here.
Founded some 430 years
ago, this is claimed to be the oldest stud farm in the world. The Archduke of
Austria bought it in 1580 – the Turkish
Empire had invaded and Austrians needed horses for the military. They bred the
local karst horse – well built, muscular, intelligent, long lived – with
Spanish stallions and later Arabian and Italian stallions.
We get to visit the
stables and learn that the white color is the result of selective breeding from
the 1750s, but not all the horses are white.
We visit the stables,
the Lipikum Museum, the museum of carriages, an art gallery, and on the way
out, see the horses in pastures, tree avenues (they used to plant trees in
honor of the horses that were sent to Vienna).
There are other
experiences available here (including a luxury hotel and casino), but we have
arrived at the end of the day.
We finish the day’s ride
at the Hotel Malovec, where the owner, a butcher, also opened a restaurant (he
also owns the Hotel Kras where we stayed in Postojna). I have a massive t-bone
steak.
Day 6: Divaca – Muggia (23
miles/38 km)
This day offers the most varied
of experiences, beginning with a hike through Skocjan
Caves (a UNESCO natural monument), biking 39
km through countryside to the picturesque town of Muggia on the Bay of Trieste,
where we arrive early enough in the afternoon to get to swim in the Adriatic
(or we can take the ferry into Trieste).
Visiting the Skocjan
Caves is no less spectacular
than the Postojna Caves (minus the thrilling train ride) but the experience is
quite different – this is more of a hike, but unbelievably spectacular – the
highlight is walking over a bridge 45 meters above a roaring river.
Ranking among the most important
caves in the world, the caves, one of the largest known
underground canyons in
the world were
designated a UNESCO natural
world heritage site in 1986.
What distinguishes Škocjan Caves from other caves and places it among the
most famous underground features in the world is the exceptional volume of the
underground canyon and the Rika River that still rushes through. An underground
channel is 3.5 km long, 10 to 60 m wide and over 140 m high. At some
points, it expands into huge underground chambers. The largest of these is
Martel’s Chamber with a volume of 2.2 million cubic m, believed to be the
largest discovered underground chamber in Europe and one of the largest in the
world.
The existence of the
cave has been known since ancient times (and the area is rich with
archeological sites), but concerted exploration of Škocjan Caves began in 1884.
Explorers reached the banks of Mrtvo jezero (Dead Lake) in 1890. Silent Cave (Tiha jama) was discovered in 1904, when some local men climbed the 60-metre
wall of Müller Hall (Müllerjeva dvorana). Then, in 1990, nearly 100 years after Dead Lake was
discovered, Slovenian divers managed to swim through the siphon Ledeni dihnik and
discovered 200 m of new cave passages.
The cave is colossal,
other worldly, that takes your breath away as you walk through in the course of this
2-hour, 2 km tour, during which we will climb/descend some 500 steps.
There are two main parts
to the cave that we get to visit Thajama (Silent Cave), the part that was
discovered in 1904, and “Water Murmuring” Cave (more like water roaring), which
has been opened to tourists since 1933.
We are marched through
the cave (they have an extraordinary number of visitors each day) and
periodically stop for the guide to give us narration. We are informed about the
collapsed ceiling in the Silent Cave, the result of an earthquake 12,000 years
ago.
The canyon’s most
spectacular sight is the enormous Martel Chamber. The Great Chamber is 120 meters long, 30 meters high. It takes 100
years for 1 cm of stalagmite to grow, and we see the biggest “dreamstone,”
Giant, 15 meters tall.
We see a square pool of
water which was carved by the first explorers and the original stairs that were
carved with hand tools by these early explorers – mind-boggling to contemplate.
They originally came into the cave following the river, to find a supply of
drinkable water for Trieste.
We walk over the
suspension bridge, 45 meters above the river – an incomparable thrill. Prone to
flooding, as recently as 1965, the river rose 106 meters higher, almost to the ceiling,
so the entire cave would have been underwater.
You almost swoon with
the depth below and height above and space all around – you feel so small.
Looking back to the other side, the flow of people coming down the lighted
trails look ants.
At the very end, there
is an odd area where tourists from a century ago used to actually carve names
into the rock.
We come through the
enormous opening – there is an option to take a cable car back up, but I am
delighted to continue to hike. You come upon a dazzling view down to the
rushing water flooding through an opening in the rock. You again get a sense of
scale by how small the people are nearest to the rushing water.
It’s very cool in the caves
and you should wear decent footgear and a hat (water drips down).
(Skocjan Cave is open daily, but you enter with an organized tour at
specified times; 16E/adults, 12E/Seniors & students, 7.5E children, travelslovenia.org/skocjan-caves/)
With a cheer of “Gremo!”
(“Let’s go”), from Vlasta, our guide, we’re
off.
Vlasta is good natured
and good hearted, patient and considerate. She knows how to organize and keep
us in order without being tough, and has a great sense of humor.
We picnic again, this
time along the country road (not as scenic as yesterday’s cemetery) amid sounds
of a new highway.
Our ride today, 42 km,
is mostly downhill, some of it along the seacoast, to get to Muggia, on the Bay
of Trieste, where we overnight at the Hotel San Rocco, a very pleasant seaside
hotel in the marina (with its own swimming pool).
We arrive about 3:30 in
the afternoon and have the option to take the convenient ferry (half-hour) to
Trieste (I had come through Muggia (and Trieste) the week before on the
Venice-Trieste-Istria biketour.). I decide to have a leisurely afternoon, enjoying
swimming in the Adriatic off the stone beach, and then walking through the
picturesque town.
A few of us took the ferry into the city of Trieste in Italy –
once an important port with its worldly flair and wonderful atmosphere –where
you could visit the castle, cathedral
and Piazza Unita central square.
We have a farewell
dinner at a delightful waterfront restaurant in the plaza outside the hotel Vlasta,
our guide -ever patient, considerate, excellent humor, knowledgeable, she asks
us to vote, “Democracy rules,” and tailors the experience to what the group
wants – will be leaving us after she delivers us to our end-point in Piran the
next day and presents us with certificates of completion of the tour.
Day 7: Muggia – Piran (23 miles/37 km or 30 miles/48 km with side trip)
Today’s ride, 46 km from Muggia to Piran, brings us along the coastal road on a new cycling path following a former railway line. There are beautiful vistas of Slovene coast (Slovenia has only 44 km of shoreline).
We ride through Koper, a
major port city, which also has a picturesque old town and Tito Square, one of
few squares still with Tito’s name. There is a beautiful Romanesque cathedral
and a town hall and a market.
There is an exquisite
view of Izola from top of trail at first of three tunnels which were built for
trains, and now is used for the rail-trail.
We stop at a restaurant in the
fashionable resort of Portorož before riding into the adjacent village of
Piran, on the tip of a peninsula. On my prior trip, we had come to Portoroz but
not as far as Piran, and now I see how enchanting this tiny Venetian harbor
village is.
Our hotel, the Art Hotel Tartini (very chic, it prides itself on
looking artfully unfinished), overlooks the massive piazza, and is steps away
from the rocky border that serves as a beach for people to swim in the Adriatic.
The hotel has beautiful
outdoor patio/bar and rooftop bar. My balcony overlooks the main square.
I visit the historic
church and walk the Town Walls (2E to climb) that offers a spectacular view of
the Peninsula (it occurs to me the symmetry of ending my Slovenia biketour the
same way I started, looking down at the city from castle walls). The fort dates
from the 10th century – the Venetians ruled for 500 years.
I go off to swim before meeting
our group for our last dinner together, at the
Ivo restaurant, right on the water where we are treated to a gorgeous sunset.
The next morning, I have
more time to enjoy Piran before I catch my bus at the Portoroz bus station for
the airport in Venice.
There is a pirate
festival underway, and a Slovenian Navy battleship in the harbor (very possibly
in celebration of the end of World War I a century earlier).
A free bus takes me
one-third of the distance back to Portorose and I walk the rest of the way,
along the glorious waterfront, to the station where I wait for the bus (flixbus.com)
that will bring me back along much of the route I first traveled, back to Marco
Polo International Airport in Venice, a chance to review in my mind the
marvelous sights and experiences of the bike tour.
(I booked this 8-day “Emerald
Tour of Slovenia’s Gems” guided bike
tour through BikeTours.com, a broker which has an excellent catalog of
well-priced guided and self-guided bike and bike/boat trips, mostly in Europe,
and has very attentive counselors. Biketours.com, 1222 Tremont Street,
Chattanooga, TN 37405, 423-756-8907, 877-462-2423, www.biketours.com, info@biketours.com)
When I signed up
for Biketours.com’s guided eight-day “The Emerald
Tour of Slovenia’s Gems”bike tour, I was expecting sprawling landscapes and
quaint villages. What I wasn’t expecting was to be surprised each day by some
unique attraction. Postjana caves, Predjama Castle, Škocjan Caves, the
most magnificent parts of the trip prove not to be above ground, but
underground, as we experience what Slovenia’s karst (limestone) geology really
means.
Day 3: Vrhnika – Postojna (20
miles/32 km or 27 miles/44 km with side trip)
Our second day of biking is a bit
more demanding as we cycle 36 km up and down over hills, forest roads and a “typical”
karst polje (field) with intermittent rain showers. We leave the main tourist
routes and ride through the Slovenian countryside, cycling passed the beautiful
Slivnica Mountain and the “disappearing” lake of Planina. And if there is a
theme for the day, it is about Slovenia’s remarkable natural wonders.
We stop in the Rakov Škocjan nature reserve, where the Rak River
has carved out a beautiful gorge, interesting landscape
formations, including two natural bridges – which proves just a teaser for what we will experience later.
Indeed, the spectacular highlight comes after we check in to our
hotel, Hotel Kras. We quickly
drop our things and walk
up to Slovenia’s justifiably most popular tourist attraction, the Postojna Caves.
Spectacular is an
understatement. Colossal only begins to describe it. Stupendous is probably
closer.
The jaw-dropping Postojna Cave, the most extensive cave system in
Slovenia, is a series of caverns, halls and
passages some 24 km long and two million years old.
The visit begins with a
spectacularly thrilling train ride that Disney would envy (but there is no
warning to “keep your hands inside the car, your head down and hold on to your
kids!” just a brief whistle and we’re off). The open railway car speeds us
through the narrow, twisting opening more than a mile into the cave, some 120
meters below the surface and I swear, unless you were mindful, you
might lose your head on a protruding rock face.
Rather than a Disney ride, the image that comes to mind (no less surreal) is
the frantic train ride Harry Potter takes to escape Gringots.
Then we get to walk 1.5 km
through this fantastic cave system of massive halls, stunning rock formations,
stalagmites, stalactites that have been carved by the Pivka River. It is impossible to
imagine how the first people explored these caves – it was discovered 1818 and first opened to visitors in
1819. We walk over what is
known as the “Russian Bridge,” built by World War I Russian POWs, for tourists. The scale of the
halls is not to be believed.
They manage to
move some 1,500 people through the caves each day on the 1 1/2-hour tour, that ends with a peek at an aquarium
containing the proteus they call a
“human fish”, a mysterious creature that lives in dark pools inside
the caves – just one of some 100 species that live in this netherworld.
Another thrilling rail ride
whisks us 2.5 km out of the caves to the surface. (Wear a jacket, the cave is
about 10 degrees Celsius, and you need appropriate foot gear.)
Day 4: Postojna – Štanjel/Kodreti (26 miles/42 km or 30 miles/48 km with side trip)
It is hard to imagine anything as thrilling as the
Postojna caves, but this day’s attraction is also breathtaking and
extraordinary.
It is foggy when we set out on
what will be a 48 km biking day, but becomes sunny and cool. We take a short
detour, riding 11 km (much of it uphill), before we arrive at the incredible
sight of Predjama Castle, improbably built into a crevasse halfway up a
123-meter cliff-face.
The impenetrable fortress, first built in 1274 by the Patriarch of Aquileia (I was there! just a week before on the Venice-Trieste-Istria self-guided bike tour! See bit.ly/2JnF8Su) that looks down at the valley protrudes dramatically into the surrounding basin. It is claimed to be the biggest castle in the world built in a cave.
We are enthralled by the
story of the vivacious and daring knight, Erasmus, the “Slovenian Robin Hood” who
lived here. Erasmus of Lueg, son of the imperial governor of Trieste, Nikolaj
Lueger, was lord of the castle in the 15th
century and a renowned “robber baron.”
As legend has it, Erasmus riled
the Habsburg Monarchy when he killed the commander of the imperial army,
Marshall Pappenheim, for offending the honor of Erasmus’s deceased friend. He
took refuge in the family fortress of Predjama, and, allying himself with
King Mattias Corvinus, attacked Habsburg estates and towns in Carniola. This
angered Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III (a Habsburg) who dispatched the
governor of Trieste, Andrej Ravbar, to capture or kill Erasmus.
The enemy’s strategy was
to blockade the castle and starve Erasmus out, but they didn’t realize that the
castle was actually built at the mouth of a cave, linked to a network of
tunnels that provided “a secret path to freedom”.
Erasmus
had steady access to supplies. He would acquire freshly picked cherries which he would
throw at his adversaries to taunt them.
Erasmus is revered as a hero for keeping the Austrian army at
bay for a year and a day.
The self-guided audio tour you
listen to as you climb through the warren of rooms, is unbelievable. and
learning how Erasmus met his untimely demise (literally caught with his pants
down), is worthy of Greek mythology or Hollywood.
Apparently, the weak
link was the lavatory: Someone in the castle was bribed to signal when Erasmus
went to the lavatory, and they launched a cannonball that killed him. (There
are stone cannonballs laid out so you can get the picture)
“It was never a pleasant
place to live in – cold, dark, damp but safe. There was safety but little comfort.
In the Middle Ages, safety was most important.”
I subsequently learn that after
the siege and destruction of the original castle, its ruins were acquired by
the Oberburg family. In 1511, the second castle, built by the Purgstall family was
destroyed in an earthquake. In 1567, Archduke Charles of Austria leased
the castle to Baron Philipp von Cobenzl, The castle we see today was built in
1570 in the Renaissance style, pressed up against the cliff under the original
Medieval fortification. The castle has
remained in this form, virtually unchanged, to the present day.
In the 18th century, it became one of the favorite
summer residences of the Cobenzl family, among them the Austrian statesman and
famous art collector Philipp von Cobenzi and the diplomat Count Ludwig von
Cobenzi.
The castle was inherited by Count Michael Coronini von
Cronberg in 1810 and was sold to the Windischgratz family in 1846, who remained
its owners until the end of world War II, when it was nationalized by the Yugoslav
Communist government and turned into a museum.
It costs 37E for a combo
ticket (with the Postojna
cave park and castle),
definitely worth it.
We bike in the
countryside through small villages (“Slovenian
flat “ – rolling terrain- as our guide Vlasta calls it). Quaint homes are decorated with flowers. Vlasta says that
locals are in competition with each other for the best floral decorations.
Stopping for a picture
of flowers that decorate houses, we find ourselves in front of a World War II memorial.
Vlasta uses it as a teaching moment to explain some of the history of Slovenia
and Tito: “Slovenians were against Hitler after Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia,”
she tells us. “Tito broke with Stalin – allowed freer movement (things were
never as bad as in Soviet Union). People could move freely, could go to Trieste
to buy Western goods. There was some self-management.”
She adds, “People always
wanted democracy but some say things were better under Communism. Today, there
is free enterprise but there is also rising income inequality, unemployment,
young people can’t get jobs or afford houses,” she says, sounding a familiar refrain.
“Slovenians used to like to own their own house but mortgages were affordable;
now too much. Now, you may have three generations living in the same house.”
We stop in front of one
of the oldest houses to appreciate the architecture, and again, the use of
flowers as decoration. At another stop, she points to a flag hoisted on top of a
tree pole to signify a marriage.
We stop for lunch at a
delightful restaurant, where we eat at tables outside, under a walnut tree –
Vlasta says women used to take the black for hair dye and to make schnapps (“Of
course, Slovenians make everything into schnapps”). The restaurant has page
after page of items with truffles; I enjoy the fish soup immensely.
Riding through
vineyards, we meet a woman biking with her two children whose family owns these
500 Riesling vines. She tells us that the family comes together to pick the
grapes – it takes 4 hours – and produce 600 liters of wine.
We arrive at a charming
guest house, Hisa posebne sorte, in Stanjel, at 4 pm, having biked 44 km for the day.
The guest house was built
1991, a modern representation of karst architecture using old stones. The
cellar, which serves as the restaurant, is a large open arch, absolutely
gorgeous, decorated with their daughter’s sculpture (Teacurksorta.com), which I learn also was part of the “dragon”
exhibition at the castle museum in Ljubljana.
The guesthouse offers a
set dinner menu which this evening consists of zucchini soup, fresh baked
bread, a pork dish, and a delectable dessert using the juice from forest
fruits.
Along the way, we have
seen vineyards, farms, orchards of apples, pears, plums, figs.
The attractions along the
Emerald tour of Slovenia are what make this 8-day bike tour so special. The
climbs – the ups and downs of Slovenian hills make the ride a bit physical. There is not a lot
of English spoken (except in the facilities that accommodate tourists) and it
is hard to read the language, but that just makes Slovenia more exotic, more
interesting, and you find other ways to connect.
(I booked this 8-day “Emerald
Tour of Slovenia’s Gems” guided bike
tour through BikeTours.com, a broker which has an excellent catalog of
well-priced guided and self-guided bike and bike/boat trips, mostly in Europe,
and has very attentive counselors. Biketours.com, 1222 Tremont Street,
Chattanooga, TN 37405, 423-756-8907, 877-462-2423, www.biketours.com, info@biketours.com)
When I signed up for
Biketours.com’s guided eight-day bike tour of Slovenia, I was expecting
sprawling landscapes and quaint villages. What I wasn’t expecting was to be
surprised each day by some unique attraction – the most mind-boggling caves I
have ever seen (and most thrilling train ride ever!), a castle built into the
face of a mountain with a cave as a secret back door, the horse farm where the
original Leipzaners we
associate with Vienna were bred and trained,
as well as the surprises we chanced upon, like getting a tour of a centuries
old water mill by the family.
I wasn’t expecting to
find myself at the intersection of a multiplicity of cultures (flowers hoisted
high on a pole to announce a wedding), or thrown back into history. The
picturesque landscapes were like icing on a fabulously rich cake.
This actually was the
second week of my Biketours.com European biking experience. I had decided to
fly into Marco Polo International Airport in Venice to meet up with this guided
tour that started in Slovenia’s capital city, Ljubljana, so I thought, it’s a far way to go for only
eight-days, so why not stop in Venice? And then I thought, Why not see if Biketours.com
offers another biking trip that I can link together?
I found a
Venice-Trieste-Istria itinerary, operated by FunActiv, that ended on the day this
“Emerald Tour of Slovenia’s Gems”, operated by another local operator, Helia,
would start, but it was self-guided. I thought about doing it on my own, but
sent out an invitation and successfully recruited my son to join me. (Thank
goodness, because I think I would have been lost and still wandering around the
wilderness if I had to do it on my own.) The Venice bike trip ended in Istria, in
Croatia, and, after a search on Rome2Rio.com, I found a bus (Flixbus.com) that
would take me into Ljubljana right on time for the
start of the second tour (and then from Piran, where that trip ended, back to
Marco Polo International Airport in Venice).
It is very interesting
to compare the experience of a self-guided tour, with the guided tour.
In the first place,
the guided tour of Slovenia averages 26 miles a day and each day; our
self-guided trip averages 50 miles a day (though we could have shortened the
daily rides by taking train or ferry), so there is more time for sightseeing on
the guided trip which is organized around sightseeing – that is, getting to
sites in a timely way (our leader, Vlasta, our wonderful guide, also takes
votes to see whether we want to detour to take in some attraction, whether we
want her to make dinner reservations for us at a restaurant).
On
our self-guided trip, we are able to set out from the hotel after a leisurely
breakfast and stop for lunch when we want and spend as much time lingering in a
village but when we come to a cave in time for a 5 pm English-language tour
with still an hour to ride before reaching our destination, we don’t take the
chance and so miss an opportunity. We also miss out on visiting the
castle of Miramare high above the Bay of Grignano just outside of Trieste
(which has a Manet exhibit) because we didn’t know better.
On this Slovenia bike
tour, we ride as a group – Vlasta says we ride only as fast as the slowest,
that one of us will be the “sweep” riding at the back. We don’t even have our
own maps or cue sheets, but follow the leader. I am only a little frustrated
because I have to ask to stop every time I want to take a photo, but it all
works out.
We are informed
in advance that the terrain is flat and downhill from Ljubljana to Postojna,
from where it gets a bit hilly (Vlasta says it is “Slovenia flat – rolling hills.
From Stanjel, the cycling is downhill on the way to the coast.
Most of the ride
is on quiet roads, 25% on roads shared with traffic, 3% on dirt or gravel roads
and 2% on dedicated bicycle paths. The tour is appropriate for hybrid and road
bikes.
Day 1: Arrival to Ljubljana
It is pouring rain as I make my
way from the Porec Hotel in Porec, Croatia, where my eight-day, self-guided
Venice-Trieste-Istria bike trip has ended, to the bus station directly behind
it, and I am grateful that it is not a day I would be biking. I am pretty proud
of myself for having figured out the Flixbus connection – convenient and
inexpensive (after having looked online at Rome2Rio.com for how to get between
the two cities).
At the bus station in Ljubljana,
Slovenia’s capital, I use my GPS to figure out what public bus to take to get
to my hotel in the old city, and after wasting time waiting on the wrong side
of the street, hop on the bus. The driver doesn’t understand me but a fellow on
the bus helps me figure out where my stop is in the Old City, and I find the hotel
just a short walk from the bus.
I have the afternoon to explore
Ljubljana, and miraculously, the rain clears and sun begins to shine as I begin
to explore. I come upon a flash mob dance on a small bridge – one of the most
scenic spots in the city – and roam the narrow, cobblestone streets of the old
town center with its “fin de siècle” mansions.
The Old City is dominated by a
mighty fortress on the highest hill, so of course, that’s where I head, along
with others who realize it is the best place to watch the sun set.
Day 2: Ljubljana – Vrhnika (24
miles/39 km or 36 miles/57 km with side trip)
Our group meets together for the first
time after breakfast at the hotel and our guide, Vlasta, orients us to how the
trip is organized. It turns out we are English-speakers from three continents:
a couple from England, a couple and their friend from New Zealand, a couple
from Denver and me, a New Yorker.
We are fitted to our bicycles, load our
luggage into the van that accompanies us, and are off.
Vlasta has organized an easy (flat) first
day of biking (notably, her rule is that we bike only as fast as the slowest
person), but generally 15-20 km/h or 30 km/hr downhill.
Interestingly, we are not given any maps
or cue sheets, and the alphabet is not pronounceable and signs are not
readable, nor do many people speak English; we are completely dependent upon
following the leader. But this is not a problem.
We ride across
the historic plains surrounding the capital, a flat, easy first day. The immense 160-square kilometer marshy
plain, the Ljubljansko Barje, was once a great lake until it dried up 6000
years ago, leaving behind landscape that, we are told, is now home to some of
Europe’s rarest forms of bird, plant and insect life.
We stop at the picturesque Iški
Vintgar Gorge Nature Reserve, carved deep into a stunning limestone dolomite
plateau, and visit the remnants of the world’s highest railway viaduct in
Borovnica.
The highlight of the day’s ride –
as is so often the case –is one of those serendipitous happenings:
As we are riding back from
visiting the Gorge, I stop to take photos of a picturesque water wheel.
A young man comes out
and offers to take us inside to see how this ancient mill works. He is soon
followed by his father who explains that it is one of only two left in
Slovenia, and has been in their family for 380 years. There
used to be 9 mills on the river, now he keeps this one running to preserve the
heritage. It is private, not even a designated historic landmark. I admire an
old carriage, and the older man says it was his mother’s dowry 65 years ago.
Just before arriving in Vrhnika, where we overnight, we visit
the Technical Museum of the Republic of Slovenia (actually a science and
technical museum), housed in Bistra Castle (later a monastery). The castle (technology museum) is like a maze
inside and it is tremendous fun to explore.
It provides a different
perspective on “technology”. Hunting, for example, includes the dogs used for
hunting and the birds and animals that were hunted.
A woman demonstrates how
she makes lace using a century-old pattern.
Here, we first encounter Joseph
Broz Tito, who served in Yugoslavia’s government from 1943-1980 and was the
dictator for much of that (apparently, he was considered a benevolent
dictator).
I find my way to this
wonderful collection of Tito’s cars: his Rolls Royce (against the backdrop of a
giant photo), a Tatra from1898, a 1923 Chrysler, a Piccolo which was
manufactured from 1904-1912.
There are all modes of
transportation on display – cars, trucks, bicycles, bus, tractors – and
agricultural tools and machines. It evokes 1960s Communist-era vibe.
Today’s ride, 57 km, all
flat on roads (not dedicated bike trails), is easy cycling today, the weather
cool and comfortable for biking.
This
was just the warm up. The best is yet to come.
(I booked this 8-day “Emerald
Tour of Slovenia’s Gems” guided bike
tour through BikeTours.com, a broker which has an excellent catalog of well-priced
guided and self-guided bike and bike/boat trips, mostly in Europe, and has very
attentive counselors. Biketours.com, 1222 Tremont Street, Chattanooga, TN
37405, 423-756-8907, 877-462-2423, www.biketours.com, info@biketours.com)
Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the famous sex therapist, claims
to have a rule against commenting on politics “someone who talks about sex as
much as I do can’t tackle politics.” And yet, positions on sexual freedom,
AIDs, abortion rights and reproductive freedom, and more recently, drawing upon
painful memories as a Holocaust survivor, on the rise of anti-Semitism and how
migrant children are being snatched from their families at the southern border.
She claims not to be a feminist, but when her
granddaughter prods her on her views on abortion, on equal pay, on whether men and
women should be equal in their relationship, and insists she is the text-book
definition of a feminist, Dr. Ruth relents and says she is a feminist
supporter, not a radical (she doesn’t hold with burning bras).
She also stood stalwartly for same-sex relationships
and was an early advocate for research into prevention and cure of AIDs. She
has consistently championed a philosophy of respect for individuals, that there
is no such thing as “normal,” but that two consenting adults should do what
brings both joy and satisfaction.
She claims to have a rule against commenting on
politics “someone who talks about sex as much as I do can’t tackle politics.”
And yet, positions on sexual freedom, AIDs, abortion and now, anti-Semitism,
invariably bring her into that realm.
She has come to the Gold Coast Arts Center in Great
Neck, Long Island, on May 8, for the screening of a documentary about her life,
“Ask Dr. Ruth.” The connection to these issues is Michael Glickman, a former
president of the Arts Center and President
& CEO, the Museum of Jewish Heritage (New York’s
Holocaust Museum), where Dr. Ruth is also a trustee, and presently has an
important exhibit, “Auschwitz: Not long ago. Not far away” which opened May 8.
The documentary of her life focuses considerable
attention on the Holocaust and how it shaped her life – beginning as a 10 year
old, packed up on a train with other Orthodox Jewish children to Switzerland,
forced to leave her mother and grandmother at a train station in Frankfurt (her
father had already been taken by Nazis to a labor camp). She never saw her
family again, but describes how she felt in those years living at an orphanage.
Her son and daughter say how she never really
discussed her experience in the Holocaust nor fully mourned the loss of her
family, but we see – through old photos and animation and diary entries – what she
experienced. And it was only relatively recently that she brought herself to
Yad VaShem in Israel to search the database to find out what happened to her
parents. In the movie, she realizes that something is wrong when letters stop
coming from her parents, and after years go by, she accepts that she is an
orphan. She learns that her father was murdered in 1942 in Auschwitz, and her
mother was simply “disappeared.”
But what we see throughout is an unbelievably
positive, optimistic personality who was able to get the other children on that
train to sing away their fear.
Dr. Ruth, as she delights in being known (the first tv/radio host to be known just by the first name), is turning 91 years old now, and on her 90th birthday, she reflected how 80 years before, she was on that train bravely waving goodbye to her family (her parents gave her life twice – the second time when they sent her away); 70 years before, she nearly lost her legs when a bomb went off in Israel, where she was a sniper in the Haganah.
While in the orphanage in Switzerland, the girls
were being trained to become housemaids and weren’t allowed to attend high
school, but her father always prized education. Her first boyfriend would sneak
into her room at night with his textbooks, and hide under her bed while she read
that day’s lessons.
After the war, she emigrated to Israel (Palestine)
with some friends, changing her name from Karola, which sounded too German, to
her middle name, Ruth (and hoping that her family, if they were still alive,
could find her).
She’s been married three times – the first time to a
very good-looking Israeli soldier; who took her to Paris with him when he
attended medical school, affording the opportunity for her to study psychology
at the Sorbonne; they divorced when he decided not to become a doctor and to
return to Israel and she stayed to finish her studies.
In 1956, with $1,500 in restitution from the West
German government, she and her boyfriend sailed to New York, traveling fourth
class on the Liberty but sneaking up to first class in order to be able to view
the Statue of Liberty as the ship came into New York harbor. They married after
she got pregnant, but the marriage didn’t last.
She was a single parent and a working mother when
that was still a rarity and an oddity. “We were very poor. There were no other
single mothers…“I was on the forefront.” (One of my favorite parts of the
movie was the clip of her talking with Gloria Steinem.)
She worked for Planned Parenthood in Harlem, where
she found herself participating in frank discussions about sex. By 1967, she was project director. She worked
towards her doctorate in family and sex counseling at Columbia University,
working with Helen Singer Kaplan, a pioneer in the field of sex therapy.
On a ski trip in the Catskills, she met the love of her life, Fred Westheimer who was the head of the Jewish Ski Club, 35 years old, an engineer and never married. From the first time she saw him, she was determined they would marry. They were married for more than 40 years before he died, in 1997, after a heart attack.
Dr. Ruth, a 4 foot 7 inch tall woman famous for saying “Size doesn’t matter,” got her doctorate at the age of 42 and set up practice as a sex therapist.
A lecture she
delivered in 1980 came to the attention of Betty Elam, community affairs
manager of the New York radio station WYNY-FM, who offered Ruth $25 a week to
make Sexually Speaking, a 15-minute show every Sunday that would air shortly after
midnight. The show became a hit, expanding to two-hours, and by 1984 was
nationally syndicated.
Her influence as the “Goddess
of Good Sex,” as one called her, expanded with a syndicated newspaper column,
television shows, appearances in movies and even commercials and a website.
She continues to live
in the same Washington Heights apartment she has lived in for more than 54
years, saying that she feels comfortable among other immigrants.
The movie is expertly
done – telling the story of a life that is even more dramatic and worthy of a
movie than most people, who knew of Dr. Ruth only as someone breaking down
barriers of frank talk about sex, realized. Who knew she was a sniper with the
Haganah in the early days of Israel, who was caught in a bomb blast and almost
lost her legs? Who knew she was married three times (the first two were
legalized love affairs, she jokes, the third was the real thing). And who knew
of the tragedy she suffered as a Holocaust survivor.
She expresses her
absolute surprise (and delight) in becoming a radio, then TV host (“I’m not
tall, blonde, gorgeous”), but notes that being an older, mature woman
(grandmotherly), she was able to get away with talking explicitly about sex,
using such words as vagina, clitoris, masturbation. The fact that the Sexual
Revolution (the Pill is 50 years old) was underway, with women beginning to
demand their rights and identity, also was a factor. Still, as the film notes,
there were censors standing by, protests, even a man who came up on stage where
she was speaking to make a citizen’s arrest.
In the film, she revisits
people from her childhood – her first boyfriend when she was 13 from the
orphanage in Switzerland where she was sent by her mother to escape the Nazis (“My
parents gave me life twice, the first time giving birth, the second time
sending me away so I could live”); her childhood friend who lives in Israel;
her earliest radio producers.
It shows her dogged
determination to get an education – something her father, who owned a notions
shop, valued so highly. She earned her Masters, then her PhD.
Media regulations at the
time required radio stations to do community-oriented broadcasting and a
producer appreciated how different Dr. Ruth would be, so put her show,
pre-taped on a Thursday, on Sunday at midnight. Her show became more popular than
most of the morning drive shows and they put her on live. She notes that she
never previewed what questions the callers would be asking, so she could
respond spontaneously (on the other hand, on TV, the people posing the
questions were actors, though she still did not know what issues they would
raise).
When asked her greatest
experience, she replies “My 4 grandchildren… You know, Hitler is dead and I
and my grandchildren are alive.”
Asked about her reaction to the movie, she said she had trepidation about the device of using animation to show her early life, but the two Israelis who did the animation “did it brilliantly.”
She reflected on the scene they re-created at the railroad station in 1938, when she was 10 and being sent away by her mother and grandmother. “You know, there were all the other mothers and grandmothers – the fathers had been taken – but they did something brilliant [in suggesting there were only a few on the platform]: you could feel the loneliness of a mother and grandmother saying goodbye, not knowing what would happen, but sending their only child to safety. When I saw this – and I didn’t see it before it was done – I was very happy with the film.”
She jokes, “I promise
good sex for anybody who gives this film an [Oscar] nomination.”
She acknowledges that
she had not spoken much in the past about being a Holocaust survivor, but that
the new exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, “Auschwitz: Not Long Ago, Not
Far Away,” has brought that aspect of her life out. “My work has been about how
to educate, to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“You have to go twice to the exhibit,” she
says. “The first time you will be very upset. Go again to learn something about
the history of Nazis coming to power.
“In the front [of the
museum] is a cattle car –it is upsetting because I know parents, other
grandparents- all of them went on a car like that – very upsetting – that makes
me feel like I felt January 5 1939. On the other hand, you have to stand up to
be counted, especially these days.
“As you have heard, I don’t
do politics, but these days, I have to talk about anti-Semitism, to stand up
and say all of us have to fight so this will not happen again.”
Also, “as you have seen
in the film clearly, to stand up that abortion must remain legal and family
planning needs funding.”
Though she does not “do
politics,” she won an Oxford debate defending abortion and family planning. “I’m
going again –I probably will be the oldest at age 91.” This time she will be
debating pornography.
Asked about her opinion
of dating apps like Tinder, Dr. Ruth says, “I did not plant that question – but
this summer, I have a book coming which warns about apps. It’s not that you
shouldn’t use, but you have to use your brains not to meet in a secluded place
– to meet in hotel lobby, movie, some place safe.
“Another thing that
worries me – in my new book, is that the art of conversation is being
lost. Everyone is looking at their phone as if world will crumble if not constantly
looking. It’s difficult to have conversation. But the best sexual relationship
is also when you have a good relationship.”
In another book that Dr.
Ruth is coming out with this year, “Crocodile You’re Beautiful,” she says, “I
am telling a little ant to be happy to be an ant – because if you cooperate, you
can build bridges.”
Asked if she has been
back to Frankfurt, where she was born, she says she goes each year to the Frankfurt
book fair, and “every year I am back with a new contract. I also taught a
seminar at Heidelberg. I have no problems with people my age or younger – it’s older
people I didn’t want to know – like Fiddler. On the other hand, the Adenauer
from Germany was instrumental in getting money to Israel when it was just being
born. And even today, I go to Israel every year and even today there are young
Germans who go for the summer or year to volunteer in old age homes. I appreciate
that.”
But, she adds, saying, “Thank
you for question – I never came near to that railroad station –it’s too painful
– so whenever I had to go some place, I went around not to go to railroad
station where I saw my mother and grandmother for the last time.”
She says that for her
Masters degree, she did a longitudinal study of 50 children “who came with me
to orphanage in Switzerland. I found them all, I went to archives in
Switzerland and was in touch with many. They all made it – none of them
committed suicide, none became drug addicts or alcoholics. The reason is the
early socialization –their early years
of childhood. I was 10 ½ – the youngest was 6 – so the early
socialization, all had in loving home with parents. That helped them all to
overcome becoming orphans. They should do more studies about early socialization,
how important early childhood years are.”
She adds, “I do say I am
not involved in politics, except these days I have changed my mind – I am very
upset when I see children being separated.”
She
closes by urging people to visit the “Auschwitz” exhibit at the Museum for
Jewish Heritage. “it’s the most
remarkable Holocaust exhibition in this country.”
Thegroundbreaking
exhibition, on view through January 3, 2020, brings together more than 700
original objects and 400 photographs from over 20 institutions and museums
around the world. “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away” is the
most comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the history of Auschwitz – a complex
of 48 concentration and extermination camps where 1 million Jews and tens of
thousands of others were murdered – and its role in the Holocaust ever
presented in North America, and an unparalleled opportunity to confront the
singular face of human evil—one that arose not long ago and not far away. (Edmond J. Safra Plaza, 36
Battery Place, New York, NY 10280 https://mjhnyc.org/discover-the-exhibition/about-the-exhibition/)
The
Global Scavenger Hunt teams arrive in New York City for the last leg of the
Global Scavenger Hunt that has taken us to 10 countries in 23 days. Bill
Chalmers, the ringmaster and Chief Experience Officer of this around-the-world
mystery tour, in which the challenges and scavenges are designed to get us out
of our comfort zone and immerse us in a culture, fine-tune our skills as world
travelers, and most significantly, “trust in the kindness of strangers.” Back
in New York, he is delighted all 10 teams circumnavigated the world “in one
piece” without dramatic incident, in this, the 15th annual Global
Scavenger Hunt competition.
The
leading teams vying for the title of “World’s Greatest Travelers” as we enter
this final leg of the contest in 4th place, SLO Folks from
California with 96 points (where the low-score wins); in 3rd, Order
& Chaos, doctors from San Francisco with 81 points; in 2nd
place, Lazy Monday, computer networking consultant and think tank professional
from California with 46 points, and Lawyers Without Borders, from Houston, with
33 points, five-time winners who are competing in the Global Scavenger Hunt for
the 12th time.
There
is one more challenge in New York (an easy urban Par 1), and even though, based
on points and placement, the winners of the 15th annual, 2019
edition of the Global Scavenger Hunt have been determined, still the teams go
out and give it their all. Those in contention must complete at least one of
the scavenges in New York, and complete their time sheet and hand in by the 4
pm deadline.
Examples
of the scavenges: take in a
Yankees game or a Broadway show; have one of each of following: a New
York bagel, a New York hot dog, a New York deli sandwich, a slice of New York
pizza, New York cheesecake, a New York egg cream, or an old-fashion Manhattan; -locate
five pieces from five of the nations you just visited in the Met; visit
Strawberry Fields, pay John Lennon tribute; do one scavenge in each of
the five boroughs of New York City.
A
native New Yorker, this is really my turf (though there is the oddest sensation
of feeling like I am in a foreign place, reminding myself of what is familiar
like language, money, streets, drink water, eat salad), and I delight in
walking up Madison Avenue to 82nd Street to the Metropolitan Museum
of Art on Fifth Avenue.
I
elect to take up the challenge of going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to
seek out objects from five of the countries we visited (Canada, Vietnam,
Myanmar, Thailand, Abu Dhabi, Jordan, Greece, Morocco, Gibraltar, Portugal,
Spain). Greece will be easy, of course, but Morocco and Jordan (Petra), Vietnam
and Myanmar (Burma) are just a bit trickier. It is Chalmers’ way of making us
experience things on a different level, and for me, it brings together so much
of what we’ve seen, learned and experienced along the way.
I
first join a docent-led Highlights Tour, knowing from past experience that
these always lead me to parts of the museum I am unfamiliar with, and enlighten
about aspects of art and culture with the in-depth discussion of the pieces the
docents select to discuss.
The
docent, Alan, begins in the Greco-Roman exhibit with a stunning marble
sculpture of the Three Graces, showing how this theme – essentially copied from
the Greek bronzes (which no longer exist because the bronze was valuable and
melted down for military use) – was repeated over the eons, into the
Renaissance and even beyond.
Obviously, finding an object from Greece is going to be easy, and I hope to find objects from Vietnam, Myanmar (Burma), and Thailand in the Asia wing where there is a massive collection of Buddhist art (it proves just a tad more difficult, but I succeed). Morocco and Jordan (Petra) proved trickier than I expected, but brought me to an astonishing exhibit, “The World Between Empires: Art and Identity in the Ancient Middle East,” with an extraordinary focus on the territories and trading networks of the Middle East that were contested between the Roman and Parthian Empires (ca. 100 BC and AD 250). “yet across the region life was not defined by these two superpowers alone. Local cultural and religious traditions flourished and sculptures, wall paintings, jewelry and other objects reveal how ancient identities were expressed through art.”
The
exhibit features 190 works from museums in the Middle East, Europe and the
United States in an exhibition that follows the great incense and silk routes
that connected cities in southwestern Arabia, Nabataea, Judea, Syria and
Mesopotamia, that made the region a center of global trade along with spreading
ideas, spurring innovations (such as in water control), and spawning art and
culture.
It
was the most incredible feeling to come upon the objects from Petra, having
visited the site (was it only 10 days ago?) and having a context for seeing these
isolated objects on display.
The World between Empires
The landmark exhibition The World between Empires: Art and Identity in the Ancient Middle East, which is on view through June 23, 2019, focuses on the remarkable cultural, religious and commercial exchange that took place in cities including Petra, Baalbek, Palmyra and Hatra between 100 B.C. and A.D. 250. “During this transformative period, the Middle East was the center of global commerce and the meeting point of two powerful empires—Parthian Iran in the east and Rome in the west—that struggled for regional control.”
The exhibition focuses on the diverse and distinctive
cities and people that flourished in this environment by featuring 190 outstanding
examples of stone and bronze sculpture, wall paintings, jewelry, and other
objects from museums in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.
Among the highlights is a Nabataean religious shrine,
reconstructed from architectural elements in collections in the United States
and Jordan; the unique Magdala Stone, discovered in a first-century synagogue
at Migdal (ancient Magdala) and whose imagery refers to the Temple in
Jerusalem; and wall paintings from a church in Dura-Europos that are the
earliest securely dated images of Jesus. Sculptures from Baalbek illuminate
religious traditions at one of the greatest sanctuaries in the ancient Middle
East, and funerary portraits from Palmyra bring visitors face to face with
ancient people. The exhibition also examines important contemporary
issues—above all, the deliberate destruction and looting of sites including
Palmyra, Dura-Europos, and Hatra.
“The compelling works of art in this exhibition
offer a view into how people in the ancient Middle East sought to define
themselves during a time of tremendous religious, creative, and political
activity, revealing aspects of their lives and communities that resonate some
two millennia later,” said Max Hollein, Director, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Further,
in focusing on an area of the world that has been deeply affected by recent
conflicts and the destruction of sites, monuments, and objects, this show also
engages with complex questions about the preservation of cultural heritage.”
The exhibition evokes a journey along ancient trade routes,
beginning in the southwestern Arabian kingdoms that grew rich from the caravan
trade in frankincense and myrrh harvested there and used throughout the ancient
world. Camel caravans crossed the desert to the Nabataean kingdom, with its
spectacular capital city of Petra, which I had just visited, walking through
very much as the caravan travelers would have.
From here, goods traveled west to the Mediterranean and north and
east through regions including Judaea and the Phoenician coast and across the
Syrian desert, where the oasis city of Palmyra controlled trade routes that
connected the Mediterranean world to Mesopotamia and Iran and ultimately China.
In Mesopotamia, merchants transported cargoes down the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers to the Persian Gulf, where they joined maritime trade routes to India.
These connections transcended the borders of empires, forming networks that
linked cities and individuals over vast distances.
Across the entire region, diverse local political and religious
identities were expressed in art. Artifacts from Judaea give a powerful sense
of ancient Jewish identity during a critical period of struggle with Roman
rule. Architectural sculptures from the colossal sanctuary at Baalbek and
statuettes of its deities reveal the intertwined nature of Roman and ancient
Middle Eastern religious practices. Funerary portraits from Palmyra represent
the elite of an important hub of global trade. Wall paintings and sculptures
from Dura-Europos on the River Euphrates illustrate the striking religious
diversity of a settlement at the imperial frontier. And in Mesopotamia, texts
from the last Babylonian cuneiform libraries show how ancient temple
institutions waned and finally disappeared during this transformative period.
In Athens and Petra, particularly, you appreciate this synergy
between trade, migration, environmental sustainability and technology (in
Petra, the ability to control water supply was key), economic prosperity and
political power, and the rise of art, culture, and community.
It is rare (if ever ) for the Metropolitan Museum to venture into
the political, but a key topic within the exhibition is the impact of recent
armed conflicts in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen on archaeological sites, monuments,
and museums, including deliberate destruction and looting. Some of the most
iconic sites affected—Palmyra, Hatra, and Dura-Europos—are featured in the
exhibition, which discusses this damage and raises questions regarding current
and future responses to the destruction of heritage. Should the sites be
restored or will they now only exist “on paper”? How much money and resources
should go to restoring or excavation when villages and homes for people to live
in also need to be rebuilt?
There is a fascinating, if frantic, presentation of three archaeologist/historians speaking about what the destruction by ISIS and Islamic fundamentalists of Palmyra, Eura-Europos and Hatra – what it means to destroy a people’s heritage, their cultural identity. “It may seem frivolous to focus on [archaeological sites] when people are enslaved, killed…but to wipe out, destroy culture is a way of destroying people.”
Happening
upon this exhibit made the travel experiences we had to these extraordinary
places all the more precious.
It
is a humbling experience, to be sure, to go to the origins of the great
civilizations, fast forward to today. How did they become great? How did they
fall? Greatness is not inevitable or forever. Empires rise and fall. Rulers use religion,
art and monuments to establish their credibility and credentials to rule;
successors blot out the culture and re-write history.
(“The World Between Empires” is featured on The Met website as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter using the hashtag #WorldBetweenEmpires.)
I peek
out from the American Café windows to Central Park and see sun and the early
spring blossoms on the trees, and dash out to walk through my other favorite
New York City place. There is nothing more beautiful than New York City in the
spring – brides are out in force taking photos; there are musicians and
entertainers. There is a festive atmosphere as I walk through the park toward
the Palace Hotel in time for our 4:30 pm meeting.
And now, drumroll please, Chalmers announces the
winner of the 2019 Global Scavenger Hunt: “Only one team wins. The competition
was fierce.”
3rd – Order & Chaos, Sal Iaquinta & Vivian Reyes, doctors from San
Francisco
2nd – Lazy Monday, Eric & Kathryn
Verwillow, computer networking and think tank professional of Palo Alto, California
(“I am in awe of how hard worked beginning to end – embraced the spirit,”
Chalmers says.
1st Lawyers Without Borders, Rainey Booth and Zoe Littlepage of Houston, who have competed in the Global Scavenger Hunt 12 times, and won it for the 6th time. “You embody the spirit of the event, to go out of your comfort zone.” (You can follow Zoe’s blog of her experience to get a sense of how strenuous, outrageous, and determined the team was in accumulating their points: https://zoeandraineygreatescape.blogspot.com/2019/05/gsh-2019)
We celebrate at a final bon voyage dinner.
The Global Scavenger Hunt is the brainchild of Bill and
Pamela Chalmers, who in addition to forging understanding and bonds among
travelers and the people in the destinations visited, use the program to promote
voluntourism (one of the scavenges is to volunteer at an orphanage or school
during our stay in Yangon, Myanmar, and in the past travelers visited & helped out at: Tibetan
refugee camps in Nepal, orphanages in Laos, hospitals in Cambodia, homeless
schools in India, hospices in Manila, disabled facilities in Sri Lanka,
Ethiopian schools, the slums of Nairobi) and raised money for the
GreatEscape Foundation.
“The foundation is one of main reasons we do the event,”
Chalmers says. The foundation has raised money to build 12 schools (1 each in Niger, Haiti, Ecuador, India & Ethiopia; 2
each in Sri Lanka & Sierra Leone, and 3 in Kenya), helped build the Tamensa Medical Clinic in Niger for migrating
Tuareg nomads which serves as a midwives & nurse training center too. “We
know that we saved lives and bettered the lives of hundreds. We have helped
over 2400 families in more than 60 countries (mostly women entrepreneurs) with
our interest and fee free micro-loans (96% of which have gone to women with a
99% repayment).”
Through the event this and last year, the
foundation will build 2 more co-ed elementary schools , in Ethiopia and Haiti.
TheGlobal Scavenger Hunt travel
adventure competition is aimed at returning the romance of travel while testing
the travel
IQ of the most travel savvy of globetrotters. The travelers
(who must apply and be accepted to compete) completed a series of highly
participatory, authentic and challenging cultural site-doing scavenges
in ten secret countries over a 23-day circumnavigation between April 12 and May
4, 2019 designed to bring people out of their comfort zone and trust strangers
in strange lands.
“The Global Scavenger Hunt covers a lot of
extraordinary travel bases,” says Chalmers, who dubs his mystery tour, “A blind
date with the world.”
For more information, contact GreatEscape Adventures
at 310-281-7809, or visit GlobalScavengerHunt.com.
I am overwhelmed by the beauty of Seville, Spain. From the moment the bus from La Línea de la Concepción (the closest bus stop to Gibraltar, which is in Spain) turns into the city, the exquisite architecture, the vast green parks, the bike lanes. The atmosphere is just breathtaking.
I have booked
Apartements Hom Seville through hotels.com, choosing a place that seemed
closest to the city center (and The Cathedral, which seemed the major landmark)
that also was within the budget allotted by the Global Scavenger Hunt (under
$100 since my teammate went to Porto instead). It is a 15-minute walk from the
bus station to the hotel.
It is the late
afternoon, the golden light spreading across The Cathedral that takes up much
of Avenida de la Constitution. A tram moves smoothly, virtually noiselessly
down the boulevard; cyclists stream by, pedestrians meander by. The hotel is
right in the midst. Fortunately, the manager is still on duty when I arrive and
walks me through how to use the espresso coffee maker (the hotel is
self-service after hours), how to get around, gives me a map of the city and
suggests places to go to restaurants that are less touristic, more typical.
I rush out to catch the
remaining light, and am treated to an amazing sunset. I wander along the river,
across the bridge over the river. The lights of the city come on, reflected in
the cobblestone streets. Seville is one of the most beautiful cities I have
ever seen.
I delight in just
walking around, taking in the exquisite architecture, the peace of this place.
There is such a wonderful feeling, that even a fellow riding his bike is
singing.
Unfortunately, under the
Global Scavenger Hunt challenge, I am only here through early afternoon –
having elected to fly out to Porto, rather than take a nine-hour bus ride
through Faro and Lisbon to Porto by the deadline of Friday, 11 am, in advance
of the 3:55 flight to New York, our final stop of the 23-day around-the-world
mystery tour. (Those teams that are still in contention are not allowed to fly;
instead, they have to take bus and/or train, a 9-hour proposition from Seville.)
I plan the morning
carefully – getting up extra early to arrange my bags (to avoid paying baggage
fees on Iberia) – and walk over to the Parc Maria Luisa – one of the prettiest
parks I have ever seen, and the Plaza Espagna which is overwhelmingly
beautiful.
I get to the Real
Alcazar, the major attraction for my time in Seville, by 9:38 am (it opens at
9:30 am) – only to find about 1000 people ahead of me. I didn’t understand the
sign that said (limited access, 4-5 hours wait), since they only let in about
30 people every 15 minutes who do not have pre-purchased tickets. As it turned
out, the wait was 3 ½ hours for those without pre-purchased tickets
(recommended to purchase online, they give you a time to come, or come visit in
the afternoon when it is less crowded). It was touch-and-go as to whether I
would get in in time with enough time to see the Alcazar before having to go
back to the hotel, pick up the luggage, get to the bus to go to the airport.
Though you take loads of
photos, none can do the Alcazar justice because the beauty is in the exquisite
details of architecture, pattern in the decoration, the symmetry, the delicacy
and grace, the different scenes you come upon as you wander through the
labyrinth of rooms and gardens. You look up at magnificent ceilings, at the
gorgeous archways, the passages that lead on and on. I thought I had seen it
all in about 45 minutes, only to discover two other palaces and gardens. (A
separate ticket is required to visit the personal apartments used by the royal
family when they visit Seville).
I am out by 2:30 pm, the
time I had planned to pick up my luggage from the hotel and get to the bus to
the airport (about 30 minutes away but I do not calculate for the extra stops
the bus makes; still, I make it in an hour and just on time).
Porto, Portugal
I arrive in Porto at
about 8 pm after changing planes in Madrid. Coincidentally, I meet up with two
other teams from the Global Scavenger Hunt who are following the same
itinerary.
At Porto, they go with
Uber to the Sheraton Porto Hotel; I hop on the light rail (the Metro), amazed
at the convenience and speed of the service and the low cost (just about $3 to
get into town about 20 minutes from the airport).
I get up early to hop on
the metro again for the 12 minute ride to Center City, to be able to absorb the
gorgeous ambiance and color of Porto before having to meet the deadline of
11:30 am for the Global Scavenger Hunt, and prepare for the 3:55 pm flight to
New York City, our final leg of our 23-day, around-the-world mystery tour, and
the crowning of the World’s Greatest Traveler.
Porto, which I have
visited way more extensively years ago (the bookstore and café which J.K.
Rowling frequented when she was writing the “Harry Potter” books are now
overrun with tourists who queue up and pay admission), is absolutely lovely.
The gorgeous “exuberant Baroque style with
some Rococo touches” of the buildings, coupled with the colorful tiles
facades is absolutely lovely. I wander to the port where the Port wineries are
located (popular for tours and tastings), and enjoy the ambiance before getting
back to meet the group.
When we
meet in Porto, we hear the results for this most difficult leg of the Global
Scavenger Hunt (our “final exam” as world travelers), that took us to four
countries (Morocco, Gibraltar, Spain and Portugal):
In third
place having completed 92 scavenges, 5
bonuses and 5310 points, Order & Chaos (the doctors from San Francisco).
In second
place with 102 scavenges (that’s 20 a day), 7 bonuses and 5680 points, Lazy
Monday.
It is clear why Bill
Chalmers, the ringmaster of the Global Scavenger Hunt, inserted Gibraltar on
the “final exam” in which we needed to get ourselves from Marrakech to Fes to
Gibraltar to Seville to Porto in five days – it was a challenge to figure the transportation
and prove ourselves as world travelers. Some of the rules are relaxed for this,
the most arduous of travel legs (a par 6) – the top 4 teams in contention for “World’s
Best Traveler” are allowed to team up together but only for one country; can
rent a car but only once and in one country (not cross-borders); can use their
cell phone for information and GPS. We are given an allowance to purchase
transportation and to book the three hotel nights we will be on our own; there
are extra points for booking an AirBnB and for the cheapest hotel night.
The next day we are out
at 9 am to catch the 10 am train to Tangier, where we will get the ferry to
Algeciras and from there go to Gibraltar. As it turns out, there are three
teams (six of us), following this same itinerary (not a coincidence – since none
of us are in contention, we were allowed to share information and travel
together).
This day, the third in
our Par 6 challenge, is all about travel. Again, the train through Morocco is
comfortable, fast, and provides a wonderful view of the country. But….
It was unnecessarily
difficult to get information about which port at Tangier to go to for which
ferry. There were about four different ferry lines, but two different ports.
The group decides to taxi 45 minutes to the Tangier MED port – a major cargo
shipping port – instead of going to the Tangier Ville port just a few minutes
taxi ride from the train station, where the ferry would have taken us to Tarifa
(about 50 minutes away from Gibraltar, compared to 20 minutes from Algeciras).
The taxi ride along the coast is gorgeous, but the port is less suited to
passengers than cargo. The immigration process takes forever. What we thought
was a 5 pm ferry turned out to be a 6 pm ferry. Then we had to figure how to
get from Algeciras (Spain) to Gibraltar (a colony of Great Britain), so the
taxis can’t cross the border.
A bus was a 15 minute
walk and would have left at 9:30 pm so we decide to take the taxi to the
border, where, we are told, we can walk across and get another taxi or a bus to
The Rock Hotel. Sounds good, right? The cab drops us, we exit Spain (having
just entered at the ferry terminal), and enter Gibraltar (no passport stamp!
You have to go to the tourist office!), but no taxi, no bus. We start walking
about 1 ½ miles to the hotel. Halfway, we find a cab that takes four of us and
the luggage, and two of us continue walking. It is absolutely charming – and
also culture shock – having gone from Fes, Morocco in the morning, put a toe
into Spain, and now plunked down into this patch of Great Britain.
We have arrived so late,
though, the small town (the whole country only has 36,000 residents) is
shuttering for the night. We can’t find a cab to take us the mile to the hotel,
so we begin walking; eventually we find one cab and two of us continue walking
to the hotel. It is absolutely delightful to walk in the quiet of the night,
through this place that evokes in my mind an image of Brigadoon, a town from
long ago that emerges from the mist.
I only have until early
afternoon here to explore Gibraltar before having to push on to Seville, and
then on to Porto, Portugal, to finish this leg of the Global Scavenger Hunt.
Our hotel, The Rock, is
well situated, just opposite the Botanical Gardens and an easy walk to the
cable car that takes you to The Top of the Rock. I purchase ticket that gives
me the ride up and entrance to the Nature Reserve as well as most of the key
attractions that are all located along trails from the top, hiking down to the
village (the hike takes about 1 ½-2 hours, plus time to visit the key
attractions; I give myself about 3 hours).
The cable car ride, 6
minutes, immediately brings me to one of the highlights of Gibraltar: its
Barbery Macaques (tailless monkeys). (I realize that’s why I am told to wear my
backpack in the front, watch for pickpockets and guard my passport.) They are
there to greet tourists, even jump on people’s heads, and display antics (in
fact, I don’t find any in the “Ape’s Den” which is supposed to be their
habitat).
There is a whole chain
of things to see: St. Michael’s Cave (way too touristic for my taste, it was
developed in the 1950s), Great Siege Tunnels that dates from 1779-83 to defend
against the Spanish), World War II tunnels (separate admission 8E for 45-minute
tour), various military batteries, Gibraltar A City Under Siege Exhibition (set
in one of the first buildings constructed by the British in Gibraltar, there
are re-creations of scenes from 1726 as well as graffiti by bored soldiers from
then) and a Moorish Castle, first built in 1160 (you climb into the tower of
Homage that dates from 1333 when Abu’l Hassan recaptured Gibraltar form the
Spanish).
There’s a lot I don’t
have time to get to: The Military Heritage Centre in Princess Caroline’s
Battery; UNESCO Gorham’s Cave Complex which has evidence of Neanderthal and
early modern humans.
I make my way to the
charming historic district. It’s May Day and I come upon a labor rally in John
MacIntosh Square. Amazingly, the themes could be New York City.
I am also surprised to
learn of Gibraltar’s sizeable Jewish community (on The Rock, you can take a
trail to Jew’s Gate, which leads to the Jewish cemetery; there are four
synagogues, including the Great Synagogue on Engineer Lane, one of the oldest
on the Iberian peninsula dating back to 1724 and Flemish Synagogue.
Here in the town there
is Casemates Square, Gibraltar Crystal Glass Factory, an American War Memorial,
the Gibraltar Museum, Irish Town, Trafalgar Cemetery (where soldiers who died
at the Battle of Trafalgar are buried), King’s Chapel and King’s Bastion can be
visited (I don’t have time).
The brief time here has
been really enchanting.
I get myself to the bus
station across the border (disappointed there is no Gibraltar border person to
stamp my passport) in La Línea de la Concepción (not realizing that you couldn’t travel
directly from Gibraltar to Seville was the problem in figuring out the travel
arrangements in advance of coming to the hotel) and take an exceptionally
pleasant bus ride through southern Spain into Seville, enjoying the lush
landscape, the magnificent farms, and the hilltops dotted with wind turbines.
Still Seville and Porto
to go before finishing this leg of the Global Scavenger Hunt.
Bill Chalmers, the “ringmaster” of the Global
Scavenger Hunt, launches us our biggest, most ambitious and difficult leg of
the trip, a par 6,in which our challenge is to get from Marrakech through four
countries – Morocco, Gibraltar, Spain and Portugal with scavenges in each to
win points – in five days, meeting at 11:30 am in Porto, Portugal, when we will
fly out to New York, our final destination of the 23-day around-the-world mystery
tour, and the final and decisive leg of the competition to be crowned “World’s
Best Traveler”.
We have arrived at the Savoy Le Grand (a massive
resort-style hotel with multiple pools, sandwiched between a major modern mall
and a casino, about half-mile from the gate to the Old City) at midnight local
time, about 2 am for us having come from Athens. Bill recognizes the need for a
break so essentially gives us the morning off, so we can meet at 11:30 in the
lobby to launch us on the challenge he has termed “our final exam.”
Bill allows certain rule changes for this part of
the competition: the four teams that are in contention can team up in one country,
can rent a car but only once and only in one country, can use cell
phones and GPS but they are still not allowed to fly between points. There are
loads of “bonus” opportunities and “experiences” among the 100 or so scavenges –
there are extra points for booking an AirBnB accommodation and for booking a
hotel on one of the nights for $50 or less (we have a $200 allowance per team
for the three nights we have to book for ourselves).
I am not competing so have the advantage of being able to get advice from the concierge, use hotels.com. It takes from noon to about 5:30 pm to work out an outline of how we will cover the distance – set up the first train ticket from Marrakech to Fes, book hotels in Fes and Gibraltar. Margo, my teammate, decides to spend an extra day in Porto, Portugal, but I set my sights on Seville, and organize a hotel there, so we will travel together from Marrakech to Fes to Gibraltar and then travel independently until Porto.
There are some 131 scavenges in this leg (a challenge is to
figure which ones to do for points and logistics), including mandatories like
#51 (Within the bowels of Fes el-Bali, visit the Baab Bou Jeloud gate; the
gates of Karaouine Mosque, explain the door for sacrifices, learn something
about University of Al-Karaouline; ; either/or enjoy a beverage in the Jardins
de la Marche Verte or atop Nejarine Museum and explain Nejarine Square; obtain
from within the market a stylish zellj; locate the Chouwara Tannery for a
rooftop photo (what are some of the materials used in the process you see,
explain); Locate six of the over 800 registered crafts in Fes el-Bali; Visit
the Dar ai-Magana, explain; In the courtyard of Fondouk Kaat Smen, there are
three purveyors – sample four types of Nafis Hicham’s products. This is worth
400 points.
Also mandatory, #63: Enter Gibraltar and obtain either a
passport stamp or some other 100% iron-clad proof (other than photos) that you
did enter the country (300 points)
It is also mandatory to complete at least one scavenge in
all four primary countries: Morocco, Gibraltar, Spain and Portugal.
For a bonus: stay in hotel below 50E Tuesday (apr 30)
Bonus in Morocco: either camp out in the desert one night or
stay in traditional riad
In Morocco, venture to Atlas Mountains (Day Four) to visit Berber villages, Ait Souka/Kasbah Dutoubkal, or Aghmat/Oureka.
Bonus: in Morocco visit the blue city of Chefchaouen
In Morocco visit Volubilis to see something old & Roman;
visit nearby sacred village Moulay Idriss
By 5:30 pm, I am frustrated and angry not actually
seeing Marrakech, and still haven’t figured out how to get from Tangier to Gibraltar
or Gibraltar to Seville (answer: you have to get out of Gibraltar to the town
in Spain, so I leave that for when I get to the hotel in Gibraltar), so drop
everything so we go into the Old City.
We walk to the famous Koutoubia grand mosque that so dominates the
city. As soon as we enter the massive
square, there is a cacophony of sounds, a blur of motion. And activity – snake charmers,
Berbers, musicians (who demand money for photo even if you only look at them).
Fruit stands, stalls where cooking fish, meats,
kebabs, vegetables, just about everything and anything anyone would want.
Before it gets too dark, we make our way through the
souks to find the Jewish Quarter and the synagogue.
We weave through – asking people who point us in a
direction – a fellow leaves his stall to to lead us down narrow alleyway.
From there, we go to the Jewish cemetery which should
have been closed, but the man lets us in.
Synagogue, Marrakech, founded in 1492 after Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal in the Inquisition. Some 80 congregants still worship here. There is an excellent exhibit and video. We meet a family whose brother still worships here. (c) Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com.The Jewish Cemetery, Marrakech (c) Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com.
Margo hails a taxi to
head back, and I walk back through the markets to the square. I find a stall to
have dinner – seated on a bench with others.
Next morning, we catch the 6 am train to Fes – 6 ½ hours
– a beautiful ride.
We are in a first-class compartment that seats six
people very comfortably. During the course of the trip, people come and go. A
stop or two away from Fes, two fellows come in to the compartment and we have a
pleasant conversation that ends with the one fellow saying he knows a guide for
us to hire. Sure enough, by the time we get off the train, the guide has
arrived.
We make our way to the Riad el Yacout (the guide has
obtained a taxi as well).
The Riad (guesthouse) is absolutely enchanting – it was
the home of a professor at the famous university (founded in 859 AD by a woman)
in the Medina, and had remained in the family until 2000, when her father
bought it and spent five years restoring it as a guesthouse (it is actually
three houses that have been linked, with a pool; and there are plans to build a
third floor and add a rooftop pool). The mosaics, decoration, furnishings are
exquisite – all the rooms set around the most magnificent interior courtyard. (Riad
is a home that inward facing, meant to maximize family interactions.)
The riad owner strongly advises hiring an approved
guide from the tourism office, and a driver – we only have the afternoon and
evening here to see Fez, and have been told that you absolutely need a guide to
go through the Medina – the largest, with some 11,000 alleyways with no
addresses.
The price seems fair and we only have the afternoon,
and it proves a great way to see Fez in such a brief time.
Two other teams come after (they went on a balloon
ride in Marrakech, one of the scavenes before catching the train to Fes), and
hired the same guide we were introduced to by a guy on the train (turns out the
second guy on the train was his son, who I spot while walking in the Medina –
what are the chances? Actually it is a scam – the fellows get on the train a
stop or two before Fes, find a seat in the first-class compartment and begin
the grift). If you are keeping count, altogether three of our Global Scavenger
Hunt teams all had either met the guide (us), used the guide or the son. And
everybody was happy.
We set out with our guide, Hamid, and to hear him tell it (and this is before he
makes the connection between “New York,” Jews – rendered refugees by the
Spanish Inquisition which expelled them in 1492 from Spain and Portugal- were
invited by the King to settle in Fes in order to develop the city, and settle
the nomadic Berbers. He gave them land adjacent to the palace and promised
protection – to show appreciation, the Jewish community create ornate brass
doors for the palace with the Star of David surrounded by the Islamic star.
He tells us that this community continued even into
World War II, when he gave Jews citizenship and protected them from the Nazis. He
takes us into the Medina, starting with the Jewish Quarter, and leads me to the
synagogue, which dates from the 1500s. From the roof you can see the Jewish
cemetery.
During the course of the afternoon, we see weavers,
embroiderers, carpet makers, the tannery (all of us follow pretty much the same
itinerary). Since we have a driver, we also go to a mosaic factory.
We have a fantastic dinner at the riad – chicken tagine
and chicken couscous – the food and the atmosphere cannot be beat.
Still have to get from Morocco to Gibraltar to
Seville to Porto by Friday on this Par 6 leg of the Global Scavenger Hunt.
Athens
is a relatively easy Par 2 on the Global Scavenger Hunt. We had just 30 hours
here, distinguished by the celebration of the Greek Orthodox Easter. We arrive
on Good Friday and one of the challenges was to experience the distinctive
celebration. You can’t miss it. Every church had a similar ritual. I walked
down from the Grand Hyatt to the Plaka, stopping to reflect on Hadrian’s Gate
before I took the narrow street that led me to the 11th century
Byzantine church, where devotees were coming. We were told that at 7 pm, the
priest comes out and the faithful ring the church. The service begins at 7 pm
that we can hear from outside; the crowds really thicken and about 9 pm, the
priest came out, leading a procession. People light candles and follow the
procession of the cross and a funerary flowers. We join the crowd as they wind
their way through the narrow streets below the Acropolis, and when we turned to
a different direction, we would meet the procession again. All the streets were
flooded with similar processions – candles moving like ripples of water. People
jammed the outdoor restaurants as well. We went into another small Byzantine
church where the frescoes were absolutely stunning.
The next day, I immersed myself in Athens (some of
the scavenges led teams out to the Peloponnese and the Theater of Epidaurus,
and to accomplish them in the brief timeframe, rented a car).I just wanted to
soak in Athens. I had a list of four major places to visit, starting with the
Acropolis, then the Roman Agora (one of the most fascinating museums, contains
artifacts that were gathered just from the Agora, including the tiny medicinal
ceramic cups that were found at the jail, with which prisoners could take
hemlock as their means of execution; one of them was Socrates; but the Agora is
also really significant as the place of the first “parliament,” and you can see
in the museum elements of democracy, including the ostracism pottery, where the
name of a leader they wanted removed would be scratched into pottery); next the
flea market at Monasteraki (originally the Jewish quarter), and the National
Archaeological Museum, which I found has a special exhibit examining the
concept of “Beauty.” The museum (which closed at 4 because of Easter Saturday)
has the most astonishing collection of gold from Mycenae (including the famous
Mask of Agamemnon); statues, bronzes, an amazing bronze 1000 years old of a
jockey on a horse that looks like it could run away. The walk was so fabulous,
also, because it took me through neighborhoods. I walked back to the hotel to
meet several of us who were sharing a van to the airport.
Walking back through the Plaka, I bump into Bill
Chalmers, the ringmaster of our 23-day Global Scavenger Hunt, Pamela and Luka –
it turns out to be a team challenge to photograph them.
