Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
The Grand Canyon’s primary “sculptor” – the Colorado River – is on the left hand side of the image.
From this October 2012 photo’s helicopter vantage point, the Colorado’s waters were rendered invisible by early morning shadows, but the river’s course was readily apparent.
As you would expect, the Grand Canyon National Park’s “stats” are impressive; click here to see many of them.
Comments closedThe first three of this post’s four photos were all taken from a helicopter, looking down into the Grand Canyon.
That canyon’s “lead author” runs along its “floor” – the Colorado River.
As the Colorado’s excellent Wikipedia entry notes, the United States’ fifth-longest river is one of the most controlled and litigated river systems in the world.
This once-wild, formerly much-mightier river has become an ailing shadow of its former self; irrigators and thirsty cities have tamed, maimed and nearly drained it.
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One of the world’s most famous, most oft-photographed natural attractions can still greatly surprise even an allegedly “well-informed” first-time visitor.
This post’s photos were both taken from a helicopter, looking down at the northern “wall” of what many humans (wrongly) believe is “our” planet’s biggest and/or deepest canyon.
The Grand Canyon is neither the biggest in volume, nor the deepest, nor the longest, nor the widest, but it is very grand.
Some parts of the Grand Canyon are a deal “leafier”, cooler, and wetter than most people imagine.
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Q: what was the most surprising item we saw when we visited the Alhambra?
A: the lottery ticket pictured above…complete with an image of the Virgin Mary!
It was proudly displayed in a shop window…but that shop did not sell lottery tickets.
(presumably, this “fractional” ticket belonged to someone who worked at the Alhambra)
On a per capita basis, Australians are the world’s biggest gamblers/ losers.
Spain, however, has the world’s biggest, longest-running and most generous lottery.
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In 2010 UNESCO inscribed flamenco on its “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”:
(Gnawa was added to that list in 2019)
A lot of mostly-awful, so-called “flamenco” is not remotely actual flamenco,
Outside Spain, most recordings marketed as flamenco are merely “flamenco”-flavoured pap; their makers & marketers know little about the real thing, and have no passion for it.
Virtuosic dancing, singing and playing (hands & feet are key instruments too – not just guitars), in-the-moment interplay, and improvisatory flair are equally key elements …as is duende.
Without duende – an “untranslatable” word that denotes an abundance of intent/spirit/heart/presence-in-the-moment – flamenco has no raison d’être.
It is no small miracle that genuine flamenco continues to thrive in its “cradle”: Andalucia.
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“Gnawa” is the most common of various transliterations into English.
The word refers to a so-called “ethnic group” (albeit one whose members’ ethnicity is not in fact singular), a member thereof, the Sufi brotherhood to which many Gnawa men belong, and – most especially – to a musical genre which is distinctive, mesmeric and usually (simultaneously) both “devotional” and “funky”.
As “Flamenco” is to the global perception of Spanish music, “Gnawa” is to how the world perceives Morocco’s: “emblematic”.
For many foreigners, flamenco is the only Spanish musical form that rings a “bell”.
Most foreigners cannot name any Moroccan genre; if they can, chances are it will be Gnawa music.
In each case, the genre’s emblematic national status is highly paradoxical.
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The Alhambra in Granada is one of the world’s man-made wonders.
Spain’s #1 tourist attraction is usually described as a “fortress and palace complex”.
Its structures span several centuries, and both “Moorish” and “Christian” Spain.
At its peak, in the 14th century CE – prior to late 15th century “Christian” Spain’s Reconquista – the Alhambra was a very sophisticated hilltop city in its own right, distinct from Granada-proper.
The Nasrid Palaces are the most glorious legacy of that period.
Collectively, their interior spaces (including walls and ceilings) are very probably “our” planet’s most exquisite.
Almost every inch therein rewards close attention.
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Morocco and Andalucia contain some of the world’s most exquisitely detailed interior surfaces.
A single site can include equally jaw-dropping examples across completely different surface types – wood, plaster and tile in the pictured madrasa, in Marrakech.
Madrasa (also commonly transliterated into English as “madrassa” or “madrasah”. In Morocco it is usually transliterated as “medersa”) is the Arabic term for any educational institution, whether secular or religious.
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Essaouira is a very likeable city on Morocco’s Atlantic coast.
For many centuries it was highly “strategic”, and during the 19th century it was Morocco’s primary seaport.
Unsurprisingly, it has “changed hands” more than a few times.
Morocco and Spain are very richly endowed with impressive defensive structures.
Some were built by “conquerors”, others by “locals” who were trying to repel would-be conquerors.
All (or nearly all) such structures “failed”; they eventually fell into “the enemy’s” hands, and were then modified by the victor, who would later become the vanquished..and so on, over centuries.
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If you are partial to “historic”, imposing, dramatically situated fortresses, you will find Morocco and Spain very rewarding destinations.
Pictured above, bathed in autumnal late afternoon light, is part of the Alcazabar – the Alhambra’s fortress, which is also its oldest (surviving) section.
The Alcazabar was built by Granada’s Moorish rulers, nearly 800 years ago.
After the Reconquista of 1492 further modifications and additions were made by the “restored” Spanish Catholic regime.
Since 1975 – and the end of Franco’s Catholic-accented dictatorship – global tourism has “conquered” Granada.
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