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Tag: Calabria

Signage & Signification (#4 in series: Calabrian “cosmic” + musical bonus)

 

 

Ganesha (aka Ganesh) is the elephant-headed Hindu deity.

Perhaps the best-loved of Hindu gods, Ganesha is the “remover of obstacles”, and is associated with good fortune, wisdom and prosperity.

Q: what on earth is he doing in a decidedly “touristic” street in a southern Italian seaport/resort city?

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Signage & Signification (#3 in series: cheaper than rhino horn…)

 

…and a much more “benign” purchase: at least people stupid enough to believe false claims about a Calabrian chilli are not funding organised crime, murders, and the extinction of endangered mammals!

Reggio is famous for its allegedly-aphrodisiac chillies and for its particularly delicious tomatoes.

The tomatoes are indeed notably sweet and flavourful.

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“Landscape” view/ much closer view (#16B in series: Devil’s Bridge, Raganello Gorge)

 

 

 

We had limited time, so my longer zoom lens did all the “walking”.

My vantage point was almost the same as per “16A”, but the focal length was nearly 18 times greater.

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“Landscape” view/ much closer view (#16A in series: Devil’s Bridge, Raganello Gorge)

 

 

 

Chances are excellent that you have never heard of Civita – a southern Italian mountain village which sits within Calabria’s spectacular Raganello Gorge.

It is a very rewarding destination, both scenically and culturally…and there is adventure tourism” too, for climbers, kayakers and “white water” enthusiasts.

Civita is sometimes referred to as “the village of the Devil’s Bridge”.

The higher rim of the Raganello River’s gorge towers above Civita, but from village’s edge to Devil’s Bridge – which spans the river – it is still a long way down.

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European surprises (#12 in single-image teaser series: “noxious weed”/“popular plant”)

 

If the pictured wall were Australian, ceramic ducks might “fly” on it.

In Altomonte – a very pleasant, historic, hilltop town in Calabria – this wall’s ceramic decorations celebrate a member of the cactus family.

Along with all but one other of the circa 127 members of the cactus family, prickly pears originally grew only in the Americas.

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European surprises (#10 in single-image series: Raganello Gorge)

 

 

This sequel to #9 in this series takes us to the edge of the same Calabrian mountain village.

Civita sits within Italy’s largest national park; Pollino National Park is named after the Pollino massif, which reaches a little higher than does anything on the Australian continent.

The brink of a very deep gorge, carved by the waters of the Raganello, is just an easy, short walk away from the centre of Civita.

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European surprises (#9 in single-image teaser series: dogs, Italian-style)

 

 

The featured image shows a very relaxed, aged, large canine resident of Civita – an attractive, historic, and spectacularly located Calabrian hill town.

Visual evidence – over five enjoyable weeks in southern Italy – suggests that Italian dogs are well-loved by their human “owners”, but that dog owners comprise a smaller percentage of the Italian population than the Australian one.

On Italian streets, however, one’s feet are almost never far from “fresh”, soggy dogshit.

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