Sandstone and amber

In search of Doha’s past

Ania — Sun, 05 May 2013 17:05:22 +0000

Doha, the capital of the tiny state of Qatar, is not exactly my kind of place. It may be an impressive human achievement of clawing an urban oasis from the clutches of unforgiving desert. Yet, shiny and brand new, Doha largely lacks the appeal of cities with long history and local character. Up until the early 20th century, Doha just like most other settlements on the Persian Gulf, was a small fishing and pearling town ravaged by economic depression after the introduction of the cultured pearls in the region in the 1930s. Its fortune reversed – just like Dubai’s – with the discovery of oil and later natural gas, and a steady stream of petrodollars that followed. In a rush to modernize, most of the remnants of Doha’s previous self were eradicated to make space for highways crowded with ubiquitous Nissan pick up trucks, expensive hotels, and futuristic-looking sky scrapers.

Leading mode of transportation in Doha – aside from white SUVs – according to my unscientific survey

But one small area, the old town if you will, has been preserved – or rather recreated – to lend a glimpse into the past. Souq Waqif is a maze of traditional houses and shops built out of stone, mud, wood, and plaster, clustered around the Kut fort dating back to 1880, with restaurants serving local and regional fare along the main drag. Its name translates as “the standing market,” which I was told refers to the fact that before extensive land reclamation projects that formed the crescent of the Doha bay as we know it today, the area was prone to flooding and hence market vendors often had to stand ankle deep in briny water. Established in the early 19th century, the market deteriorated over time and after a big fire in 2003 was essentially rebuilt from scratch, which gives it a peculiar new-old feel.

Souq Waqif, colorful but sleepy during hot mid-day hours

Nearby stable provides a local attraction

Reflection

You can buy anything here, from colorful fabric, gold, spices, and even falcons to cheap Chinese household goods, Angry Birds balloons, and Psy action figures. Soccer motives are big, too, given that Qatar will host 2022 FIFA World Cup. Although given the predilections of global soccer fans I can’t imagine how that event is going to work exactly with Qatar’s severely limited access to alcohol… But I digress. Back to shopping:

Shoppers’ paradise

Mona Lisa with her famous smile covered? As I said, you can buy anything here…

…even a boat

Interesting balloon selection

And for bulk purchases there are wheelbarrows conveniently parked outside and read to go. Inexpensive supply of “drivers” is also plentiful thanks to Doha’s demographics skewed severely toward migrants from South Asia. Qataris are the minority here and in dealings with shop owners, waiters, and taxi drivers, Urdu, Hindi and Tagalog (or English for that matter) are often more useful than Arabic.

Bulk “shopping carts” outside Souq Waqif

Slow and sleepy during the day, Souq Waqif truly comes to life at night. The main drag fills out with leisurely strolling crowds of locals and tourists alike, restaurants tempt with Middle Eastern delicacies, and puffs of delicious smoke envelop busy shisha bars. So easy to enjoy for hours and watch the world go by on a balmy night when relentless desert heat gives way to refreshing ocean breeze… My favorite culinary highlights included tender baby camel at Tajine Moroccan restaurant, sumptuous maskoof carp at Al Adhamiyah Iraqi restaurant, and unforgettable sweets masterfully baked by the Hallab shop.

Only one word of commentary required for that scene: relaaaaax…

Hello there! But shouldn’t you be in bed at this hour?

Al Adhamiyah Iraqi restaurant serving delicious maskoof (or masguf) style carp cooked over open flame

Ending the evening with pastries to die for at Abdel Kader Hallab’s bakery

Wait, haven’t we been here before?

To me those were the places where the spirit of old Doha, Doha of rickety fishing boats and dusty shopping alleys, comes alive, even if in somewhat theme park-like form. In a place where food is so good, I don’t mind =)

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Celebrating the gift of trees

Ania — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 22:26:22 +0000

Last year around this time I pulled together the best of my cherry blossom shots from past seasons. It’s time to augment the collection with fresh images of these delicate and ephemeral blossoms that I never get tired of. Spring is finally here in Washington after a long wait, and with it the blossoms are in full force. So are the throngs of visitors but I tried my best to crop them out and fill the whole frame with white, pink, and blue. This poem captures the mood of today well…

“Shining spring day
Falling cherry blossoms with my calm mind”
~ Kino Tomonari

Oh so pretty…

Jefferson Memorial surrounded by the blossoms

The pink flood…

…and the flood of white

The scent of this tree is heavenly!

Washington Monument framed by cherry blossoms

U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing celebrates the blossoms

And this is a plug for an awesome local business: The Sweet Lobby (404 8th Street SE). Best cupcakes ever – of course including cherry blossom flavor to fit the occasion

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Beauty of abandoned places

Ania — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 20:41:16 +0000

Kolmanskop, Namibia (Image: National Geographic)

Today I found a fascinating post on BuzzFeed featuring photos of the 33 most beautiful abandoned places in the world. It’s hard to pick favorites but I have to say the one of the sand-filled house in Kolmanskop, a ghost town in the Namib Desert, is the most striking to me. The blues, yellows, and oranges are striking. And the multiple door frames captured in this shot make the image self-referential, reminiscent of the hall of mirrors.

It made me look through my own photo collection to find beautiful abandoned places I’ve come across. Here are my top five. How about you? Have you taken any photos of desolate yet striking locations that you’d have to share? If so blog about it and link back – which I guess would officially make this my first-ever travel theme post!

1. Krzyżtopór castle in Ujazd, Poland

2. Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida

3. Frozen in time – Pompeii, Italy

4. Old mosque in Belgrade, Serbia

5. Bridge in Louisiana

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Hiking in the Slovak High Tatras

Ania — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 22:49:54 +0000

Grand Hotel in Starý Smokovec

Full disclosure: I’m not a skier. This makes visiting areas popular among enthusiasts of this sport kind of awkward since I’m just an outside observer. What is more, all the skiing-relevant aspects of a place like the specifics of the slopes, depth of snow coverage, quality of lifts, or – crucially – the price tag – are entirely oblivious to me. I’m fully content with simpler pleasures: hiking and food. Starý Smokovec in Slovakia’s High Tatra (Vysoké Tatry) Mountains is such a place. We visited last winter and stayed in cozy and hospitable Pension Tatrasport Zampa.

Starý Smokovec was founded in 1793 and the early settlement grew around the local mineral water springs. Now it is a popular tourist destination adored by skiers and hikers alike, conveniently located on the Tatra Electric Railway line that connects it to the city of Poprad and fellow resort towns Tatranská Lomnica and Štrbské Pleso.

The town is anchored by the majestic Grand Hotel built in 1904. It is a quiet place otherwise but then again most visitors don’t spend much time in Smokovec itself but rather hit the slopes. Just behind the hotel there is a funicular that goes up to the Hrebienok ski center perched on the southern slope of the Slavkovsky peak at 1,285 meters above sea level.

Hrebienok panorama from Pension Tatrasport Zampa

The view from up above is spectacular and stretches for miles:

View from Hrebienok

Hrebienok’s ski slopes and hiking trails invite to explore – and you already know my choice. A marked “green” trail leads from the upper station of the funicular to a series of beautiful waterfalls (Studenovodské vodopády), one of the oldest tourist destinations in the Tatras made popular by spa visitors from Starý Smokovec. A relatively easy path may be a bit treacherously slippery in winter, but it’s worth it! The waterfalls look spectacular, half-frozen and buried underneath the snow. And there is nothing better to reward a weary hiker than a cup of delicious varene vino, or spiced hot wine, in a tiny refuge of Rainerova Chata – historic Rainer’s Hut first built by Ján Juraj Rainer in 1863. Renovated in 1998, it’s been serving mountain adventure seekers since.

On the trail

Waterfalls

More waterfalls…

Blue winter horizon

…and an unexpected blast from the past – Miś Uszatek – beloved character from a Polish cartoon I used to watch as a kid, listed along the trail with other famous fairy tale bears!

Well-deserved respite at Rainerova Chata

Only about half an hour train ride west from Starý Smokovec is another great hiking destination: Štrbské Pleso, a large glacial mountain lake. In the summer I would have consider climbing the popular nearby peaks Kriváň and Rysy. But in winter we stuck to exploring the lake itself – the first body of water I’ve ever crisscrossed on its entirely frozen surface. It seems to be favorite pastime for tourists and locals alike – including parents with strollers out for a walk! And there is nothing better than wrapping up the day sampling local specialties at the rustic lakeside Koliba Patria restaurant…

Family fun on solidly frozen Štrbské Pleso

The lake frozen as far as eye can see…

Skiers on a nearby slope

Slovak specialty: bryndzové halušky, potato dumplings with bryndza sheep cheese and bacon

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Durlach – the city of fountains

Ania — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 14:32:53 +0000

Durlach’s Turmberg tower

Just a shot tram ride from the center of Karlsruhe in south-western Germany, nestled below the imposing castle ruin, is tiny, frozen-in-time Durlach. This charming place dates back to the 11th century and was a separate town until 1938 when it became a part of Karlsruhe. But to this day Durlach clearly retains its own, very special character. And the best way to appreciate it is from the top of Turmberg, or tower hill, connected to downtown via a historic funicular railway in operation since 1888. Once a mighty castle stood on the hill. What remains today is a lone tower with an amazing viewing platform that offers panoramic views of Karlsruhe, the Rhine River valley, and the Black Forest.

The tower was build between 1230 and 1250 and the reason for its location is as obvious today as it was back then – it’s a great observation point. The top of the hill is green, leafy, and and serene. And the climb up 127 steps from the tower’s base to the viewing platform is well worth it. Red roofs and church steeples, streetcars rumbling along narrow streets, and ancient trees lining even narrower allies. But as great as the view is from above, Durlach only gets better from up close. And there is one thing in particular that makes it so: fountains, fountains everywhere!

Durlach from above

Pfinztalstraße, Durlach’s charming main drag

The highlight, and hallmark, fountain stands in the middle of a medieval market square, Marktplatz. There has been a fountain on this site for centuries, with the original stone one replaced in 1862 by a cast iron structure. The fountain gained its current form in 1992, designed by Klaus Ringwald as “Fountain of Life.” A closer look at what it depicts – not without controversy – earned it a nickname “fountain of love” (Liebesbrunnen). In the spirit of more than platonic love, the centerpiece of the fountain consists of two naked figures of a man and a woman in a passionate embrace.

The Fountain of Life – or more accurately, love

But that’s not all. Look closer… there is plenty more love around, of non-human kind. On the fountain’s corners there are eight groups of animals, including hedgehogs, rabbits, crows, rats, bats, owls, chickens, and toads. And they clearly like each other if you catch my meaning.

In an interesting contrast of themes, the sides of the fountain display cast iron panels describing the history Durlach. A sense of history and a sense of humor – I love it! But the love fountain is but an introduction to Durlach’s watery world. Strolling through the town is a journey of discovery – you never know what new fountain you’re going to find hiding in a courtyard, squeezed into a tiny alley, or quietly murmuring in a shady park. Amazingly, unlike in most cities I’ve been to, water in these urban jewels is safe to drink, which makes for a perfect way to explore Durlach on foot even on a hot summer day.

Right along Pfinztalstraße there is Wasserwerkbrunnen, or Waterworks Fountain. It was built in 1896 and stands on the site of Durlach’s former water utility. It depicts the Water God – with a frog on his head.

Waterworks Fountain – the blue sign to the left indicates that water is safe to drink

Then there is Basler-Tor-Brunnen, or Basel Gate Fountain, named thanks to its proximity one of the city’s surviving medieval gates that guarded the southern entrance. The fountain was created in 1987 by Ulrich Sekinger.

Basler Tor – Basel Gate – in Durlach

Basler-Tor-Brunnen – Basel Gate Fountain

Finding this fountain was rather unexpected. I walked into a courtyard I didn’t even know was on the other side of a narrow passage off Rappenstraße, and there is was! Rappenbrunnen – Stable Fountain – has a great modern look given to it in 1991 by sculptor Hans Vaupel.

Rappenbrunnen – Stable Fountain

And then there is this one… I don’t know its name (maybe others do?) but love the frog-and-lizard theme. Cheers!

Anonymous fountain

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Mysteries of the Vatican

Ania — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 23:03:07 +0000

With the conclave electing the new pope about to begin, Vatican is at the center of attention. This tiny state in the Eternal City of Rome occupies only about 44 hectares yet wields tremendous power over the Catholic faithful that stretches around the world. Although Vatican City has existed in its current form only since 1929, its history goes back to the very roots of Christianity as it evolved from a persecuted sect within the Roman Empire to an empire of its own, with popes for centuries equal to kings. Prior to the unification of Italy, popes ruled over the extensive Papal States. Vatican is all that’s left of them today, reducing the pope’s power from considerably temporal, or worldly, to more purely spiritual.

The first thing that strikes anyone approaching the Vatican is the sheer size of St. Peter’s Basilica. This enormous church was built on the site believed to be the burial place of Apostle Peter, the first bishop of Rome and therefore the first pope. There have been churches on this site since the 4th century, with the current basilica completed in the 17th century and enjoying architectural contributions from artistic giants such as Michelangelo and Donato Bramante.

The dome of St. Peter’s Basilica

The Basilica is an enormous structure, so big in fact that it can elude the senses. As you approach, it seems to grow in front of your eyes, irresistibly drawing the visitors in with the outstretched, open arms of the massive colonnade surrounding the St. Peter’s Square. Once inside, a reminder of the church’s size are markers etched in the floor that compare it to many other well known churches around the world. Not exactly humble but really impressive nonetheless!

Interior of the Basilica

Inside the church is simply stunning, teeming with masterpieces such as timeless Pieta.

Pieta – simply stunning

And just like the giant exterior, the Basilica’s interior can trick the eye with its sheer size. What I found most striking was the lettering encircling the inside of the dome. It says, referring to St. Peter, “Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam. Tibi dabo claves regni caelorum.” (“You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”) At the first glance, it seems like any other inscription in any other church dome except… the letters are 2 metres (6.6 ft) high! It’s really hard to believe!

Interior of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica

View from the Basilica’s dome

St. Peter’s Square and the Basilica are usually filled with crowds of tourists and pilgrims so it can be hard to find a spot for quiet contemplation. I found it at the base of the Basilica’s dome looking down. Up there, regardless of one’s religion or lack thereof, your shoulders feel like at any moment they could grow angel wings to let you soar even higher and your lips involuntarily begin to whisper a prayer…

Ojcze nasz, któryś jest w niebie
święć się imię Twoje
przyjdź królestwo Twoje
bądź wola Twoja jako w niebie tak i na ziemi.
Chleba naszego powszedniego daj nam dzisiaj
i odpuść nam nasze winy,
jako i my odpuszczamy naszym winowajcom,
i nie wódź nas na pokuszenie
ale nas zbaw od złego.
Amen

Finally, the view of the city from the top of the dome is simply breath-taking, and a very special place to me (for personal rather than religious reasons). And the Vatican, despite the many trials and turbulations that the Catholic Church is currently facing, remains a symbol for believers around the world of their faith’s foundation. For Poles in particular it will always be a place where, on October 16, 1978, these words were heard from a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica: Habemus Papam… Carolus Wojtyla! Standing on that balcony was a Polish cardinal Karol Wojtyła who had just been elected the first non-Italian pope in 455 years, adopting the name John Paul II. He made history in more ways than one on that day and over the quarter century of his pontificate. Who will follow in his foot steps?

What a view!

Statues at the top of St. Peter’s Basilica

Bidding good night to the Vatican…

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Hoa Lo – Hanoi’s dark side

Ania — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 00:29:52 +0000

I recently heard an NPR radio program that made me think back to my trip to Hanoi. For me Hanoi was an unexpected discovery, a place full of life and charm. But that was not my original association – and it’s not for most people who upon hearing “Hanoi” think solely about the dark days of Vietnam War (or American War as it is called in Vietnam). The radio story was about a former American fighter pilot, John Borling, who was one of the prisoners of war (POWs) released in 1973 after almost seven years of captivity. He spent these long years in what POWs ironically called “Hanoi Hilton” – the infamous Hoa Lo prison.

Borling talked about how, while there, he composed poems in his head since he had no access to pen or paper. He described how he would communicate with fellow prisoners using a tap code for each letter of the alphabet. It was a painfully slow way to convey words let alone ideas but with few other options and days of captivity draggin on Borling became very proficient, memorizing tapping out poems like this one:

The world without, within our weathered walls,
Remote, like useless windows, small and barred.
Here, months and years run quickly down dim halls,
But days, the daze, the empty days come hard.

He recently published a collection of his verses, Taps on the Walls: Poems from the Hanoi Hilton. His words took me back to the small, barred windows and dim halls of what is now a museum in the former prison. The first unexpected thing about visiting Hoa Lo is its location. I thought it would be somewhere on the outskirts of Hanoi but it right in the city center, walking distance to the Old Quarter. Why? Well, that was the periphery when Hoa Lo was built by French colonialists during the last two decades of the 19th century. Vietnam was then a part of French Indochina.

Hoa Lo’s main gate – the French called it Maison Centrale

Hỏa Lò, translated as “fiery furnace,” was a place where Vietnamese political prisoners were held, tortured, and executed as a part of France’s ultimately failed effort to stifle pro-independence movements. At its peak in 1954, the prison had more than 2,000 inmates held in terrible conditions. The museum contains exhibits that recreate those days.

Re-imagined: Hoa Lo’s Vietnamese prisoners under French occupation

Execution room, very much French-style with the guillotine

Learning more about this place’s history was a humbling experience. It is so easy to perceive things subjectively through the prism of a particular time in history that has touched as most directly, ignoring all else. In the U.S., Vietnam War was a painful period of a distant conflict made immediate through the unprecedented TV reporting of war’s ugliness and by a generation of young Americans coming home in coffins. It was a period of moral confusion, and a time of profound social upheaval that finally put an end to this tragic war. It left deep scars in American consciousness, still not entirely healed.

Obviously, it was an even more tragic and painful period for Vietnam – a misguided conflict that resulted in unnecessary death and destruction. But as hard as these years were, they are only a small part of Vietnam’s rich and ancient history. Many more Vietnamese suffered and died in Hoa Lo at the hands of the French during their over six-decade-long colonial rule than Americans at the hands of Viet Cong during the ten years when POWs were held there. It is a place to remember all the victims, a place where American prisoners, just like Vietnamese prisoners before them, for years looked up through the same barred windows, longing for freedom…

The world behind a barred window

Probably the best known part of Hoa Lo that made it the Hanoi Hilton is its section displaying artifacts and documents from the “American period.” In particular the exhibit highlights memorabilia associated with Sen. John McCain whose plane was shot down over Hanoi in October 1967. He spent the next five and a half years here. Not surprisingly, the exhibit tries to give an impression that prisoners were well cared for but numerous accounts, including McCain’s, depict a place of torture, depravation, and hopelessness. Since his release from long imprisonment, McCain has since been back to Hoa Lo several times, most recently last year, successfully working over the decades to normalize the relations between the U.S. and Vietnam. He is definitely somewhat of a local celebrity, with his pilot’s outfit and parachute prominently on display:

John McCain’s pilot suit in Hoa Lo museum

But here is what I found most intriguing about Hoa Lo – it’s most recent transformation that brought about a victory of sorts of American-style capitalism at the heart of the capital of a theoretically communist state. It’s the transformation that physically razed the large part of the former prison.

Hoa Lo then…

…and now

Under the French occupation and during the Vietnam War period Hoa Lo was a massive, walled-off camp. But with Vietnam’s eventual opening up to international trade, investment, and tourism the prime real estate in the city center became just too valuable to continue as an old prison and was put to better uses. In the mid-1990s most of it was demolished, with only one remaining section of the former prison serving as the museum. What is taking up the rest of the site now, you may ask? And that’s the best part: Hanoi Towers, a high-rise complex of offices and high-end apartments, plus… Somerset Hanoi Grand hotel. The irony of having an actual Hilton hotel on that site would have been simply too great.

This former site of suffering and incarceration for nearly a century today advertises as follows: “Our newly renovated apartments deliver contemporary conveniences that leave nothing to be desired for today’s business travelers. From our refreshed kitchen and living rooms to newly contemporary bedrooms, every features of our apartment has been re-imaged with your comfort in mind. This internationally managed Hanoi accommodation comes with personalised services and extensive facilities and is centrally located to make your business travel, weekend retreat or extended stay convenient and enjoyable.” Delightful!

Hoa Lo has moved on beyond its infamous days. So did Hanoi, the city that is over thousand years old where the Hanoi Hilton period was but a small chapter in its long and proud history. A dark chapter, no doubt, but from the perspective of time no longer as dire. Today 65% of the city’s population is under the age of 30. They didn’t experience horrors of the war and they think more about the future than the past.

That’s the Hanoi I experienced outside the walls.

Hoa Lo prison yard with the high-rise building in the background. The view – and the accommodations – sure have changed…

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Let it snow…

Ania — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:59:30 +0000

As someone who grew up in Poland, I’m no stranger to snow. LOTS of snow. But in DC a significant snowfall that sticks is a rare occurrence. A dusting now and then, sometimes an inch or two of accumulation that lasts a few days, maybe just one or two big snowstorms during the season – or none at all. As the Northeast is being pounded with a serious blizzard, we have been spared this time. But even though it’s a dry and sunny day here, watching dramatic images from up north makes me think of snow-covered Washington. This is a collection of photos from different years and different snowstorms, including the mother of them all – February 2010 “snowmaggedon.” Enjoy!

Snowy Capitol

Supreme Court buried under more than a number of cases

Won’t be driving anywhere today…

Fresh snow is always so beautiful – I don’t want to disturb it!

One of my favorite snow-related memories comes from the “snowmageddon” time when the city shut down for a week. Months before, we bought Ford’s Theatre tickets to see The Rivalry, a great play by Norman Corwin exploring Lincoln-Douglas debates. I love this historic theater and I was looking forward to the play but on the day of I had full expectation of it being cancelled. The city was brought to a virtual standstill, with federal government and most offices closed, streets unpassable, and many people without power. Yet, to my great surprise when I called Ford’s Theatre, they said the show is still on. But how would we get there? Fortunately the metro was running a limited, underground-only service. So we made our trek trough white Capitol Hill to Union Station…

Food was another concern. We had our basic supplies back home but we really wanted a dinner out to complete the experience. Unbelievably, an atmospheric French restaurant right across the street from Ford’s Theatre, Bistro d’Oc, was open! Confit de canard maison never tasted so good =)

The theater looked magical, snowflakes and all…

The play was excellent, and surprisingly well attended given the circumstances. And of course at Ford’s there is always a sensation of one more person being in the audience…

It was a glorious evening followed by an equally beautiful morning!

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History etched in tuff

Ania — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 22:59:52 +0000

“It’s the grandest thing I ever saw!” exclaimed Adolph Francis Bandelier standing at the rim of New Mexico’s Frijoles Canyon in 1880. He was born in Bern, Switzerland but his family emigrated to Illinois when he was eight. Fascinated with the history and culture of American Indians in the Southwest, he became one of the foremost anthropologists and ethnologists of the Pueblo people. Today the Bandelier National Monument, named after him in 1916, remains a witness to the native people’s ancestral history on this land and a testimony of one man’s determination to bring that history to life.

In 1890, Bandelier wrote novel titled The Delight Makers, a fictional tale in which he re-imagines the life of pre-Columbian Pueblo Indians. The novel opens with a description of the Frijoles Canyon as Bandelier saw it. Over a hundred years later that was exactly the view I was taking in on a cold January day and my reaction was the same – it’s the grandest thing I ever saw!

Frijoles Canyon was formed following the eruptions more than a million years ago of a nearby volcano, now collapsed into a giant Valles Caldera. The eruptions were so powerful that they produced volumes of ash 600 times greater than the eruption of Mount Saint Helens. Soft compressed volcanic ash, or tuff, formed steep and easily carved walls of the canyon. Bandelier explains:

The entire formation of the chain, as far as it faces the Rio Grande, is volcanic, the walls of the gorges consisting generally of a friable white or yellowish tufa containing nodules of black, translucent obsidian. The rock is so soft that in many places it can be scooped out or detached with most primitive tools, or even with the fingers alone. Owing to this peculiarity the slopes exposed to the south and east, whence most of the heavy rains strike them, are invariably abrupt and often even perpendicular; whereas the opposite declivities, though steep, still afford room for scanty vegetation.

The south-facing wall of Frijoles Canyon with natural and man-made holes pocking the face of a tuff cliff

Amazing views, amazing scale…

The opposite wall, less steep and with snow-covered vegetation

The history of human settlement at what is today Bandelier spans over 10,000 years. By 1150 hunter-gatherer ancestors of the Pueblo people began to build more permanent settlements. The evidence of these settlements is clearly visible in Frijoles Canyon. The Main Loop Trail, only 1.2-mile long, takes visitors through this amazing landscape. At the bottom of the canyon, near a small stream, are the foundations of a circular Tyuonyi pueblo that once stood one to three stories tall (the visitor center’s museum has a great visualization by the way). More homes – some of them multistory – are carved in the walls of the sun-warmed wall of the canyon. A reconstructed Talus House gives an idea of what they once looked like, and the rock wall foundations and beam holes extending along the wall testify to how sizable settlement it was. At its peak several hundred people lived here.

Remnants of ceremonial structure kiva of the Tyuonyi pueblo

Talus house in the distance

Foundations of multistory ancient houses

And then there are cavates, cave rooms dug out of the cliffs. Their lower walls were usually plastered and painted, and the ceilings were smoke-blackened to make the tuff less crumbly. The best part is – you can explore them, climbing up a ladder!

A ladder-accessible cavate carved in a tuff cliff wall

Cavate interior

A room with a view

Let’s hear more from Bandelier himself about this “cluster of cave-dwellings, visible at this day although abandoned and in ruins, in that romantic and picturesquely secluded gorge called in the Queres dialect Tyuonyi and in Spanish El Rito de los Frijoles.”

The Rito is a beautiful spot. Situated in a direct line not over twenty miles west of Santa Fé, it can still be reached only after a long day’s tedious travel. It is a narrow valley, nowhere broader than half a mile; (…) Its southern rim is formed by the slope of a timbered mesa, and that slope is party overgrown by shrubbery. The northern border constitutes a line of vertical cliffs of yellowish and white pumice, projecting and re-entering like decorations on stage, – now perpendicular and smooth for some distance, now sweeping back in the shape of an arched segment. These cliffs vary in height, although nowhere are less than two hundred feet. Their tops rise in huge pillars, in crags and pinnacles. Brushwood and pine timber crown the mesa of which these fantastic projections are but the shaggy border.

Fantastic shapes of Bandelier cliffs

Panoramic view of Frijoles Canyon

Through the vale itself rustles the clear and cool brook to which the name of Rito de los Frijoles is applied. It meanders on, hugging the southern slope, partly though open spaces, partly though groves of timber, and again past tall stately pine-trees standing isolated in the valley. Willows, cherry-trees, cottonwoods, and elders form small thickets along its banks. The Rito is a permanent streamlet notwithstanding its small size. Its water freezes in winter, but it never dries up completely during the summer months.

Frijoles Creek

In the cliffs themselves, for a distance of about two miles, numerous caves dug out by the hand of man are visible. Some of these are yet perfect; others have wholly crumbled away except the rear wall. From a distance the port-holes and indentations appear like so many pigeons’ nests in the naked rock. Together with the cavities formed by amygdaloid chambers and crevices caused by erosion, they give the cliffs the appearance of a huge, irregular honeycomb.

Honeycomb-like cliffs

By 1550, for reasons that we don’t fully understand but most likely had to do with drought, the Pueblo people had moved from their cliff dwellings to settlements along the Rio Grande where their descendants live today. They left behind not just the awe-inspiring remnants of their dwellings but also beautiful rock paintings and petroglyphs.

Spiral petroglyph

Rock painting

Still the Rito must have appeared then much as it appears now, – a quiet, lovely, picturesque retreat, peaceful when basking in the sunlight, wonderfully quiet when the stars sparkled over it, or the moon shed its floods of silver on the cliffs and on the murmuring brook below.

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Kraków’s holiday tradition

Ania — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 16:34:22 +0000

Christmas season in Kraków is unforgettable for many reasons. Festive Old Town churches, sausage sizzling in cosy street booths, colorful street decorations, and that special holiday spirit in the air. But there is one thing in particular about the holidays that’s uniquely special to Kraków: szopki, or nativity scenes (singular: “szopka”). What makes them unique? Szopki are not just classic displays of the creche with Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Rather, they are elaborate structures that include a mix of Kraków’s architectural hallmarks, with a cast of colorful figurines giving homage to the Newborn – or simply going about their business.

While nativity scenes are common in many countries and date back to St. Francis of Assisi’s 13th century re-enactments of the Christmas story, Kraków szopki are a peculiar twist on that tradition. In their current form they date back to the 19th century when local craftsmen – trying to make a living in a winter season when construction work stopped – started to earn extra income by making the Christmas story come to live in a new way. To preserve the craft, Kraków created an annual competition in 1937 for the most beautiful szkopki. The competition still takes place every year in December at the Main Square and the winners are then displayed in the nearby Krzysztofory Palace.

As you’re reading, listen to this beautiful Polish Christmas carol, Lulajże Jezuniu (Sleep Baby Jesus), to get you into the holiday spirit…

Szopki range in sizes and styles but they all tend to have similar core architectural elements from different epochs easy to spot on a stroll through Kraków. The most recognizable are tall Gothic steeples, baroque domes, and medieval city walls. There are also patriotic accents: red-and-white Polish and blue-and-white Kraków flags crown the steeples, often alongside the national symbol, white eagle. A szopka has several levels, all of them teeming with activity. The nativity scene is there but almost hidden in the crowd of Kraków flower vendors, horse carriage drivers, street musicians in traditional outfits, Jewish traders, and góral mountain shepherds with their sheep. Among them wander the three kings, knights, angels, devils, and frequently a Wawel dragon from a local legend. This display of characters is especially captivating in mechanized szopki where the colorful crowd comes to life in a clock-like parade.

Some szopka-makers get even more creative when it comes to the characters and references they include. This one features the shout-out to Poland and Ukraine as the hosts of last year’s soccer EuroCup, and a well-known Polish tennis player Agnieszka Radwańska who is from Kraków. Can you see the dragon by the way?

Szopki are what makes Christmas in Kraków special – and they certainly made my holidays special. Enjoy!

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