Most people remember Joseph Stalin as a merciless dictator, responsible for the deaths of millions of people. But to the residents of Gori, the Georgian town where he was born, he is a man worth commemorating, whom they are proud to acknowledge. His childhood home is carefully preserved in the grounds of the museum that 'celebrates' his life.
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The Georgian town of Signagi (also written Sighnaghi) sits on a hilltop in a position that reminded me of many Italian towns. It still has signifcant remnants of its 18th-century town wall and fortifications.
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The Diri Baba Mausoleum is a Sufi pilgrimage site of historical and architectural significance. Built into a rocky hillside opposite a medieval cemetery in the 15th century, it houses the tomb of a unknown sheikh.
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I used to smile when I heard retired people say that they didn’t know how they ever found time to work, they were so busy in their retirement. But after this September I know more than ever what they meant! I could barely fit in everything I wanted/needed to do this month even without ‘proper’ work to occupy me.
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When is a natural woodland not a natural woodland? Answer: when it has been carefully designed, landscaped and dotted with follies. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a delight to explore; quite the contrary!
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The Irish author James Joyce lived for many years in the city of Trieste, from 1904-1920 (with a spell in Zurich during WW1). During those last years of the city's Austro-Hungarian glory it was much-loved by Bohemian artists and writers such as Joyce. He moved there when he was just 22 years old and began writing some of his best-known literary works there.
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Have you ever thought about how ropes are made? Or at least, how they were traditionally made? Historically there was great demand for ropes, especially wherever there were ships. And the ropes needed to be long. To make them required space to walk, as strands of the chosen fibre needed to be spread out and twisted together.
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Cityscapes have a strong appeal to the photographer in many of us, and perhaps especially if we like to work in monochrome. Strong architectural lines, contrasting materials and interesting shapes, particularly those of some modern architecture, are well-suited to black and white compositions.
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Perched on the top of the Colle di San Giusto near Trieste’s castle stands a tall monument in honour of the fallen soldiers of World War One. The monument, classical in style, features a group of five naked male figures in a dramatic war scene.
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Even as a child time seems to speed up as we near the end of summer; how much more so for us now as adults! It seems no time since I was writing about July; now it is almost September.
