Tag Archives: UNESCO World Heritage site

My Son, Vietnam

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My husband and I visited My Son before we truly understood the full antiquity and diversity of the many ethnic groups living in Vietnam. I don’t recommend this approach. But the obvious care with which the site has been and is being restored speaks to the importance of this ancient site and the respect the Vietnamese have for it.

The sign above, located at the drop-off point where visitors must leave their cars and buses, gives some indication of the extent of the site. This drop-off area is still some distance from the actual historical site. A special electric vehicle brings the visitors along a specially built road to the actual sanctuary. Isolated towers may be seen in the distance, Piranesian ruins surrounded by jungle.

At our destination, we learn that My Son was built by the Cham people during the thousand-year heyday of the Champa kingdom (or kingdoms; apparently, scholars disagree), from the fourth to about the fourteenth century A.D. The Champa kingdom in central Vietnam, where My Son is located, was defeated by the Vietnamese from the north in 1471, and the Cham people fled south. Many still live in southern Vietnam.

My Son was only ever a temple complex, at a short remove from the capital city. The Cham were, at that time, Hindu. (Most of the ones living in the south today are Muslim.) And the magnificent red-brick temples of My Son were Hindu temples and other religious buildings.

Located deep in the jungle, the temples of My Son were allowed to fall into ruin for centuries, until the late 1800s, when the French attempted some restoration. But war put an end to that, and when the North Vietnamese used the site as one of their bases, the Americans bombed it. Bomb craters are still visible. Several of the temples were severely damaged.

Perhaps this is fitting for a site largely devoted to Shiva, the god of destruction and war. But the site is beautiful, the temples magnificent even in ruin, and the complex an important monument in the history of civilization on Earth. As visitors and citizens of a diverse and wonderful world, my husband and I are grateful that My Son is now being carefully restored as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Before leaving, we were treated to a performance of Cham music and dance. Quite a treat!

Cefalu, in the rain and after

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We arrived in Cefalu in a rainstorm. Parking is not available in the historic center for non-residents, so we had to park at the train station (EU7 per day) and walk (10 minutes) to our rented apartment through the delightfully pedestrian historic area, the attractive stone paving slippery under the soles of my shoes worn smooth from so much walking.

There are many good reasons to visit Cefalu, a promontory on the north coast of Sicily, and our one stop on this coast as we made our way around the island. Primary among these is the astonishing rock, about nine hundred feet high, that dominates the town. (The picture below is taken from the visitsicily website, as I was unable to take a photo myself because of the rain.)

Skyline of Cefalù, touristic village in northern Sicily

And then, of course, there are the beaches, beautiful even in the rain and just after.

Even in waterfront areas where there are rocks instead of beaches, the town is impressive.

In addition, the historic district is charming; somehow there are outdoor cafes even on the narrow streets.

It might well have a nightlife, too, though not in the pouring rain. In the rain’s aftermath, however, the cafes of the piazza in front of the Duomo were open for business.

And it is of the Duomo itself that I wish to speak, seen here fronting the piazza. The cathedral was built beginning in 1131 by Roger the Norman, who was then king of Sicily. Yes, there was a Norman (as in, from Normandy) Kingdom in Sicily from the end of the eleventh and throughout much of the twelfth century. And, once the previous rulers of more than two centuries, Muslim Moors or Arabs, were defeated, they were allowed to continue living in Sicily in peace. There followed a period of what UNESCO describes as “the fruitful coexistence of people of different origins and religions (Muslim, Byzantine, Latin, Jewish, Lombard and French),” which blossomed into a unique architectural style exemplified by the cathedral in Cefalu, along with the cathedral in Monreale and several structures in Palermo. These structures, collectively, have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, and are described by UNESCO as follows: “The innovative re-elaboration of architectural forms, structures, and materials and their artistic, decorative, and iconographic treatments – most conspicuously the rich and extensive tesserae mosaics, pavements in opus sectile, marquetry, sculptural elements, paintings, and fittings – celebrate the fruitful coexistence of people of different origins.”

Outside, the cathedral is built mostly in the Romanesque style. A closer examination of a column that appears damaged revealed a rather imaginative capital.

Inside, it’s quite magnificent.

Its most wonderful feature is the mosaics that decorate the apse. Two euros turn on the lights for a brief period, so that the tourist (me) can hope to take a few photos. A small price for a moment of glittering gold and glory.

 

 

Viñales, the town

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We spent some time in the colorful town of Viñales as well as in the surrounding countryside. In declaring the Viñales valley to be of “Outstanding Universal Value,” UNESCO had this to say about the town:

The village of Viñales, strung out along its main street, has retained its original layout and many interesting examples of colonial architecture, mostly one-storey wooden houses with porches.

And indeed, it is exactly as UNESCO described it–but they forgot to mention the vivid colors!

The people, too, are colorful and interesting.

The revolution, too, is still present in this part of Cuba–from a picture of the much-loved Che, to a touching sign: “I Am Cuba.”

 

 

Viñales–the countryside

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When I was arranging our tour to Cuba, the potential participants in our group were, generally, not very interested in Viñales. The area is famous for its tobacco plantations, home of the best tobacco for Cuba’s best cigars, which (everyone knows, or pretends to know) are the finest in the world. But my friends and relatives and I, we are a nonsmoking group of people, and it was hard to get up much enthusiasm for a tour of the tobacco world, when the vacation was short, and there was Havana with its great food and wonderful music, and of course, Cuba’s beaches.

But a bit of research revealed that the Viñales valley is also on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is a landscape of sublime loveliness–an agricultural valley surrended by dramatic dome-like karst hills (mountains?) that is quite unique and worth visiting, if only for its physical beauty.

This is what it looks like, approaching the town from the east.

We stopped for lunch at a working farm with great (fresh, local) food, where we could look out over the valley and walk in the garden.

   

For the first time in my life, I saw pineapples growing. I always imagined them growing right next to the ground, like a kohlrabi or a fennel bulb; other people I’ve talked with thought they grew on trees. Neither of these is true. They grow on stems, like artichokes. Here is one:

The agricultural part of the valley is peaceful. In the hot afternoon, a couple of farmers (well, I *assumed* they were farmers!) headed home for a rest–or a meal–or a friendly drink of rum or coffee, or a good cigar.

Speaking of cigars, after lunch it was time for a short trip through the dazzling countryside, followed by a tour of an organic tobacco plantation and cigar manufacturing.

  

Everyone was invited to try a cigar–and we all did! The gentleman above rolls the cigars shut using honey for glue, and we all agreed that his cigars were smooth and sweet.

  

It was a great experience, but we were not converted from our non-tobacco ways, and most of us (except you-know-who-you-are) easily resisted the temptation to buy any.

Moving on, we reached a stunning overlook of the valley late in the afternoon.

  

In the next post, I’ll show a bit of the town of Viñales.

Khajuraho, part 3

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More delicious eye candy from Khajuraho!

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I’m pretty sure that the next one is a deity, dancing. But who?

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And finally, this beautiful couple epitomizes for me everything I love about these carvings. I like to think they are gods–perhaps Shiva and Parvathi–but anyhow, they seem to be someone important. And they love each other, that’s clear. Look how his hand gently touches her breast, how hers rests lightly on his shoulder. They have so much personality, so much liveliness. Such exquisite detailing that it’s hard to believe they are just two of ten thousand adorning these temples. Hard to believe they are a thousand years old and not just created yesterday. Hard to believe they are made out of stone.

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Khajuraho, part 2

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I wish I could share these photographs with you in a very large size. It’s impractical in a blog format–some folks have different bandwidths–but contact me if you’re interested.

Here are some details from another temple.

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I love how the central figures in these compositions are flanked on either side by sinuous women displaying their curves.

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Below you can see the texture of the wall as a whole, and then a closer look at the detail.

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Finally, a god and goddess… I think these may be Shiva and Parvathi.

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More great Khajuraho images are still on the way!

Khajuraho, part 1

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The temples of Khajuraho were built during the Chandella dynasty, which lasted from about 950 until about 1050 A.D. That is, this stunning group of monuments, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is about a thousand years old. There are some twenty main structures and more smaller ones.

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For what might be the first time since I started writing this blog, I am at a loss to know how to present this material. I am at a loss even to tell you whether what we saw the day we were in Khajuraho was architecture…or sculpture…or poetry.

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The beauty of these temples works at every level of detail. To show you what I mean, I am going to zoom in on a couple of the rounded cylindrical forms that make up the walls of this temple. Look for a woman bent backwards to examine the sole of her foot. In the first picture, she is on the right-hand column in the middle row of figures.

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Now look at the figures all around her. They are all exquisitely detailed, all different, all perfect. Now imagine this kind of sculpture covering the entire building–covering twenty entire buildings. The place is simply, literally breathtaking.

Here I need to insert a word about the subject matter of the sculptures. There are gods. There are animals. There are mythical creatures. But most of all there are people. The people are engaged in what UNESCO is pleased to call “all aspects of life.” Which, that is to say, includes rather explicit portrayals of sex in permutations that might occasionally surprise even an adult. However, the sculptures are not about sex. They are (according to UNESCO) about the Tantric doctrine in which the mating of the male principle (form and potential) and female principle (energy) creates the entire world. I have, after some thought, not included explicit subject matter in this blog. The statues are, every one of them, gorgeous. I want all readers to feel comfortable about looking at what I post here.

Ready? Let’s get started with one of the earlier temples…

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What I love about this picture is the procession of people, some on horseback, that marches along the bottom. But the whole building is full of interesting details.

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The last statue is inside the temple. Isn’t she lovely? And after a thousand years you can still count each individual bead in her necklace.

 

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

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Ah, Uruguay. I want to go back.

We took the high-speed Buquebus ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento on New Years Eve day, a one-hour ride across the Rio de la Plata in the morning, another hour back to Buenos Aires before dinner that evening. A good day-trip. Colonia del Sacramento is a World Heritage city, the oldest in Uruguay, originally founded in 1680 by the Portuguese. The original street plan and many of the old buildings still stand in the historic district.

We were expecting an historic, yet lively and slightly exotic, city something like Cartagena, Colombia.

We underestimated the effects of Colonia’s much smaller size (population of about 20,000 compared to Cartagena’s 900,000), the fact that a holiday started that evening, and perhaps also the magical peace of Uruguay’s culture.

Dogs slept in the streets, opening only a moderately interested eye when a car passed by every ten minutes or so. Cats preened on the tops of cars and in open windows.

The historic district was even quieter than the rest of the town. All the museums were closed for the holiday. The few tourists dutifully checked out the few tourist shops that were open and looked at the historic buildings, notably an old lighthouse whose top offered lovely views over the old town.

Otherwise the tourists sought a shady spot against the heat of the day. What else was there to do? Those dogs and cats had the right attitude!

The streets in the newer part of town were shadier and also livelier. (I confess here that the boundary between the newer town and the historic district, where the old city wall no longer existed, wasn’t always clear, and some or even most of these pictures may technically be in the historic district, though not the oldest part of it.)

We spent a pleasant half hour or so in a clothing store that featured unusual items, all made in Uruguay, chatting with the shop owner. There were no other customers. There was no hurry, plenty of time to enjoy the company.

There was plenty of time, too, to sit in the grass under a tree by the edge of the broad river and read a book. Until the wind picked up and like other tourists we sought the shelter of a sidewalk cafe, perhaps one shaded by bougainvilleas as big as trees.

Somewhere during the course of this magical day, the mind slows down and the heart grows deeper and consciousness takes a slow curving turn at right angles to all other states of mind ever experienced up to this point. Life is better than good, here in Uruguay. Every slow moment is delicious. A week here would be world without end. We have to come back.