Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
I love the fact that very “public” events contain so many “private” moments.
Presumably, my photo captures the bride and her father, relishing a moment of mutual, wry amusement – one that looks like it verges on “complicity”. (If he is not her father, the bride already enjoys a close bond with the man who has just become her father-in-law)
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On entering the cathedral, we soon realised that we had walked into the latter part of a “big” Italian wedding.
Our presence was not in any way “discouraged”; an interesting event it certainly was, but I thought it would be inappropriate for me to photograph it.
The wedding-proper completed, the newlyweds, their families and friends then walked out into the wider world.
At that point, I thought it would be “socially acceptable” for me to attempt to “capture” the scene. (and it soon became apparent that “strangers” paying non-intrusive attention to their “big day” was enthusiastically welcomed by those directly involved in it)
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Description, courtesy of Wikipedia:
In 1861, part of the facade collapsed, damaging the atrium. The whole front of the church was then rebuilt to a design by architect Errico Alvino in a richly decorated manner drawing on Italian Gothic and especially Arab-Norman styles, similar to but more ornate than the original.
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Construction began around twelve centuries ago, but most of what a 21st century visitor sees when looking at Amalfi Cathedral (aka “Duomo di Amalfi” and “Duomo di Sant’Andrea”) is of much more recent vintage.
Allegedly, it has housed the “relics” of St Andrew (Sant’Andrea) since not long after “Crusaders” delivered them from Constantinople to Amalfi in 1206 CE.
Many a “landmark” Italian church has a “medieval” exterior, now ill-matched with a lavishly reworked, much more ornate, “Baroque” interior.
Over the centuries, Amalfi’s cathedral has become a riotously eclectic hybrid of very different styles. (and of different buildings, joined together, repaired, and re-imagined)
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Its “permanent” population of circa 5,000 people is around the same size as Naracoorte’s, or circa half that of the Australian Portland.
Naracoorte is a prosperous South Australian country town; Portland is Victoria’s oldest “European” settlement.
The post’s actually-European town is very much older than any Australian one.
its population and power peaked circa one thousand years ago.
Its eponymous republic was then a significant maritime power, trading in many “things”, including enslaved humans.
Tourism-wise, its “peak” is circa right now, and it is stratospherically beyond Naracoorte’s or Portland’s wildest dreams…or nightmares.
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This particular tea house was commendable: the ambience was authentic, unfussily lovely, its tea & “goodies” were very palatable, and the “live” music was of a high standard – not merely “close enough, for tourists”.
Keyboards, synthetic “beats” and excessive reverb + compression were all pleasingly absent.
“Attracting tourists” was part of this tea house’s equation, but only part; very evidently, many local people liked it.
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The above photo was taken in Kashgar’s livestock market – a fascinating place, which Pelican Yoga will eventually explore in much more detail.
The particular characteristics that define “premium” sheep are partly environmental, and partly cultural; the “best” sheep on offer in China doubtless look “highly exotic” to most Australians.
To most Chinese people, Australia’s highly-prized merinos would doubtless appear equally “strange”.
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Uyghur teas do not necessarily primarily involve leaves of Camellia sinensis.
(Camellia sinensis is the leaf source for nearly all of the world’s non-“herbal” teas)
Leaves – of whatever species – are not necessarily the key element in Uyghur teas.
More than one species was sourced for the pictured “loose” tea; its “hero” ingredients are flowers.
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In Kashgar’s “old city”, closed doors and windows often deliver more visual delight to a passer-by than do open ones.
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According to the sun, it was not yet 11 am on 24 May 2024.
I took the photo in Kashgar’s “old city”, looking across to “new” Kashgar’s TV tower.
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