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Category: Sound

4 Oct

Russia, Suzdal,Enchanting & Spiritual

Suzdal is UNESCO World Heritage and when we visited it in a cold and snowy day, we did understand why. We did travel from Moscow with a LADA, a 70s old stylish car en vogue in Russia until 2012 with an amazingly efficient heating system! Our driver was a silent chap wearing the typical fur hat. It takes around 4hrs to reach Suzdal, quite a trip, but we were so pleased once we got there. The place is enchanting. The people are lovely and the snow does the rest. Before visiting the convents and the kremlin, we did walk around. Some people had a stall on the street and we did buy some hand-crafted boxes. We received as gift...
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6 Jul

Essaouira Mogador & World Heritage

During our wanderings, we did travel through Morocco with a big old car, that we called 'al julhara', the jewel. One of my favourite places was Essaouira, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Essaouira is a mid-eighteenth century fortified town, today World Heritage, in ancient times called 'Mogador'  by Phoenician. The old fortified village has narrow streets, with small shops and cafés, to discover. In small laboratories near the fortified wall, skilled artisans work briar-root wood. It is a fine wood, light brown to reddish brown, often beautifully textured. Especially used to make pipes, it is very hard, heat-resistant and does not affect the aroma of pipe tobacco smoke. As we do not smoke pipe, we did choose some decorative objects to bring...
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6 Jul

Spain, Lanzarote,A Tribute to César Manrique

Visiting Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, two icons clearly identify the landscape: the natural signs of its volcanic origins and the architectural elements designed by the island's most popular artist, César Manrique.  He was not an architect nor an artist; he was both. Manrique was born in the 20s, but his fame was established only between the 70s and 1992, the year he died in a car accident. Manrique had a major influence on the planning regulations in Lanzarote, when he recognised its tourist potential. He did encourage sympathetic architectural developments, respectfully of the island's nature. Lanzarote and Manrique lived in symbiosis; the island did greatly benefit from the artist creativity and Manrique's artworks were inspired by Lanzarote's unique landscape. I was so fascinated by his...
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