Old houses of Grado

The old town of Grado is an island city in the north-east of Italy. The town is composed of about 30 islands out of which, only three islands are permanently inhabited. It is also called the Sun Island and the First Venice. This post is about visiting Grado.

If you are holidaying in one of the towns on the north-eastern Adriatic coast of Italy such as Lignano, Bibione or Caorle, you can visit Grado as a day trip, combining it with a visit to the Roman ruins of Aquileia a few kilometres away.

Islands of Grado

The town of Grado is on the biggest island and is connected to the mainland by a bridge. The other two inhabited islands are Schiusa and Barbana. Schiusa is connected to Grado by two bridges while to visit Barbana, you need a boat. The town also includes some villages on the mainland including the protected wildlife area of Valle Cavanata.

The beaches of Grado face south and it is known as the Sun Island because of its good climate. Like Venice but older to it, being a city of different islands, it is also called the First Venice.

Grado developed around 450 CE, as the sea port connected to Aquileia. Soon it became an important town and two big Basilica churches were built here - St. Eufemia and St. Maria delle Grazie. For a few centuries, Grado was the most important port in the north-east of Italy. However as the island city of Venice, 135 km to the south, became more important, Grado declined. In the 12th century, the Patriarch of Grado shifted to Venice. Gradually, Grado became a poor village of the fishermen.

St Eufemia cathedral

This church was built in 579 CE, at the site of an older and smaller church. It is a simple and linear building in red brick. At the top of its bell tower there is a copper statue of archangel St. Michael, added to the building in 1462.

Roman Ruins

Not far from the St Eufemia cathedral, you can see the remains of the floor and some walls of the Court Basilica church from the 4th century CE.

Old Houses of Grado

My favourite part of Grado are its old houses, many of them from the medieval period. These old houses and the narrow streets of the old town, give this town a special look that reminds us of its history. It is full of shops and restaurants for the tourists, many of them are located in the old medieval buildings.

Beyond the city you can see its port and its deep sandy beaches. The best time to visit Grado is in early July when the city celebrates its traditional Barbana boat race.

Along the sea, Grado has a nice walking area, the Lungomare.

Conclusions

Our first visit to Grado was brief, as we had stopped on our way to visit Aquileia. Thus, we were unable to visit much of this city. The parts we saw were beautiful, especially the characteristic old houses, the small squares and the narrow streets of the old town.

We did not have time to visit its beach. We also did not visit the other old church of St. Maria delle Grazie. So we are planning to go back to visit during the next summer.

Meanwhile if you are holidaying on the Adriatic coast in the north-east of Italy, do visit Grado, if you have some time!

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The frescoed houses of Spilimbergo

The tiny medieval town of Spilimbergo (Pordenone) with its frescoed houses is one of the most beautiful cities in the north-eastern part of Italy. Narrow cobbled streets that go up and down on the gently rolling hills, make it a delightful place to visit.

The characteristic feature of the medieval houses of Spilimbergo, are the five-six hundred years old frescoes or the paintings on their outer walls.

History

There was an old castle in this area from the pre-Roman times. The city really grew and became important in the 11th century when the Count of Spengenberg from Austria came and settled here.

Till the arrival of Napoleon in north Italy in the 1790s, it was a part of the Republic of Venice. After a few years under the French rule of Napoleon, it came under the Autrian empire. It joined Italy in 1866.

The city was destroyed in 1976 in a terrible earthquake but since then it has been rebuilt. It is incredible that most of the old houses with their frescoes have been restored to their original glory.

Visiting The Town

It is a tiny city that you can easily cover in a couple of hours of walking. Close to the cathedral, towards the eastern edge of the town, there is a big parking area. You can leave your car there and start your visit from the Cathedral.

The Duomo (Cathedral), is dedicated to St. Mary. Its construction was started in 1284. It was also damaged in the earthquake of 1976 and has been restored. Its inner walls have some wonderful frescoes from 1300s, supposedly the works of an artist called Vitale of Bologna. If you like admiring art and medieval frescoes, you may wish to spend some time in exploring this cathedral.

Like the rest of the city, the outer walls of the Cathedral, still have a few frescoes, though most of them are lost. Still you can imagine how beautiful and imposing it must have looked when it was in its full glory.

The Castle of Spilimbergo is very close to the Cathedral.

The oldest parts of the Castle of the Counts of Spengenberg near the eastern gate of the medieval wall, are from 11th century. Over the centuries more buildings were added to them. It is built in a semicircle and it does not look like a castle. Rather, it is more like a series of noble houses with frescoes in different styles that vary from Romanic to Gothic to Renaissance. The Spengenberg family also gave the name to the city Spilimbergo. It is an amazing building in gentle colours, that somehow make me think of autumn.

Palazzo di sopra (The upper palace) is a noble house from 1300s, situated at the top of a small hill, that was partly rebuilt in 1500s. It was again damaged during the earthquake in 1976. It has been completely restored and has some beautiful frescoes on the outside and nice paintings and stucco work with plaster-of-paris inside. It also has a wonderful garden. It hosts some municipal offices but can be visited by tourists.

The upper floor of Palazzo di Sopra provides views of the surrounding Alps mountains and the neighbouring towns including the famous San Daniele Del Fruili. Beyond the mountains lie Austria and Slovenia.

Corso Roma is the most important street of the old city centre of Spilimbergo and walking along this street you can reach the western boundary of the city with its medieval entry gate and the clock tower. The old city walls have almost disappeared from this part of the town. The clock tower has memorials of Italian resistance fighters from the second world war who were killed by Nazi-Fascist forces.

One of the houses on Corso Roma, close to the eastern tower, is especially famous for its frescoes from 1500s, depicting the mythical stories of Hercules. It is called Casa Dipinta (Painted house). These frescoes are supposed to be the work of a well known artist called Pordenone.

Winding cobbled streets of Spilimbergo with their beautiful medieval churches, many of which host some important art works of local painters, give it an old world charm. This street also has many bars and ice-cream parlours, where you can sit down and enjoy the wonderful ambiance of this town.

If you have time, explore the tiny streets going up and down the hills, branching out from Corso Roma. Discovering some enchanting corners of the medieval town, usually ignored by tourists in a hurry, can be very rewarding.

You can also take this opportunity to visit San Daniele del Fruili, a few kilometres away, famous for its ham.

Conclusions

If you are on holidays at one of the towns on the Adriatic coast like Lignano, Bibione, Jesolo & Caorle and are looking for a day tour immersed in art and history, consider visiting Spilimbergo to admire its medieval houses with their wonderful frescoes. It is like an open-air museum.

Make sure to wear comfortable shoes for this trip, since walking on pebbled streets can be tough with high heels or thin-soled shoes.

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Picture Postcards from Caorle

The tiny seaside town of Caorle to the north of Venice is a little gem on the northern Adriatic coast of Italy. It comes alive in summers when tourists arrive here from different parts of Europe. With transparent blue sea, history, culture, art and colours, it seems like one big picture postcard.

This part of Italy is dotted with small seaside towns such as Jesolo, Portoguraro, Bibione and Lignano, full of summer tourists. Apart from the seaside holidays, they offer cultural opportunities in the neighbouring cities.

Caorle is one of my favourite places for a day visit during our summer holidays in Bibione.

HISTORICAL CAORLE

Caorle is an ancient town, dating back to pre-Roman period. It's name comes from Caprulae (pasture land for goats). Others believe that its name comes from Capris, a Pagan goddess. In the past it was a part of the Republic of Venice.

Residents of Caorle are only 12 thousand, and most of them live in the old medieval part of the town. The houses are painted in bright and give a distinct look to its narrow winding pebbled streets. The image below shows an old house in Caorle.

The most fascinating building of Caorle is its thousand years old Cathedral with a beautiful round-shaped bell tower. The Cathedral built in Romanesque style also has a number of frescoes, beautiful paintings (including "The Last Supper" by Gregorio Lazzarini) and archaeological materials (including an old Pagan altar - Ara Licovia). In the image below you can see the bell-tower of the Cathedral.

A well known landmark of Caorle is the "Madonna of the Angel church" (in the image below) situated at the edge of the sea. It was rebuilt in the seventeenth century. The local people believe that Madonna of this church has saved their city from many floods and natural disasters. In times of difficulty, local people go there to ask for Madonna's help. Thus, if you want to ask a favour from the Madonna of Caorle, remember to light a candle in this church.

ARTISTIC CAORLE

A paved walkway called "Lungomare del ponente" starts from the Madonna of the Angel church. It is protected from the sea by a row of boulders. It is a very romantic place for talking long walks. It is also an open-air Art Gallery: a lot of the boulders along the sea have been carved into sculptures by famous artists from Italy and abroad.

Every year the city invites some sculptors to come to Caorle to sculpt a new art work on one of the boulders of the walkway. Thus, if you are lucky, you can see those artists at work (in the image below an artist in 2016).

A distinctive feature of Caorle is the colours of its houses. This gives it a bright and fun appearance.

SEASIDE CAORLE

The new part of Caorle, along the sea beach has a row of colourful hotels along with shops, bars and restaurants, and a wide beach of fine white sands, that seems to go on forever.

The countryside around Caorle is criss-crossed by different canals from the Livenza river that connects to the sea at the Santa Margherita port. Compared to the north-eastern part of the city, this part of the town around the port is less touristy. There are some nice walks along the port and the canals. (Santa Margherita port in the image below)

CONCLUSIONS

I hope that you have liked this short visit to Caorle. I love this colourful little city and look forward to returning there.

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Deities of the Kullu Valley

In different aspects of life - religion, language, food, culture and festivals - India shows a "unity in diversity".

In the Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh in north of India, every village and hamlet has its own deity, a devi or a devta. This photo-essay looks at some of those deities, their cultural traditions and their links with other streams of Hinduism.

FORGING INDIA'S CULTURAL-RELIGIOUS UNITY

Each community in India often has its own ideas about gods and goddesses. All these are usually grouped together under Hinduism. Apart from their own distinctive cultural-religious traditions, they usually share some aspects of religion as explained in ancient texts of Vedas and Upanishads.

Mythological stories about some local events link together villages and cities, near and far, in different corners of India. Thus, often each village temple and sacred-site around trees, rocks, caves, rivers and mountains, invariably has a mythological story about the passage of some god or goddess in that place that provides an explanation of its sacredness.

Drops of immortality nectar (amrit) fallen from Vishnu's vase, pieces of the body of Parvati strewn over different parts of India, travels of Rama and Pandavas across India described in Ramayana and Mahabharata - they all create a network of stories that builds the essential sharing of sacredness, while conserving the distinctive characteristics of each place.

Diana Eck in her wonderful book "India: a sacred geography" provides a delightful mosaic of this diversity-unity.

DEITIES OF KULLU VALLEY

It has been estimated that there are around 250 devi and devta (gods and goddesses) in the villages and hamlets of Kullu valley in Himchal Pradesh. Local persons call these deities collectively as "Tharah Kardu".

Hidamba Devi, the deity of Manali, is considered to be the most important of these deities as she is the deity of the royal family of the Kullu. The royal family of Kullu believe that Hidamba Devi had gifted the kingdom of Kullu to their ancestor Behangamani Pal. The descendants of the king had established their royal house in Jagatsukh, a small village about 10 km from Manali.

The original temple of Hidamba Devi was in Chiuni, about 90 km from the town of Mandi. A new temple of this deity has been built in Manali in 2013, that is a replica of the old Chiuni temple with intricate wood carvings.

Hidamba Devi appears as a minor character in Mahabharata, where she falls in love with Bhim, one of the Pandava brothers. Together they have a son, Ghatotkach. Both Hidamba Devi and Ghatotkach also play a role in the legendary war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas.





Mahabharata describes Hidamba (Hidambi) as belonging to a "Rakshas" clan - one of the indigenous clans that were usually considered as enemies of the Aryans.

Omchanda Handa in his book "Buddhist art and antiquities of Himachal Pradesh" (Indus books) explains that the figures of ancient Hindu ascetic-sages like Gautam rishi and Lomasa rishi were also linked to Buddhist traditions, and indigenous community traditions of clans like Nagas, Rakshasas, Yakshas, etc. These different traditions all combine together in the mythologies of the Kullu deities.

Phyllis Granoff and Koichi Shinohara in their book "Images in Asian Religions: texts and contexts" (UBC press) explain another peculiarity of the Kullu valley deities - the sacredness is not limited to the statue of the deity but is "composed of different elements assembled together" including the wooden palanquins carrying multiple metal mohras (faces) of the deity, his/her attendants and other things used to decorate the palanquins.

STORIES OF KULLU DEITIES

The blog Tharah Kardu presents a lot of information about the deities of the Kullu valley, including the mythological stories about them. Reading these stories gives an idea of the diversity of origins of these deities.

For example, god Shangchul ji originally came from a place called Basu Desh. Shangchul's journey brought him in contact with different significant symbols of Hindu mythology such as Shakti and Kamdhenu. His story involves different small towns and villages of Kullu Valley, binding them together in a unified geographical matrix, linking his story to those of other local gods and goddesses.

This story also includes episodes of discrimination and negative attitudes towards the "lower" castes and the "untouchables". For example, Shangchul had caused a flood which had washed away most of "Marechhas and Tanguls". Marechhas (lower castes) are described as "dirty persons with dirty utensils" and have a "bad way of calling their mothers", so their killing by the Shangchul are justified.

Thus, these stories, while they maintain alive the ancient traditions of the people, they also contribute to continuation of caste hierarchies and discriminations.

DUSSHERA OF KULLU

Dusshera is one of the most important festivals of the Kullu valley. Dusshera is celebrated in different ways in different parts of India. For example, in the north and west parts of India, it celebrates the victory of Rama over the Rakshas king Ravana. In the north-east it celebrates the victory of goddess Durga over the asura king Mahishasur. Kullu has its own variation of the Dusshera celebrations.

The Kullu dusshera starts on the day of Vijaydakshmi, the concluding day of dusshera celebrations in the rest of India. It's main focus is on the gathering of all the local gods and goddesses from all the villages and hamlets of Kullu valley. Villagers carry their gods-goddesses in palanquins and walk to Kullu for this event.

In Kullu, raja Maheshwar Singh, the old king, together with the head-priest of Kullu temple, participate in the daily ritual prayers, while different gods and goddesses come to pay their respects to Hidimba Devi.

The Kullu deities are also linked to a mythological story - Parvati (God Shiva's wife), was carrying the gods and goddesses in a basket; she had stopped for rest in the Kullu valley when a sudden gust of wind had scattered the different deities all over the villages of the valley.

Kullu dusshera also has the traditional theatre of Ramlila and the burning of the effigy of Ravana. Finally the celebrations are accompanied by different sport competitions and cultural programmes in which young persons from different parts of the valley take part.

CONCLUSIONS

The cultural customs, rituals and mythological stories around the deities of Kullu valley, provide a fascinating glimpse into the diversity of Hinduism in India. They also give an idea of how different groups of people and their customs were brought together in Hinduism over a period of centuries, that preserved their specificities and peculiarities, while knitting a common thread of unity through them.

The continuing relevance of ancient religious customs and mythologies today influences caste hierarchies and discriminations against the "lower" castes. How to bring about social reforms without cancelling the mythologies remains a challenge.

Most persons think of Kullu and Manali only as tourist destinations for their snow covered mountains, rafting, skiing and nature walks. However, Kullu valley also offers wonderful opportunities to understand the richness of India's cultural diversity.

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Fun in the theme parks - Mirabilandia and Oltremare

Adriatic coast of Italy, from Ravenna down to Ancona is one long stretch of seaside towns that come alive with tourists every summer. Parts of this seaside route between Savio to Riccione are the most famous and thus, most crowded. These are also the parts that are full of tourist attractions that open around the end of March and remain open till the end of tourist season in September. This post is a photoessay about two theme parks in this area - Mirabilandia in Savio and Oltremare in Riccione.

Both these theme parks have an entry ticket of around 30 Euro per person, but they have special offers for hotels-plus-entry and for families, which work out much cheaper. The tickets are valid for two consecutive days.

Mirabilandia theme park

Mirabilandia is a games and adventure theme park. It has many kinds of roller coaster rides including those that splash into water and those that run entirely in water, passing through water falls.

My favourite ride in this park is where the lift takes you up to the top of a tower and then drops you down, stopping just before you touch the ground. It brought me a big rush of adrenaline.

The park also has some cultural shows including dance and music shows, clown shows, and a film stunt show with cars and bombs.

The entry ticket covers the cost of all the rides, the only problem is due to the long queues in front of the popular rides, especially on the weekends and especially in July-August. Therefore, I prefer going there during April-May, before the tourist rush starts!

Oltremare theme park

Oltremare is a nature theme park with dolphins, fishes, birds and animals.

My favourite part of this park is the dolphin show which is simply incredible. I know some persons who do not like the idea of using living beings as part of game shows and would like to close all zoos and animal based shows. I agree with them that even with the best of conditions, an animal in captivity is never in the same condition as being free.

However, I also feel that the world is very careless towards animal lives. The human capacity for killing animals and fishes and destroying the environment in their greed for money is endless. In this situation, I feel that zoos and theme parks play a fundamental role, much more effective than all the books and films, in educating the young people about nature and environment. Thus while acknowledging that zoos and theme parks are not the best thing to happen to the animals that live inside them, I think that these are useful and  can play an important educational role.

I also love the animal theatre of Oltremare where small birds and animals are the actors.

The park also has lot of different areas for looking at close at fishes, other marine beings and animals, including farm animals.

Conclusions

I love both the theme parks, Mirabilandia and Oltremare. However, if I had to choose only one, I would choose Oltremare, since I love watching the animals. So if you are holidaying in Romagna, the Adiatric coast of Italy, find time to visit these two parks!

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