Life Beyond Us - Science Fiction & Essays

Recently I have read a very interesting anthology of Science Fiction writing with an euqally interesting twist - it also has essays about the science behind those SF stories. The book is titled "Life Beyond Us", it is edited by Julie Novakova, Lucas K. Law and Susan Forest (2023, Laksa Media).

It has stories by some of the well-known names of science fiction and is presented by the European Astrobiology Institute (EABI).

EABI on its website presents this book with the following introduction:

What would life be like if it evolved in a cold ocean beneath an impenetrable shell of ice? Or on a world whose haze obscured any view of the universe beyond? Is there a common template for life, or can we expect to find preciously fragile silicon creatures drifting in seas of liquid nitrogen? How would finding alien life change our society?

Life Beyond Us, a new anthology by the European Astrobiology Institute and Laksa Media, depicts the timeless quest for finding alien life in 27 science fiction stories and 27 science essays, aiming to imagine, inspire and illuminate.

I loved reading this book and would like to share some of its aspects which I found illuminating.

Science in the Science Fiction

SF is based on science and is different from fantasy. In SF writers can imagine the future or distant worlds, but they do so based on science or on scientific hypothesis.

However,understanding the science behind each SF story is not easy because it can come from different and specialised fields of expertise, from technology to physics to chemistry to medicine and innovation. I loved this book mainly because each story is followed by an essay which discusses the basic science behind that story. I loved some of the stories, but I loved even more some of the essays explaining those stories because they made me think in unexpected directions.

Below are some examples of the information in the essays which were new for me and which made me think.

Safety of Humans and All Aliens

Giovanni Poggiali in his essay about a SF story by Erik Choi wrote about the fears of humans to make sure that we don't import alien life forms to earth because we may not have immunity against them and they can decimate human and/or animal life. This is something we all understand.

However, I had never thought about the vulnerability of aliens to the pathogens from earth. When we send space-ships to moon or mars or to some other star outside our solar system, is there a danger that some of our bacteria or virus can go with them, and then infest and kill the alien life forms?

Poggiali's essay about ensuring the safety of all life forms on earth and on other planets, made me think about the difficulties of limiting contacts with our bacteria and viruses. We can't sterilise our intestines, also because our gut organisms are fundamental for our well-being and survival. In the long-term colonisation of other planets, I am not sure how this would play out.

Star-Forming Cocoons

Stefano Sandrelli in his essay about a SF story written by Renan Bernardo, talks of an astromical discovery by Bart Bok and Emily Reily in 1940s about a small black cloud which they called globule. They proposed that new stars were being formed inside that globule.

Sandrelli talks about Bok Globules to explain that the space is not empty and that approximately 2% of the total mass of our galaxy, the Milky Way, consists of low-density matter, mostly as a gas, called the interstellar medium (ISM). ISM is 91% Hydrogen and 8.9% Helium. However, 1% of ISM is made up of dust. I have always thought of space as being empty and this information was very unexpected.

Titan, Saturn's Moon

The essay by Fabien Klenner about a SF story by G. David Nordley explains that Titan is an iceball, with a thick atmosphere (4 times as dense as earth's atmosphere) and very low gravity (around 14% of earth's gravity). This information has been used to plan a Dragonfly mission to Titan in 2027 which should reach its destination in 2034.

On earth we have carbon-based life which needs water as a solvent. Titan does not have the conditions for a carbon-based life but it may have conditions for a nitrogen-based (azotosome) life.

Can azotosome based molecules create life and what kind of life it would be, is a tentalising question.

A Really Hot Venus

Sanjay is the hero of the SF story by Geoffrey A. Landis, who wants to go down from his space-ship to visit Venus. Dennis Honing, in his essay about this story explains that Venus is so hot that it cannot host earth-like life. It is hot because it is closer to sun and because it has a lot of CO2, a greenhouse gas.

He explains that on earth the long-term maintenance of climate is due to the carbonate-silicate cycle. CO2 in the atmosphere is dissolved in rainwater, forms carbonic acid, which interacts with silicate minerals. Its product, calcium carbonate, is deposited on earth in areas where tectonic plates converge. As it reaches earth’s interior, those carbonate sediments melt and CO2 is released back into the atmosphere. A main requirement for the whole cycle is the presence of liquid water on earth's surface.

I had read about acid-rain but it was the first time that I was reading about CO2 cycle and wondering if carbonic acid contributes to acid rain? Does this carbonic acid go into water bodies such as lakes and rivers? What impact does it have on the climate? It was a chapter, which left me with a lot of questions.

In Conclusion

The above are some examples of reflections and questions induced by the scientific essays in this book, written mostly by young European scientists. It was a long time that I had read a book like this one, which surprised me so much and made me stop and think so often!

If you like reading scinece fiction and are generally interested in science, this is the book for you.

*****

#sciencefiction #science #bookreviews #europeanscientists #anthologyofsciencefiction 

Schio’s Old Water Canal

The north Italian town called Schio, where I live, has a one thousand-years' old water-canal. It starts from Leogra river and ends in another river called Timonchio. On its way it passes through different suburbs to the north and south of Schio, going underground for a brief part in the city centre. It is called Roggia Maestra (Master Canal).

Over the centuries, this canal has played a key role in the city’s life and history. Today, it has lost its importance for the city’s industries, however it accompanies some of the most beautiful walking areas around the city and continues to be important for the farmers.

I am always interested in discovering the history of old places. This post is a result of my search for information about this canal. I had found some information on internet, but most of it came from some books in the Schio library. There are some bits of information which are still missing.

The River-Crossing Canal

Schio’s water canal has one peculiarity, which I think is rare among the water-canals – it comes out from one side of the river, after a few kilometres it crosses over the river in a tube-bridge and then continues on the other side of the river. Have anyone heard of any such river-crossing canal in another part of the world? Do share information in the comments below.

Originally there were two water canals on the river Leogra. One was built on its western bank along the little town of Pieve Belvicino, a few kilometres to the north of Schio and it ended in a place called Ponte Canale (canal bridge), which had a wood-bridge for crossing the river. This was the old canal built around 1000 AD. The image below shows this part of the canal.

The second canal one was located along the eastern bank of the river, starting near Poleo area at the northern edge of Schio. It was much longer, it proceeded to the south of Schio towards a suburb called Giavenale where it accompanied the river Timonchio for a distance and then joined it. This canal was probably built later (after 12th century) though I could not find specific details about its construction.

During the second half of the 19th century, when the industrialist Alessandro Rossi was setting up his wool factory in Schio, he decided to combine the two canals by building a tube bridge because there was not enough water in the second canal.

Thus, the western branch of the canal in Pieve was deviated and connected through a tube bridge to the eastern canal. (The image below shows the starting of the tube-bridge where the canal from Pieve crosses over the other side).

On the other side, ruins of an old sawmill covered with vegetation marks hide the exit of the tube-bridge. At this point some water-basins and closes are also located, so that at times of high water levels the excess water can be diverted back to the river. (In the image below, water coming out of the tube-bridge on the eastern side).

Northern Part of the Canal in Pieve Belvicino

“Pieve” was the first important urban settlement of the Schio area. It had come up during the first millennium on the western bank of Leogra. It was connected to the settlements of Magre, San Vito, Malo and Vicenza on the south through a Roman road. It had the mother-church, an old fort and a tower. The people living on the mountains around it, came down here to sell their wool and dairy products. It still has an area called Valle dei Mercanti (Valley of the merchants) from those early days. At that time, Schio was a little settlement, cut off from the Roman road by the Leogra river. (The image below shows the Pieve part of the canal)

The Republic of Venice (Serenissima) and the Holy Roman empires (from Charles the Great to Fredrick Redbeard) competed for power in this area. In the 11th century, it belonged to the Malatraversi family, the Counts of Vicenza. At that time, the old St. Mary church of Pieve was the principal church of this whole area. The first water canal of Pieve probably pre-dates this period. It still passes next to that old church, though it seems that its specific course was changed over the centuries. It provided hydraulic energy through the use of water-wheels for setting up flour mills and wood-sawing mills. It also provided water for agricultural use.

Building the canal must have needed a lot of money – who had paid for it? The church or the Malatraversi family? There are no clear answers to this question, though it seems likely that the costs were covered by the noble family.

Schio's development had suffered as it was located between two rivers, Leogra on the east and Timonchio on the west. It only had small foot-bridges over the two rivers. Probably a carriage-bridge on Timonchio was built in 14t-15th centuries, which allowed it to be connected to Thiene and Vicenza. Thus, In late 15th century, a new cathedral was built in Schio while Pieve lost some of its importance.  The arch-priest also shifted from the old St Mary church of Pieve to the new Duomo church of Schio.

The area had many flour mills and weavers, which used the force of the water-torrents coming down from the mountains. In 18th century, the "Council of 150" approved the production of "Panni Alti" (fine clothes) in the valleys around Schio, so this activity increased. In the 19th century, wool mills arrived in the city.

Among the wool factories set-up in Schio, there was the factory of Francesco Rossi. His son, Alessandro Rossi, took over the factory management in 1849 and slowly became the biggest wool producer. (In the image above the abandoned Rossi wool factory in Pieve, which once had its own rail line). 

Pieve regained some of its importance in 1870s when a Rossi wool factory was opened there along the old canal. Electricity had not yet arrived and thus wool-factories used the water-power to run their machines. However, by the end of the 19th century, gradually steam and hydro-electric powers had replaced the simple hydraulic power of the water-flow and thus the canal slowly lost its importance for the wool factories.

The Canal in Schio’s Centre

The water-canal in Schio was built in the 12th centuy CE. Most of the early churches of Schio including the Duomo came up two centuries later along its western bank. The Schio part of the canal starts in the northern end of the city where the Gogna torrent coming down from San Martino merges with Leogra river.

Soon after it enters the old Cazzola wool mill, which was converted into a war hospital during the First World War, where a young Ernest Hemmingway had worked for a few months as an ambulance driver. (In the image below, the old Cazzola mill, where my mother-in-law also used to work)

The canal then proceeds towards the Rossi and Conte wool mills, which were also built along its western bank, near the city centre. Building of the big wool mills brought immigrants from surrounding countryside to Schio. My wife's grand-father had also arrived in Schio to work in the Rossi wool-mill around the end of 19th century. Thus, in late 19th and early 20th century, new houses were built and the urbanisation of Schio increased. New housing areas for the mill-workers were built on the agricultural lands on the eastern bank of the canal. Thus, new bridges were also built in the city and some parts of the canal in the city centre were covered and it became underground. (The image below shows the canal under the old Conte wool mill).

Some of the old names of city areas are the only memory of those early days of urbanisation along the canal. For example, Via Pasini, the main street in the centre of Schio today, was once called Via Oltreponte (Beyond the Bridge street) as it had a bridge over the canal - this part of the canal was later covered and today many persons passing from there are not aware of the waters passing underneath the street. 

Towards the end of 20th century, with the advent of a new phase of the globalisation, the wool factories of Schio gradually lost their markets and closed one after another. With urbanisation of the past 2 centuries, most of the agricultural use of the canal water had also decreased. Thus, the water-canal has lost some of its importance.

The last part of the canal located in the city centre of Schio still has the old “lavanderia”, the community washing space, where a wooden sculpture of a washer-woman remembers those days when women used to gather here to wash clothes.

Southern Part of the Canal

After passing through the Schio city centre, the canal comes out near Via Paraibo and proceeds to the rural part of the periphery along Via Mollette. The old ruins of the Cavedon sawmill are located here. The last tract of Via Mollette running along the canal has been converted into a beautiful walking/cycling area (in the image below).

From here, the canal comes closer to Timonchio torrent and runs alongside it to the area known as Giavenale-Maglio. Another new cycling and walking path has been created along this part of the canal. (The canal in Giavenale in the image below)

A few kilometres down this walking/cycling path, finally the water-canal ends in Timonchio. The image below shows the last part of the canal along the cycling-walking path).

Conclusions

Today the economic and industrial importance of the old water-canal of Schio has decreased, yet it has become important in other ways. Evolution has taught human beings about the importance of water. Schio and its surroundings are full of beautiful walking and cycling areas that are located next to its two rivers, Leogra and Timonchio, and its water-canal. It also continues to supply water for agricultural use.

Perhaps one day the cycle of the history will turn once again and the water-canal of Schio will restart play an important role in the city’s economic life. Till then, the aesthetic pleasure of its beauty and its importance for the nature are its contribution to the city life.

Researching the history of the canal and exploring its passage through the city was a rewarding exercise. It made me aware of how our landscapes change along the passage of time and events. For thousands of years, this landscape was only changed by the nature, but over the last few centuries, humans have accelerated the pace and scope of this change. Schio and its surroundings are beautiful and I am glad that the city could use some of those changes to improve its beauty through the old canal.

(An older version of the post was first written in June 2021 in my blog)

Bonsai & the Life in the Plants

Last month I visited a Bonsai exhibition at the Jaquard gardens of Schio. The sight of tiny plants looking like a miniature version of full-grown trees reminded me of a nature-visit in Bologna some years ago. This post is about two different ways of thinking about the life-forces in the plants. At the same time, it is also a reflection about the relationship between humans and nature.

Indian Ideas About Nature

Let me start briefly with some of my ideas about nature, which are influenced by my growing up in India. Hinduism is full of Gods and Goddesses, each of whom is linked with an animal and a plant species. There are many mythological stories that teach one to respect all the beings as a part of the respect for the sacred.

There are different stories linked with plants in the Hindu mythology. Like the story of the sacred Tulsi plant (Indian Basil), which represents a pious prostitute. Thus, people believe that this plant should not be kept inside the house, but must be planted in the courtyard where the families can pray to it at dawn and sunset by lighting a lamp near it. The 1960's Hindi film Parakh had one of my all time favourite songs, Mere Man ke diye (The lamp of my heart), in which Sadhana lights a lamp and prays to Tulsi plant. According to Ayurveda, Tulsi is an important medicinal plant. Such myths and sacred stories, are ways to remind the communities about the importance of different species of plants and animals, and to safeguard the biodiversity.

I remember my grand-mother once telling me to not to pluck the leaves of a plant at night because "the plant was sleeping". I think that such a way of thinking illustrates the popular understandings of life in the plants among Indians. While in the cities, people have a more transactional ideas about nature (for example, that it is good for breathing and well-being, it is relaxing and stress-busting), in the smaller towns and villages of India, I feel that there is still a lot of respect and traditional knowledge about these ancient understandings of nature.

Bonsai Plants

Literally the term Bonsai means "planted in a vase". The aim of growing a Bonsai is to create a realistic representation of nature through a miniature tree.

An exhibition of Bonsai plants was held at the beautiful 19th century Jaquard garden in the centre of Schio. It is a small garden but is very beautiful, with an old theatre and a green-house. The exhibition presented the plants grown by the Bonsai students of Schio under their teacher Dr. Ennio Santacatterina.

I spoke to Ennio to understand about Bonsai. He explained that he had discovered his passion for Bonsai after his retirement. His school is a part of the Bonsai Art School and its classes are held in a local plant shop called Garden Schio.

Ennio sees Bonsai as a part of the Zen traditions from Japan, in which it is fundamental to understand kamae, the basic and essential nature and characteristics of each plant. He cites the Bonsai guru Aba Kurakichi and says, "We must conserve all the specificities of the nature of each plant because Bonsai is a life-art." This means that each plant will develop according to its own characteristics and the Bonsai-maker must know how to enhance its individuality and highlight its beauty by selecting the appropriate style, branches and spaces.

I think that it means that a Bonsai is not created but rather it is nurtured, grown and gently guided. It is an exercise in mindfulness, in which the Bonsai-maker searches for a connection with the plant through silence and meditation, to understand its nature and develops a vision of how it should grow. Then, with patience and mindfulness, the maker helps the plant to achieve that vision.

Free-Growing Nature

While Bonsai speaks the language of Zen, meditation and mindfulness for creating a connection with plants, it seems as if the plant is moulded into an idealised vision of how it should look. It reminded me of another encounter about plants - in 2011, I had an opportunity to meet Mr. Marco Colombari, a gardener and plant-lover from Bologna, who had some very radical ideas about the plants.

Marco had guided us in the discovery of a forest, talking to us about how to observe and "see" the plants. A century ago, this forest was an "aviculture centre", an area for developing and growing different species of birds. Then it had become a hunting laboratory and a honeybee cultivation centre. In the 1980s, surrounded by multi-story apartment buildings, this area was supposed to be used for building more condominiums. However, the local residents had started a campaign to save it as a natural area. It is now managed by an association called Oasi dei Saperi (The Knowledge Oasis), which promotes it as a site for the conservation of biodiversity. It is known as the Forest of St. Anna and is located in the Corticella area of Bologna.

Marco's point was that every plant is a living being and has its own characteristics. He felt that people decide about planting trees and plants without really thinking about those natural characteristics. Thus, every time we cut the branches of a tree for making it fit into our urban landscaping, it is like closing an animal or a bird inside a cage. In the forest, he had shown us parts of the trees where the branches had been cut, making us look at the seeping liquids from the cut surfaces and drawing parallels with injured animals.

Besides the natural forest, St. Anna Forest also has some other areas including a botanical garden for growing medicinal herbs, a small pond which was used in the past for jute production and a group of ash trees with old artificial nests which were used for keeping birds when it was an aviculture centre.

Some Reflections

Listening to Marco had a very strong impact on me. Reflecting on his words and coupled with the philosophy in the Indian sacred books of Upanishads, I feel that it is the same life-force flowing inside the trees and plants which flows in every living being.

How do I reconcile this understanding with our daily business of living? There is a proverb in Hindi which says "If the horse becomes the friend of the grass, what would it eat?" I think that this proverb sums up the basic dilemma of our life - the impossibility of avoiding violence, if we wish to live.

Thus, I think that all life in the world is inter-connected and there is no way we can avoid eating other life forms, till the time comes for us to die when we return back to the earth, turn into our basic elements and become a part of the never-ending cycle of life, death and decay. To me it means respecting nature and all forms of life, which I translate as avoiding giving unnecessary suffering to my fellow creatures. Thus, I feel that individuals can decide if they wish to eat meat or they prefer to be vegetarian or vegan - it is a matter of choice linked with personal convictions.

However, I think that keeping animals to be used for their meat (chicken, ducks, sheep and cows) in narrow spaces, which do not allow them to move, and making them eat food laced with hormones and antibiotics so that they can fatten quickly, or hurting them unnecessarily, are wrong.

It means being kind to the animals and birds that we keep as pets. It means, taking care of the nature so that our biodiversity is maintained and strengthened. It means that if we have a zoo or a circus, we shall ensure dignified spaces for keeping the animals and treat them with care. I think that zoos and wild-life parks can play an important role in saving species close to extinction and in teaching young people about the importance of safeguarding nature and biodiversity.

Some people would completely separate humans from other animals because they see all human-animal interactions as basically evil and unwelcome for the animals. They are against keeping pet animals, they don't like zoos, they do not want any experiments involving animals - I feel that it is an extreme view and does not help the animals or the nature.

I hope that science and technology would soon progress so that one day we can have all kinds of food, including meat and fish, grown in cell-cultures. In the meantime, I would like more humane conditions for the animals we keep for meat.

Conclusions

Coming back to the plants, does making the plants grow as miniaturised Bonsai trees means that the plants are being forced into unnecessary suffering? Probably Marco Colombari would say yes. I don't think so. I feel that Bonsai practice, by helping us to seek a connection with the plants through mindfulness and meditation, is another path to recognising the importance of nature.

The evolution has made different life-forms co-dependent on each other. We have biomes inside each of us, made of billions of bacteria and viruses - every time we are ill and take medicines, we are killing millions of them. Life, death and decay are a part of a never-ending cycle going around us all the time and there is no way we can say that we don't want to be a part of this cycle.

This reflection about the life in the plants, makes me think of Shiva, the Hindu God who controls the never-ending cycles of creation and destruction in the universe. I think that Shiva is a metaphor of the life and death which connects together all the organic and inorganic matter of the universe. It is the life-force moving the particles composing the atoms, which combine to make the molecules of different elements, the building-bricks of everything in the universe. Life and death are illusions, because those atoms and the forces moving their particles, they do not die and will continue to combine and create new forms all the time.

***

Holidays in the Pusteria valley in South Tyrol

South Tyrol (Alto Adige in Italian) region in the north-eastern Alps in Italy is a beautiful land with snow covered mountains, grassy meadows, amazing lakes and breath-taking panoramas. We visited the tiny mountain town of Rio di Pusteria in this region for a short holiday.

The image above shows an evening view of Rio di Pusteria, nestled among the Alps mountains.

Historical background & General information

Rio di Pusteria is an old market town on the Rienza river, located between the Isarco and Pusteria valleys. Near the town, a sluice gate on the river creates the Pusteria lake.

In olden times there was a toll station here, including a defensive fortress built in the 13th century. The ruins of this fortress are located towards the east of the city.

Till the First World War, South Tyrol was a part of Austria. Thus, in this area, many persons speak German and all places have an Italian name and an Austrian name. For example, Rio di Pusteria is called Mühlbach (the mill on the torrent) by the German speakers.

Rio is a tiny town with less than 3,000 inhabitants. Its altitude varies from 777 to 1,414 metres. The city includes some neighbouring mountain areas, which are famous for their skiing-slopes.

Our holidays

We wanted to explore the nature in this region. Initially, we were thinking of staying in Bressanone city. However, we thought that to visit the lakes and the mountains, it would be better to stay in a smaller town, and thus we decided to stay in Rio. I did the online booking at hotel Rosenhof and we were very happy with our choice.

The hotel was beautiful and its owners were friendly. Our room on the top floor had a wonderful view of the surrounding mountains. The breakfast was huge and very satisfying. The hotel was close to the city centre and a couple of nice pizza restaurants.

Rio di Pusteria town

Rio is a tiny town, full of narrow cobbled streets and beautiful old houses with their balconies full of flowers.

The city centre has the St. Andrea church built in the Gothic style in the 14th century. It has an old part where the grandmother of Pope Benedict XIV, Maria Tauber Peintner was married in 1858.

The church includes a new part, which has beautiful modern stained-glass windows.

The city centre also includes a sky-lift station from where you can take the cable car to Maranza and from there to other mountains. Persons staying in a hotel in Rio get a free travel card which allows unlimited journeys on the sky-lift. I will write about Maranza in another post.

Walks around Rio di Pusteria

There are different hiking trails starting from Rio including the one going to Selvaggio lake from Valles and another, going to Malga Fane-Alm. These trails are for the serious hikers.

If you do not wish to do strenuous hiking, you can go for a walk towards the fortress ruins or along the Via Holden, which goes along a torrent passing near the city centre. It passes under the railway bridge.

A little further down, when the torrent joins the Pusteria river, you can proceed along the river bank on a forest path for a couple of kilometres. We went for a walk on this road and found it easy and yet very stimulating.

Conclusions

During our stay in Rio di Pusteria, except for a couple of walks, we did not spend much time in the town. Rather we used it as our base to explore the nearby mountains and lakes in Maranza, Braies, Neves and Dobbiaco. Except for Maranza, we didn't have enough time to explore the different mountains through the sky-lift even if we had the free sky-lift pass. Still we loved this little town.

It was one of our most memorable holidays. In fact, I would like to go back one day to Rio di Pusteria for another holiday and this time, spend more time exploring the mountains through the sky-lift!

***

Fifty Shades of Green in Munnar

Munnar in Kerala with its gently rolling hills covered with rolling mists and neat rows of tea-plants is one of the most beautiful places in India. Recently I was there for a short holiday, recovering from an intensive Ayurvedic treatment. I have come back enchanted from this visit.

The infinite hues of green cut into squares and arranged in neat rows of the tea gardens draped over the hills and valleys are always the same and yet different, every time a source of joy and wonder.

MUNNAR HISTORY

During British colonial period, Munnar was a part of the Travancore estate. At that time it was mainly forest area with some agriculture and it belonged to the Poonjar family. John Munro, the British resident and Dewan of Travancore between 1810 to 1814, had visited different parts of the estate including Munnar, leaving descriptions which later helped in its use for the tea plantations.

In 1833, when the agreement for the supply of tea between China and England ended, the British started the search for alternative places in India to grow tea. Tea plants were stolen from China and brought to India. Native tea varieties were also identified in Assam. During 1850s the first Indian tea plantations were tried in the north especially around Darjeling in West Bengal and Sadiya in Assam. The first tea plantation in Munnar is credited to A. H. Scharp in 1880. Tea garden workers were brought from Tamilnadu, mainly poor peasants and tribals. Gradually tea plantations expanded all around Munnar.

MY VISIT TO MUNNAR

I was at an Ayurvedic hospital in Kothamangalam for a knee pain. After treatment, I was told to give rest to my joints for a few days. Since Munnar was close, I decided to go there. I stayed at SMM Lodge near the old KRTC bus stand, which meant that I was just outside the main town in a calm place with beautiful views. The image below shows a tea garden about 1 km from the hotel.

I took some leisurely walks in the city. I also made two tourist trips around Munnar - one to the south-west, going towards Pallivasal and the other to south-east, going towards Devikulam. Here is a brief presentation of the places that I visited during my stay.

MUNNAR TOWN

The old town of Munnar is located to the south along the Muthirappuzha river and extends from the old KRTC bus station to the bridge near the Christ church. The new Munnar is more developed with more shops and traffic and is to the north. Since I was staying in old Munnar, I only had glimpses of the new town while passing from there in an autorickshaw. It looked like any other town, full of shops, restaurants and noise. Probably it has some temples or other places to see, but I did not explore it.

I visited the Parvathi Amma temple and the Christ church in the old town. Just after the KRTC bus stand there is also the Blossom Park (Hydel park), but I did not visit it.

Parvathy Amma temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Parvati, the consort of Lord Shiva. It is built in the south-Indian style with statues of different goddesses on the temple dome as shown in the image below. It is supposed to be very old.

In the courtyard next to the temple is an area for Shiva devotees with nine statues of Shiva.

Christ church is the oldest church of Munnar. A stone in the back-wall of the church explains that its foundation was laid by Sir Alexander Kay Muir, Baronet of Deanston (Glasgow, UK) in 1910. It is a simple church on the top of a hill with beautiful views of Munnar city and some nice stained-glass windows.

SOUTH-WEST TOWARDS PALLIVASAL

The road coming from Kochi, passing through Pallivasal, reaches south of Munnar. Along this road, a couple of kilometres before Munnar, a bridge across Muthirappuzhar river leads to a hill.

A climb along the hill on the right side after this bridge, overlooking the tea gardens in Pallivasal, brought me to Pothamedu View Point. I did this trip with an auto-rickshaw as I didn't want to strain my knees.

Further down this road, around 5 km from Munnar, a side road in Pallivasal took me to Atukkad water falls. The image below shows an overview of the whole area along with the water falls (towards the right edge of the image). When I visited it, the rains had not yet started and there was little water in the waterfall. Reaching the falls is difficult, so most people stop at a place on the hill from you can see the water fall, without going all the way down to the falls.

On the whole this visit towards Pallivasal was disappointing. For me, the most beautiful places on this visit were the tea gardens on the way.

SOUTH-EAST TOWARDS DEVIKULAM

A road going towards east from New Munnar will take you towards Devikulam, passing through Mathupetti and Kundala dams on Mathurippuzhar river, and then going up to Top Station at the border between Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

As for the visit to Pallivasal, the views of the tea gardens were breathtaking. The image below shows a view of the waters from the Mathupetty dam.

After Mathupetty dam, our next stop was Echo Point where the configuration of the river banks provides a good echo. Here, young persons were busy shouting and taking selfies.

Then we stopped at Kundala dam which has beautiful views of the mountains. Along the dam there are shops and restaurants and people stopped here for picnics.

Our last stop was Top Station which has beautiful views of higher mountains around Munnar. It is 32 Km from Munnar, and because of the stops on the way, the journey can take upto one and half hour. It is located slightly less than 1900 metres and from here, the views of Western Ghats and Theni valley in Tamil Nadu are amazing.  

There were some other places to visit on this visit such as the rose garden and the botanical gardens. However, I did not visit them.

WILD LIFE IN MUNNAR

Munnar provides a lot of opportunities for observing nature. During my walks in the city, I could observe numerous birds. On the visit to Devikulam, we were lucky to see a couple of female elephants with baby elephants.

TEA GARDEN WORKERS

After visiting a number of tea gardens in Assam, I was also curious about visiting the tea garden workers in Munnar and to learn about their lives. The opportunities to visit them came in Old Munnar itself where the side roads took me to areas where tea garden workers lived.

I also visited some houses of tea garden workers in Yellapetty in Devikulam. It was difficult to communicate since they did not speak Hindi or English. However, I was fortunate to find an auto driver, who spoke English, who had grown up in a tea garden and whose father and brother still worked in a tea garden. Compared to the situation in the north-east of India, my impression was that the tea garden workers had much better living and working conditions in Munnar. The image below shows a housing area for tea garden workers in Old Munnar town.

CONCLUSIONS

My visit to Munnar was a last minute decision. Since I like quiet and beautiful views, I am glad that I chose to stay in Old Munnar, away from the shops and noise of New Munnar.

Though I did make some tourist visits around Munnar, I usually avoided walking so I visited a limited number of places.

My most beautiful memories of Munnar are those of the tea gardens spread over hills and valleys. The last image of this post shows the morning mists in the hills of Devikulam. 

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The Green Lake of Braies

The lake of Braies is a beautiful place in the South Tyrol region in the Alps mountains, in the north-east of Italy. A recent Italian TV series featuring Terrence Hill was shot here, which has made it famous.

I had been to Braies for a brief visit more than ten years ago. Since then I had promised myself to go back and visit it properly. Finally I had the opportunity to be there during the early summer. This post is about this magical lake which mirrors the deep green of the surrounding pine trees.

Braies and the Dolomite Mountains in South Tyrol

Tyrol region in the south of Austria and the north-east of Italy is known for its beautiful Alpine villages, emerald green highland pastures, lovely spotted cows with the tinkling bells around their necks, typical wooden houses bursting with flowers and the yoodling guys.

Till the first world war (1914-1918), South Tyrol was a part of Austria. As the Austrian-Hungarian empire lost the war, this part became a part of Italy. Thus, though it is in Italy, many persons here speak German.

The Braies lake is surrounded by the Dolomite mountains. These mountains are made of carbonate rock and are also called the Pale Mountains. With their craggy skylines, the Dolomite mountains make a very striking frame encircling this lake.

It is not a natural lake. It was formed by a landslide which blocked the Braies river. The deepest part of the lake are almost 40 metres deep. The lake's water looks green because of the pine tree forests at the lower slopes of the mountains surrounding it.

Reaching Braies

A local train or the suburban buses starting from Bressanone (Brixen) can take you to Braies town. Bressanone is on the main train line and along the highway connecting Trento (Italy) and Innsbruck (Austria).

We started our journey by car from Rio di Pusterla (Mühlbach), a small town a few kilometres north-west of Bressanone (Brixen).

The road going towards Braies, initially along the river Rivenza, was full of incredible panoramas. Often we passed Alpine villages with silken green meadows resting against the tall mountains in shades of blue, grey and green.

There were a number of small quaint looking churches with long bell-towers in most villages, inviting us to stop there and to taste the local cheese, wines and other specialities.

Braies lake (Pragser Wildsee)

Though we visited Braies in early June while the peak tourist season is in July-August, still it was crowded and we could only find a parking place some distance away.

The mountains around the lake are criss-crossed by high altitude hiking trails, some of which may take up to a week to complete. Simple hotels and dormitories called Refugio (Refuge) are built along these trails where people can stop and rest. Going on these trails requires proper equipment, practice and preparation. One of the most famous Alpine mountain trails called Alta Via 1 starts from the Braies lake.

However, we were not planning to do serious hiking. We took an easier pathway, which goes all around the lake. The complete walk around the lake requires about 2-3 hours and if you often stop for clicking pictures (like I do), you will need even more time. It has many ups and downs and therefore requires a modest resistance.

Among the other things to see near the lake, there is a historical hotel called Hotel Pragser Wildsee and a lakeside chapel called Marienkappel.

At the beginning of the left bank of the lake there is a wooden boat-house, where you can rent a boat.

Fame of Braies Lake

The first series of the Italian TV fiction "Un passo dal cielo" (A step from heaven) with Terrence Hill was shot here in 2010. In the first three seasons of this serial, Hill played a forest guard while the Braies boathouse was shown as his home. This serial was a big hit. Due to this serial, the Braies lake has become very popular among visitors.

Braies Lake in the Second World War

Towards the end of the Second World War, Braies lake was witness to an important historical event. In 1945, fearing the defeat, Hitler asked his SS troupes to take important persons kept as prisoners in the concentration camp of Dachau and to shift them to South Tyrol. The soldiers had the orders to kill all these prisoners before the arrival of Allied forces. However, the German Wahrmacht decided to protect these civilian prisoners, who were lodged at the Pragser Wildsee hotel and liberated by the allied forces.

Among those prisoners at Braies, there were many famous persons including, the former chancellor of Austria Kurt Von Schuschenigg, the former prime minister of France Leon Blum, the former prime minister of Hungary Miklos Kallay, the chief commander of Greek military Alexandros Papagos and many others.

The Legends of Braies Lake

There are stories of a legendary group of people called Fanes who are supposed to be hiding in the depths of Braies lake. On the night of full moon, the secret door to the hidden world of Fanes opens and the Fanes queen along with her daughter Dolasilla come out to walk on the surface of the Braies lake.

Another legend is about some wild persons who lived in the mountains around Braies and who had found gold in these mountains. Then shepherds and farmers from outside arrived here and started to steal their gold. Thus the wild persons of Braies blocked the river and created this lake so that outsiders could not reach them to steal their gold.

Ponticello of Braies

Apart from the lake, the areas surrounding Braies are famous for their beautiful panoramas. We visited one of these places - it is called Ponticello (Small Bridge).

The craggy skyline of the mountains as seen from Ponticello was very impressive.

However, on that day, the road for going up in the mountains of Ponticello was closed due to a landslide, so we could go higher up.

The old town of Braies was once known for the thermal baths containing sulphur. These are now closed. However, we did not visit it and promised ourselves to return to Braies to discover more of its surroundings.

Conclusions

Braies lake is famous for its beauty. We found that its fame is worthwhile. The clear Turkish-blue and green waters, the snow-covered majestic Dolomite mountains reflected in the lake and the beautiful pathway around the lake, make it a magical place. If you are visiting this part of Italy, do not forget to visit the Braies lake!

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