This was really beautiful Ryan, really one of your best. The final paragraph reminded me so much of Paul Bowles and his beautiful, concise descriptions of Fez and Tangier. Not sure why but this piece really stirred some emotions.
Only thing missing from your description before I could mouth the words “ahhh the serenity” was there wasn’t the sounds of a roaring two stroke engine speeding across the water below!
Only thing missing from your description before I could mouth the words “ahhh the serenity” was there wasn’t the sounds of a roaring two stroke engine speeding across the water below!
Your description also puts me in mind of my visit in 1977 to Granada - the Alhambra citadel and the Generalife - both flowing with water and engineered fountains. I have just looked it up and the architect largely responsible for Granada's Cathedral's 17th century towering façade was a local - Alonso Cano - the name of a major boulevarde close to where my wife and I lived in 1977 in Madrid. We lived on the corner of Calle de Jaén and Calle de Dulcinea (such a sweet name with which to conjure associations) - and about a brisk five-minute walk to what was then still called [Avenida del] Generalísimo for El Caudillo - now [Paseo de] la Castellana - and on the side opposite - across 16 lanes of traffic - the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu (1947) home to Real Madrid. Not much gushing water until/unless Los Bomberos in the very late hours and washing down inner city streets.
Reading this was like entering a meditative state, RB. Your ability to paint the scene - the focus on all forms of water - but especially of the water which flows and falls - carries some kind of mesmeric quality. I have not been to the gardens you describe though I have walked up to and through and then down from Villa Cimbrone - overlooking as it does the Golfo di Salerno. Although some form of garden dates back over a thousand years - it was restored and developed by Lord Grimthorpe (Edward Beckett in the early 20th century - with some guidance from Vita Sackville-West whose own gardens developed during the early decades of last century at Sissinghurst in Kent - became world famous. People including D H Lawrence, E M Forster, Winston Churchill and Greta Garbo visited here. At the time of our visit - we walked up from the almost hidden village of Atrani where we were staying - and accessed through a pedestrian tunnel from Amalfi. It had been visited by MC Escher the Dutch illusionist - and we noted some of the sources for his inspiration in local architectural features. At all points as we walked - our eyes were either drawn to the Bay or else to the steeply gushing streams and leaps - once the busy scene of paper-making factories. Still a local craft. MC Escher's father GA Escher spent early Meiji era days (1873-78) in central western Japan where a school building he was responsible still stands (a museum) Mikuni Ryushokan - above the port development he was engineering down below the bluff where sat this school - rebuilt after WWII bombing - at Mikuni (now the city of Sakai) in Fukui-ken. Yesterday one of my former Nelson Bay HS students (now FIFO for FMG in the Pilbara) collected me and took me for a ride to Redhead where we sat at the outdoor kiosk area and looked out over the salt-spray misted beach - the crash of waves and the cry of gulls a backdrop to our catch-up. He showed me some photos from the Pilbara work camp and then went back further to photos from his time on Lihir - one of the islands of PNG's New Ireland - and the extraordinary clarity of the waters along the island's beaches... Water, water, everywhere...
Awww I felt so calm reading this. Serenity, Serendipity brought by nature. Beautiful!
This was really beautiful Ryan, really one of your best. The final paragraph reminded me so much of Paul Bowles and his beautiful, concise descriptions of Fez and Tangier. Not sure why but this piece really stirred some emotions.
Only thing missing from your description before I could mouth the words “ahhh the serenity” was there wasn’t the sounds of a roaring two stroke engine speeding across the water below!
Another great read buddy
Only thing missing from your description before I could mouth the words “ahhh the serenity” was there wasn’t the sounds of a roaring two stroke engine speeding across the water below!
Another great read buddy
Your description also puts me in mind of my visit in 1977 to Granada - the Alhambra citadel and the Generalife - both flowing with water and engineered fountains. I have just looked it up and the architect largely responsible for Granada's Cathedral's 17th century towering façade was a local - Alonso Cano - the name of a major boulevarde close to where my wife and I lived in 1977 in Madrid. We lived on the corner of Calle de Jaén and Calle de Dulcinea (such a sweet name with which to conjure associations) - and about a brisk five-minute walk to what was then still called [Avenida del] Generalísimo for El Caudillo - now [Paseo de] la Castellana - and on the side opposite - across 16 lanes of traffic - the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu (1947) home to Real Madrid. Not much gushing water until/unless Los Bomberos in the very late hours and washing down inner city streets.
Reading this was like entering a meditative state, RB. Your ability to paint the scene - the focus on all forms of water - but especially of the water which flows and falls - carries some kind of mesmeric quality. I have not been to the gardens you describe though I have walked up to and through and then down from Villa Cimbrone - overlooking as it does the Golfo di Salerno. Although some form of garden dates back over a thousand years - it was restored and developed by Lord Grimthorpe (Edward Beckett in the early 20th century - with some guidance from Vita Sackville-West whose own gardens developed during the early decades of last century at Sissinghurst in Kent - became world famous. People including D H Lawrence, E M Forster, Winston Churchill and Greta Garbo visited here. At the time of our visit - we walked up from the almost hidden village of Atrani where we were staying - and accessed through a pedestrian tunnel from Amalfi. It had been visited by MC Escher the Dutch illusionist - and we noted some of the sources for his inspiration in local architectural features. At all points as we walked - our eyes were either drawn to the Bay or else to the steeply gushing streams and leaps - once the busy scene of paper-making factories. Still a local craft. MC Escher's father GA Escher spent early Meiji era days (1873-78) in central western Japan where a school building he was responsible still stands (a museum) Mikuni Ryushokan - above the port development he was engineering down below the bluff where sat this school - rebuilt after WWII bombing - at Mikuni (now the city of Sakai) in Fukui-ken. Yesterday one of my former Nelson Bay HS students (now FIFO for FMG in the Pilbara) collected me and took me for a ride to Redhead where we sat at the outdoor kiosk area and looked out over the salt-spray misted beach - the crash of waves and the cry of gulls a backdrop to our catch-up. He showed me some photos from the Pilbara work camp and then went back further to photos from his time on Lihir - one of the islands of PNG's New Ireland - and the extraordinary clarity of the waters along the island's beaches... Water, water, everywhere...