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dougrobyngoold · 11 months

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Aigle Castle - Aigle, Switzerland

Our entire reason for visiting this location was to visit a castle, so here we are. Today we are going down to Aigle to visit the Aigle Castle (pictured above). We took the tram down and walked the short distance out to the castle. The little town of Aigle was practically deserted as we made our way through the streets. We passed this pictue-perfect church along the way:

We arrived at the castle gate, purchased our tickets for a self-guided tour and off we went.

The gang at the castle entrance.

Some of the old wine barrels, made specifically to fit into this room. Notice the old barrel taps on the back wall.

The first part of the tour is an exhibit of old winery equipment - can’t tell you what all of these items did, but they were heavy and manually operated:

The next part of the tour took us through different rooms, along with a wine museum/education area.

Wine hall.

Not sure why this door was shaped this way, perhaps it was just decorative.

The floors and doorways were interesting and beautifully designed.

Chair-back carving in one of the rooms.

There was a room full of old bottle labels from the Aigle winery. They had chests of drawers that you could open, each drawer had multiple old labels on display. Here are a few samples:

There was also a room for learning a bit about wine - aromas and colors, etc. (pictured below):

We then roamed around the upper balcony of the castle, giving us great views of the surrounding area:

The courtyard, where we entered the castle.

Looking out at the vineyards.

The terraced hillsides that surround Aigle, if you look closely at the clump of trees near the bottom center of the picture there is a lizard shaped out of the white rocks.

Some examples of the beautiful paintings on the castle walls are pictured below:

Post-castle group picture (I think Doug was dreaming about a cold beer!). Time to find some place to eat!

As I noted earlier, things were pretty quiet in Aigle. We struggled to find a place to eat, fortunately, Rachel and Tyler found a place that fit their needs. However, the Doug and Dan wanted a beer and wanted to sit outside - which was not an option at the place Rachel and Tyler picked. So they stayed there to get their food and we wandered back to a little pub we had seen earlier. I grabbed a table outside and the guys went in to order. It took them a while and when they came back out, they said “We ordered, but we aren’t exactly sure what we are going to get!” The staff did not speak English and we did not speak French/German, but the guys thought they had ordered beers and a couple of pizza-like dishes. We all had to laugh when 4 beers were delivered to our table and 3 flammekueche - all of which were delicious! Rachel and Tyler arrived just in time for Tyler to enjoy that extra beer!

Beer and flammekueche.

One of the pretty, deserted streets of Aigle.

A very cool neighborhood in Aigle. The apartments were connected by wooden, covered walkways over the streets.

On our way back up to Leysin, the sun came out and we had a spectacular last view of the castle and the surrounding countryside from the tram. Tomorrow we head to Interlaken for a couple of days.

#leysin #aigle #switzerland #castles

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awhilesince · 3 years

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Thursday, 23 August 1827 (travel journals)

1 55/60

Rain all last night, and rainy morning till between 9’ and 10 – fair when we started – Breakfast from 8 1/4 to 9 1/2 –

off from Bex at 9 50/60 – very comfortable Inn, but not cheap – generally full of English – Lady Ross and her daughter there for a fortnight while the rest of of her party went to the Great St. Bernard – Bex a nice little town – good church – hedges on each side the road of sloe, hazel, and sometimes quickweed, etc

at 10 10/60 wood bridge over little stream – 10 1/4 first appearance of the tints of autumn – valley wider – fertile – mountains well wooded – clouds along them – vines, walnuts, Indian corn, etc etc

at 11, Aigle, quite a ville – 2 churches – castle – pretty large town – narrow streets – no good houses – just a the end of the town, cross wooden bridge over stream –

at 11 40/60 picturesque village – at 12 neat little village –

at 12 55/60 1st peep at the lake (of Geneva) –

Lake Geneva, CC BY-SA 3.0

at 12 20/60 stop at Villeneuve to bait the horses– goodish church of pretty good little town – off at 1 20/60 – the lake too Extensive for me, and the mountains on the south side too low –

Castle of Chillon, CC BY-SA 4.0

at 1 40/60 stop at the castle of Chillon, now used by the government as a powder magazine, and a guard mounted – one family living there – very respectable people – the woman shewed us all she could – the prison, oubliette (3 stories deep – into which those were let down destined to die of hunger) one or 2 of the galleries, one or 2 of the rooms (the great hall – kitchen now occupied by this family) and the court in which some of the prisoners were allowed to walk – the prison 45 by 20 of my common paces – the broadeth of the 1st 6 paces of length equally divided (since in the Swiss power) into entrance and a dungeon (right) – lofty – 8 columns supporting 7 moderately pointed arches down the middle of the prison – BYRON cut with a penknife by Lord B– [Byron] himself, on the 3rd column on entering – the prieure Bonnivard chained to the next, or 4th column – perhaps about 18 feet high to the Top of the vaulting – the prison partly cut out of the Sandstone rock – spacious, and light enough, and airy – quite a paradise compared with the cells of the inquisition at Venice –

40 minutes at the castle, and off at 2 20/60 – very pretty drive along the lake – the back-look upon the castle, and Villeneuve, and its lofty steeple, and the dark, high mountains stretching thence close along the lake towards Meillerie, fine –

after passing the pretty little village of Vernet, very soon alighted at the still prettier village of Clarens so celebrated by Rousseau, and when Lord Byron passed 2 or 3 nights – inquired for the house to which his lordship had taken such a fancy – stumbled upon the very spot – a nut-brown, respectable farmer’s wife of about 60 was proud to tell us how she had entertained his lordship and his friend (some foreign baron) – they were caught in a storm on the lake – his lordship would insist upon it, the house must be an auberge, and would go there – the old woman made all comfortable and his lordship was so pleased, said he would go again, and did afterwards go for 2 nights – she said he had paid her well (for the 1st night) – I had the curiosity to ask what he gave her – a Napoleon – we were all taken with the place – the woman said she had cried like a child, when her brother (who has a very nice house close by – rebuilt on the spot on which stood Rousseau’s house) brought her the paper containing the account of his death – he was so good – had une telle manière – never saw anyone who had such a manner – there, said she, is the little sofa on which he sat writing the night he came in from the storm – there had been a young lady to look at his bed, and she had kissed it 20 times – mylady (Lady B– [Byron]) too had been there, but unluckily the old woman (she looks strong and hale and active) was from home – had taken the key of the room with her and Lady B– [Byron] could not see it – the husband a respectable looking farmer – they have a nice little apartment upstairs (au 2nd) for 9 or 10 napoleons a year, now let to an old couple – went up to see it – the old lady, 80, skipped, and danced, and shewed us all her perfect set of teeth, and chatted away delighted to find Mrs and Miss B– [Barlow] were from Paris where she (Swiss) had made money as femme de charge in high French families – was there during the revolution – 55 minutes with these good people who brought us cake (Swiss gauffers, Excellent etc) and offered wine, or anything they had, and did not get off till 3 40/60 having 1st taken the address of Lord B–‘s [Byron’s] friend Françoise Paoli, née Muzigny, Clarens près de Montreux, a pretty looking little town that we had passed at a little distance up the hill, to the right.

Tour de Piel a good village – alight at the 3 crowns at Veveay at 4 1/2 – got out Miss MacL–‘s [Maclean’s] letter (brought with me from England) and went with to Mrs Falconet Faviholme (pronounced Farum), 3 doors below the Inn – not at home – left a line or 2 in pencil to say how glad I should be to see her for a few moments –

Mrs and Miss B– [Barlow] and I then took a little saunter – to the post-office, and the handsome cornmarket supported on Tuscan columns in the grande place, and came in at 6 10/60 –

sat down to dinner at the table d’hote at 6 1/2 – Mrs F– [Falconet] F– [Faviholme] and her sister came immediately – went up and received them in my bedroom where they sat with me chatting for an hour – promised to go to them for a little after dinner if I could – Mrs F– [Falconet] F–[ Faviholme] reminded me a little of Miss MacL– [Maclean] she is Tall, and thin, delicate looking, quiet, and ladylike, and seems a nice woman – ditto but in a less degree her sister –

then went down to Dinner – people are so long here at the Table d’hôte, I had time enough to get all I wanted and make a good dinner and left the table with the rest at 8 1/4 – then immediately went to the Falconets – 5 brothers, so each for distinction adds the name of his wife to his own, and thus my friends friend is madame F– F[alconet] F– [Faviholme] chatted – drank tea, and sat with them till 9 40/60 – Mr Falconet Faviholme apparently an amiable good sort of man – a Swiss gentleman, I suppose, in manners – but not a thorough bred English man – yet very civil and attentive, and walked back with me – very fine day – not much sun, and Mrs and Miss thought it cold –

reference number: SH:7/ML/TR/2/0012, SH:7/ML/TR/2/0013

#annelistercodebreaker #annelister #traveljournals #mrsbarlow #switzerland1827

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lesdoovstravel · 6 years

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Fontainebleau, France. I lived there for my entire childhood, so it’s no surprise we end up there quite often to visit family. it’s an extraordinary place to live. Less than hour away from Paris’ buzzing sounds and culture, it feels like its own little haven. Surrounded by an incredible 20,000 acre forest, full of wild boars, deer, mushrooms, and boulders revered globally for their climbing.

At the center of the town is the Fontainebleau Castle almost as large and grandiose castle in France after Versailles.

We are also fortunate to have a Hotel in our family since 1892, called the AIGLE NOIR HOTEL. Sitting a stone’s throw from the chateau, it’s a wonderful place to stay and relax.

#france #photography #film photography #mamiya7 #kodak #portra160 #travel #fontainebleau

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alexlacquemanne · 3 years

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Mai MMXX

Films

Cartouche (1962) de Philippe de Broca avec Jean-Paul Belmondo et Claudia Cardinale

Les Quatre Charlots mousquetaires (1974) d'André Hunebelle avec Gérard Rinaldi, Jean-Guy Fechner, Jean Sarrus et Gérard Filipelli

Meurtres en Corrèze (2019) Adeline Darraux avec Arié Elmaleh, Carole Bianic et Joyce Jonathan

Tant qu'il y aura des hommes (From Here to Eternity) (1953) de Fred Zinnemann avec Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr et Frank Sinatra

Le Bossu (1997) de Philippe de Broca avec Daniel Auteuil, Fabrice Luchini, Marie Gillain et Vincent Pérez

La Folie des grandeurs (1971) de Gérard Oury avec Louis de Funès et Yves Montand

Le Sucre (1978) de Jacques Rouffio avec Jean Carmet et Gérard Depardieu

Opération Jupons (Operation Petticoat) (1959) de Blake Edwards avec Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Joan O'Brien et Dina Merrill

L'Homme qui en savait trop (The Man Who Knew Too Much) (1956) d'Alfred Hitchcock avec James Stewart et Doris Day

Les Choses de la vie (1970) de Claude Sautet avec Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider et Lea Massari

Une étrange affaire (1981) de Pierre Granier-Deferre avec Michel Piccoli, Gérard Lanvin et Nathalie Baye

Peur sur la ville (1975) de Henri Verneuil avec Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Denner, Lea Massari et Adalberto Maria Merli

Cent mille dollars au soleil (1964) de Henri Verneuil avec Jean-Paul Belmondo, Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier et Gert Fröbe

La Classe américaine (1993) de Michel Hazanavicius et Dominique Mézerette avec John Wayne, Dustin Hoffman et Robert Redford

Maigret tend un piège (1958) de Jean Delannoy avec Jean Gabin, Annie Girardot et Jean Desailly

Week-end à Zuydcoote (1964) de Henri Verneuil avec Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Pierre Marielle, François Périer et Pierre Mondy

Géant (Giant) (1956) de George Stevens avec Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson et James Dean

Sept ans de réflexion (The Seven Year Itch) (1955) de Billy Wilder avec Marilyn Monroe et Tom Ewell

Spectacle

Non à l’argent ! (2017) de Flavia Coste avec Pascal Légitimus, Claire Nadeau, Philippe Lelievre et Julie De Bona

L’heureux élu (2017) de Eric Assous avec David Brécourt, Yvan Le Bolloc'h, Mélanie Page, Mathilde Penin et Bruno Solo

Castle Saison 7

Les Mystères de l'Ouest

Top Gear Saison 14, 20, 12, 21, 7, 8, 10, 19, 13, 18

Bolide électrique - L’Espagne en toute simplicité - Moteur nature - Destination Thaïlande - Un pont sur la rivière Kwaï - Spécial Moyen-Orient - Véhicule Lunaire - Spécial Afrique Part 1 - Spécial Afrique Part 2 - Pole Nord Spécial - Supercars à petit budget - Avion contre Bugatti - Gordon Ramsay au commandes ! - La première voiture amphibie - C6 : Le haut de gamme français à l'essai - La traversée de la Manche - Voiture a petit budget : Retour aux sources - Toujours plus petit ! - Spécial Botswana - Passion Vintage - Une course comme sur un green - En route pour le viaduc de Millau !

The Grand Tour Saison 2, 1

Mozambique - Passé, présent ou avenir ? - Les Buggy Beach Boys : première partie - Les Buggy Beach Boys : seconde partie

Chapeau Melon et Bottes de Cuir Saison 5, 4

Chasse au trésor - Un petit déjeuner trop lourd - Mort en magasin - Les Aigles

Meurtres au paradis Saison 9

Témoin aveugle

Commissaire Dupin

Les secrets de Brocéliande

Kaamelott Livre II, III

Livres

Kaamelott Tome 2 : Les Sièges de Transport d’Alexandre Astier et Steven Dupré

Kaamelott Tome 3 : L'Énigme du Coffre d’Alexandre Astier et Steven Dupré

Kaamelott Tome 4 : Perceval Et le Dragon d'Airain d’Alexandre Astier et Steven Dupré

OSS 117 : Alerte ! de Jean Bruce

Knock ou Le triomphe de la médecine de Jules Romains

#mediatheque #mai20

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wikitopx · 4 years

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Southwest of Paris, Rambouillet will always be synonymous with its brilliant castle.

Up to 2009, the estate was home for Kings, Emperors, and French presidents. The castle is nestled in a vibrant campus with carefully manicured canals and gardens. There are also a few hidden stalkers to track, including a purpose-made dairy product for Marie Antoinette. The boundless forest where the kings were once hunted is ripe for walking and cycling and is the habitat of red deer and wild boars. You never get stuck in things to do in Rambouillet, because there are animal sanctuaries, places with royal history, small eccentric museums and many other châteaux in or near the town. Discover the best things to do in Rambouillet.

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1. Château de Rambouillet

Although the main palace was being refurbished at the time of writing, the base of Château de Rambouillet and its followers were open. You should still stop to take pictures of the building, which is filled with hundreds of years of royal history and French royal history.

It will dawn on you that some of history’s most powerful people have passed through these doors. King Francis I died at the castle in 1547, Napoleon and Queen Marie-Louise lived there, and it was a summer residence for every French president until 2009.

2. Château de Rambouillet Grounds

The grounds are wonderfully fitting and remain open while Château is being restored. You can spend your time in the tranquility and cultural beauty of these gardens first created in 1699. There is a linden avenue adorned with statues, the entire network. canals, an English garden, and a medieval kitchen garden.

The best position to take in the whole scene is on the stairs leading down to the Rondeau ornamental pond. Here the canals are framed by the tapis vert (green carpet), a lush lawn running to the horizon.

3. Laiterie de la Reine

She didn’t like the château much, so in 1785 Louis XVI ordered the Laiterie de la Reine (Queen’s Dairy) to be built on the grounds. This Folly is a type of rural refuge for her, similar to Petit Trianon and Hameau de la Reine in Versailles.

The cow is a neoclassical temple lit up from the ceiling by zenith light and leads to a climax gallery in a cave with an Amalthea statue of sculptor Pierre Julien. Marie Antoinette will visit to enjoy château dairy products on top of Sèvres porcelain products.

4. La Chaumière aux Coquillages

Before Louis XVI bought the property in 1783, it was owned by his cousin, Duc de Penthièvre. And in the late 1770s, the duke had commissioned a cottage idyll for his daughter, the Princesse de Lamballe, which is folded into the English country garden.

This was a time when the nobility was in love with picturesque countryside and rural innocence.

But while the exterior is humble, with rustic walls and thatched roofs, the interior is lavish: The walls are embellished with seashells and mother-of-pearl, arranged in pilgrimage and classical houses.

5. Forêt de Rambouillet

The reason here, the first place here is a lodge for kings to hunt in the royal forest right on the doorstep. This is 30,000 hectares of deep oak forest land accessible to kings through a network of star-shaped bridges.

The Rambouillet tourist council will give you inspiration for the round trips that take you to the waterfall and the secret valley. Also roving the forest are red deer, roe deer, and wild boars, while a variety of raptors patrol the skies above the canopy.

6. Espace Rambouillet

To see the wild wilderness close, you can visit this animal attraction set up by the National Office of Des Fores in the middle of the forest. They have organized several trails that run through huge enclosures for deer and wild boars.

There’s also a 1.8-kilometer walking path with hides at intervals to let you observe red deer and roe in the wild.

The “Forêt des Aigles” meanwhile is an aviary with 120 raptors from 30 species, and the “Odyssée Verte” is a suspended walkway that lifts you five meters above the forest floor without needing a harness.

7. Bergerie Nationale

This working farm is sure to keep all the family diverted for an hour or two. Young people will go crazy for rabbits, goats, pigs, draft horses, ducks, cows, and more than 600 sheep. Adults will be interested in the history of sheep, founded in 1786 by Louis XVI to keep the merino sheep he imported from Spain.

Throughout the day there are activities to introduce children to the habit on a farm, whether it's grooming or milking. And there are also seasonal events here, like a shepherd competition and a hair-cutting festival.

8. Rambolitrain

If you are a miniature hobbyist, you might be wondering if you will die and go to heaven at this museum. It was founded in 1984 by two railway model fanatics in a Louis XIII-style luxury mansion with quoins and mansard roofs.

In these elegant confines are more than 4,000 model trains from the 19th and 20th centuries. And snaking around the two floors is a working 1:43 miniature train network 500 meters in length.

In the garden, there is a 184mm miniature steamboat running on coal and running during the Vapeur Vive Festival in early October.

9. Étangs de Hollande

History, natural splendor, and outdoor recreation are rolled into one of the northern forests of Rambouillet. Until the 17th century, this was a swamp, but it was trained to form six destroyed lakes.

And their purpose was to irrigate the canals, fountains and water gardens at the Palace of Versailles several kilometers to the north. The location was chosen because its height meant that water could be navigated by waterway to Versailles by gravity alone.

Your purpose for today is to relax on the beach and take a dip in the largest summer lake. There is an entire center here for rental pedals, canoes, and bicycles, and offers a cafe and mini-golf.

10. Réserve Zoologique de Sauvage

Near Rambouillet is a property that was once gifted by Louis XIV to his daughter Louise de Maison Blanche. Château de Sauvage is located in a 40-hectare English park and was rebuilt under Napoleon III in the mid-1800s.

In 1973, the property was purchased by Fonds International pour la Préservation de la Nature (IWPF) and is now an animal sanctuary. It’s mainly an ornithological attraction, as more than three-quarters of the species are birds including pelicans, peacocks, and flamingos all going where they please.

Exotic birds are kept in captivity but the rest of the animals, such as emus, wallabies, antelopes, and deer roam the semi-free area.

More ideals for you: Top 10 things to do in Potenza

From : https://wikitopx.com/travel/top-10-things-to-do-in-rambouillet-709608.html

#Wikitopx #Wikitopx - Feed

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veloeurope · 6 years

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Aigle to Lausanne

35 miles, 3,483 ft of climb (advertised as 1,850 ft - serious misdescription in tour details!!!!!!!!)

Adversity - going to divide into 3 sections today. Up to and including lunch in Montreux - adversity, what adversity. After lunch to the outskirts of Lausanne - 6 (whilst very pretty, also very steep “undulations”). Lausanne - 8, city at rush hour, finding hotel with laiden bike in a group at the top of a hill when route finding difficult and you are tired at the end of the day - urgh).

Started the day with a quick trip back to the Château to see it with the morning sun on it. Then off to the Coop to buy lunch (now including apricots - yum yum). Coop has become stalwart of trip.

Then back to our river Rhône for the last few miles down to the lake. Stork thermal soaring seen early on, but no further evidence of them. Pair of Golden Orioles seen by H and M - very obvious as male had v bright yellow on it. Subsequently heard as well.

Sunflowers just coming into flower. Some fields of what looked to be Swiss chard!

Crossing one bridge it became apparent that we could see the blue water of the lake beyond the clouded glacial waters of the Rhône and we were soon beside the lake.

Quick tart and coffee stop

Beautiful castle at Chillon in the lake.

Montreaux heaving with people as the last preparations for the jazz festival were being put in place. Lunch feeding the ducklings by the statue of Freddie Mercury.

Then a gentle walk/push/ride for a couple of miles along the shores of the lake before the cycle route heads for the hill beside the lake and the World Heritage status vine terraces. Very beautiful, but boy are some of the climbs steep and one descent we have to dismount and walk down with both brakes on. Thankfully the wind (which has risen to high levels again as the heat kicks in) is coming down off the hill and is not now blowing in our faces. Through a number of villages offering degustations of grand crus without stopping (save for an ice cream) and eventually down to the edge of Lausanne just as rush hour starts again.

There then follows about an hour of fiddling around through complicated road junctions in heavy traffic back up steep hills from the lake shore in the late afternoon heat to find our hotel. Hard work and not very relaxing, but the hotel proves to be worth the finding and the climb being very friendly, doing very good business and showing the England/Belgium match (shame we lost). Excellent beer, local wine and calzone finish the last full day of cycling (and by full I mean we seem to have started at 9 and finished at 6 pm).

Train back to northern Switzerland tomorrow and then a promised gentle ride back to Bregenz in Austria and hopefully an intact car and camping equipment!

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southfrommainz · 6 years

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2018 3 sources

Hope to start posting on 29 or 30 may. The map tries to give an idea of the planned route. I start at Mainz (blue cathedral at the top of the map). The route is shown by the yellow dots (the red ones are from previous trips where i diverted up the river Main and then over the alps). The aim is to follow the Rhine up to lake Constance with a slight diversion to see the source of the Danube(blue star). At Bregenz (shown as a bicycle symbol) hope to rendevous with the peleton of Sue, Mike and Helen and then roll up the upper Rhine and over the Oberalpass to Andermatt (blue mountain with blue star of the nearby source of the Rhine). If legs pemit we will do a day trip over the San Gottard pass to Belinzona (blue castle) in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. Then back to Andermatt by train, cycle over the Furka pass, past the souce of the Rhone from its glacier and down the French speaking part of Switzerland to Lausanne on Lake Geneva for the train back to Bregenz.

The overnight stops are Mainz, Worms, Heidelburg, Speyer, Karlsruhe, Strasbourg (2nights), Riquewihr (2 nights), Colmar, Basel (2 nights), Waldshut, Stein am Rhein, Donaueshingen, Sigamaringen, Hagnau, Bregenz (2 nights).

Then as a peleton, Vaduz, Chur, Disentis, Andermatt (3 nights), Fiesch (2 nights for glacier viewing shown as cable car on map), Sion, Aigle & Lausanne

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seashellsoldier · 7 years

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Gawd, how I love this shit. The Greeks had the world written right:

“If Homer really did envisage Dexia Bay as the Bay of Phorcys, he was doing an honour to this modest indentation in the coastline of the island, which like an amoeba assumes many forms. Phorcys, after all, is one of the ‘old men of the sea’ - the others named by Homer are Proteus and Nereus - and thus a member of the very ancient mythological nobility, one of the pre-Olympian deities. In the sacred books of Orpheus, Phorcys was a son of Oceanus and Tethys, and therefore went back to the beginning of time, for according to Homer Oceanus (I [The Iliad], R 14, 246) is the forefather of all. With Oceanus we are 'at the beginning of all things,’ the words with which Karl Kerenyi begins the first volume of his history of gods and men. In his Theogony Hesiod has Gaia and Pontus as the parents of Phorcys, and calls him strong and virile. If by virile we understand the ability to father many children, and in Phorcys’ case children who themselves achieved fame (most of them in a gruesome manner) then the Old Man of the Sea deserves an epithet. He was the father of the dreadful Scylla, yet had paternal feelings of affection for her; when she was killed by Heracles for stealing his cattle, Phorcys burned her body, boiled it up, and remade her from the resulting brew. Whether she reappeared more beautiful than before or even more terrible we do not know. He, the most ancient of the Old Men of the Sea, was also the father of ancient daughters, the white-haired yet fair-cheeked Graiai and the black-skinned, snake-haired Erinyes. He also fathered the sisters of the Erinyes, the Gorgons, and the snake goddess Echnida, mother of the most terrible dogs in Greek mythology, Cerberus and Orthus, who with his mother brought into being such impressive creatures as the Sphinx and the Nemean lion. If we mention that other daughters of Phorcys were the Sirens and the Hesperides, only the last-named can be considered figures not imbued with ideas of terror, horror, and destruction. They were linked to the star of Aphrodite, the evening star, and had beautiful names inspiring confidence: Hespera, the Evening One; Aigle, the One of Light; Erytheia, the Red One; Arethusa, the goddess of springs; as well as Chrysothemis, golden order; Hygeia, health; and others. One is tempted to imagine this ancient, pre-Olympian, undomesticated family of deities, the Old Man of the Sea with his many daughters and grandchildren, bathing in the open air at Dexia Bay during a family party.“ (pp. 159-60)

If you haven’t read these ORIGINAL works that carved the way for ALL "Western” literature and storytelling, you should hunt them down and digest each one slowly. While I’m certainly biased towards “The Iliad,” the twenty-year odyssey of Odysseus and his doomed men is a spectacular ride, and as Geisthovel and so many others have proved, deeply rooted in the reality of Homer’s time, and the then-legendary exploits of his bygone era, now carved in “myth.” “Just how the towering mythological figure of Odysseus stimulates us to continue his story depends on our personal qualities, values and circumstances; do we put the Odyssey aside when we have finished reading it, happy with the prophesied end, or do we regard it as an open book into which, bringing our imagination to bear on the tale of Odysseus, we project our own desire for a free and unconfined life? Odysseus as a kind of Flying Dutchman, a sailor opposing storms for all eternity, might be one sequel; a Wandering Jew of the sea, bearing the stigma of having left the aura of the magic to enter the circle of light of the Olympian gods, who were then liquidated by the philosophers - although they survived in art - making their way for Western rationalism and scepticism. Where the heavens disappear the world cries out to be discovered and conquered in thoughts, words and deeds. Curiosity, activity, the striving for fame and power, desire, an aim, an action, fulfillment (although brief), emptiness, new desire, new activity, and again and again journey on the sea of restlessness, the ocean of events.” (p. 215)

As someone who has traveled wide and far, as a soldier and as a rambler, from the reconstructed streets of ancient Babylon to the feet of the Golden Buddha in Bangkok, from the isolated shores of Western Australia to the castles of Honshu, and across a sprinkling of islands deep in the Pacific, I can say with absolute certainty that the journey is the destination, even when the skies darken and the seas swell around you. If only I had someone to share life with, would I pick up my rucksack and head out again, carefree and whimsical. But alas, that destiny is not written for me …

“Homer’s Mediterranean: From Troy to Ithica Homeric Journeys” by Wolfgang Geisthovel, and translated from German by Anthea Bell, 2007.

Photo found on Google.

#the odyssey #homer #traveling #epicreads #fate #destiny #futility #finality

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