Majorca 22nd March, a sunset over the cliffs

The evening of the first day I was anxious to 'do a sunset'. We drove out towards the Cap de Formentor, a peninsula on the extreme north-east of the island. We did not have time to get to the end of the road but stopped at a view point called Sa Talaria d'Albercutx, a small ruined tower  situated up a flight of stone steps and overlooking the ocean. From here we could see the sun going down over the cliffs. It was almost completely dark when we left.









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ancient Agora of Athens

Image
  After our trip to the seaside we thought we should examine more of the ancient sites of Athens. So we walked to the district of Monasteriki, the very busy touristic area, where behind iron railings lies the Greek Agora. This occupies a large area and was originally a place where the Athenians senate met, as well as holding the market, places for socialising, temples and craftsmen's workshops. We started by walking up the hill to the Temple of Hephaestus which overlooks the Agora. This temple was completed around 430BC and as Hephaestus was the patron god of metal work and craftsmanship it was built on a very fitting site, although it was used as church from the 7th century AD to 1833. We passed workmen tidying as we walked. From the top we got very good views over Athens. Directly under the temple lies the site of the ancient Bouleuterion which was the senate house where political discussion took place and the Metroon where the state archives were kept. The boule was a sort of pa...
Read more

Encounters with Duchamp's 'Fountain'

Image
On a visit to Tate Modern I thought it might be fun to do a study of Duchamp's 'Fountain', a piece of 'readymade' sculpture which the Tate quotes as topping a poll of 500 art experts in the UK to be the single most influential piece of art created in the 20th century. I was keen to see what the galleristas at the Tate would make of it, so I sat on a convenient bench for about an hour and photographed the passers by. The work itself was submitted by Duchamp, under the guise of R Mutt (Mott was the maker of the sanitary ware), to the inaugural exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in New York. A group that Duchamp had himself helped to found. The works submitted by members were supposed to be hung without reservation, but the directors of the society present during the hanging decided to exclude the urinal as not fitting to be shown on the grounds of both art and decency. Duchamp resigned from the society and  retrieved the urinal which was photographe...
Read more

Chicago day 1, back to the Loop and some marble halls

Image
On our return to the Loop we had some lunch and then went for a tour around the financial district in the heart of Chicago. Here is a view looking down LaSalle Street towards the Chicago Board of Trade, a 45 storey art deco building with a statue of Ceres at the top, showing the importance of the vasty fields of grain to the wealth of Chicago. The Board of Trade was designed by Holabird & Root and built 1929-30. A 24 storey wing by Helmut Jahn that was added in 1980. I shall now show you the tour, as we took it, courtesy of Michael. A little meandering, but very accomplished. Michael wanted us to see the inside of some of the buildings, especially the banks which were resplendent in brass and marble. The first one we visited was the One North LaSalle Building. A fantastic art deco building erected in 1930 with design by architects Vitzthum & Co and John Burns. It cost , for the time, a staggering amount of 30 million dollars. We passed...
Read more

Road to the isles, 3rd July, eagles and lochs

Image
Next morning the view from our campsite at Killiechronan was dry but a wreath of cloud lay over the mountains on the other side of the loch. Driving around the coast towards Ulva we passed Kellan wood and saw a lay-by where there were a number of people with binoculars. As we suspected there was a pair white tailed eagles who seemed to be nesting in part of the wood which was a long way away. But they were flying fairly close to us. We must have stopped by the side of the road for at least an hour watching them, until they favoured another area to hunt and got too distant. When the eagles were not visible I amused myself taking pictures over the loch. We moved on to Ulva, a pretty place where a ferry goes across to Ulva island and you can get a boat to Staffa and the Treshnish Islands. This is probably preferable to getting a trip from Fionnphort although quite expensive.There was a small white cottage by the jetty with lobster pots piled up against it. ...
Read more