F.V. EUGÈNE DELACROIX & THE FRENCH ROMANTIC SCHOOL

All good things have and end, and The Grandma and her friends have returned to their homes: Corto Maltese to somewhere along the ocean, Joseph de Ca'th Lon to his beloved Switzerland, and Claire Fontaine and The Grandma to Barcelona.

During the trip from Sant Feliu de Guíxols to Barcelona, The Grandma has been reading about Eugène Delacroix, the French Romantic artist who died on a day like today in 1863.

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (26 April 1798-13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school. In contrast to the Neoclassical perfectionism of his chief rival Ingres, Delacroix took for his inspiration the art of Rubens and painters of the Venetian Renaissance, with an attendant emphasis on colour and movement rather than clarity of outline and carefully modelled form.

Dramatic and romantic content characterized the central themes of his maturity, and led him not to the classical models of Greek and Roman art, but to travel in North Africa, in search of the exotic. Friend and spiritual heir to Théodore Géricault, Delacroix was also inspired by Lord Byron, with whom he shared a strong identification with the forces of the sublime, of nature in often violent action.

However, Delacroix was given to neither sentimentality nor bombast, and his Romanticism was that of an individualist. In the words of Baudelaire, Delacroix was passionately in love with passion, but coldly determined to express passion as clearly as possible. Together with Ingres, Delacroix is considered one of the last old Masters of painting and is one of the few who was ever photographed.

As a painter and muralist, Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement. A fine lithographer, Delacroix illustrated various works of William Shakespeare, the Scottish author Walter Scott, and the German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Eugène Delacroix was born on 26 April 1798 at Charenton-Saint-Maurice in Seine, near Paris. His mother was Victoire Oeben, the daughter of the cabinetmaker Jean-François Oeben.

Delacroix drew inspiration from many sources over his career, such as the literary works of William Shakespeare and Lord Byron, and the artistry of Michelangelo. But, throughout his life, he felt a constant need for music, saying in 1855 that nothing can be compared with the emotion caused by music; that it expresses incomparable shades of feeling. He also said, while working at Saint-Sulpice, that music put him in a state of exaltation that inspired his painting. It was often from music, whether the most melancholy renditions of Chopin or the pastoral works of Beethoven, that Delacroix was able to draw the most emotion and inspiration. At one point during his life, Delacroix befriended and made portraits of the composer Chopin; in his journal, Delacroix praised him frequently.

At the sale of his work in 1864, 9140 works were attributed to Delacroix, including 853 paintings, 1525 pastels and water colours, 6629 drawings, 109 lithographs, and over 60 sketch books. The number and quality of the drawings, whether done for constructive purposes or to capture a spontaneous movement, underscored his explanation, Colour always occupies me, but drawing preoccupies me.

On 13 August, Delacroix died. He was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

More information: The Art Story

 Do all the work you can; 
that is the whole philosophy 
of the good way of life.

Eugène Delacroix

DO EMPORDÀ WINES, FROM PHOENICIANS TO NOWADAYS

Today, The Grandma and her friends have enjoyed a wonderful wine route along l'Empordà, one of the most beautiful Catalan counties.

They have tasted some of the most delicious wines and they have enjoyed the amazing environment. 

Empordà is a Catalan DOP (Denominació d'Origen Protegida in Catalan), for wines produced in the northeastern corner of Catalonia, in the province of Girona.

The region generally extends from the town of Figueres northwards to the regions of Banyuls and Côtes du Roussillon. To the south, it extends through Baix Empordà near the Mediterranean Sea. The DOP is crossed by the rivers Muga, Llobregat and Manol which flow eastwards to the sea.

Archaeologists have suggested that vines were first introduced to this region by the Phoenicians in the 5th century BC. The ancient Romans and the Benedictine monks later also contributed. 

The first written documentation dates from 1130 and was a treatise on wine written by Father Pere de Novas in the Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes.

As in Penedès, this area used to produce strong sweet wines which were very popular until the 1930s. The region acquired its DO status in 1972.

Throughout the mid 20th century, the wineries were mostly cooperatives focused on cheap, bulk wine production. In the late 1990s and in to the first decade of the 21st century, the focus shifted a great deal towards smaller, craft wineries, which in turn worked to improve the wine quality of the region overall. Until 2006, it was initially known as DO Empordà-Costa Brava to associate the large tourist beach area with the region.

The DOP is divided into two subzones: the northern Alt Empordà subzone on the slopes of the Alberes Rodes mountains near the French border, and the southern Baix Empordà subzone on the slopes of the Montgrí and Gabarres Massifs.

The soils are generally dark, with a certain lime content, loose, good drainage and poor in organic matter. There is some granite content near the coast as well as up in the mountainous regions near Catalunya Nord.

The climate is Mediterranean, with influences from the moisture bearing winds from the south and cold winds from the north, especially the Tramontana, which can sometimes attain speeds of 120 km/h. The wind is quite crucial to the winemaking process as it greatly reduces the occurrence of mildew as well as pests, thus making organic farming an easier endeavor.

The average annual temperature is 16 °C (max 29 °C, min 1.5 °C) and there is abundant rainfall over the course of the year, between 600 and 700 mm/year, falling mainly in winter and spring.

While historically Empordà was known for producing rosé wines, the majority of their production is red at 60%, white at 19%, and rosé at 17%. The remaining 4% is released as traditional wines including dessert versions of Grenache and Moscatell. A bit more than half of the wines sold in the region are bottled and the remainder are sold as bulk wines. There is a significant amount of Cava produced under the DOP Cava in the approved villages.

More information: DO Empordà

The grape varieties are:

-Red, recommended: Samsó and Garnatxa Negra / Lledoner Negre

-Red, authorised: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Monastrell, Ull de llebre, Syrah, and Garnatxa Peluda

-White, recommended: Garnatxa Blanca / Lledoner Blanc, Garnatxa Roja (Garnatxa Gris), Macabeu / Viura, and Moscatell d’Alexandria

-White, authorised: Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Malvasia, Moscatell de Gra Petit, Picapoll Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Xarel·lo

Some wineries in the Empordà region are grouped under the umbrella of the DOP Empordà wine route to promote wine tourism in the area. This body is coordinated by the Patronat de Turisme de la Costa Brava with the participation of the Consell Regulador de la Denominació d’Origen Empordà.

The DOP Empordà wine route aims to promote wine tourism locally and internationally. The route also brings together other tourist activities from the area linked to the world of wine and grapes. Celler Peralada is an emblematic building and state of the art in leaving a minimum environmental impact during winemaking process in this region.

More information: Catalan Wines

 Wine is constant proof that God loves us 
and loves to see us happy.

Benjamin Franklin

SAILING THE MEDITERRANEAN BY CATBOAT & LATEEN

Today, The Grandma and her friends have enjoyed sailing on a catboat along the Mediterranean coast from Sant Feliu de Guíxols to Cadaqués (Cap de Creus), where they have continued their journey through the Natural Park in a 4x4 vehicle.

Corto Maltese is an experienced sailor and has guided his friends on this journey through the history of llaguts and lateen sailing, typical elements of the Costa Brava.

A catboat is a sailboat with a single sail on a single mast set well forward in the bow of a very beamy and (usually) shallow draft hull. Typically they are gaff rigged, though Bermuda rig is also used. Most are fitted with a centreboard, although some have a keel. The hull can be 3.7 to 12.2 metres long with a beam half as wide as the hull length at the waterline. 

Advantages of this sail plan include the economies derived from a rig with a limited number of component parts. It is quick to hoist sail and get underway. The cat rig sails well to windward, especially in calmer water. As a working boat, the forward mast placement gave ample room in the cockpit for fishing gear. Cruising versions can provide a large usable cabin space in a relatively short hull.

Disadvantages of the rig include the limited deck space around the mast, which can be problematical when raising or lowering sail, or when reefing; halyards are often led back to the cockpit, so partially mitigating this problem. It is usually wise to reef early in a rising wind to avoid an excess of weather helm. The weight of the mast in the bow has to be allowed for in the hull design -if this is got wrong the bow may be buried when sailing downwind. The narrow beam where the mast is stepped makes it difficult to gain any benefit from shrouds, so the mast has to be stronger, and so heavier. Despite the simplicity of the rig, a good level of skill is required to design a balanced catboat, since there are limited options to correct any slight errors.

A lateen, from French latine, meaning Latin, or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. The settee can be considered to be an associated type of the same overall category of sail.

The lateen originated in the Mediterranean as early as the 2nd century AD, during Roman times, and became common there by the 5th century. The wider introduction of lateen rig at this time coincided with a reduction in the use of the Mediterranean square rig of the classical era. Since the performance of these two rigs is broadly similar, it is suggested that the change from one to the other was on cost grounds, since lateen rigs used fewer components and had less cordage to be replaced when it wore out.

Arab seafarers adopted the lateen rig at a later date -there is some limited archaeological evidence of lateen rig in the Indian Ocean in the 13th century AD and iconographic evidence from the 16th century. It has been suggested that this Arab use of lateen transferred to Austronesian maritime technology in the Far East, giving rise to the various fore-and-aft rigs used in that region, such as the crab claw sail.

The lateen sail played a prominent part in the shifts in maritime technology that occurred as Mediterranean and Northern European ship-construction traditions merged in the 16th century, with the lateen mizzen being, for a time, universally used in the full-rigged ships of the time -though later supplanted by gaff rig in this role.

The lateen also exists as a subtype: the settee. Instead of being a triangular sail, this has a short vertical luff -having the appearance of a triangular lateen with the front corner cut off. Both types of lateen were likely used from an early date on: a 2nd-century AD gravestone depicts a quadrilateral lateen sail (also known as a settee), while a 4th-century mosaic shows a triangular one, which was to become the standard rig throughout the Middle Ages.

The earliest archaeologically excavated ship that has been reconstructed with a lateen rig is dated to ca. 400 AD (Yassi Ada II), with a further four being attested prior to the Arab advance to the Mediterranean. The Kelenderis ship mosaic (late 5th to early 6th century) and the Kellia ship graffito from the early 7th century complement the picture.

By the 6th century, the lateen sail had largely replaced the square sail throughout the Mediterranean, the latter almost disappearing from Mediterranean iconography until the mid-13th century. It became the standard rig of the Byzantine dromon war galley and was probably also employed by Belisarius' flagship in the 532 AD invasion of the Vandal Kingdom. The fully triangular lateen and the settee continued to coexist in the middle Byzantine period, as evidenced by Christian iconography, as well as a recent find of a graffito in the Yenikapı excavations.

In the 12th to 13th centuries the rigging underwent a change when the hook-shaped masthead made way for an arrangement more akin to a barrel-like crow's nest.

After the Muslim conquests, the Arabs adopted the lateen sail by way of the Coptic populace, which shared the existing Mediterranean maritime tradition and continued to provide the bulk of galley crews for Muslim-led fleets for centuries to come. This is also indicated by the terminology of the lateen among Mediterranean Arabs which is derived from Greco-Roman nomenclature. More detailed research into their early use of the lateen is hampered by a distinct lack of unequivocal depictions of sailing rigs in early Islamic art. A glazed pottery dish from Saracenic Dénia dating to the 11th century is at present the earliest securely identifiable example found in the Mediterranean.

More information: Southern Woodenboat Sailing

 It is not the ship so much as the skillful sailing 
that assures the prosperous voyage.

George William Curtis

FROM NORWEGIAN 'HJELL' TO CATALAN 'PEIXOPALO'

Today, The Grandma and her friends have enjoyed a fantastic dinner with local cuisine in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. They have tasted peixopalo, also known as stockfish, the unsalted cod whose origins are in Norway, where it is named hjell.

Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks (which are called hjell in Norway) on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of several years. The method is cheap and effective in suitable climates; the work can be done by the fisherman and family, and the resulting product is easily transported to market.

Over the centuries, several variants of dried fish have evolved. The stockfish (fresh dried, not salted) category is often mistaken for the klippfisk, or salted cod, category where the fish is salted before drying. Salting was not economically feasible until the 17th century, when cheap salt from southern Europe became available to the maritime nations of northern Europe.

Stockfish is cured in a fermentation process where cold-adapted bacteria matures the fish, similar to the maturing process of cheese.

In English legal records of the medieval period, stock fishmongers are differentiated from ordinary fishmongers when the occupation of a plaintiff or defendant is recorded.

The word stockfish is a loan word from West Frisian stokfisk (stick fish), possibly referring to the wooden racks on which stockfish are traditionally dried or because the dried fish resembles a stick.

Stock may also refer to a wooden yoke or harness on a horse or mule, once used to carry large fish from the sea or after drying/smoking for trade in nearby villages. This etymology is consistent with the fact that Stockmaß is German for the height of a horse at the withers.

Stockfish is Norway's longest sustained export commodity. Stockfish is first mentioned as a commodity in the 13th-century Icelandic prose work Egil's Saga, where chieftain Thorolf Kveldulfsson, in the year 875 AD, ships stockfish from Helgeland in mid-Norway to Britain. This product accounted for most of Norway's trade income from the Viking Age throughout the Medieval period.

Preserved cod fed Iceland for centuries, to the extent that it has been described as a local equivalent of bread.

Stockfish is extremely popular and is widely consumed in Catholic Mediterranean countries, mostly in Italy. Stockfish is called stoccafisso in most Italian dialects, but confusingly baccalà -which normally refers to salt cod- in the Veneto.

In Russian cuisine dried stockfish is a very popular dish which is often eaten with vodka and beer. In the 16th century Russian and Swedish stockfish were sold to many European countries.

The science of producing good stockfish is in many ways comparable to that of making a good cognac, Parma ham, or a well-matured cheese. Practitioners of the Slow Food movement insist that all these artisanal products must be made on a small scale and given time to mature.

The fish is prepared immediately after capture. After gutting the fish, it is either dried whole, or split along the spine leaving the tail connected. The fish is hung on the hjell from February to May. Stable cool weather protects the fish from insects and prevents an uncontrolled bacterial growth. A temperature just above zero degrees Celsius, with little rain, is ideal. Too much frost will spoil the fish, as ice destroys the fibers in the fish. The climate in northern Norway is excellent for stockfish production, and remains so even with changing climate conditions. Salted/dried whitefish (klippfisk) was more common in the fisheries districts of Western Norway. Further south in Norway, the cod was salted in barrells from the 15th century.

After its three months hanging on the hjell, the fish is then matured for another two to three months indoors in a dry and airy environment. During the drying, about 80% of the water in the fish evaporates. The stockfish retains much of the nutrients from the fresh fish, only concentrated: it is therefore rich in proteins, vitamins, iron, and calcium.

Most of the Norwegian dried cod is exported to Portugal, Sweden, Nigeria, Brazil, and Italy. In Norway and Iceland, the stockfish is mostly used as a snack and for lutefisk production. In Italy, the fish (called stoccafisso) is soaked and used in various courses, and is viewed as a delicacy.

Low-quality stockfish is also commonly used as supplemental food for pets, primarily as dog food or dog treats.

The 2012-2015, project SafeTrackFood developed a method of indoor production of stockfish to accelerate the maturing and drying of the fish in a safe manner.

In Catalonia, stockfish is an ingredient of a kind of surf and turf named Es Niu, a dish very popular on the Costa Brava.

More information: Visita Costa Brava

 Travel is so important in its capacity to expand the mind. 
It's exciting to start as young as possible 
-you get to see how other cultures live, 
challenge your senses, and try different cuisines.

Natalie Dormer

'HOSTAL DE LA GAVINA', THE AMERICAN FILMS IN S’AGARÓ

Extracted from www.lagavina.com

Having first set eyes on the area back in the 1920s, pioneering hotelier Josep Ensesa i Gubert had a vision. He was fixated with the stretch of beach between Bahia de Sant Pol and Sa Concha, which was not much more than a piece of uninhabited land back then, but Ensesa could see the potential. He persuaded his father to invest in the untapped land where, together with local architect Rafael Maso i Valentí, the pair, would go on to conceive a garden city overlooking this splendid corner of the Mediterranean, a place where media and the arts would stylishly converge. This included the magnificent Loggia de Senya Blanca, the first property built in the new S’Agaró development in 1922. But the jewel in the crown was Hostal de la Gavina, which opened ten years later on 2 January 1932, Catalunya's only five-star Grand Luxe resort hotel.

Maso i Valenti, an advocate of Noucentista style, incorporated local architectural nuances into his design: porticos, towers, terraces and low-pitched roofs which would help lure in a sophisticated clientele with refined artistic tastes –the great Salvador Dalí became a regular. La Gavina remains a byword for luxury and one of the most revered hotel addresses in the country. Under the guidance of Julia, Virginia, Carina and Josep Ensesa Viñas, the fourth generation of the Ensesa family carry on the mantle of their predecessors with the same enthusiasm.

The affluent neighbourhood of S'Agaró, which celebrated its 100th Anniversary in 2024, has often been described as the Beverly Hills of the Costa Brava. So it's no surprise it’s had its fair share of silver-screen stars who've passed beneath its iconic red canopied arcade entrance over the years: from Ava Gardner and Britt Ekland to John Wayne and Jack Nicholson to name but a few. Successions of tree-lined avenidas, which surround Hostal de la Gavina, wind their way up to decadent villas, while at the foot of the hotel, the idyllic coastal path of the Camí de Ronda, with its iconic tamarind trees interspersed with umbrella pines, snakes its way around the glistening bay.

The presence of seagulls catching the maritime breeze and soaring majestically above the bay inspired the hotel's name: gavina in Catalan means seagull – indeed the hotel's iconic motif is based on the gulls' dihedral angled wings. The 'hostal' part of the hotel’s name was consciously retained in order to reflect the warm and homely service offered to guests, taking inspiration from typical Catalan roadside houses. La Gavina has the feel of a grande dame, a place so rarefied in the modern world, beautifully preserving the charm of a bygone era with the contemporary in the most subtle and timeless way. 

S'Agaró and La Gavina have grown steadily in unison without ever losing sight of their origins. What started out as a modest 11-room property charging 25 pesetas per night, now houses 76 rooms and suites, with the addition of a show-stopping seawater outdoor pool and Valmont Spa, several restaurants alongside meeting and special events facilities. La Gavina continues to proudly encapsulate the original style and heritage which was installed on day one of its opening.

La Gavina's guest book reads like a Who's Who of the silver screen. S'Agaró has been the stylish backdrop of famous Hollywood movies such as Pandora with Ava Gardner and Suddenly Last Summer starring Elizabeth Taylor. Those to have bedded down here include Lee Van Cleef, Peter Sellers, Britt Ekland, John Wayne, Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Liam Neeson, Laurence Olivier, Dirk Bogarde and Maureen Swanson while the late Johan Cruyff would often bring his FC Barcelona teams to stay.

Latterly Tom Waits, Santana and Lady Gaga. Culture and the arts have also played an active part in shaping La Gavina's rich history. Numerous artists, Nobel prize winners and other academics have not only holidayed here but used the property professionally as a meeting point for recitals and musical performances. Cole Porter, Josep Pla, Josep Carreras, Orson Welles and Rudolf Nureyev, are just a few of the luminaries to have passed through the Adolf Florensa designed lobby.

More information: Centenari S'Agaró

Today, The Grandma and her friends have visited Hostal de la Gavina, meeting place of many famous film stars, musicians, political figures and Nobel Prize winners, and set of some popular American films interpreted by Hollywood stars like Ava Gardner, James Mason, Orson Welles, Montgomery Clift or Katharine Hepburn.

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is a 1951 British Technicolor romantic fantasy drama film written and directed by Albert Lewin. The screenplay is based on legend of the Flying Dutchman.

The film stars Ava Gardner and James Mason in the title roles, with Nigel Patrick, Sheila Sim, Harold Warrender, Mario Cabré, and Marius Goring in supporting parts.

More information: The Guardian

 I have only one rule in acting 
-trust the director and give him heart and soul.

Ava Gardner

Suddenly, Last Summer is a 1959 Southern Gothic psychological drama mystery film based on the 1958 play of the same name by Tennessee Williams. The film stars Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift with Albert Dekker, Mercedes McCambridge, and Gary Raymond. It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Sam Spiegel from a screenplay by Gore Vidal and Williams with cinematography by Jack Hildyard and production design by Oliver Messel. The musical score was composed by Buxton Orr, using themes by Malcolm Arnold.

The plot centers on Catherine Holly, a young woman who, at the insistence of her wealthy aunt, is being evaluated by a psychiatric doctor to receive a lobotomy after witnessing the death of her cousin Sebastian Venable while traveling with him in the (fictional) island of Cabeza de Lobo the previous summer.

More information: Cine Muse

Everything makes me nervous -except making films. 

Elizabeth Taylor

 

Mr. Arkadin, also released as Confidential Report, is a 1955 thriller film noir written, produced and directed by Orson Welles. It stars Welles, Robert Arden, Paola Mori, Michael Redgrave, Patricia Medina, Akim Tamiroff, Peter van Eyck, and Katina Paxinou. The film centers on an American smuggler (Arden) who is hired by a wealthy amnesiac, the titular Arkadin (Welles), to investigate his mysterious past.

The screenplay was based on scripts Welles had originally co-authored for his radio drama series The Adventures of Harry Lime. A co-production of France, Spain, and Switzerland, it was shot in several locations throughout Western Europe.

Like many of Welles' films, Mr. Arkadin had a difficult production and was released in several different versions. Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum identified at least seven different versions of the story. The film has been praised by directors like Christopher Nolan and Shinji Aoyama.

More information: Crime Reads

My kind of director is an actor-director who writes.

Orson Welles

 

Mysterious Island, in UK Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, is a 1961 science fiction adventure film about prisoners in the American Civil War who escape in a balloon and then find themselves stranded on a remote island populated by giant animals.

Loosely based upon the 1874 novel The Mysterious Island (L'Île mystérieuse) by Jules Verne (which was the sequel to two other novels by Verne, 1867's In Search of the Castaways and 1870's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas), the film was produced by Charles H. Schneer and directed by Cy Endfield.

Shot in Catalonia, and at Shepperton Studios, England, the film serves as a showcase for Ray Harryhausen's stop motion animation effects. Like several of Harryhausen's classic productions, the musical score was composed by Bernard Herrmann.

More information: Mana Pop

The sea is everything. 
It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. 
Its breath is pure and healthy. 
It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, 
for he feels life stirring on all sides.

Jules Verne

DISCOVERING S'AGARÓ & SANT POL ON THE COSTA BRAVA

Summer is always a time for reunions. Today, The Grandma has arrived in Sant Pol (Sant Feliu de Guíxols) to spend a few days with her dear friends Claire Fontaine, Joseph de Ca'th Lon and Corto Maltese.

They are enjoying two beautiful places full of history and natural beauty such as Sant Pol and S'Agaró. A well-deserved holidays after a very intense year. 

S'Agaró is an upmarket resort on the Costa Brava between Sant Feliu de Guíxols and Platja d'Aro. It is part of the municipality of Castell-Platja d'Aro, itself in the comarca of Baix Empordà and province of Girona in Catalonia. The resort was developed from the early 1920s on the peninsular between the beaches of Platja de Sant Pol and Platja de Sa Conca.

To date, the promontory contains about 60 exclusive houses and hotels. The world famous five-star Hostal de la Gavina dominates the view from Sant Pol beach. The original development has been declared as a historical complex and protected as a cultural asset of national interest since 1995.

The GR 92 long-distance footpath, which runs the length the Mediterranean coast, uses the historic camí de ronda that follows S'Agaró's coastline. The camí de ronda was rebuilt as part of the development, creating a walk in a semi-artificial landscape between sea, rocks and pines that integrates the urbanization with nature. To the north, the GR 92 crosses the beach of Sa Conca and diverts around the extensive Marina de Port d'Oro to reach Platja d'Aro. To the south it passes along the beach of Sant Pol to reach Sant Feliu de Guíxols.

In 1916, the Girona industrialist Josep Ensesa i Pujades purchased a plot of land in between the beaches of Sant Pol and Sa Conca, near the mouth of a stream called Es Garó. His initial plan was to build a summer house, but he bought more land around it to make more plots, and thus the project to develop the area was born. The new area didn't have a name, so the family chose to call it after the stream that ran through it.

However, at least in part due to the disruption caused by the First World War, the plan did not initially prosper. After the war, Josep Ensesa i Gubert, the son of Josep Ensesa i Pujades, built the first house on the plot, called Senya Blanca and completed in 1924, entrusting the design to the architect Rafael Masó i Valentí. The house had neither electricity nor running water. More land was then bought, and the whole development entrusted to Masó, who was inspired by the ideas of the garden city movement of the time. Specifically, it is known the Masó had visited the garden city of Hellerau, near Dresden, in 1912.

It was Masó's role to assure that the development, which was planned as a community of seaside villas and a small inn, would be in sympathy with the landscape. Masó was a campaigner for traditional Catalan design, and he drew on the local architectural vocabulary of porticos, towers, terraces and low rooflines to conjure a colony aimed at those with artistic tastes. Purchasers of land bound themselves to carefully drawn contracts that guaranteed buildings of visual unity. After Masó's death, in 1935, Francesc Folguera took over the project, going on to build the church situated on the highest point of the resort.

Although originally built by Masó as a dwelling and soon after converted to a hotel, the current Hostal de la Gavina is largely the work of Folguera. Since the early 1950s famous Hollywood movies like Pandora and the Flying Dutchman with Ava Gardner, Suddenly Last Summer with Elizabeth Taylor and Mr. Arkadin by Orson Welles were shot in S'Agaró. This made the Hostal de La Gavina a meeting place of many famous film stars, musicians, political figures and Nobel Prize winners. The beach scenes in the movie Mysterious Island (1961) were filmed at S'Agaró.

Michael Frayn, the English comic writer, devoted a number of pieces about the developers of S'Agaro and their vision in The Guardian between 1960 and 1962, collected in The Original Michael Frayn.

A huge construction boom took place inland from the original resort, which does not form part of the gated community.

More information: Visit Guíxols

The three great elemental sounds 

in nature are the sound of rain, 

the sound of wind in a primeval wood,

and the sound of outer ocean on a beach.

Henry Beston

STONEHENGE, MAY CORTO MALTESE COME BACK HOME

May God's blessing keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
See the lights surrounding you

May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung

May you stay, Forever young

I miss you, Corto.

Today, The Winsors & The Grandma have visited Stonehenge. It was the last place where a closer friend of her, Corto Maltese, was last seen. He disappeared there, and in that moment the hero became a legend, and the legend a myth.

 

Before this visit, the family has studied some English grammar with May/May Not, and talked about Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, who are Forever Young, and the Haitian community in London.

 

Finally, they have been talking about death remembering the Navajo community and its Hozhooji cerimony (The Blessing Way) and some Catalan and Occitan lullabies.

 

More information: May/May not

 

More information: Corto Maltese, Disappear Does Not Mean Death

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Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, 3 km west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 4.0 m high, 2.1 m wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons, two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel. The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli (burial mounds).

Archaeologists believe that Stonehenge was constructed from around 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200 BC, although they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC.

One of the most famous landmarks in the United Kingdom, Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon. It has been a legally protected scheduled monument since 1882, when legislation to protect historic monuments was first successfully introduced in Britain. The site and its surroundings were added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. 

Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage; the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.

Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. Deposits containing human bone date from as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, and continued for at least another 500 years.

More information: English Heritage

The Oxford English Dictionary cites Ælfric's tenth-century glossary, in which henge-cliff is given the meaning precipice, or stone; thus, the stanenges or Stanheng not far from Salisbury recorded by eleventh-century writers are stones supported in the air. 

In 1740, William Stukeley notes: Pendulous rocks are now called henges in Yorkshire... I doubt not, Stonehenge in Saxon signifies the hanging stones. Christopher Chippindale's Stonehenge Complete gives the derivation of the name Stonehenge as coming from the Old English words stān stone, and either hencg hinge (because the stone lintels hinge on the upright stones) or hen(c)en to hang or gallows or instrument of torture (though elsewhere in his book, Chippindale cites the suspended stones etymology).

The henge portion has given its name to a class of monuments known as henges. Archaeologists define henges as earthworks consisting of a circular banked enclosure with an internal ditch. As often happens in archaeological terminology, this is a holdover from antiquarian use.

Despite being contemporary with true Neolithic henges and stone circles, Stonehenge is in many ways atypical -for example, at more than 7.3 m tall, its extant trilithons' lintels, held in place with mortise and tenon joints, make it unique.

The twelfth-century Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), by Geoffrey of Monmouth, includes a fanciful story of how Stonehenge was brought from Ireland with the help of the wizard Merlin. Geoffrey's story spread widely, with variations of it appearing in adaptations of his work, such as Wace's Norman French Roman de Brut, Layamon's Middle English Brut, and the Welsh Brut y Brenhinedd.

According to the tale, the stones of Stonehenge were healing stones, which giants had brought from Africa to Ireland. They had been raised on Mount Killaraus to form a stone circle, known as the Giant's Ring or Giant's Round. The fifth-century king Aurelius Ambrosius wished to build a great memorial to the British Celtic nobles slain by the Saxons at Salisbury. Merlin advised him to use the Giant's Ring. The king sent Merlin and Uther Pendragon (King Arthur's father) with 15,000 men to bring it from Ireland. They defeated an Irish army led by Gillomanius, but were unable to move the huge stones. With Merlin's help, they transported the stones to Britain and re-erected them as they had stood.

Mount Killaraus may refer to the Hill of Uisneach. Although the tale is fiction, archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggests it may hold a grain of truth, as evidence suggests the Stonehenge bluestones were brought from the Waun Mawn stone circle on the Irish Sea coast of Wales.

Another legend tells how the invading Saxon king Hengist invited British Celtic warriors to a feast but treacherously ordered his men to massacre the guests, killing 420 of them. Hengist erected Stonehenge on the site to show his remorse for the deed.

More information: History

 Hello, Stonehenge!
Who takes the Pandorica, takes the universe!

Doctor Who

THE GRANDMA WAITS FOR THE FOSTERS IN VALLETTA

The Grandma has just arrived to Valetta where The Fosters are going to arrive today to spend some days before their A2 Cambridge Exam. 

Meanwhile, The Grandma has decided to travel to Malta to search Corto Maltese, her great lover.

The Grandma loves Malta and she is taking profit of this travel to visit the island again and enjoy one of the most beautiful places around the world.

Valletta is the capital city of Malta, colloquially known as Il-Belt, The City, in Maltese. Geographically, it is located in the South Eastern Region, in the central-eastern portion of the main island of Malta having its western coast with access to the Marsamxett Harbour and its eastern coast in the Grand Harbour. 

The historical city has a population of 6,444, while the metropolitan area around it has a population of 393,938. Valletta is the southernmost capital of Europe and the second southernmost capital of the European Union after Nicosia.

Valletta contains buildings from the 16th century onwards, built during the rule of the Order of St. John also known as Knights Hospitaller. The city is essentially Baroque in character, with elements of Mannerist, Neo-Classical and Modern architecture in selected areas, though the Second World War left major scars on the city, particularly the destruction of the Royal Opera House. 

The City of Valletta was officially recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980.

More information: Visit Malta

The official name given by the Order of Saint John was Humilissima Civitas Valletta—The Most Humble City of Valletta, or Città Umilissima in Italian. The city's fortifications, consisting of bastions, curtains and cavaliers, along with the beauty of its Baroque palaces, gardens and churches, led the ruling houses of Europe to give the city its nickname Superbissima—Most Proud.

The peninsula was previously called Xaghret Mewwija. Mewwija refers to a sheltered place. The extreme end of the peninsula names Xebb ir-Ras of which name origins from the lighthouse on site. A family which surely owned land became known as Sceberras, now a Maltese surname as Sciberras. At one point the entire peninsula became known as Sceberras.

From 1566 to 1798 the Island was under The Order of Saint John. In 1798, the Order left the islands and the French occupation of Malta began. After the Maltese rebelled, French troops continued to occupy Valletta and the surrounding harbour area, until they capitulated to the British in September 1800. 

More information: UNESCO

In the early 19th century, the British Civil Commissioner, Henry Pigot, agreed to demolish the majority of the city's fortifications. The demolition was again proposed in the 1870s and 1880s, but it was never carried out and the fortifications have survived largely intact.

Eventually building projects in Valletta resumed under British rule. These projects included widening gates, demolishing and rebuilding structures, widening newer houses over the years, and installing civic projects. 

The Malta Railway, which linked Valletta to Mdina, was officially opened in 1883. It was closed down in 1931 after buses became a popular means of transport.

In 1939, Valletta was abandoned as the headquarters of the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet due to its proximity to Italy and the city became a flashpoint during the subsequent two-year long Siege of Malta.

 

More information: The French Occupation-Visit Malta

 

German and Italian air raids throughout the Second World War caused much destruction in Valletta and the rest of the harbour area. The Royal Opera House, constructed at the city entrance in the 19th century, was one of the buildings lost to the raids.

The entire city of Valletta has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980, along with Megalithic Temples of Malta and the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni.

The architecture of Valletta's streets and piazzas ranges from mid-16th century Baroque to Modernism. Buildings of historic importance include St John's Co-Cathedral, formerly the Conventual Church of the Knights of Malta. It has the only signed work and largest painting by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. 

The Auberge de Castille et Leon, formerly the official seat of the Knights of Malta of the Langue of Castille, Léon and Portugal, is now the office of the Prime Minister of Malta. 

More information: World War II-Visit Malta

The Grandmaster's Palace, built between 1571 and 1574 and formerly the seat of the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, used to house the Maltese Parliament, now situated in a purpose-built structure at the entrance to the city, and now houses the offices of the President of Malta.

The National Museum of Fine Arts is a Rococo palace dating back to the late 1570s, which served as the official residence of the Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet during the British era from the 1820s onwards. The Manoel Theatre was constructed in just ten months in 1731, by order of Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena, and is one of the oldest working theatres in Europe.

The Mediterranean Conference Centre was formerly the Sacra Infermeria. Built in 1574, it was one of Europe's most renowned hospitals during the Renaissance. The fortifications of the port, built by the Knights as a magnificent series of bastions, demi-bastions, cavaliers and curtains, approximately 100 metres high, all contribute to the unique architectural quality of the city.

More information: Daily Mail

Min jistenna jithenna.

He who waits is rewarded. 

Maltese Proverb

STONEHENGE, WE MIGHT FIND CORTO MALTESE'S SECRET

Today, The Grandma has visited Stonehenge. It was the last place where a closer friend of her, Corto Maltese, was last seen. He disappeared in the middle of the Neolithic stones and in that moment the hero became a legend, and the legend a myth.

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Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, 3 km west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 4.0 m high, 2.1 m wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons, two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel. The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli (burial mounds).

Archaeologists believe that Stonehenge was constructed from around 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200 BC, although they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC.

One of the most famous landmarks in the United Kingdom, Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon. It has been a legally protected scheduled monument since 1882, when legislation to protect historic monuments was first successfully introduced in Britain. The site and its surroundings were added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. 

Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage; the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.

Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. Deposits containing human bone date from as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, and continued for at least another 500 years.

More information: English Heritage

The Oxford English Dictionary cites Ælfric's tenth-century glossary, in which henge-cliff is given the meaning precipice, or stone; thus, the stanenges or Stanheng not far from Salisbury recorded by eleventh-century writers are stones supported in the air. 

In 1740, William Stukeley notes: Pendulous rocks are now called henges in Yorkshire... I doubt not, Stonehenge in Saxon signifies the hanging stones. Christopher Chippindale's Stonehenge Complete gives the derivation of the name Stonehenge as coming from the Old English words stān stone, and either hencg hinge (because the stone lintels hinge on the upright stones) or hen(c)en to hang or gallows or instrument of torture (though elsewhere in his book, Chippindale cites the suspended stones etymology).

The henge portion has given its name to a class of monuments known as henges. Archaeologists define henges as earthworks consisting of a circular banked enclosure with an internal ditch. As often happens in archaeological terminology, this is a holdover from antiquarian use.

Despite being contemporary with true Neolithic henges and stone circles, Stonehenge is in many ways atypical -for example, at more than 7.3 m tall, its extant trilithons' lintels, held in place with mortise and tenon joints, make it unique.

The twelfth-century Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), by Geoffrey of Monmouth, includes a fanciful story of how Stonehenge was brought from Ireland with the help of the wizard Merlin. Geoffrey's story spread widely, with variations of it appearing in adaptations of his work, such as Wace's Norman French Roman de Brut, Layamon's Middle English Brut, and the Welsh Brut y Brenhinedd.

According to the tale, the stones of Stonehenge were healing stones, which giants had brought from Africa to Ireland. They had been raised on Mount Killaraus to form a stone circle, known as the Giant's Ring or Giant's Round. The fifth-century king Aurelius Ambrosius wished to build a great memorial to the British Celtic nobles slain by the Saxons at Salisbury. Merlin advised him to use the Giant's Ring. The king sent Merlin and Uther Pendragon (King Arthur's father) with 15,000 men to bring it from Ireland. They defeated an Irish army led by Gillomanius, but were unable to move the huge stones. With Merlin's help, they transported the stones to Britain and re-erected them as they had stood.

Mount Killaraus may refer to the Hill of Uisneach. Although the tale is fiction, archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggests it may hold a grain of truth, as evidence suggests the Stonehenge bluestones were brought from the Waun Mawn stone circle on the Irish Sea coast of Wales.

Another legend tells how the invading Saxon king Hengist invited British Celtic warriors to a feast but treacherously ordered his men to massacre the guests, killing 420 of them. Hengist erected Stonehenge on the site to show his remorse for the deed.

More information: History

 Hello, Stonehenge!
Who takes the Pandorica, takes the universe!

Doctor Who

PIASA SAN MARCO, VENESIA: EL CANPANIÈL COLLAPSES

Campanile, Venice & Venetian Towers, Barcelona

Today, The Grandma has gone to visit Montjuïc Mountain in Barcelona. She likes walking across this magic mountain because it offers lots of activities. You can visit the most beautiful gardens, interesting museums and theatres and incredible monuments. One of the most significant monuments when you are arriving to Montjuic Mountain is the Venetian Towers that welcome visitors to Montjuïc.

These Venetian towers were built for the Universal Exposition in 1929 and they are a tribute to St Mark's Campanile, the most popular tower in Venice -Venèsia in Venetan-, that collapsed on a day like today in 1902.

The Grandma loves Barcelona with the same intensity she loves Venice. Both cities are incredible places with an ancient history to know, to learn and to conserve.

Every time The Grandma thinks in Venice, she remembers her old friend Corto Maltese and the wonderful moments they spent together in the city of the canals.

St Mark's Campanile, in Venetian Canpanièl de San Marco, is the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, Veneto, located in the Piazza San Marco. It is one of the most recognizable symbols of the city.

The tower is 98.6 metres tall, and stands alone in a corner of St Mark's Square, near the front of the basilica. It has a simple form, the bulk of which is a fluted brick square shaft, 12 metres wide on each side and 50 metres tall, above which is a loggia surrounding the belfry, housing five bells.

The belfry is topped by a cube, alternate faces of which show the Lion of St. Mark and the female representation of Venice, la Giustizia or Justice. The tower is capped by a pyramidal spire, at the top of which sits a golden weathervane in the form of the archangel Gabriel.

The collapsed Campanile, Venice (1902)

The Campanile reached its present form in 1514. The current tower was reconstructed in its present form in 1912 after the collapse of 1902. The initial 9th-century construction, initiated during the reign of Pietro Tribuno (887–912) and built on Roman foundations, was used as a watch tower or lighthouse for the dock, which then occupied a substantial part of the area which is now the Piazzetta. Construction was finished in the twelfth century, during the reign of Domenico Morosini. 

Adjoining the base of the campanile is the loggetta built by Sansovino, completed in 1549 and rebuilt in 1912 after it had been destroyed by the fall of the campanile. One of the models for the tower was the St. Mercuriale's Campanile, in Forlì.

The Campanile suffered damage by lightning on many occasions. It was severely damaged in 1388, set on fire and destroyed in 1417 and seriously damaged by a fire in 1489 that destroyed the wooden spire.

The Campanile assumed its definitive shape in the sixteenth century thanks to the restorations made to repair further damage caused by the earthquake of March 1511. These works, initiated by the architect Giorgio Spavento, then executed under the direction of Bartolomeo Bon of Bergamo, added the belfry, realized in marble; the attic, on which was put the sculpture of the lion of Saint Mark and Venice; and the spire, in gold leaf. The work was completed on 6 July 1513, with the placement of the gilded wooden statue of the Archangel Gabriel in the course of a ceremony recorded by Marin Sanudo.

More information: Basilica San Marco

In the following centuries numerous other interventions were made to repair the damage from fires caused by lightning. It was damaged in 1548 and 1565. In 1653, Baldassarre Longhena took up the restorations. The Campanile was damaged by lightning again in 1658. More work was done after a fire caused by a lightning strike on 13 April 1745, which caused some of the masonry to crack, and killed several people as a result of falling stonework. The Campanile was damaged by lightning again in 1761 and 1762. In 1776 it was equipped with a lightning rod. In 1820, the statue of the angel was replaced with a new one by Luigi Zandomeneghi.

The collapsed Campanile, Venice (1902)

In July 1902, the north wall of the tower began to show signs of a dangerous crack that in the following days continued to grow. Finally, on Monday, 14 July, around 9:45 am, the Campanile collapsed completely, also demolishing the loggetta.

Only the caretaker's cat was killed. Because of the Campanile's position, the resulting damage was relatively limited. Apart from the loggetta, only a corner of the Biblioteca Marciana was destroyed. The pietra del bando, a large porphyry column from which laws used to be read, protected the basilica itself. The same evening, the communal council approved over 500,000 Lire for the reconstruction of the Campanile. It was decided to rebuild the tower exactly as it was, with some internal reinforcement to prevent future collapse, plus installing an elevator. Royal Privy Councillor and scaffolding specialist Georg Leib of Munich was the first to donate his scaffolding to rebuild St. Mark's Campanile, on 22 July 1902. Work lasted until 6 March 1912. The work was carried out by the construction firm of G.A.Porcheddu.

The new campanile was inaugurated on 25 April 1912, on the occasion of Saint Mark's feast day, exactly 1000 years after the foundations of the original building had allegedly been laid.

The original Campanile inspired the designs of other towers worldwide, especially in the areas belonging to the former Republic of Venice.

More information: Timeline

Almost identical, albeit smaller, replicas of the campanile exist in the Slovenian town of Piran and in the Croatian town of Rovinj; both were built in the early 17th century. Other, later replicas include the clock tower at King Street Station in Seattle; North Toronto Station; Brisbane City Hall, Australia; the Rathaus (Town Hall) in Kiel Germany; the Daniels & Fisher Tower in Denver; the Campanile in Port Elizabeth- South Africa; Sather Tower, nicknamed the Campanile, on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley; 14 Wall Street; and the right-hand bell-tower of St. John Gualbert in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, a landmark skyscraper located at One Madison Avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, US, was designed by the architectural firm of Napoleon LeBrun & Sons, who based the external form and shape of the skyscraper on this Campanile.

The collapsed Campanile, Venice (1902)

Replicas of the current tower sit on the complex of The Venetian, the Venice-themed resort on the Las Vegas Strip, its sister resort The Venetian Macao, in the Italy Pavilion at Epcot, a theme park at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and in the nearly empty New South China Mall in Dongguan, China. There is a mill chimney in Darwen, Lancashire which is modelled on the Campanile in St. Mark's Square, Venice, called India Mill. Another one is in the Venice Grand Canal in Taugig City.

The Venetian Towers in Barcelona, Catalonia, are modelled on the Campanile. The Custom House Tower in Boston, MA is modelled on the Campanile.

The Italianate-style tower at Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, New York, is modelled on the Campanile.

The Sretenskaya church in Bogucharovo, Tula region, Russia is modelled on the Campanile.

More information: Visit Venice-Italy

Each of the five bells of the campanile had a special purpose. The Renghiera or the Maleficio announced executions; the Mezza Terza proclaimed a session of the Senate; the Nona sounded midday; the Trottiera called the members of the Maggior Consiglio to council meetings and the Marangona, the biggest, rang to mark the beginning and ending of working day. They are tuned in the scale of A.

The Campanile is currently undergoing a major set of building works that are forecast to last a few years. Like many buildings in Venice, it is built on soft ground, supported by wooden piles. Due to years of winter flooding, Acqua Alta, the subsoil has become saturated and the campanile has begun to subside and lean. Evidence of this can be seen in the increasing number of cracks in the masonry. In order to stop the damage, a ring of titanium is being built underneath the foundations of the campanile. The titanium ring will protect the campanile from the shifting soil and ensure that the tower subsides equally and does not lean.

Galileo Galilei famously demonstrated his telescope to the Doge of Venice Antonio Priuli on 21 August 1609 from the Campanile. There is a plaque commemorating this event at the viewing area of the tower.

The 1902 collapse of the Campanile plays a role in American novelist Thomas Pynchon's 2006 novel Against the Day, in which an aeronautical battle between ambiguously fictitious airships results in the spectacular fall of the structure.

More information: Veneto Inside

To build a city where it is impossible to build 

a city is madness in itself, but to build there one 

of the most elegant and grandest of cities

is the madness of genius.

Alexander Herzen