Can you ever get enough sunsets? I can’t. And it seems people in Mallorca can’t either. We spent a couple of nights at Port de Soller (from where we could see the sun setting over the sea from our terrace at the Hotel Esplendido), and observed the nightly sunset-watching ritual. Locals and tourists alike take … Read more about Postcard from Mallorca: savouring sunsets
Don’t you love a good ritual? I do. And some cultures are just so good at doing them. Middle Eastern cultures especially. Take the carpet buying ritual with its unfurling of rug after rug over countless cups of tea. The Italians are do rituals well too, from the late afternoon aperitivo, essentially cocktails somewhere in … Read more about The reward of rituals when we travel
I found another photo that’s similar to the one I showed you earlier of the ribbons and pieces of cloth tied at an Islamic shrine in Syria. I took this photo in the lovely garden of a gold onion domed Russian Orthodox church in the Bulgarian countryside, where the branches of a tree were tied … Read more about Making connections: traditions and rituals of love and devotion, or, When you wish upon a heart
Looking through some photos from our trip to Syria last year (I was motivated to reminisce after skimming through our just-released Syria and Lebanon guidebook), I came across these ribbons tied to the tomb of an important Islamic figure. If you travel around the Muslim world and visit mosques and shrines, you’ll soon start to … Read more about Making connections: tokens of love and devotion, or, Tie a (yellow) ribbon ’round the…