Posts Tagged ‘Travel journal’

Rossio, Occupied

Posted: November 8, 2026 in Travel blog
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I am in Lisbon today, the 7th of November 2026, the site from where the very first colonialist expansion project to India was launched. Vasco da Gama set sail on 8 July 1497 with a fleet of four ships with an objective to securing trading rights with new, undiscovered lands. His landing at Kozhikode was the start of Western colonization in India. In 1755, Lison was severely damaged in an earthquake. The city was rebuilt after this event and two great squares were set up, the Praça do Rossio and the Praça do Comércio.

The official name of Praça do Rossio was changed to King Pedro IV Square, after the king’s statue was installed on a tall column in the square, in 1874. However, people continue to call it Rossio, and it is interesting to note that Wikipedia says “The name “rossio” is roughly equivalent to the word “commons” in English”. So, there is a trace of revolt in the very act of continuing to hold on to the name Rossio, even after the square was officially renamed. This has also been the site of many protests, and it is one of the most important squares in Lisbon with a lot of commercial activity around it.

Naturally, Rossio was on my list of places to visit and when I arrived there by late afternoon, I was completely surprised at what I found. About half the square was occupied by many small tents, set up nicely on a grid. The pedestal on which King Pedro IV’s statue stood was adorned with a lot of posters.

These protests are against the huge housing crisis being faced by the people in Portugal. A new rental legislation has been introduced by the Portuguese government in the Parliament, and these are popularly referred to as “eviction law” and “rental accelerator”. In essence, these laws allow landlords to raise rents and evict tenants and in the context that many of the landlords are large corporates and funds, these laws are quite significant. The current housing protests in Europe started with the incident of an 87 year old woman named María del Carmen Abascal Martín being evicted forcefully from the house she had lived in, for 71 years. She was evicted on 23 September 2026 and she passed away, in a hospital on 7th of October.

In Portugal, the protests started in Porto and spread to Lisbon soon. In Lisbon, tents were set up at the Rossio. The police removed the tents forcefully but they are now back as the Court has given them permission.

I met with two activists who are staying in the tents – Melanie and Gee. Melanie told me that they are protesting because the accommodation problem has become unbearable. She told me that the median income in Lisbon was around Euro 950 whereas the median rent was around Euro 2,200. I asked her about the government’s response to them setting up tents in the square and she said the response has been violent, and they were forcibly evicted from the square, but they are back with the Court’s permission. I read on the internet that the police had even resorted to fining cars that passed by and honked in support of the agitation. It is a common practice in the West for drivers to honk if they see a protest on the streets and they support it.

Melanie told me that most of the protestors are of left-wing background, but no political parties are involved in the protest formally. She said there are also some right-wingers protesting as well, because they do not agree with the police violence on peaceful protestors as they consider that anti-democratic. With a smile, she told me that these right-wingers run away when the police arrive; I guess this is a world-wide trend. She also told me that some fringe elements do come and become part of the protestors. The press and the official machinery mock the protestors taking the example of these people. However, the protestors cannot turn them away as they need to be inclusive; she also said maybe these people find the protestors to be more welcoming than the general public. She had heard about the protests in India and asked me about it. We discussed about how all such protests are important and should be done even if there is no immediate success. As Melanie said, each of these are like waves which give rise to other protests. We also talked about the hope we are witnessing in the form of election results from Brazil, Serbia and the US.

I had been to the CJP protest in Bangalore and I found the mood at Rossio to be the same. There was a small library for kids, a small community kitchen, people sitting around their tents reading etc.

There were also a lot of onlookers, and I also saw a CNN crew recording some story.

I wished all success to Melanie and the group and told her that people in India are also watching these protests with hope. Mesmerized, I wandered around the square for some time and then I left, after making a small donation to their common fund. They appreciated this action of solidarity and in return, gave me a sketch (ink on paper) from the ones that had been displayed.

Before leaving, I had a final word with Melanie, and she told me that there were rumours that there would be police action tonight. She invited me to go back and see whether they were still around the next day, if I am in Lisbon. She was very calm and even smiling when she said this; I was very motivated when I felt how injustice will always be protested against, whatever be the odds.

A surprise in Fes

Posted: November 7, 2026 in Travel blog
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I was walking back to my riad after a long day spent roaming the tannery and the medina in Fes. I just had 3-4 minutes of walk left when I spotted a very old palace or riad like structure with a news story from Le Monde exhibited outside. The signboard said it was Palais El Glaoui.

The place looked deserted and as I hesitatingly took a few steps inside, I saw a person smoking in a dark corner and he told me there was a 25 Dirham charge to go in. I was not sure what was inside as there was no information available. Just then a couple of tourists came out and when I asked, one of them said it was a good place for photos. So, I went in.

It turned out to be a large palace, which had obviously seen much better days. Some parts were closed off but it must have been a fantastic building, in its heydays, going by the courtyard and the rooms that one could visit even now. If it is taken up by some agency and spruced up, it will surely become a big tourist attraction. The walls are decorated beautifully and the rooms are large.

A few photos printed on normal paper and stuck on the corridor on the way out showed some glimpses of the original beauty of the palace.

As I stepped into one room, I saw a good many paintings exhibited there and I saw some in the next room too. I use the word “exhibited” rather loosely here. The paintings were just hung up in a random and shoddy manner or left leaning against the walls. The rooms were dark and I discovered two naked light bulbs that I could switch on, which gave some light. I was quite intrigued. There were some paper cuttings or text stuck on to the walls here and there, which indicated that this was indeed an exhibition at some point in time. There were photos of a man, who must have been the painter and it must have been a good show as it seemed to have received good coverage in the press. It was all in French and so I couldn’t understand anything. I couldn’t figure out why all these paintings had been left here, in the charge of a caretaker kind of person who was quite shabbily dressed and looked totally disinterested. He walked into the room as I was looking at the paintings and told me to switch off the light on my way out; at least, that is what I guess he told me. He was speaking French and couldn’t understand English. I was even starting to get irritated at this guy who seemed to be just taking advantage of a situation. He must have been appointed as the caretaker of the building, and he was just charging people to go in; this conviction was deepened by the fact that he did not give me any ticket when I paid the admission fee.

The paintings themselves were quite interesting, and all seemed to be done in a particular style. They were all made of small, colourful squares placed in some order. With the available light, I took some photos.

I started to look a bit more closely and soon discovered that there was indeed one note in English, which was posted 10 feet above the ground and in a dark corner. I used the flash in my mobile phone, to read what turned out to be an introduction to the artist and his work. It had been written by a person named Eric Bietry and translated by a Ridouane Said. I reproduce the note below.

This note excited me even further and I tried to look up the painter on the internet but didn’t find anything that I could understand. There was one interview in French and some social media posts. After spending some more time looking at the paintings and the newspaper cuttings, I started to walk out of the building. The caretaker paid no heed to me and didn’t bother to acknowledge my departure. Just at the exit, where the light was better, there was another newspaper cutting stuck to the wall, with a better image of the painter. As I looked at it, I felt I had seen him somewhere. With a start, I realised where I had seen him. I hurried back to the caretaker and asked him: “Are you the painter?” He said “Oui”. I don’t have the words to describe the feelings that welled up within me as I stood looking at that forgotten painter, living in a corner in a forgotten building. I simply shook his limp hand, congratulated him on his work and left.

Tannery in Fes

Posted: November 2, 2026 in Travel blog
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In Morocco, the city of Fes is known for its leather industry and if you search for Fes in Google, it is very likely that one of the images you see would be that of a tannery with a lot of pits that hold colourful liquids. Tanneries have been around in Fes ever since the city was founded in the 8th century or soon thereafter. The Medina (old town) in Fes is the oldest in Morocco and is made of some 9,000 narrow streets. For me the first stop in Fes was the Chouara Tannery, the biggest and one of the oldest among the three tanneries in Fes.

The taxi dropped me outside the door of the tannery, and I was immediately seized by a man who claimed to be from the co-operative that owned the tannery and promised to show me the tannery for free. He assigned a young guide to me, and I was sure that I would have to tip the guy as I had no intention of buying anything.

I was taken to a viewing terrace that was up three or four flights of steps, and one could see the vats filled with liquid and people working there. This is where all tourists are taken. The images of the tannery as seen on the internet look very colourful but today, there wasn’t much colour. When I asked the guide, he told me that the colour depends on the orders from the factories and currently, they didn’t have orders for very colourful stuff. I was a bit disappointed with that. I also guess that the colours are also a result of some heavy editing of the images.

The guide told me that the tannery is a co-operative owned by about 35 families and that 350 people work there. The tannery is much bigger than just the area of the vats as there are leather storage and drying spaces as well. I was then led to the inevitable store and when I repeated that I had no plan to buy anything, the guide demanded a tip and showed me to the door.

The process of tanning the leather has been unchanged for centuries and has been carried on the same way. First the skins are dropped into a vat which contains a mixture of water, salt, limestone and pigeon droppings. This softens the skin and removes any fat and hair on the hides. Pigeon droppings are used as that is very rich in ammonia. They are immersed in these vats for a couple of days with the workers popping in now and again to ensure the skins are properly immersed, by kneading with their feet.

After that, the hides are scraped and then washed in a huge wooden drum which keeps rotating, much like a washing machine. The hides are then transferred to the dyeing vats and I was told that they only use natural colours from plants, flowers and fruits though I read in the internet that Chromium is also used these days. After the necessary colours have been achieved the hides are hung out to dry and this could take three to five days. After that, the hides are sent to the factories and since many of these factories are within the medina itself, they are transported on the back of donkeys. The factories then turn out the coats, bags and belts and these appear in the shops, thus completing the chain.

I was not feeling happy with the whole process and as I stood outside, photographing the tannery and the small river beside it, another person approached me. He told me he would take me to where the work gets done.

I thought this would be a good experience and went with him. We crossed the small bridge across the river, which gets polluted by the tanneries, and entered the tannery. The stench increased quite considerably within the work area, but it was not as bad as I had imagined it to be. The floors were wet and the place looked grimy, but I could not find any waste lying around.

There were only very, very few tourists that had ventured into this space, like me. The workers were all smiles and kept asking whether I was enjoying myself.

The guide led me to the vats and asked to walk on top of the vats but with care, so that I wouldn’t fall into one! This new guide was a nice guy and I think he offered this to me as a special “treat” since he saw my interest. I say this as I only saw workers walking on top of the vats and not any tourists.

The vats were about waist deep and the dyeing liquids didn’t look very viscous; for some reason, I had thought they would be so. I could see some of the hides floating in the liquid and some people were kneading, taking out the hides etc. I asked the guide whether it was hazardous to work in this job and he told me that it was bad for the skin only in the first step of the process (the white coloured vats) and that people wear gloves and boots when working in those vats. He claimed that the rest was quite safe, but I am not convinced.

We then walked up to the area where they hides had been hung out to be dried. There were small rooms there where I could see people cutting or arranging the dried skins. It seems that the skins handled in this tannery came from goat, cow and camel.

I spent some time walking around the area and photographing the tannery. I could not but help thinking about how fortunate I have been in the accident of birth. Working in this wet, polluted, stinky workplace, everyday would have a significant toll on your physical and mental health and as is often the case with such menial jobs, the remuneration would never be significant.

I could still feel the smell of the tannery even in my hotel room, at night, when I was looking at the photos. This is not a “touristy” experience but one I would definitely recommend but you have to visit the work area and not just the terraces and the shops. The tourism websites and blogs speak eloquently about the fact that Fes is still tanning leather using a centuries old process, highlighting the preservation of traditional methods. However, I felt what I had seen was the human cost that had to be paid to keep a tradition alive.

The Hill of Crosses

Posted: July 7, 2025 in Travel blog
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Yuval Harari sees religion as something that can cause people to come together and co-operate. An example of that theory is the site called the Hill of Crosses, which is situated in Lithuania and is just a small deviation from the Riga – Vilnius route. I had come across this site during my search and it was easy enough for me to visit as I was driving from Riga to Vilnius. 

The name is actually a very truthful description of what it is – a hill full of crosses. It is full of crosses of all sizes and even some statues, rosaries etc. The actual number of crosses here is not known, with some estimates mentioning 150,000 as the number, which has increased form the estimate of 55,000 in 1990. Today, any visitor can choose to install a cross in the hill (provided it is less than a certain height) and you can see many vendors selling crosses on the way to the hill. 

It is not clear as to how the practice of erecting crosses on this small hill began but it is believed that the first crosses started appearing after the rebellion of the Lithuanian and Polish people against the Russian empire in 1831. Lithuania was part of the Russian empire then. The 1831 revolution was unsuccessful, and families started outing up crosses on the site of an old hill fort, in memory of their loved ones that died in the revolution and whose bodies could not be found.

Lithuania became a free country in 1918, and the Hill continued to flourish. However, Lithuania became a part of the USSR in 1944 (what the Lithuanians call as Soviet occupation) and under the Soviet regime, religious freedom was not allowed. Priests and practitioners were persecuted and naturally, the Russians did not have any liking for the Hill. Visiting the Hill and erecting crosses there was declared illegal and could result in penalties and jail. The KGB was alert to the possibilities that the Hill presented and supposedly, they bulldozed it three times. Roads were blocked and access to the Hill denied.

Yet, people continued to bring crosses to the hill surreptitiously. For, to them, the Hill became a symbol of resistance. It was their site of protest against the occupation by Russia. Thus, a religious site transformed into a site of resistance. 

After Lithuania became a free country in 1990, Hill of Crosses started flourishing once again. In 1993, Pope John Paul II visited the Hill and conducted a mass here. On his suggestion a monastery of the Franciscan order was set up behind the hill, at a short distance.

The Hill is not a beautiful or peaceful site, by any stretch of imagination. The crosses stand out everywhere and are even jarring to the eye. Yet, you find the spirit of a people here and you can feel it when you stand in that jungle of crosses. 

It is indeed true that you can never kill an idea using force; it will survive, as these crosses and the Hill have. 

Český Krumlov – A Gem!

Posted: July 5, 2025 in Travel blog
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Having travelled around Prague, Budapest, Ljubljana and all and after having looked at many castles and churches, I was contemplating whether I should give Český Krumlov a miss and spend an extra day in Prague. I had read that the main attraction in Český Krumlov was the castle and that it is the second most visited destination in Czech Republic after Prague. In the end, I decided to go to Český Krumlov and what good fortune that I took that call!

Český Krumlov is about 2 hours’ drive, South of Prague. However, I went to Český Krumlov from Ljubljana. The sky was a bit overcast when I arrived, but the sun started shining soon. The old town and the castle looked so beautiful. The old town has been preserved very well with help from UNESCO. During the Communist times, the heritage had been ignored and good amount of it had fallen into disrepair. But now, the town looks like something out of a fairy tale; well, most of it.

As you walk into the cobble stone paved old town of Český Krumlov, you get a view of the castle tower and from then on, you are in love with this little town! 

It is located on the banks of the Vlatava river, just like Prague is. Given its location by the river, this area has been permanently inhabited since the Older Stone Age and it seems the river was given its name by the Celtic settlers who were here in the 4th century BC. The castle was founded around 1250 AD by a local noble family called Vitkovci. There are records of the presence of Czech and German nationalities from that time on. In AD 1302, the Vitkovci family became extinct, and the castle was passed on to the Rosenberg family. They promoted trade (carp being a major export) and Český Krumlov was flourishing as gold was also found nearby. From 1719 to 1947, the castle was with the House of Schwarzenberg. In 1938, it was annexed by Nazi Germany and after the Second World War, it was part of the Communist Czecholsovakia. In 1992, after the Velvet Revolution, Czech Republic was born, and Český Krumlov is one of its crown jewels in the Bohemian region.

The entire old town area is paved with cobble stones and wonderful buildings line the street. The square is just amazing and when the light was proper, it was glowing! 

I had signed up for a walking tour and the guide explained that there are two styles of architecture (or more precisely, wall décor) used in the buildings in town. One is called the “sgraffiti” in which two layers are plastered on to the wall and then parts of the top layer are scratched off to make a design. This was a labour intensive and thus expensive affair. I could see this style in numerous buildings across town.

The other style is called “fresco” wherein the paint is applied while the plaster is still wet so that the colours penetrate the plaster and become permanent. An example of this is given below.

The St. Vitus Church in Český Krumlov dates back to the 14th century though the present building is from the 15th century. Since it stands on a narrow street, I could not get a proper picture of it. 

The guide told us an interesting story about the church. Supposedly, the church was built on a location where a baker lived with his family, and he was not willing to give up his house for the church. After much negotiation, he agreed, under the condition that a mass be said every week for him and his wife, after their death. The priest did this religiously after the baker died but the new priest that came when the old priest died, wasn’t aware of the contract and didn’t continue this mass for the baker and his wife. The baker’s ghost was none too impressed with this breach of contract and started causing all sorts of troubles. This caused the priest to conduct some research into old documents, and the contract was unearthed. He restarted the mass and lo and behold, the ghost was pleased, and all was back to normal. For good measure, a tablet of the baker and his wife was also erected near the church. 

The interior of the church is quite simple and you can see a fresco there which dates back to the 15th century.

The guide pointed out that in the image, the cross was more like a “T” and not a real cross. Someone from the group asked her as to why that is so, and she said that she believes the whole idea of the cross was something invented by the Christians much later. Czech Republic is not very religious, and the guide seems to be a representative sample indeed. I mentioned to her privately that in Kerala we have images of the cross from 6th or 7th century. 

Inside the church there are a couple of chapels, and the guide told us that the Schwarzenberg family had a practice of extracting the hearts when someone from the family died and then burying the heart in the pink-coloured chapel. The guide also told us that the only body buried in the chapel was that of the “Vampire Princess” of the Schwarzenberg family – Eleonora von Schwarzenberg. It seems she used to keep wolves in the castle with her, as she thought wolf milk would help her to get pregnant. These wolves used to howl at night, and the locals connected this to her being a vampire. To top it all, when she died and they did an autopsy on her body they found that she was pregnant with a “vampire” child. The guide said that this was basically a tumour and since people weren’t familiar with such things at that time, they thought it was a vampire child. Her heart was also buried in the chapel and in addition, the body was also buried in the same chapel “deep under heavy stones” so that the vampire would not come out!

The whole town was rebuilt in the Renaissance style in the 16th Century by one of the most prominent members of the Rosenberg family – William. He was very much in love with Renaissance and everything connected with it. It seems he also brought a trumpet player from Italy and the trumpet player has been reproduced on the wall of one of the buildings in town.

William was very influential, and he married four times but remained childless. For his third marriage to Anna Maria of Baden, he invited guests from all over Europe. They were so many that all could not be accommodated at the castle, big as it was. Hence, some houses nearby were used to accommodate some guests, and these houses were painted afresh. One such original fresco is surviving even now. During the Communist times, there was no attention paid to maintaining these heritage sites and often they were painted grey. You can see that some parts of the fresco have been damaged beyond repair.

The castle stands on a small hill (as it the case with most medieval castles) and it is so big that the family that owned it at the end found it too expensive to maintain or modernize. So, they built a smaller palace a few kilometres away and settled there, at the beginning of the twentieth century.

You can see that the walls are just painted normally as the family didn’t have the money to have it done in the sgraffiti style, according to the guide. 

It seems there is a Baroque theatre inside the castle, but I couldn’t see it as you can visit it only as part of a tour and the timings didn’t suit me. This is one of the only surviving Baroque theatres in Europe, where plays are still conducted. There is a very nice sundial on one of the walls of the castle.

The views of the old town from the castle are quite stunning.

There is a tower in the castle, which provides some great views of the castle itself.

As mentioned, Český Krumlov lost its sheen during the Communist times and the buildings were not maintained properly. After the gold mines ran out, graphite was discovered, and pencil factories were functioning in the area (they still are). After the formation of Czech Republic in 1992, UNESCO stepped in to help revive the buildings and the town became a very popular tourist destination and tourism provides sustenance for the town now. However, it also seems to have brought its own tension between locals and the effects of tourism. I could sense a level of bitterness in the comments of our guide, who said it is impossible for locals to live in Český Krumlov now, as everything has become more expensive because of tourism and UNESCO has so many stipulations that they cannot make even very minor modifications to their houses to make them more comfortable. I have seen such tension in other places as well and tourism often has a very disastrous effect on locals, while it also helps their economy – the balance is very fine and difficult. 

Understandably, the walking tour took us only to the touristy parts of the town and when I was wandering around, I found an area filled with graffiti. 

There are a couple of museums also in town, including an Egon Schiele Museum, but I did not get the time to visit those. I spent only one night in the area and ideally, I should have spent two days there. The beauty of this town is really captivating!

A Banksy Museum!

Posted: June 16, 2025 in Travel blog
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I was wandering around Prague yesterday when I stumbled upon the Banksy Museum (The World of Banksy), on my way to see the rotating Kafka head. A museum for the works of Banksy had never entered my imagination as it feels like an oxymoron. This is housed in a 15th century church and on the doorway, it is mentioned: “Just like Banksy usually presents his art at unusual places, our exhibition also takes place at an unusual location – a church right in the heart of Prague. Czech priest and church reformer Jan Hus used to preach here in the 15th century. The church and adjacent monastery were later disestablished during the reforms of Emperor Joseph II in the 18th century. In its most recent history, the church building served as a warehouse and a nightclub. Now, after centuries, it finally hosts another reformer – Banksy!”. I had to go in!

There are several works of Banksy organised inside the museum, and I guess most, if not all, are replicas. There are many videos as well and it was indeed a very good experience to see many works by Banksy at the same location. The show starts with the famous girl with a balloon, and I am reproducing some of the works that I could photograph. 

“Girl with Balloon” is one of Banksy’s most known works and was painted on the stairs near London’s Waterloo Bridge in 2002. This work announced Banksy’s arrival into the world of graffiti, and he has been instrumental in increasing the power and impact of the medium. 

“Sweep It Under the Carpet” from 2006. In the make believe world that we live in, which is becoming more and more about just appearances and covering up, this work needs no explanation.

We live in the era of DIY where we can just assemble everything ourselves with the set of instructions provided. Ironically, even art seems to be headed in that direction!

A work related to Guantanamo Bay; in the painting, the prisoner is placed on an idyliic seashore. 

This was to expose the issue of using child (often slave) labour, so that the twin celebrations on the 2012 Olympic Games and Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee could go on in all its pomp and gaiety. 

This is an artistic parody of Théodore Géricault’s “The Raft of the Medusa”. While Gerricault painted the plight of a bunch of shipwrecked soldiers, Banksy that projected that idea on to our times of the have and have-nots, with a luxury yacht thrown in.

This artwork was executed in a refugee camp called “The Jungle” that existed in Calais in France between January 2015 to October 2016. In this mural, which was unveiled on 11 December 2015, Steve Jobs is shown carrying a typical black garbage bag as is often carried by refugees, slung over his shoulder and the original Apple computer in this other hand. At a time when the refugee crisis was at its peak with many countries looking down upon immigrants, Banksy was reminding the world that the founder of the most valuable company in the world, was himself the son for an immigrant from Syria. The sad truth is that this artwork is even more relevant today, than it was in 2015.

Capitalism, unabated.

On 5 October 2018, the “Girl with Balloon” went up for auction in Sotheby’s as a framed artwork and it sold for a record-breaking (for Banksy) price of GBP 1,042,000/-. Immediately after the final bid was accepted, a mechanical paper shredder hidden in the frame started destruct the painting, much to the dismay and horror of a room full of bewildered art collectors. The shredder malfunctioned when it was about half-way through and so the painting was not fully destroyed. It seems that Banksy had gifted this artwork to a friend in 2006 and he had installed the shredder then itself with a plan to destruct it, should it ever be sold in an auction. 

Three years later, this artwork, which was partially destroyed, was renamed as “Love Is In The Bin” and was sold at another auction at the same Sotheby’s for a yet another record-breaking price of GBP 18,582,000/-. 

Here Banksy is seen mocking the art collectors who buy artworks at astronomically high prices. I was tempted to compare this work with what happened with the Girl with Balloon. I had read about the incident at the time and wondered whether the purchaser would agree to buy it now that the work itself was damaged. It just showed how little I understood the brains of the moneyed that operate in the art world. After the event, there were some negotiations, and the buyer agreed to pay the full price. Sotheby’s labelled the whole episode as “the first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction”. It sems market watchers had speculated then itself that the self-destruction would increase the value of the painting. Looks like they were right because the artwork appreciated in value from 1 Million to 18.5 Million in just three years; a return in investment that even the best investors can only dream about. So, they are not “morons” as Banksy states in his work. This ability to pivot and take on challenges and convert them into opportunities is a unique aspect of capitalism. 

No, this is not an artwork artwork (yes, this is a Banksy work, but here it is actually meant to be functional)! The Banksy Museum is no different from other museums in this aspect and they too force the visitor to move through a shop, hoping to monetise the viewer’s receptive state of mind, coming after watching the exhibition. Banksy is a genius, and I felt this was an insult to him. Or maybe, as a friend remarked, when I sent him a photo of this, “That is the actual Banksy work there”. 

Bakunin – Back from the grave!

Posted: June 13, 2025 in Travel blog
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Yesterday, a chance encounter in the tram, enroute to the Van Gogh Museum resulted in me changing plans and heading to the Stedelijk Museum. This is a museum dedicated to modern art and is right next to the Van Gogh Museum, in Amsterdam. I have seen many Van Goghs in different museums and so I thought it would be good to check out what the Stedelijk had in store. 

They have three sections dedicated to period upto 1950, 1950-1980 and 1980 onwards. A large painting and an installation by Anselm Kiefer greet you as you enter the museum. These fantastic works speak about the futility of war and are just phenomenal. However, this piece is not about these works or the museum itself. There are many interesting pieces in the museum, and you can easily spend hours there. 

For me, one installation stood out and that was the central attraction for me in my visit to the museum. This was “Bakunin’s Barricade” by Ahmet Ogut. I wasn’t familiar with him, and a quick look on the internet made me realise that my lack of familiarity was clearly a pointer to my awareness about the art world. He is a Kurdish conceptual artist who studied art in Istanbul and Amsterdam and works mostly in Amsterdam now. 

In 1848, there were Socialist uprisings in German states and it spread to Dresden in May 1849. The Municipal councillors in Dresden revolted against the King and with the help of the Municipal Guards, prepared themselves to stop the expected Prussian intervention. About 108 barricades were set up across the town. Mikhail Bakunin, the famous Russian anarchist was involved in this uprising, and he came up with a suggestion that they could place paintings from the National Museum in front of the barricades to protect them. His theory was that the Prussian soldiers would not dare to destroy those important works of art. However, there was not much support for this idea, and it was not carried out. 

Ahmet Ogut has taken inspiration from this event and made his work, Bakunin’s Barricade, as part of an exhibition titled “In the Presence of Absence” in 2015. The Stedelijk Museum procured this artwork in 2020 and as part of the procurement, a contract was signed between the museum and Ogut, and in the contract, it was mandated that the installation should be permitted to be deployed outside the museum, should anyone ask for it. The installation is a barricade as one that would be made by protestors in the streets and in front of the barricade, are works from famous artists like Kazimir Malevich, Marlene Dumas, Nan Goldin, PINK de Thierry and others. Ogut has recreated Bakunin’s idea in this installation. 

On 28 May 2024, a group of activists planning a protest against the human rights violations in Gaza, asked the museum to lend the artwork to them for using in a demonstration by students. They wanted Ogut’s artwork to play the role it was supposed to. The museum authorities were in a fix! They had signed a contract which specifically mandated that they should honour such requests, but it looks like they never expected anyone would actually make such a request. The contract also had a clause that the museum could decide, on a case-to-case basis, at their own discretion on whether a specific request was to be honoured or not. After mulling over the matter, they took a position that they could not take the risk of lending original artworks to be put on the barricade, as they might be damaged, but offered to provide replicas. Obviously, this was the same as refusing to lend the artworks as Bakunin’s whole premise was that government authorities would not destroy the barricades because the art works were original and thus precious. Nobody would have bothered about replicas. The museum authorities took the position that they had a responsibility to the people to protect original art works and could not jeopardise the safety of the art works by lending them to the protestors. 

The protestors and Ahmet Ogut himself were not impressed; Marlene Dumas also was not convinced by the position taken by Stedelijk. The question that came up was why the museum had signed such a contract in the first place, if they had no intention of honouring it, especially when the request was made for an event to protest against the genocide in Palestine. Ogut contended that if the Museum did not want to lend artworks of others, they could have lent his work, just the Barricade. He felt that once other artists saw his Barricade being lent, they would have come forward and given their works as well. He condemned the position taken by Stedelijk and announced that he would not take part in any program nor oversee the installation of the Barricade elsewhere, till the museum changed its position. The group of activists didn’t mince their words and accused Stedelijk of preferring “economic interests over people”.

The museum authorities have now displayed all of this as part of the installation. The letters sent by the activists, the response by the museum, statements by Ahmet Ogut and Marlene Dumas are all displayed. In the audio commentary, the museum director asks a question to visitors on what they would have done, in this situation.

I found this to be a very remarkable artwork altogether. Firstly, the fact that an idea proposed and abandoned more than 175 years ago found relevance in a contemporary political action, is just astounding. Even more is the vision of Ahmet Ogut in coming up with this artwork and then inserting that clause in the contract. It speaks volumes of his genius and his politics. Clearly, the museum was caught totally unawares and I also suspect that the cause itself – that of protesting against Israel’s genocide – had something to do with the decision to not lend the artwork. 

The most intriguing aspect was the museum itself deciding to curate and present this issue in front of the public. In nine cases out of ten, museums would have just kept silent and hoped that the controversy would just die down over time and go away from public memory. However, in a very clever (or should I use the word cunning) move, the museum itself has chosen to project the issue and keep it in the public discourse. I found that quite unusual and interesting. I tend to agree with the position taken by Ahmet Ogut in this issue and the museum should have lent at least his work; but these days, integrity and justice are two concepts that are felt more by their absence than by their presence. 

Floating Monasteries!

Posted: November 3, 2024 in Travel blog
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Floating Monasteries! What image does that phrase bring up, when you close your eyes? I actually pictured medieval buildings floating in air. Needless to say, this caught my fancy, and I decided to include it as part of our itinerary during our visit to Greece. I am talking about Meteora, which literally means “suspended in the air” in Greek; the land where twenty four monasteries were built on inaccessible peaks. Monks started settling in this region of Thessaly from the 11th century itself; some records says that monks with climbing skills had been living in rock caves since the 9th century. In the 14th and 15th centuries, these Christian monks faced increasing persecution as the Ottoman empire expanded and, in this period, these monasteries were built on inaccessible locations so that the monks would have a safe haven. How they managed to build in such places, is quite beyond me.

The town nearest to Meteora is Kalabaka, which is about three and a half hours’ drive from Athens. Kalabaka is basically a small, quaint one street town with some nice restaurants. There are day trips by bus from Athens but since we prefer to explore on our own and wanted more flexibility, we decided to rent a car and drive. We started from Athens by mid-morning and arrived at Kalabaka by around 3 pm. While there were twenty four monasteries that were set up during the medieval period, only six are operational now and they house about 17 monks and 40 nuns. The monasteries are all set up to handle the tourist traffic and you don’t see any monks or get to see the areas that they use regularly. These monasteries are closed on different days of the week and our plan was to spend the afternoon of Sunday and full day Monday at Meteora and cover the important monasteries, as all but one of the monasteries were open on those days. An additional point to be considered while planning the itinerary is that the monasteries close by 3 pm or 4 pm. On the day of arrival, we had planned to go to the Holy Trinity Monastery and so we rushed there, soon after check in.

This monastery is also known as Agia Triada and is a difficult to access as it involves climbing up some 140 steps. It was set up in 1475-76 according to Wiki though local legend says that the monk, Dometius, the founder of the monastery, arrived at the site in 1438. During the initial times, it could only be accessed by ropes. This was the case with most monasteries, and it was only about 90 years back or so that the Greek government made roads that could help with the access to these monasteries. 

We made the climb up the 140 steps without too much trouble and there is a small courtyard on top and a chapel. The views were just breath taking and I don’t think I am capable of describing it. On the top, we found the arrangement used by monks in earlier times to haul up people and material. There is a large pulley like attached to a rope that passes over a hook dangling over a sheer drop, right to the bottom. People and material were then carried up in a rope net; the steps we used were added much later. Of course, prior to this arrangement, access was possible only through rope ladders and whenever the monks faced any threat, they simply pulled up the rope ladders and secured themselves. Some of these rocks are about 400 metres high and going up and down must have taken some effort! These days, there is also a small cable car type of arrangement from the car park directly to the monastery. This is used for transporting goods and the monks that can’t make the climb. 

The Monastery of Holy Trinity was featured in the 1981 James Bond film “For your eyes only” and couple of other films as well. 

You can see many unusual and thus interesting rock formations as you drive around the mountains in Meteora. Wiki says that about 60 million years ago, a series of earth movements caused the seabed to go up, creating a high plateau. The rocks are mostly sandstone. There are many trails one can take in Meteora but we didn’t try any because of lack of time. There are many rocks that can be accessed from the road, or the car parks and climbers would really love it.

As can be expected, such a location has great sites to watch the sunset and there is enough information to be found on where to go, on the internet. After finishing the Holy Trinity Monastery, we went to Sunset Rock and the sunset was just amazing. It was so peaceful and quiet. No wonder that the monks came to this area, meditation comes rather naturally here. We made best use of our two evenings at Meteora and visited two spots and spent time there. There was a reasonable crowd in each location, and you had to arrive a bit early to get the best spots.

One interesting aspect I noticed is that there is no railing or any such protection anywhere. You are expected to behave reasonably and sensibly and watch out for your own safety. The drops are rather sheer and deep and a fall could definitely be fatal. On the second day evening, someone lost a bottle or something like that and it caused a little bit of consternation among those present – guess it struck everyone that it could be you instead of the bottle, if you aren’t careful!

Next day morning, we set out to see the most famous of the Meteora monasteries – The Great Meteoron. It is the oldest and largest of the monasteries and was founded in 1356. We arrived early, as soon as the monastery was opening up, as this place could get crowded as the buses from Athens started arriving. Even then, we had to wait for a bit. This is quite a steep climb (more than 300 steps) and we overheard a Malayali family discussing the climb and in the end, the elderly parents decided to not attempt it. This monastery also has a cable car from the car park area, but I guess it is only for official use. We made it to the top without any trouble and the climb itself is worth it because of the views, especially that of the Monastery of Varlaam, which is quite nearby.

There are many buildings at the top including a beautiful church, courtyard, kitchen etc. Some of the areas have restricted access and there is no photography allowed inside the church (the image below is one I found on the internet), which is quite a pity as the interior of the church is quite rich and beautiful. There is also a museum inside the monastery and supposedly, the library at the Grand Meteoron is the largest in Meteora and it has about 1350 codices. 

Note: This photo of the interior of the church is sourced from the internet and not taken by me.

The courtyard had some beautiful frescoes and the rope net arrangement was seen here as well. 

View of Monastery of Varlaam from the Great Meteoron.

The kitchen was pretty large and had all kinds of utensils, baskets and all preserved as it might have been in the olden times. 

The Great Meteoron left us in awe, and we all felt it was well worth the effort. It was quite hot in Meteora in June and the sun was doing its best to make it even more uncomfortable. Next on the list was The Monastery of Varlaam. It is the second largest monastery in Meteora and was founded in the mid of the 14th century by a monk named Varlaam. After Varlaam died, the rest of the monks deserted the monastery, and it was abandoned for a century of so till two monk brothers named Theophanes and Nectarios reactivated it. 

This is a beautiful monastery, and you have to go up some 200 steps or so before you step into a wonderful courtyard. 

There is a small museum that brings out how life was, for the monks in the olden times. I found that quite interesting. I tried to imagine myself as a monk here, without the tourists milling around, contemplating the mysteries of the universe and time. If there is a ranking of locations suited for such an activity, this must definitely be one of the top-ranking ones.

There is also a small room with beautiful frescoes and a fantastic ceiling.

Here too, photography is banned inside the church – which is quite a pity – and I reproduce an image I found from the internet.

Note: This photo of the interior of the church is sourced from the internet and not taken by me.

One key attraction at the Varlaam is a wooden barrel that was used to store rainwater. This is a huge barrel which can hold up to 12,000 litres. It is made entirely of wood and the locking system to make the planks watertight is quite clever. 

The lift arrangement used in other monasteries was found here as well.

After lunch, we proceeded to the Monastery of St. Barbara or Roussanou. This is a small monastery, occupying the whole of the rock it stands on and was built in the 14th century. These days it is occupied by nuns and about 15 nuns live here. It is very easily accessible from the road and from the other side, there is a wooded path that leads to a bend further up the road. The Malayali family we had seen at The Great Meteoron came here as well and a nun came out to meet them. So, I assume a Malayali nun has made it to this remote monastery. We didn’t see them afterwards and so couldn’t check the veracity of this assumption.

Photography wasn’t allowed inside the monastery, but I wasn’t aware of this and clicked a few photos before the clerk alerted me. 

It has a nice small chapel and some displays in a room outside. The pathway through the woods, behind the monastery, is quite enjoyable.

This was the fourth monastery we visited, and we didn’t have enough time left, to visit the remaining two. The two days involved a lot of going up and down steps and we were happy we could handle it without any trouble. 

Meteora is a magical place indeed and I wasn’t disappointed that the experience didn’t do justice to the image that came into my mind when I heard of this place the first time. The town of Kalabaka is pretty nice too and I can easily see myself spending a week here trekking to the various monasteries and taking life easy, in between. It was our last evening at Meteora and we soaked in one more sunset before we said goodbye. 

Visiting Nikos Kazantzakis

Posted: June 20, 2024 in Travel blog
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“I first met him in Piraeus. I wanted to take the boat for Crete and had gone down to the port.” Thus starts the legendary work Zorba the Greek. A book that captured my imagination and caused me to wonder at the character and the author alike. My favourite of all that I have read of Nikos Kazantzakis. Yet, this was not his first book that I had read, and there is an interesting incident that led me to Zorba. In early 2001, I had been to Cyprus to meet a client and for some reason, we started talking about philosophy and the client (Costas) told me there was a Greek writer he respected quite a lot who turned to Zen Buddhism in the later part of life. I asked Costas whether he was talking about Kazantzakis, and he literally stood up in astonishment, that someone from such a distant land as India knew of Kazantzakis. I told him that I had read The Last Temptation of Christ and Report to Greco and explained to him that in my state Kerala, good many people knew Kazantzakis and his works, most of which had been translated into Malayalam. I also narrated to him the law-and-order situation that happened when a play based on The Last Temptation of Christ was staged at Thrissur. When Costas took me to meet his CEO, I was introduced as a man who had read Kazantzakis and the CEO asked me whether I had read Zorba and I hadn’t, at that time. Thereupon, Costas was given the responsibility to ensure that I was gifted a copy of Zorba the Greek before I left Cyprus and that was how I came upon Zorba. 

When we planned a trip to Greece recently, one of the important points in the itinerary was to visit Crete and go to Heraklion, Nikos Kazantzakis’ city. I wanted to reread Zorba one more time before I visited Crete but that was not to be. Kazantzakis was born in the city of Heraklion in Crete in 1883 and his roots went back to a village called Myrtia, which is near Heraklion. He was deeply spiritual and a free thinker and this meant he was often in conflict with the Greek Orthodox Church. The church did not appreciate Christ Recrucified and The Last Temptation of Christ and many from the clergy wanted him to be excommunicated, though that didn’t happen. While this was going on, it seems that Kazantzakis wrote to the Church as follows: “You gave me a curse, Holy fathers, I give you a blessing: may your conscience be as clear as mine and may you be as moral and religious as I.” What a man!

He passed away in Germany in 1957 and it was his desire to be buried in Heraklion. The clergy with their narrow mindset declined to give space in any cemetery for him. Thus, he was laid to rest near the old Venetian city walls of Heraklion, atop a hill. It is amazing how often religious leaders completely lose track of what they are supposed to propagate in the first place – love and humanity. 

We arrived at the location of his grave at around noon, and it was totally deserted. We parked at the base of the hill and walked up; I had doubts on whether the place was closed. There were no directions and we saw one building first with its gates shut and that didn’t look like what we were searching for. We walked past the building and soon came upon the solitary, simple grave. 

On the grave is written “I hope for nothing, I fear for nothing, I am free”, according to his wish.

Someone had left a copy of an English edition of Zorba on the grave, and I stood there in the scorching sun and read the first few pages from the book. Somehow, it felt like an apt gesture. Earlier in the trip, we had been to the port of Piraeus in Athens to catch a boat to Hydra and as I read the first couple of lines, I felt like I was there in the little café that rainy morning. 

Photo: Sandhya

We spent a few minutes on that lonely hilltop, and I felt that Kazantzakis would indeed have preferred to have been buried there instead of a cemetery; the word freedom makes more sense there.

After a brief stop at Fort Koules (a Venetian fort built to protect the harbour), we set forth to the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum. This is in the village of Myrtia about 18 km from Heraklion. It was a pleasant drive through deserted, winding roads passing through small Greek villages. This museum was set up by Yorgos Anemoyannis, a Greek set designer, who was a cousin and friend of Kazantzakis, in 1983. He was helped quite a lot in his efforts to collect manuscripts and other display material by Eleni, Kazantzakis’ second wife. Anemoyannis converted his own house and purchased another small adjoining house that belonged to a relative to create the museum. The museum is managed by Nikos Kazantzakis Museum Foundation which is a non-profit private entity supervised by the Ministry of Finance and the Decentralized Administration of Crete. It stands on a small square with the essential coffee shop at hand. 

Kazantzakis was an admirer of the Chinese writer Lu Xun and it seems their styles were a bit similar, to the extent that they were called “Chinese Kazantzakis” and “Greek Lu Xun” by some friends. There is a museum in China set up in the memory of Lu Xun and these two museums collaborate with each other, facilitating a virtual meeting as Kazantzakis and Lu Xun never met in their physical lives. This sculpture installed in the square was donated by the Chinese museum.

As you enter the museum, you are greeted by a bust of Kazantzakis and a sculpture of a hand holding a pen.

There is a small theatre inside where a 20-minute video on Kazantzakis was played. From the video, I learnt that the last published work of Kazantzakis is titled “Aniforos” and that it was published in 2022! It seems the book was written in 1946 but never published. On enquiry, I was told that the English version is yet to be released. 

The museum has a lot of first edition copies, letters, personal effects of Kazantzakis displayed. I read the following in the museum: “Odysseus, he who sailed upon the octameters I was writing, had to be made to view the abyss with such a Cretan Glance without hope and fear, but also without insolence as he stood proudly erect on the brink of the precipice (from Report to Greco). The “Cretan Glance” with which all of Kazantzakis’s heroes are endowed is a particular moral stance, best summed up as the absence of fear and hope in the face of futility, the abyss and death. Kazantzakis conceived of it in a vision, while leaping at the Minoan bull leaping fresco, and believed that it resulted from the synthesis of diverse cultures and opposing perceptions.”

It was quite a coincidence that I had been to the Minoan site where this fresco had been discovered (Palace of Knossos) earlier in the day where a replica of the fresco can be seen even now. 

This fresco is supposed to date back to 1450 BC, and this was an important sport for Minoans. In this, a man faces a raging bull and then somersaults over its back to land on his feet behind the bull. As I was looking at the fresco, I was struck by the similarity of this sport to Jallikkettu from Tamil Nadu. In both, man is trying to establish his victory over a strong animal, the bull. But we digress, let us get back to the museum. 

Kazantzakis worked on a sequel to the Odyssey from 1924 to 1938 and he considered this to be his magnum opus. It has 33,333 lines and follows the structure of Homer’s Odyssey but is about a final journey undertaken by Odysseus after the end of the original work. His most famous works were all published after this – Zorba the Greek (1946), Christ Recrucified (1948), Captain Michalis (1953), The Last Temptation of Christ (1955) and Report to Greco (1961). In 1947 he moved to Antibes in France to concentrate on writing and as can be seen from the above, his output was prolific. Zorba got him international acclaim and I was struck by the fact that Kazantzakis was already 63 by the time it was published!

Even though he had a large desk at his house in Antibes, he preferred the table in the living room as his space to write and this table is displayed at the museum and on it, you can see the first edition of the Odyssey published in Athens in 1938 and limited to 300 numbered copies, notebooks containing concepts, words and phrases used in Odyssey and a box Kazantzakis used to store Cinnamon, Nutmeg etc.

Yet another display is the first Greek edition of Zorba the Greek (which was originally titled Life and Times of Alexis Zorbas) along with a photograph of Yiorgis Zorbas, who inspired the character, Alexis Zorbas. However, it seems that Yiorgis Zorbas and Alexis Zorbas were actually poles apart in character! Yiorgis Zorbas was a friend of Kazantzakis and a letter he sent to Kazantzakis from Cairo in 1920 about his travels, is also displayed. 

Yet another display that caught my attention was a notebook with notes for The Last Temptation of Christ (in Kazantzakis’ handwriting) and the first edition of the book.

The museum is not very large in size, but it is has a lot of memorabilia connected with Kazantzakis and one can easily spend 2-3 hours there. This is a tremendous initiative to honour a great writer and thinker.

To our good fortune, the Director of the museum, Ms. Marilena Milathianaki, was present when we visited. She was pleasantly surprised to see visitors from India and she said that it is very seldom that they get Indians coming over. In general, it is difficult to reach the museum as it is far from Heraklion and there is hardly any public transport (she said there is only one bus per day) and so you need to have some private means of transport to be able to visit. She spoke to us about their collaboration with the Chinese museum and even invited us for a function that was to take place on the 19th of June wherein a new sculpture was being unveiled with some talks and a musical program. Unfortunately, we were leaving on 19th morning and hence couldn’t accept her invitation. 

It was very educative and interesting to talk to her and she was also excited to hear about Kazantzakis’ popularity in Kerala. We congratulated her on the important work that they are doing, and she invited us to visit again whenever we are in Crete again. We parted with this gracious lady after taking a photograph.

To me, this visit was the highlight of the entire trip to Greece. I felt that the Government should do more to ensure that the museum is easily accessible to the public and enlarge it; maybe they will, one day. Heraklion should be proud to be known as Kazantzakis’ city and I think they realise it, as the airport is named after him. As I walked back to our car, I turned back for a last look at the museum and saw this fantastic mural. Kazantzakis standing tall on the Cretan coast!

Hemingway and Cuba

Posted: January 8, 2024 in Travel blog
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“He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.” Thus starts the story of Santiago and one of the most famous novels in modern literature – The Old Man and the Sea. This novella marked the highest point in Ernest Hemingway’s literary career, and such was its impact that the committee specifically mentioned this book when they awarded Hemingway the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 (a rare occurrence as the Nobel Prize is given for lifetime work and not any specific work). It is believed that Hemingway conceived this story during his time in Cuba, from the various stories he heard from the locals. Hemingway had a deep love affair with Cuba and even today, when you visit Havana after sixty years of his death, you find that Hemingway still lives on in Cuba. 

Hemingway is one of my favourite authors and in my travels, whenever I have come across a location connected with Hemingway, I have always made it a point to visit the place. I have been to his house in Key West[1] and to the bar he used to frequent in Venice. Thus, Hemingway was very much on my agenda when I landed in Havana. The first day itself, I went on a tour of old Havana with a guide and came across Hotel Ambos Mundos where Hemingway used to live when he first arrived in Cuba in 1932. This is a beautiful building in the heart of the historic and picturesque old town. Supposedly, Hemingway moved from here to a house outside Havana in 1939 when the view from his fifth-floor room was obstructed by a new building that came up. 

[1] Captured in my blog post: https://yezhuvath.wordpress.com/2016/10/04/key-west-in-a-day/

Very close to Hotel Ambos Mundos is La Bodeguita del Medio, a bar that claims to have invented the cocktail Mojito. Hemingway used to visit this bar (though not frequently) and they have a board that is supposedly signed by him. His biographer Philip Greene says it is unlikely this was actually signed by Hemingway as there are differences in the signature. In any case, La Bodeguita does brisk business because of this connection, and I too was a visitor there. The Hemingway connection must obviously be very profitable for them, given the high price (compared to going prices in Havana) they charged for my Mojito. Frankly, it did feel like a bit of a tourist trap.

There is another restaurant and bar that Hemingway did use to frequent, named El Floridita, which is also in Old Town and just a short walk from Hotel Ambos Mundos. El Floridita holds the distinction of being the inventor of the cocktail Daiquiri. Unlike the La Bodeguita, this place had a different charm with the rather lifelike bust of Hemingway that you see at the end of the bar (sculpted in 2003 by Cuban artist  José Villa Soberón) and it does feel like you are in his presence. For me it was magical to sit at the bar and have a Daiquiri thinking of Hemingway and the times he must have spent at the bar. As mentioned, I had been to Harry’s Bar that Hemingway used to frequent in Venice. When I was there, I was having a Martini thinking about him and his novel “Across the river and into the trees”, parts of which he wrote in Harry’s Bar (the bar itself is mentioned in the book). However, my meditative musings at Harry’s Bar were rudely interrupted by the arrival of four, rather loud Americans who set about complaining about the bar promptly and about how it lacked a view. I was quite irritated and left quickly. Thankfully, El Floridita was a very different experience. People were friendly and there were many photos of Hemingway including a photo of Hemingway and Castro. Supposedly, that was the only time they met, during a fishing competition. However, Castro was quite an admirer of Hemingway and was instrumental in ensuring that his house was preserved and converted into a museum. 

In 1939, Hemingway moved out to a farmhouse called Finca Vigía, which is just outside Havana. After Hemingway’s death in 1961, this was converted into a museum through the active intervention of Fidel Castro. Hemingway had wanted the house to go to the people of the locality after his death. It is now preserved as it was when Hemingway left Cuba in 1959. Unfortunately, you cannot enter the house itself as it is roped off; it seems visitors were carrying off memorabilia from the house and so the authorities banned entry for everyone. It is a small, unimposing house with an outhouse attached to it. 

Hemingway was an avid hunter as well and often went to Africa on hunting trips and you can see some of his trophies on the walls. Another interesting aspect is that the house is filled with books, and you see them everywhere including the bathroom! There are about 9000 books in the house. 

Uniform that Hemingway wore in the Spanish Civil War. 

As anyone who has read Hemingway can make out, fishing was an important part of his life. In 1934, he acquired a yacht and named it Pilar. It was the nickname of his second wife, Pauline, and also the name of one of the characters in “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. He spent a lot of time on this boat and even used it to search for German U-boats; well, at least, that is what he claimed but Hemingway being the colourful man he was, there were allegations that this was just a fast one he pulled to get some extra gas rations. Whatever the case may be, he was very fold of Pilar and many of his works have been influenced by his experiences aboard this boat. When he left Cuba, he gifted the boat to his captain and friend Gregorio Fuentes, who donated it to the people of Cuba. Pilar is now on display at the museum.

Hemingway used to frequent a small fishing village called Cojimar, which is a short distance away from Finca Vigía. One of his haunts was the restaurant La Terraza de Cojimar and that was my next stop. This is a beautiful restaurant right by the sea and there is a corner table that Hemingway used to sit at. It is now cordoned off and Hemingway is still there in the form of a small bust. The walls of the restaurant are lined with photographs including a couple with Castro. 

Hemingway spent a lot of time here with Gregorio Fuentes and also met a lot of fishermen here. It is likely he got the spark for The Old Man and the Sea from Cojimar. A story involving an old fisherman and a giant marlin had been part of the lore of the fisherfolk in Cojimar for several years. There is a photo of an old fisherman in the restaurant, and some say that Hemingway’s character is modelled on that man though my guide didn’t seem to agree with that. This restaurant is mentioned in the book quite a few times (The Terrace), including at the end where a woman sitting in the restaurant along with her friends, sees the spine of the fish. 

Hemingway considered The Old Man and the Sea to be his best work and he revised it countless times before he was happy for it to be published. Just before he wrote it, he had published “Across the river and into the trees” but that hadn’t been received well and Hemingway was hurt by the criticism. Personally, I was surprised to hear that this had not been received well as it remains one of my favorite Hemingway books. The Old Man and the Sea was a response to the critics and I read somewhere that Santiago was Hemingway himself, showing the critics that his skill and craft was still second to none. His first novel “The Sun Also Rises” was published in 1926 and it took him another 26 years to get to the pinnacle of his literary career with The Old Man and the Sea, while writing a series of great books along the way. 

Hemingway was a man of the masses and was friendly with everyone around and the fishermen at Cojimar were no exception. When he died in 1961, they were so saddened that they decided to build a monument for him in Cojimar a year after his death. They were poor and had no money but somehow found a sculptor who was willing to make the bust free of cost. However, there was still the problem of finding money to buy the metal needed to make the statue. They solved that by melting the propellers and other fittings of their own fishing boats! 

I don’t think a grander monument can ever be built for a writer and off the top of my head, I couldn’t think of many writers who would have been honoured like this, by the masses. But then, that was Hemingway and his relationship with Cuba and its people. He lived life to the fullest, much like his style in writing – direct and without frills. He mingled with everyone regardless of who they were, and they loved him back in return; so, Hemingway lives on in Cuba. 

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