fantastic world travel: June 2011

Umbria, the unknown beauty

Dear friends,

Today we are going to talk about Umbria, an extremely beautiful region bordering with Tuscany.

Umbria it is a much more affordable and very interesting region for all those people who already know Tuscany or have enough time to explore both regions on holidays.

Umbria, as its name suggests, "Ombra", that is, “Shadow" is an extremely mountainous region.

It is ravishing for its mountains and rivers (perfect for rafting) and also has some soft hills that have nothing to envy the hills of Tuscany. Among its beauties, Umbria also has one of the biggest lakes in Italy, Lake Trasimeno, where there are some islands that can be visited by boat. Here it is possible to admire ravishing flora and fauna and eat outdoors in a natural and historic context that is unique for its beauty.
For those who will not be able to have much time to visit this beautiful region I want to recommend some important spots that, from my point of view, are the prettiest ones of the region:

1- The first spot to visit for its nearness as well as natural beauty is no doubt Lake Trasimeno, about which we have already talked in previous posts.

If you want to eat in the area you should go to Fischio del Merlo (Passignano sul Trasimeno) where it is possible to eat excellent dishes based on sea and lake fish for 35-40 euros.

2- The second spot to explore is, no doubt, the ravishing and incredible Assisi, religion capital of the region and Italy Assisi has to be visited for its architectural beauty and for the mystical air that it enjoys. The visit to the cloisters where Saint Francis used to pray amidst a forest by the side of mountain rivers is an interesting outing.

3- Montefalco and Bevagna. Montefalco cannot be missed for its wines and Bevagna for the beauty of its architecture, for its Roman theatre and its churches. These two little towns are undoubtedly some of the most beautiful in Umbria. From Montefalco it is possible to admire excellent views of the area, the hills and the mountains.

For gastronomy lovers "La Vecchia Cucina" lies in the little village of Colle Secco (10 min from Montefalco). It is, to my mind, the best restaurant as to the relationship quality-price.
This family-run business serves spectacular delectable chops but also typical Umbrian dishes: pasta, farm chicken and first class sausages! If you like, also try its excellent beer.

4 - Spoleto. Entering this beautiful region one gets to Spoleto, undoubtedly, a place that will spellbind you for its ravishing beauty.

Once in Spoleto we cannot miss at all the cathedral, worldwide famous for its beauty, a trip to the fortress and the bridge from where excellent vistas of the whole valley are admired. Here I recommend "Tempio del Gusto"

5 - Orvieto. It is one of the most beautiful Etruscan towns in Umbria and one of the best kept. Orvieto enjoys an interesting historic heart and a ravishing cathedral that resembles the famous cathedral of Siena.

Once you are in Orvieto if you have time, it will be interesting to discover the Etruscan town.

6 –We will talk in the next post about the following 5 most interesting places in Umbria.
Best regards,

POV: Photo Assignment RAW FILE

Through Twitter, I've noticed a post by RAW FILE, Wired magazine's blog, which is starting a new series of posts called Assignment Wired, where the magazine will hand out photo assignments to its readers, and then eventually choose some submissions to publish and critique.

WIRED's expertise and interest is in reportage and photojournalism, and it expects its participating readers to get quotes, do some writing, do some research and take emotive photos.

"We want gritty, real and human stories. We want to throw you into new situations and give you a chance to sink or swim."

It actually just launched its first assignment, and it's to feature the corner store where the participating photographer buys his/her daily Coke, milk, doughnuts...whatever. It wants the story of this local corner store through photos and reporting. The assignment "sheet" lists the skills required for such a project, and there's a deadline of July 7th.

I think the experiment (as they call it) is a damn good idea! It will provide an impetus to budding photojournalists (and others) to go out there and actually work on a local project. As it says, it's hardly sexy or glamorous, but it's an interesting project that will teach basic photojournalism skills to those interested. I only wish they included audio recordings, and even expand it to short audio-slideshows...but perhaps that will come in time.

As always, comments from naysayers, cynics and skeptics have come in fast and furious....some accusing WIRED magazine of using this experiment to get work for free. To those, I say you don't have to participate...or participate and don't send in your material. Just take the time to learn something new...or refresh your skills, and if you do a good job, you might get a critique from the magazine. It will surely be worth it.

Theyyam: The Living Gods

Here's a trailer of The Living Gods, a film by Rupesh Tillu, which depicts the story of a father and a 6 year old son, and their hope to find new opportunities for the survival of a form of art. The young boy wants to become a Theyyam artist just like his father Rajesh, who performs a thousand year old ritual from Kerala, India.

"Theyyam is on the verge of extinction, since very few children are learning it."

Theyyam is a unique ritual which is performed only in Northern Kerala. After a complex preparatory ritual involving elaborate make-up and meditation, the performers are incarnated as deities, and dispense advice and counseling to the throngs of devotees who attend these rituals. It's a living cult of several thousand-year-old traditions, rituals and customs, and is observed by all the castes and classes in this region.

I have used the Theyyam tradition as the core focus of my Theyyam of Malabar photo~expedition in 2009, and I (and its participants) was rewarded with incredible proximity to these living deities, and their traditional religious practices. The resulting photographs are possibly some of the most colorful of religious rituals I've made so far.

The gallery Theyyam: Incarnate Deities is one of my favorites.

Mugur Vărzariu: Egypt Adrift

Mugur Vărzariu is a photojournalist based in Romania whom I met at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Istanbul. I discovered he started as a photographer less than four months ago before attending the workshop, and it seems he has been extremely busy since then.

He traveled to India, Syria, Libya as well as Cairo, where he documented facets of the Egyptian Revolution in a photo essay titled Egypt Adrift, which is perhaps an apt description of the current development. I hope he's wrong, but so far it does appear that the ideals and values of the youth of Tahrir may be tossed to the side by the current "transitory" authorities.

One of the photographs in his Egypt Adrift essay is of a red car, with hood open...presumably stalled and needing fixing. It made me laugh, since the graffiti on the left of the frame says "The Central Security Forces robbed this store" with an arrow pointing to the shuttered store. The Central Security was the much hated entity used in suppressing any dissent, and was used to brutalize those who didn't toe the ex-regime's line.

I wonder what Mugur, being from Romania which suffered greatly under Nicolae Ceaușescu, felt documenting the Egyptian Revolution, which has some parallels to his country's December 1989 overthrow of its own dictator.

Palermo, Sicily, Italy

Palermo is an Italian town, the capital of Sicily. It is completely surrounded by walls: the mountains of Palermo. It is a busy town. There are a couple of areas that it's not safe to walk in.

Massimo theater is the largest theater building opera in Italy, and the third largest opera in Europe after the Opera National de Paris and the Staatsoper in Vienna. The theater was the scene of some of the film The Godfather-Part 3 in 1990.

Piazza Pretoria is known as the Square of Shame for the nudity of the statues.

Palermo Cathedral.

Ancient tree of Palermo.

Antique market in Palermo.

Just a nice building.

There are plenty of horse carriages for tourists. Most of the horses have a cute hat on.

This is the seventeenth century Facade of the Shrine and is leaning against the rock at the peak of Monte Pellegrino mountain. There were very beautiful views of the city on the way from the center of the city up to the mountain by car.

A nice view from Monte Pellergrino mountain to Mondello.

Mondello is a seaside town at the foot of Monte Pellergrino. It is a nice bay with sandy tropical colors, restaurants, little shops, yacht clubs, and a beach. Its clear blue water is so beautiful and reminds me of the clear blue water and nice beaches in St John, US Virgin Islands.

Have a wonderful day ahead to you all!xo...Hanh :)

Travel Metrics Week 25

The latest Travel metrics for Week 25 are now available. You can find them at the following link:

Travel Metrics Week 25

Thanks

Matt Kala, Industry Analyst.

The Leica File: The Show Stopper(s)

Walking on lower Fifth Avenue a few days ago with traveler, gastronome extraordinaire and photographer Mervyn Leong, I came across The Show Stoppers performing at the First Presbyterian Church. Naturally, we sped towards them, and started photographing like a pair of demented paparazzi.

The Show Stoppers is a group of senior citizens who perform in more than 35 shows at more than a dozen locations around New York City each year. The all-volunteer group/band, which ranges in age from 60-95, rehearses at least once a week, and aims at lifting the spirits of older people. Their performing helps not just the audience, but the participants’ health as well. These are wonderful people who are an inspiration to others half their age.

Their repertoire consists of golden oldies (as they're sometimes called)...a combination of Gershwin and Cole Porter tunes, among others. I had seen them performing in the West Village, and if I recall correctly, the same woman in the photograph has sung Dame Vera Lynn's famous World War Two song "We'll Meet Again". This song is a superb classic, and is guaranteed to send shivers down the spines of any Brit.

Only in New York!

(For larger versions, go to The Leica File blog)

Sunset on The Mediterranean Sea

These pictures were taken about 3 weeks ago when we were still on our cruise ship. Wearing: Junya Watanabe dress from spring2010, Christopher Ross belt, Fendi wedges, and Hermes scarf. This scarf was a gift from my special friend and I totally adore it.

My sweet children enjoyed to play rabbit ears on me. They already had a plan for it. Poor me! I had no idea :)

They had fun to play in front of a big fan on the ship.

Sunset view from the top deck of the ship.

Sunset view from our balcony room on the ship.

Have a wonderful day ahead to you all! xo...Hanh :)

Viviane Dalles: Kingdom of Mustang

This is the second time that work by the talented Viviane Dalles is featured on The Travel Photographer blog. Viviane quit her job at the archives of Magnum Agency in 2005, and booked a flight to Tamil Nadu in early 2005, following the devastating tsunami that affected the whole region. Her clients include LeFigaro Magazine, Le Monde 2, La Tribune, Paris-Match, Internazionale, Le Figaro, Le Monde, The Guardian, among others and she's currently based in Sydney.

Not only is her work talented, but she also traveled and photographed in Mustang, the almost mythical former Kingdom of Lo and now part of Nepal, and has added its gallery to her website.

"Time rolls on, the sun which blurs into the horizon tells us to pick up the pace, otherwise the thick night will keep us prisoner in this immense and silent cage."-Viviane Dalles

Viviane's work in Mustang consists of 31 landscapes, documentary and portrait photography. There's precious little infrastructure in Mustang, and though foreign visitors have been allowed to the region since 1992, tourism to Upper Mustang, similar to Bhutan for example, is regulated.No more than 1000 tourists a year are granted permits.

Chico Sanchez: The Way Of St. James

As readers of this blog probably know by now (on account of the many times I've featured his work), Chico Sanchez is a Spanish photojournalist based in Mexico City. He previously worked in Venezuela for six years with Reuters, EFE, EPA and various newspapers. He's currently a freelancer represented by Aurora Photos.

He recently documented his pilgrimage walk on The Way of St. James in an audio-slideshow. A mix of landscapes and travel photography, with ambient audio of steps, running water, interviews and narration. It's in Spanish but full sub-titles are included.

"I walked 290 kilometers in northern Spain for two weeks from Astorga to Santiago de Compostela. It's a pilgrimage, and one of the best experiences I've ever had." -Chico Sanchez

The Way of St. James or El Camino de Santiago, is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle James are buried. It existed for over a thousand years, and was one of the most important Christian pilgrimages during medieval times, together with Rome and Jerusalem.

For more information of The Way of St. James, Wikipedia has a informative write-up here.

Relaxing in Corsica

After so many stops at the busy places like Barcelona in Spain, La Valletta in Malta, then Sicily, Naples, Rome, Florence in Italy...When we got to Ajaccio-Corsica in France, we just wanted to take it easy, eat a lot of ice-cream, crepes, cheese... and relax on the beach all day. The weather was great and sunny.

My scarf with the Mediterranean map print was just perfect for this cruise trip (the scarf's brand???). The kids and I took turns to wear it everyday. I was afraid my Mcqueen flats will be beat up from wearing them so much (my flipflops were broken at that time). I adore my Wang shorts, and Madewell t-shirt was great as a cover-up.