A Traveller's Cities

That inveterate traveller, Jan Morris, has published 40 books and now at 83 years of age, yet another is in the bookshops. In it she confesses that her books have concentrated more on places than people, and now in this new book, ‘Contact’, she remedies that with glimpses of some of the people who have illuminated her travels. In yesterday’s Sunday Observer she reflects on the cities she has known. ‘Preoccupied as I have always been by the look of places, their histories and their municipal postures, I have all too often neglected to write about their citizens.’

‘To my mind cities are distillations of human life itself, with all its contradictions and anomalies, changing from one year to another… changing above all in one’s personal responses.’ She considers such cities as Sydney, Trieste and Indian cities, but then reflects on two of the cities referred to in the small list on these blogs. London, for example.

She says.’ When she steps off the train in Euston she finds herself entering a different city altogether than the one that used to thrill her, but strangely although she loves London less than she used to, she likes it more. ‘‘I like the glitter and fizz of it, the jumble of manners, the pace and the bitter brilliance and the kaleidoscopic parade of faces…when once it welcomed me like a dowager to her run- down stately home, now its greeting is more like the air-kiss of a tabloid celebrity’.

She has second thoughts about Venice. ‘Physically, by the nature of its geography, few of the world’s ancient cities have changed less in my time. Its shape is the same, most of its buildings are unchanged, you must still walk about it, or take a boat to supper…’ but now stepping on to the Piazzetta you ‘find it enveloped in a caterwauling nightmarish jam of fellow visitors, blocking the bridges, drowning the café orchestras, all but hiding from view the facades of the Basilica’. She is tempted to leave it all and ‘go home to Wales; but no, love conquers all, and I never do.’

In our long experience of London – as work place and home –and our brief visit to Venice, her opinions underline how I feel about both, and perhaps cities in general. They are alwasy changing. So much depends on the moment and the mood. But on our visits I think place and people have always been interwoven. As I have reacted to a place I have watched the faces of people, not visitors as we have been, but residents. We shall do the same next month when we visit London again. And a second, proper visit to Venice? Perhaps never.

B.R.

Krakow

At last another city! We spent five days here at the beginning of May, arriving at the end of a lightning storm and leaving on a warm sunny day We stayed in the medieval part of the city – once the seat of Polish kings - still with some of its old city walls built for its protection, the moat which surrounded them now the site of a delightful park ringing the old pear shaped city. Krakow is a favourite venue for city breaks because of its accessibility. It is said that it has become the stag party centre of Europe, a claim we were not in a position to authenticate. Nor wished to!

Krakow is a tourist trap. Even at this early time of the season, it was very busy with masses of visitors and crocodiles of children, many of them Polish. We wondered if as well as them having a holiday, this was an educational exercise in honouring their inheritance, for Poland, after its tumultuous history has only been an independent state in the last 20 years. Beggars abounded – some elderly and wearing national dress, others trying to do something to attract attention. One man we saw more than once half lying on the ground doing clever things with a football, moving it from head to feet to chest. We saw two little boys who couldn’t have been more than eight years old with a small dog at their side and pretending to play a piano accordion – one either side of the road.

We climbed the 12th century tower which was once the town hall in the huge market square, but itself dwarfed by the vast two tower St. Mary’s Basilica, to us more impressive outside than inside. In the 12th Century a trumpeter warned the city of a Turk invasion from the highest of the towers, but was shot by an invader’s arrow half way through his warning call. So – and you can’t get more touristy than this –to commemorate the event a trumpeter appears at one of four windows high in the tallest of the towers to replay the occasion, - though without the arrow -and repeats this at the other three windows. A ritual that continues every hour, night and day.

The old city is an A to Z of architectural styles – gothic, renaissance, baroque etc., There are more than 30 museums; we managed eight: the National, and two Jewish museums in the old Jewish quarter and one devoted to the artist, poet, dramatist and theatre producer Stanisklaw Wyspianski being the most memorable. He was part of the New Poland art movement (comparable to the Rennie Mackintosh era and at the same time). One astonishing aspect of his work was his decoration of the whole of a huge gothic Church with patterned and floral paintings on the bare stone and ceiling, and some stunning stained glass windows, hardly done justice by the gloomy religiosity of the building. We saw a lot of his portraits and some endearing ones of his own sleeping children. Sadly he died before he was forty. He is virtually unknown beyond Poland it seems.

A fascinating place to visit, excellent food at good prices, courteous and quietly friendly local people, impressive buildings, lots of history and a good introduction to a much abused but brave nation.

B.R.

Liverpool

Liverpool is one of Britain’s great cities. Still a major port, much of its 18th.century wealth and expansion was due to traffic with mainland Europe and close links with the Atlantic slave trade. By the early 19th century as much as 40% of world trade passed through Liverpool docks. Technically part of the county of Lancashire, the city has a powerful sense of itself, its inhabitants often referred to as Liverpudlians or Scousers, named after a traditional meal of meat stew. Although its population is drawn from across the world and particularly from Ireland, local people have a characteristic accent and dialect. Without looking at the great buildings and the two companiable cathedrals which greet each other across the city, once you hear a local person speak, you know where you are.

The city was badly bombed during the 39-45 war and there is a fitting link with the German city of Cologne, also devastated by aerial bombardment. The city remained in a desolate state for many years afterwards and clearance and re-building was slow. There is a movement marked by many disappointments for using the partially derelict St. Luke’s Church as a Peace Centre. Enthusiasm for the scheme by the local branch of the United Nations Association has gained the interest but so far insufficient financial support of Liverpool Council.

In the sixties the city was famous for what became known as the Merseybeat, with loads of pop groups composing and playing music that became widely popular, the most notable group of course being The Beatles. Their popularity continues to be a magnet to tourists, as do the many other cultural attractions of the city, which for me include the Tate Liverpool and Walker Art Galleries and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under its charismatic Russian conductor, Vasily Petrenko.
Liverpool is sharing with Stavanger in Norway, the distinction of being the 2008 European City of Culture.

I see that the Liverpool Playhouse is currently staging a musical, named after the city’s most famous hotel and called ‘Once Upon A Time at the Adelphi’. Reviewing it today, The Guardian’s critic suggests that the musical’s theme song ‘Once in a Lifetime’ should be ‘designated the official anthem of the Capital of Culture forthwith’. Certainly no life is complete without a visit to Liverpool.

B.R.

Barcelona

At least I have been there, however briefly, and so Barcelona can be included in ‘my’ European cities. But our visit to this distinct Catalan city was only a matter of hours, and yet it was long enough to confirm Barcelona’s great reputation as a beautiful, lively and vibrant city. It was a wonderful sunny day and as we strolled through the streets, observed the famous art deco buildings and those of Gaudi, visited the Picasso Museu situated in medieval mansions, and of course sampled the famed Catalonian cuisine, we responded to the immense attraction of a city which is now home to people of many nationalities.

Barcelona has had an eventful and often painful history. Romans, Visigoths, Moors and Franks, occupied the area in the first millennium until it became the key city of the Catalonia region under a dynasty founded by a ruler with the evocative name of Wilfred the Hairy (Count Guifre el Pelos) that lasted almost five hundred years. The Catalan connection helps to define the city, which is no doubt why the Bourbon King Felipe V banned the writing and the teaching of Catalan in the early eighteenth century. The demands for autonomy however were never suppressed and remain today as a unifying element in the culture of an otherwise cosmopolitan city. In fact during the brief Second Spanish Republic created in 1931 Catalonia declared independence. During the Spanish Civil War the city was governed by anarchists and Trotskyists. Churches were destroyed and more than 1,200 priests, monks and nuns were shot. The city was frequently bombed by Franco’s forces. Under Franco counter violence continued and many purges and executions took place.

The 1992 Olympic Games marked a new beginning and confidence for the city with an international affirmation in dramatic contrast to its violent history. Its extraordinary tradition of fine buildings was given a new lease of life, right down to the coastal area, and the completion of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia Cathedral continued, despite the disapproval of art specialists who believe the original extraordinary design is being undermined. But the realisation of Catalan independence is still a political objective for many traditionalists, even though they are now joined by new arrivals from Europe and notably from South America, in search of the good life.

Barcelona has deservedly become a major if not the major Spanish city (Madrid would not agree) and attracts an enormous number of tourists, of which my wife and I were numbered for a little while. We have ambitions to return for a longer visit. See the euroresidentes Guide to Spanish Cities for much more information, and get in touch if you can with my youngest Anglo-Spanish grandson for the know-how on what is ‘the best football team in the world’!

B.R.

Cordoba

Like our previous city, Cordoba was founded by the Romans and had a strategic importance as a port on the Guadalquivir River, which was used for shipping Spanish olive oil, wine and wheat back to Rome. The Romans built the mighty bridge crossing the river, "El Puente Romano" which despite many changes is still standing and in use, and we have walked by it. Cordoba's hour of greatest glory was when it became the capital of the Moorish kingdom of El-Andalus, and when work began on the Great Mosque, or "Mezquita", one of the largest in all of Islam.

When the city was re-claimed by the Christians in 1236, the new rulers of the city were so awed by its beauty that they left the Mosque standing, building their cathedral in the middle of its rows of arches and columns, and creating the extraordinary church-cum-mosque we see today. It is quite an astonishing building. If it wasn’t real it would be unbelievable! The beauty and the grandeur is overwhelming. Though the Church won’t have realised it at the time, its occupation of the great space makes a powerful statement not of possession, but of the two faiths meeting each other. One with a gentle, elegant presence and the other with a dominant, aggressive one.

As well as the unique mosque-cathedral, Cordoba's treasures include the Alcazar, or Fortress, built by the Christians in 1328; the Calahorra Fort, originally built by the Arabs, which guards the Roman Bridge, on the far side of the river from the Mezquita, and the ancient Jewish Synagogue, now a museum. Cordoba's medieval quarter, once the home of the Jewish community, is called "La Judería" (The Jewry), a labyrinth of winding, narrow streets, shady flower-filled courtyards and picturesque squares such as La Plaza del Potro. In early May, homeowners proudly festoon their patios with flowers to compete for the city's "most beautiful courtyard" contest.

Now a moderately-sized modern city, the old town contains many impressive architectural reminders of when Córdoba was the thriving capital of the Caliphate of Cordoba which governed all of the southern Iberian Peninsula. It has been estimated that in the tenth century Córdoba, with up to 500,000 inhabitants, was the largest city in Western Europe and, perhaps even in the world. As one strolls around the accessible city one is conscious of that legacy, but not intimidated by it.

We have been reminded of our visit some years ago as we watched on BBC 4 TV last night the first of a series of programmes on the art of Spain. Despite the patronising self-projection typical of so many such documentaries, the influence of Moorish culture epitomised by Cordoba was vividly represented.

B.R.

Newcastle

Newcastle has a rich history. It was founded by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century and the great wall named after him – spanning the breadth of England – can still be traced in some parts of the city. After the Roman withdrawal from Britain, Newcastle became part of the powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, and after a series of conflicts with the Vikings and the devastation north of the River Tyne inflicted after the 1080 rebellion against the Normans, the city was virtually destroyed, but William the Conquerer’s son, Robert Curthose, built a wooden castle there in 1080 and the town was given its new name : Novum Castellum, or New Castle.

The city became England's most northern fortress and during the fourteenth century was successfully defended against the Scots three times. Newcastle's development as a major city, was made possible because of the River Tyne and its central role in the export of coal In the 19th century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's growing prosperity, and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. Innovation in Newcastle and surrounding areas included, Stephenson's Rocket, Lord Armstrong's artillery, Joseph Swan’s electric light bulbs, and Charles Parsons’ invention of the steam turbine, which led to the revolution of marine propulsion and the production of cheap electricity.

The city has an extensive neoclassical centre, largely developed in the 1830s by Richard Grainger and John Dobson, and the recently restored. Grey Street (named after Earl Grey, Prime Minister 1830-1834 and the inventor of the famous blend of tea) curves down from Grey's Monument towards the valley of the River Tyne, and was voted England's finest street in 2005 in a survey of BBC Radio 4. The Tyne Gorge between Newcastle on the north bank and the borough of Gateshead on the south bank, is famous for a series of dramatic bridges. Large-scale regeneration has replaced former shipping premises with developments including the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and the Sage Gateshead Music centre, both of which we have visited.

Newcastle is a lovely city and has an atmosphere all of its own that marks it out amongst our other notable northern cities. A city is people as well as place, and Newcastle is known for the warmth and friendliness of the ‘Geordies’ for whom it is home - and for its football team with its one-time manager, Kevin Keegan returning to energise the team and give hope to its many fans. And if you visit Newcastle from the south by road or rail, you will see Anthony Gormley’s stunning sculpture ‘The Angel of the North’, in itself an invitation to a unique part of Britain.

B.R.

Cambridge

Cambridge (granted city status only in 1951) is of course famous for its university, the second oldest in the English speaking world. About one fifth of the city’s population of over 100,000 are students, the townspeople breathing a sigh of relief no doubt when the university is ‘down’. Established by scholars from Oxford who were being badly treated by the local citizens, the University was founded in 1209. Its origin is ironical because both towns have enjoyed a keen rivalry over the years, despite a association in people’s minds so strong, that the two are often referred to as ‘Oxbridge’. The University consists of a series of colleges endowed by various individuals and trusts throughout its history and most of which have their own chapels and strong cultural links with the Church of England. Many of the buildings, gathered around a grass rectangle, are very beautiful, the most famous being St.John’s College, where every year a Festival of Christmas Carols is broadcast around the world.

But Cambridge is also a centre of research and high tech industry and the several businesses situated in and around the town are often referred to as Silicon Fen. The world famous Cavendish Laboratory has been in existence in Cambridge for a hundred years and of the many luminaries who have taught there, the name of Ernest Rutherford stands out. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1908 he was responsible for the discovery of the atom as a miniature universe in which the mass is concentrated in the nucleus surrounded by planetary electrons. The Laboratory continues to make a major contribution to nuclear physics.

There are several museums in the city, for me the most notable being The Fitzwilliam founded in 1816. Housed in a most beautiful building, here there are world-class examples of art and antiquities spanning centuries and civilisations. Highlights include antiquities from Egypt, Sudan, the Ancient Near East, Greece, Rome and Cyprus, English and European pottery and glass, and paintings and drawings by Domenico Veneziano, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens and Van Dyck. Outstanding works by great British artists include those by Stubbs, Gainsborough, Reynolds and Constable and there is a fine collection of twentieth century art.

The city also has a number of theological colleges for training clergy for ordination into a number of denominations, with affiliations to both the University of Cambridge and the Anglia Ruskin University. I stayed in one such college for ten weeks during a sabbatical in the 1980’s, and greatly enjoyed pretending to be a mature student in this lovely, lively city.

B.R.