Easy for you to say.
This is a town in Andalucía (some of) which is literally built into the cliffs of the gorge that surrounds it.
But don’t take my word for it. The Tim Traveller has been there and checked it out in a(nother) typically quirky video:
The background music (performed by him, I believe) is just so good. Subtly clever.
And what a place.
Enjoy a fun five minutes with his witty commentary down in Southern Spain.
I’m fully done today. 18,000+ steps deep into a day that has included some Pilates and then a reasonably quick 5km run. It didn’t feel like the Pilates was enough exercise, but looking back now, the combination of the Pilates and the run was almost certainly too much exercise.
It’s sometimes difficult to find a balance, and I’m clearly not the only one finding that:
I had to rush out and make some urgent purchases – we seem to be spending ALL of the money at the moment 🙁 – followed by a massive cleaning session ahead of a neighbourhood meeting in our house. I’m not in the meeting, I just prepped for it.
Oh, and plenty of driving in some of the most horrendous Cape Town traffic.
All of this in 34 of your South African degrees of heat.
It’s been draining, and my knees and core are feeling particularly drained.
As you might expect.
Thankfully no football tonight to try to tempt me into a late one, although I genuinely don’t think I would fall for their charms. Self preservation is the name of the game this evening.
Tomorrow looks cooler, which is good, as I have a lot of outdoor work to get sorted. And I can get going on that early, because there’s no way I’ll be able to do any exercise thanks to the World Of Pain™ that I am fully expecting to wake up into.
Small – and unfortunate – mercies.
For many differing reasons, Architecture has been a hot topic Chez 6000 this week. And so when I saw this cartoon:
It’s a different approach, sure. And not to be a boar (sorry), but while I think that there is certainly merit in daring design materials like this, I’d still prefer to see some sort of solidity here.
Has the fourth little pig learned nothing – bad or good – from his three siblings?
A while back, I did a post on the most popular town names in each country in Europe. During that post, we discovered that basically everywhere in Europe is named “New Village” (in their various native languages).
Well, here’s another European place name map from the same people – it’s called … ok, it’s actually got a title on the image:
A quick count makes that 8 in Norway, 6 in Sweden, and one each in Denmark and France.
And look, there’s a reason for this apparent laziness (most of the time, at least).
Å (pronounced Å), is the old Norse word for a small river. And that’s why you can see places named Å all over Scandinavia. Many small rivers, see?
Likewise, Ö (pronouced Ö) is ta Swedish world for “Island”. And as any fule kno, Sweden has the most islands of any country in the world (267,570 to be exact), which does make it a bit interesting that there is only one place called Ö. It has 90 inhabitants.
And, oh. It isn’t on an island.
Though, as beagle-eyed readers might have spotted, it is just up the road from Johannisberg.
Wow.
Finally, there’s Y (presumably pronounced EE) in France. And I know what you’re thinking…
Y did they call it that?
Is it because pourquoi was too long?
Well, they named it that because – apparently – it’s the shape that the roads make in the village.
Mmm. I suppose it depends on how strong your medication is.
Mine is clearly not strong enough.
Tomorrow, 2-letter places names! Yes, this is going to be a series* until we get all the way up to that place in New Zealand.
Auckland?
No: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu.
Bless you.
Eish.
* it’s not.
One thing I never saw in the UK was Ibises. Well, only in the zoo.
But we have a few types here in Cape Town, and this is (probably) the most common. Step forward Bostrychia hagedash – the Hadeda Ibis. One of the few local birds which has the same name in English and Afrikaans (see also Bokmakierie and Hamerkop), it’s named for its call. Honestly then, it should be the Raap-Raap Greer Ibis, but let’s not get picky.
These may be rather dull and drab, with a well-earned reputation for being very noisy, but they’re also curious, gentle birds and I love them. And their Linnean name (see above) sounds just like something out of a well-known book and film series about a school of witchcraft and wizardry.
We’ve got a few more that have come into our area over the last couple of months, and I would much rather have them here than damned Egyptian Geese or (more) Guineafowl.
So, yes: more of this please (just not at 6am on the weekends, thank you very much).