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istanbul triptych

Posted on January 23, 2012 @ 7:20 pm by massimo | Filed under: architecture,art,blog,fun,illustration,news,travel,turkey,wordpress

I recently paid a visit to Istanbul. It was my first time and I must say that Iistanbul is absolutely worth even a three day excursion! Not to mention (obviously) the city overwhelming architectural and artistic inheritage, you will be hit by contemporary Istanbul’s astonishing diversity, its hybrid character, the variety of its multiracial and ethnic traditions, its booming economy and its actual “speed of life”. I know that -considering whatever place you wish- there is always a  strong discrepancy between the reality and the perception of reality. Nevertheless, as every updated tourist, who has having a great time, I too shot a short video about three Istanbul famous locations, relatively  to the various feelings the city communicated me. So, no illustrations this time! Yet my video clip has a peculiar graphic carachter in order to quote those romantic artists and travellers who, during late eighteen and early nineteen centuries, enjoyed themselves in drawing, etching and  watercolouring.

boundaries

Posted on September 10, 2011 @ 6:41 pm by massimo | Filed under: advertisement,blog,cheap,fashion,fun,holidays,illustration,news,people,thailand,travel,wordpress

Most of us live their lives within a consolidated routine, whose boundaries completely depend by our will. In other words we are supposed to be sufficently self-possessed in order to get out our rate-race as soon as we are fed up with it: our mental well-being cannot but improve! With this respect we typically long for a trip, because a trip allows us to step beyond our mental and physical boundaries in one fell swoop. Among the other remedies late holidays give the persons the chance of making them feel good about themselves quickly, just because set them free to get away from everyday life in a few days. Personally I think that this “wake up and leave” attitude should arise from endless pretexts, each of them very personal. I mean, the fact of  being stuck in a boring life-routine should not be the only reason that drive us when we suddenly realize that we need a break. Sometimes is a song we listen to, or a film we watched to make us going for a precise holiday destination, perhaps a place we have been long time before or a place we have never been. My friend Gino has come from Thailand a month ago and kindly gave me  a new cotton sarong of the real and authentic kind used by north-east Thai farmers. You know one thing? I put the colourful brand label on my desktop and I am watching it  day after day, and I can’t escape the feeling of give up everything: there is just a Thai holiday in my mind!

Illustration Friday topic is: boundaries

last minute!

Posted on September 8, 2011 @ 10:16 am by massimo | Filed under: africa,art,bargain,blog,fashion,flights,fun,holidays,illustration,kenya,lamu,people,travel,wordpress

I am quite an organized fellow when it comes to plan my trips. Since I’m going to be “on the road” usually for long, I always try  to arrange as many details as I can before leaving: booking in advance  is a must for me. Off course many people simply let their customary life-style go on:  late deal holydays is a perfect choice!  I know that a last minute rush to get organized can be fun and exhilarating and, I have to say, I experienced this special frenzy a few times when booking my flights as little as 24 hours before travelling! I suppose that my last last-minute flight happened a couple of years ago, while departing the  pictoresque Manda airfield (Kenya). Actually my first plan included a bus trip to Mombasa. I would left the island within a week so spending a few days more by the beach. Travelling by bus in Africa is a time consuming process, everybody knows, a bit demanding too but quite enjoyable to me. Yet some sudden news from home made my plans changed:  I had to hurry, in order to attend to my exhibition opening that had been anticipated. Fortunately enough the local air carrier had a vacancy on their Nairobi flight next day.  A lovely and imponderable last minute chance which made me feel suddenly happy and brazenly lucky!  The day after I found out that the plane was not exactly crowded: perhaps ten passengers all in all, and, among them a lovely red hair woman I had met a few days before…

 

Harry Morgan

Posted on September 4, 2011 @ 9:47 am by massimo | Filed under: advertisement,blog,books,fashion,flights,illustration,island,news,people,politics,travel,wordpress

I’ve not been yet in the U.S. These days however, a good reason to drive me there would be to visit Key West: I have just been re-reading Hemingways’s  “To have and Have not” and now I fancy a quick trip to this very tiny island, about 6 km long and 3 …

stereotypes

Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 11:42 am by massimo | Filed under: advertisement,blog,cheap,flights,fun,illustration,india,news,people,travel,wordpress

Plenty of cheap flights to India in Bangkok! I had bought one, a night flight to Delhi. I had got my 6 months visa at the Indian Embassy in Sukhumvit. After travelling an year I was now coming back from the costly Japan. Yet it was to early to get back …

an African bargain

Posted on August 22, 2011 @ 11:17 am by massimo | Filed under: advertisement,africa,bargain,blog,fun,holidays,illustration,kenya,people,travel,wordpress

For us Westerners, born and raised by the concept of “fixed price”, bargaining may seem a strange practice at first, or more benevolently, a waste of time. On the contrary Africans think that every bargaining is a challenge to immagination, a friendly way to “duel” with the customer, to value his …

August anniversary

Posted on August 15, 2011 @ 3:36 pm by massimo | Filed under: advertisement,bargain,blog,food,holidays,illustration,news,people,travel,wordpress

On August 13 morning, 1978, I woke up in  the ground floor dormitory of King George VI Memorial Hostel, Holland Park, London. I was very dizzy. The first thing I could see from my bed was a bunch of clothes in the middle of the room and my room-mates standing …

the temple of Apollo

Posted on August 10, 2011 @ 3:39 pm by massimo | Filed under: architecture,blog,fun,holidays,illustration,island,mediterranean,mythology,news,people,travel,wordpress

A very good reason for a cyprus holidays is to visit the archeological greek sites, particularly the temple of Aphrodite and the Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates.  Everybody who has been visiting some “special” archeological area, has experienced a very peculiar and powerful  feeling, something that really can project the visitor back …

Aphrodite

Posted on August 9, 2011 @ 9:58 am by massimo | Filed under: advertisement,art,beach,blog,holidays,illustration,island,mediterranean,mythology,travel,wordpress

A trip to Cyprus is also a trip back to greek mythology. According to the myth, Cyprus claims Aphrodhite’s birth from the island waters. The fact that Aphrodite, among hers many names, is also called Cypris (Lady of Cyprus), might confirm this thesis. Wherever she borned, the myth of her birth …

jam jars

Posted on July 24, 2011 @ 6:07 pm by massimo | Filed under: ancona,beach,books,cheap,croatia,food,holidays,illustration,island,mediterranean,news,politics,travel,wordpress

While reading an old guide book printed  by the former Yugoslavia Tourist Bureau in the mid ’70, I can’t avoid some personal memories.  My hometown Ancona lies on the Italian side of the Adriatic sea and, as a matter of fact, the Croatian coast has always been for us the very …

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