Category: Culture
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Lisbon, or how to discover the world and lose yourself
If you take the tram from central Lisbon and straight west (a modern tram, unfortunately, not one of the city’s famous antique ones), you will reach the neighbourhood of Belém in less than an hour. This is a more tranquil, open-spaced part of town than the city centre, with its narrow, busy streets. It is…
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Bruges, or where cities go when they die
A man walks the streets of Bruges at night. He is a widower these past five years. When his wife died he moved here, since this city, like his wife, is dead. Evening after evening he spends wandering aimlessly along the grey, deserted streets, thinking of death, of the dead. On one such night, walking…
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Cremona, or the year technology peaked
In 1637, an Italian monk by the name of Fulgentius Micanzio wrote an acquaintance who was considering purchasing a violin. On the advice of an expert, Micanzio could assure his correspondent that the best instruments were to be found in the city of Cremona. What makes this letter so particularly interesting is that the expert…
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Mols, or stupid, lazy, inbred peasants
In Denmark, there is a story about the villagers of Mols in Jutland. Fearing that war was about to break out in the country, they decided to hide their most treasured possession: the church bell. A handful of men set out to sea in a rowboat to sink the bell, where it could be retrieved…