Duomo Baptistery, FLORENCE, ITALY

The Baptistery.  One of the oldest structures in Florence, it features three sets of artistically important bronze doors with relief sculptures. The north and east doors were awarded to 21-year-lold Ghiberti after a competition with many much older, more famous artists. Ghiberti spent the next 48 years of his life completing the job.

The interior walls are clad in dark green and white marble with inlaid geometrical patterns. The niches are separated by monolithic columns of Sardinian granite.  Not one inch of the Baptistery can claim to be plain.

Contrasting the interior heavy marble and granite, a magnificent mosaic ceiling glows.  

 

Montmartre and Sacre Coeur, PARIS, FRANCE

Montmartre. At this high-point of Paris, stairs and artists are many. In the Place du Tertre (above), art is created and sold. Nearby is the red-light district known for its rock music venues and the Moulin Rouge (our cab passed through on the way to Montmartre for dinner). Artists including Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, and Dali all lived and worked among Montmartre’s network of narrow streets.  Our time in Montmartre spanned late afternoon through early evening—affording us a feel of the area as the sky was graying and the artists made last pushes for sales.  On into the evening, with blue holiday bulbs strung around the square and the lights of Paris spread out like a carpet below. 

Sacré-Coeur (in Montmartre). This Romanesque-Byzantine basilica offers one of the most beautiful panoramic views of Paris, and its domes can be sighted from just about anywhere in the city below. Its ceiling has the largest mosaic in France and its dome houses one of the largest free-swinging bells (19 tons, or the equivalent of roughly 19 polar bears). It’s also a self-cleaning church—built of travertine, it constantly exudes calcite, which keeps the basilica white even with weathering and pollution.

Ballyragget Castle, BALLYRAGGET, IRELAND

Ballyragget Castle. This tower castle lives in the little hometown of our Irish travel friends Donie and Catherine. They took us to see it, and the nearby town of Kilkenny, as a special treat.

Built in 1495 by the Mountgarret family, it was the favorite residence of Lady Margaret Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormonde (the famous Anne Boleyn was arranged to marry her son, but the marriage plans ended in mysterious failure; a short time later, King Henry VIII expressed his interest in young Anne…and we all know how that turned out). In 1798, it was repurposed as a military post and in 1963 modified for use as a sawmill and timber store.

On private land and not a tourist attraction, it has not been delicately restored nor carefully maintained. This castle truthfully displays its years of exposure to the elements and its many uses for practicality’s sake—rusty sawmill equipment on the bottom floor, decaying fireplaces and living spaces above, and a rotted roof to cap it off.  What a treat!