A Brief History....... /  by rick smee

The Danube flows through or borders 10 different countries, the most of any river in the world, originating in Germany and flows southeast for over 2800 km before draining into the Black Sea. During the height of the Roman Empire, the Danube formed what was the long-standing frontier. 

At a section of the river known as the Danube Bend, the river separates two districts known Buda and Pest, in 1849 only a year after the Hungarian Revolution, with the opening of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge first permanent bridge across the Danube, thereby uniting these districts, by 1873, Buda and Pest, along with the third district of Óbuda officially merged becoming the modern city of Budapest that we know today.

The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary and put an end to 18 years of military dictatorship over Hungary following the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. The revolution was brought to an end when, with the aid of the Russian military, the Austrian army defeated the Hungarian forces and Hungary was placed under a brutal martial law. Under the Compromise, Austria formerly recognised the Kingdom of Hungary, the former lands of the House Of Habsburg were reorganised to form a union between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, headed by a single monarch, as the emperor in Austria and the king in Hungary. The Hungarian and Austrian states whilst governed by separate parliaments and prime ministers the two countries enacted unified foreign diplomatic and defence policies.

In the years leading up to the First World War, the Jewish population had continued to grow, peaking around 24% in the early 1900s. As the 20th century got underway, the increasing prosperity of the city and its Jewish citizenship, Budapest had become referred to as “Judapest” or the “Jewish Mecca”. By the end of the Second World War, some 40 years later it was estimated that up to 40% of the Jewish population of 250,000 had been exterminated under the Nazi occupation.

Following the end of the First World War and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Hungary declared itself an independent republic, The Treaty of Trianon in 1920, the formal peace agreement that set out the terms peace deal and saw the ceding of more than two-thirds of it's territories to neighbouring countries. The present-day boundaries are almost the same as those set out in the treaty of 1920.

The liberation of Hungary from Nazi occupation in 1945 by the Red Army, that brought about another occupation, this time by the Soviet military that saw Hungary become officially recognised as the People's Republic of Hungary in 1949. With tensions rising high, the 23 October 1956 saw what became known as the Hungarian Revolution. Demonstrators in Budapest were calling for democratic reform and calling for Imre Nagy to be installed as prime minister. By the 4th November, Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest to crush the uprising. Hungarian resistance held out until 10th November, by mid-November the death toll was estimated to be 3000.

With the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, the Soviet Union began to disintegrate, Hungary was quick to follow Poland's lead and on 23rd October 1989, the 33rd anniversary of the 1956 revolution the communist regime of Hungary was formally abolished and Hungary transitioned to a democracy becoming the Republic of Hungary.

Alex Bishop Guitars - Luthier Extraordinaire /  by rick smee

When I first rang Alex to ask him about the possibility of photographing his guitars and workshop I was expecting a somewhat older and far less hip individual. The quality and craftsmanship that is evident when you see one his guitars belies the reality of this precociously talented young man.

I had little experience of Gypsy jazz but imagined it was a rather austere world, predominantly male and middle-aged.

What struck me about Alex, aside from being not quite as I imagined him to be was that I was always looking to perfect his craft and always looking to experiment with new designs, for someone that can make at most 6 guitars a year, his chosen vocation is one of love rather than material wealth.

Over the next two years, I took guitars lessons from Alex in exchange for photographing him and his guitars. My weekly guitar lesson became almost a therapy session for me and it felt like a 'breakup' when Alex announced he was leaving London and his studio to move west, eventually settling in Bristol.

We've managed to keep in touch and I'm honoured when he asks if I'd be available to photograph his new creations when he visits London.

Sri Lanka - Or why I'm drawn to the sea /  by rick smee

“I need the sea because it teaches me”

― Pablo Neruda

Author Arthur C. Clarke once astutely commented “How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean,” In 1972, the crew of Apollo 17 were some 29,000 Km from Earth when the photo that has since become the most reproduced image, ever was taken. It became known as The Blue Marble.

Water covers more than 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface. There’s something about water that draws, fascinates us, compels us to stare out to sea, to imagine what lies beyond the horizon, to be immersed. It's not too much of a stretch to believe it's a primal urge to return to the womb, the watery environment in which we are immersed for the first nine months of life.

The colour blue is associated with qualities like calm, openness, depth and wisdom. It is overwhelmingly chosen as the favourite colour of people around the world. What happens when our the brain, our most complex organ, meets what can be described as the planet’s largest organ, the Big Blue.

In their quest to locate life on other planets, NASA employs the 'follow the water' strategy. It seems water is the sine qua non of life, the essential condition.

Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard University biologist, naturalist, and entomologist coined the term “biophilia”, in 1984 book of the same name he uses the term to describe his hypothesis that humans have “ingrained” in our DNA an instinctive bond with nature and the living organisms, a love of life and living systems. Just as we intuitively love our mothers, we call out to nature physically, cognitively, and emotionally.

“Yes, as everyone knows, meditation and water are wedded forever.”

― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

In recent times, the concept of “mindfulness” has been fully embraced by the mainstream with the advent of smartphone apps such as 'Headspace'. What was once thought of as a fringe practice of Eastern origin is now recognised as having widespread benefits, today, nirvana is downloadable.

Wallace J. Nichols, a marine biologist, and author of Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do, writes that we all have a "blue mind" , "a mildly meditative state characterised by calm, peacefulness, unity, and a sense of general happiness and satisfaction with life in the moment" a state of mind that while we may not be conscious of it, the ocean is thought to induce a mildly meditative state of calm focus and gentle awareness.

“C’mon in boys, the water is fine”

― Delmar O’Donnell, O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?

It’s very possible that increased consumption of omega-3 oils from eating fish and shellfish played a crucial role in the evolution of the human brain.

The aquatic ape hypothesis first proposed by the marine biologist Alister Hardy and later built upon by Elaine Morgan was much derided when first proposed. However, of late, it has achieved a measure of acceptance and come under some serious scrutiny, as demonstrated by David Attenborough in his 2016 two-part radio programme, 'The Waterside Ape' which included recent discovery of growths in the ear in hominid fossils similar to those found today in the ears of individuals from diving cultures or surfers.

The main claims of the theory at some point in prehistory branch of the line of primitive ancestral apes were forced by competition to leave the trees and feed along the coastline. Searching for oysters, mussels, crabs, crayfish and as a result, spent most of their time wading through water and eventually evolving into bipedalism.

Between 5-7 million years ago there was a divergence between the great apes and hominids, during this time significant differences emerged aside from bipedalism and the increase in brain size. Among them are a hooded nose, which prevents water from entering the nostrils. Hairless skin, with the exception of the head which still needed to be shielded from the sun. Primates such as baboons and vervet monkeys which live on the savanna today, have neither lost their hair nor developed an upright posture.

“Catch a wave, and you’re sitting on top of the world”

― The Beach Boys

Surfing is between me and the water, nothing else. The moment the water encloses me, I am gratefully, alone. In some magical, magnetic way I move in the university of the waves, I need the sea because it teaches me. Who hath desired the Sea? - the sight of salt water unbounded.Her excellent loneliness.

San Sebastian, Anthony Bourdain, and Bar Ganbara /  by rick smee

Walking through the streets of San Sebastian with spring in my step, part hunger, part excitement. I pass wetsuit-clad surfers returning from a sunset session,, I must be nearing Playa dela Zurriola I think to myself, a famous surf spot and city beach in the heart of San Sebastian which at this time of year gets pounded by North Atlantic swells.

It's 8:30 and the bars are already filling up, I'll never know if it was my hunger or my excitement that got the better of me but I found the temptation too much. My mission was to end up at Bar Ganbara, of Anthony Bourdain's favourite haunts when he visits, describing it thus: “it's the first place I head to, like a heat-seeking missile”. Now that's a restaurant recommendation that you struggle to match on Trip Advisor.

I had recently watched an episode of his show, Parts Unknown that was dedicated to San Sebastian and the Basque Culture. Being a short drive from Biarritz, I had visited the city on a few occasions but this time I felt I had insider knowledge, all the guidebooks in the world can offer recommendations but none have the gravitas that comes from Bourdain's seal of approval.

Recently, there has been something of a Basque renaissance, after years of persecution, especially on the Spanish side of the border under the dictator Franco. On the French side of the border, the Basque culture is somewhat assimilated and has come to be regarded as what makes the southwest some unique. In Spain, the difference is more distinct, more pronounced.

As following the wafts sea air I head towards the Zurriola bridge that would take me into the old town an into the heart of has become the San Sebastian Culinary experience. The lure of bar tops laden with prepared 'pintxos' proved to be too tempting, I found myself pressed against the counter of “Bar El Lobo” drinking a beer and ordering a plateful of pintxos hoping that I'm not going to peak too early, I mean who in their right mind eats dinner at such an early hour.

What makes San Sebastian so unique from a culinary perspective is hard to pinpoint, a city in a remote part of western Europe that has more Michelin stars per capita than anywhere else in the world. the answer could be as simple as the use of fresh simple ingredients or the sense adventure that would come up with something so mouth watering as Red Tuna tataki, caramelised onion, with wasabi, crunchy algae and soya. Perhaps after all those years of persecution, the Basque people forced to express their identity in subtle ways threw their energy into their food. Anthony Bourdain went on to extol the virtues of SanSebastian asserting that “ you'd be hard pressed to have a bad meal in the city”, yet, at the same time he urged his viewers not to go there, as he wanted “to keep it all to himself”.

I muscled my way to the front of the bar and the excitement and possibly the alcohol left me tongue-tied I struggled to remember any Spanish and resorted to pointing at various pintxos and saying “este, este, y este, gracias.” At Bar Ganbara you first eat with your eyes and the other senses will follow closely behind, I was beginning to think my eyes were too big for my belly. Enroute to Bar Ganbara I had stopped at a couple notable pintxos bars, Borda Berri was a standout. I gorged my through several plates of pintxos all living up to my high expectations, but nothing could prepare me for what came next. A dish so simple yet so elegant it defies rationale, a little worse for wear from one too many beers but I felt the emotion welling up in me, the thought of Anthony Bourdain describing this as one of his favourite dishes, that and the thought of his untimely death a few months earlier. Quite how a dish of fried mushrooms and topped with a raw egg yolk could reduce a grown man to tears I'll never know but I know it couldn't have happened in any other city.

Alentejo – Alem Tejo /  by rick smee

 

Agricultural heartland of Portugal

Legend has it the name Alentejo came into being when the King of Portugal, Manuel I gifted the intrepid Portuguese explorer, Vasco Da Gama with 'all the lands beyond the Tejo'. Alem – beyond and Tejo being the river Tagus. Whilst, the derivation of the name is correct, the rest, as the saying goes, “one shouldn't let the truth get in the way of a good story”. 
Manuel I did in fact gift Da Gama some territories, firstly, the Alentejo town of Sines, which, it turned out was not his to gift. Eventually, after years of unsuccessfully trying to claim his purse, Da Gama appealed to the king and was made a count, gifting him the villages of Vidigueira and Vila da Frades.

Vidigueira is a small town, practically a village, that even today has a big reputation. Ask any Portuguese person what comes to mind when they are asked about Alentejo it wouldn't be its connection with Vasco Da Gama, invariably it will be wine.  

Less than an hours drive north from landing at Faro airport you enter the agricultural heartland of Portugal. As you head north towards the cities of Beja and the world heritage site that is Evora you pass vineyard after vineyard, interspersed with farmland dotted with cork trees, and the occasional farmhouse (Quinta). 

Vidigueira lies partway between Beja and Evora and its grand reputation comes in part from its association with Da Gama, the locally produced wine bears his name, but also from the status it now holds within the Portuguese wine industry. Its proximity to a disproportionate number of world-class wine producers elevates the status of this sleepy little town. 

One such wine-producer is Quetzal, whose base of operations sits on the outskirts of Vila Da Frades, the neighbouring village to Vidigueira. Quetzal is a firm fixture on what is known as the 'Rotas Das Vinhos', a tour of the vineyards and wine producers of this area of Alentejo. Quetzal is not only a world-class wine producer offering tours and providing fine dining but also boasts an art gallery that houses a privately owned modern art collection of some repute.