Reblogged by P. J. Mann - This ghost have a sad story to tell... The Wandering Writer

Here I am once again to tell you about ghosts, the real ghosts. Differently, than those narrated in my latest novel, those have once been living in this Earth, and they died. Nevertheless, they refused to leave for the eternal peace, believing to have still something left undone in this world.

The story I am going to tell you in this weekly post is the one of Guendalina Malatesta, born as the daughter of Ugolinuccio di Montebello and Costanza Malatesta.
The tale says that little Guendalina was born albino around the year 1370. At that time, albinos were considered having the mark of Satan. Fearing the superstition, and the reaction of the people, not to mention the risk for the very lives of those people, they were kept hidden for their whole life. The same happened to Guendalina Malatesta, whose parents tried to keep her away from everyone outside the castle.
The story goes on telling that she was regularly followed by two guards, to avoid that anything happened to her. Despite this, during the summer solstice, the 21st of June 1375, Guendalina was playing with a rag ball together with her two guards. During their play, the ball rolled away, down the stairs that lead to the 'nevaio,' which was an underground storage where the ice was kept to preserve food that was easy to decay (a sort of nowadays fridge).

She followed the ball down to the storage door and disappeared. The guards followed her, but she was never found, not alive or dead. She simply disappeared.
Now, one thing to be noted is that by the popular folklore, the day of the solstice has a powerful magic meaning. It is the day where the doors between the underworld and the real world might be opened and by sacrificing an albino virgin to one or another deity would have granted the members of the sect unusual powers. One of the many superstitions available within humanity...
The most accredited theory is that she might have been abducted with the help of the two guards and sacrificed during one rite.
Some rumors say that she can be heard playing or calling her mother for help, every five years during the summer solstice, but this is something I cannot guarantee.
What I can guarantee is how worthwhile is to pay a visit to the castle of Montebello.
Located close by San Marino between the Marecchia and Uso River in the region of Emilia Romagna in Italy, represent one of the best preserved medieval castles.

Likewise all the fortresses it has a very long and exciting history (ghosts apart). The first construction of the castle is from the Roman age, and it was a square base tower that is nowadays included inside the structure of the castle.
The first documented owner was of the year 1186 when the castle was sold by the family Mataldone to the family of Malatesta.
After this, the castle went through an intense rebuilding particularly concerning the building of the fortified walls, as it was neighbored by the Montefeltro family, ancient enemies of the Malatesta.
In the year 1393, the castle was conquered by the Montefeltro family, but in 1438, Pandolfo Malatesta was able to get it back and owned it until 1464, when the fortress thanks to the intervention of the Pontifical Army, was conquered by the actual owners the counts Guidi di Bagno.
Just like for many other destinations, I cannot tell you how enjoyable is the place and the nature surrounding it. If you are going to visit Italy, you might take your chance and pay a visit to the many castles and particularly to those who have a ghost in it!!
As usual, I wish you an awesome weekend, Stay tuned for new adventures of the Wandering Writer.

May Day in Finland

Finland is a rather small country, with its 5.5 million inhabitants, and 75% of its territory covered by forests.
This small introduction is to say that Mayday, also in a small country like Finland, comes with plenty of celebrations, and it is mostly a day when people gather in the parks for the traditional picnic. It is a family and friends event, and it is the first holiday when the weather is likely to be fair after the long, dark, and cold winter.
What does it actually mean for Finnish people the Labor Day?
Labor Day or 'Vappu' is a holiday that incorporates the workers day, feast of the students that will graduate soon, and a sort of carnival to welcome spring. Now, hold your horses, when you hear the word carnival. Remember we are not in Rio, we are in little Finland, so also the parties are shaped accordingly.
A Finnish twist on the May Day celebrations, developed in the nineteenth century when engineering students would celebrate and party at midnight on the 30th of April while sporting their traditional white caps.

Therefore, nowadays celebrations start the 30th of April officially at 6 pm when the students will gather on the market square of Helsinki, climb to the statue of Havis Amanda washing it before putting the white cap on her head. This is the day when Helsinki is experiencing the full-scale event, and if you wish to check it out, don’t focus your attention only on the Mayday itself.

On the late morning on the 1st of May, students and graduates will then lead a march through Helsinki, ending in large open-air picnics in the parks across the city. Mead and doughnuts are traditional treats on this day.

Having experienced Mayday in a few European cities, I have to admit that the Finnish celebration is something unique, that incorporates much more than the workers day as it is meant internationally, giving the taste of a feast with many flavors, all meant to come together like the waves crashing on a rocky shore: fresh and intense.

Happy Mayday!

Afraid of what?

By Cristina Grau

Puget-Théniers

A few days ago, somebody asked me if I am not afraid of being by myself in the middle of nowhere.

And this is something I get asked often.

Obviously, I am not afraid, otherwise, I would not be living the kind of life I live.

Many people have difficulties understanding my kind of life.

They don’t comprehend how can I stay in people’s houses (housesitting), or stay with people that I never met before (CouchSurfing, workaway, helpx), and not be afraid.

I am not afraid.

What I am afraid of, it is not to live my life to the fullest, not to live the way I want to live and not to do things because I am afraid.

And, afraid of what?

We create the anxiety about something before it happens, and most of the time what we think it’s worse than what it actually is.

One thing I learned during my travels is that most people are nice.

And the people that accept strangers into their homes are open minded people like me. Otherwise, they would not be letting people they never met into their homes. It works both ways.

And if an intruder breaks into the house I am house sitting now, the two westies would run toward the door barking and waving their tails, and go belly up for a scratch. And what intruder in the right mind would resist that and rob me?

Downtown

Downtown

The female westie is alwasy on top of me

Bastille Day celebrations

 by Cristina Grau

View of Paris from the Eiffel Tower

A few days ago we celebrated Bastille Day. 

As I mention in a previous post, I am in the Alps Maritimes, in the middle of nowhere. So, the celebrations here were nothing to talk about. They had nothing in Puget Theniers, which is the closest village to where I am staying. In the next town, they had fireworks, and that was it.

I was fortunate to have been in Paris in 2001 during Bastille Day, and what a great experience that was.

Bastille Day celebrates the uprise of the Parisian people against the monarchy.

Paris was rioting around the Bastille, which is a fortress used as a prison. Parisians had to pay exorbitant taxes, leaving them with no money for food or necessities. well most of the time, they did not even had the money to paid the taxes. They were starving, and they were sick and tire of living that way, and they blamed the monarchy (with good reason) for all their sufferings.

On July 14, 1789, the population was demanding the release of all the prisoners in the Bastille. And a bloody fight resulted in the overthrow of the monarchy. And this was the beginning of the French Revolution. 

And hopefully, you all know what happened to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. They both met their destiny under the guillotine. 

The French revolution lasted until 1799, when Napoleon Bonaparte led a Coup d’État, but that is another story.

In Paris, the celebrations start the night before with fireworks and the ball of the pompiers. = firefighters.

The hostel I was staying is in the Latin quarters, and on the 8^th floor they have a big terrace with a 180° view, from Montparnasse to Montmartre, with the Eiffel Tower right in the center. Obviously, we all watched the fireworks from the terrace. And what a perfect spectacle it was, seeing the Eiffel tower lighted up in red, blue and white, and the display of the fireworks was beautiful.

Every fire department hosts a dance, and it was great, I danced the whole night till 5 am. After the dance, a shower, some breakfast and to attended the parade at 10 am. After that, it was very difficult to decide what to do. They had so many free shows, and they were all great, but I could only go to one, so I choose Swan Lake. And it only took about three hours in line to get a seat.  The ballet was great, even that by then it was difficult to stay awake, but I made it. 

It was a great experience and so much fun. 

After being up for two days partying, I slept all night and all day, but it was worth it. 

Arch of Triumph

 Palace of Versailles

While Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lived in opulence, the country was starving.

Tidbits of history I learned while traveling. #OurAuthorGang

My life consists of gallivanting from one country to another one.  One of the many times I have been in Barcelona, I learned about Gaudi. As his birthday was yesterday, I saw it apropos to write about him.


Yesterday, June 25, we celebrated the birthday of Antoni Gaudi, born in 1852 in (unknown city) Cataluña, Spain.

Gaudi was the son of laborers and as a child lived in Reux, Cataluña.

From an early age, he showed an interest in architecture, but because he was from a poor family he needed to work to pay for his studies.

He was not a good student, his style was different from what the teachers wanted. At his graduation, the professor presenting his diplomas said: “We are in the presence of a genius or a madman”. Actually, he was a little bit of both.

To get the connections needed to acquire the kind of work he wanted, he started to dress well and to patronize the fashionable and high-class establishments of the era.

In one of those outings, he met the very rich Catalan industrialist Eusebi Güell. Whom became his friend and his patron, commissioning many buildings and giving Gaudi carte blanche.

Gaudy only used the best of materials and if he did not like something after it was done, he would knock it down and start from scratch once again and as many times as needed.

Gaudi was eccentric and difficult to work with. He had a vision in his head and he expected everybody to see it as he did.

You can see most of his work all over Barcelona. Whether you like his style or not, you have to admit that he had a great imagination.

He became rich, however, he lived as a pauper. Most of the time he used to live in the places that he worked, as to no waste time coming and going. He used to put a mattress on the floor, have a few necessities and that was it.

The Sagrada Familia was his last work and he knew that he was not going to see it finish. That is why he left many drawings and explanations for the future work of other architects.

What he did not count on, was the civil war. During the war obviously they have to stop work, and the military wanted to destroy the church like they destroyed many other churches. However, the military realized that they could put the canons in the towers and shoot the attackers from there, so, they kept the church. After the civil war, the work on the church resumed.

Gaudi was a very religious man and attended mass twice a day at Sant Felip Neri Church in the Gothic neighborhood.

One day at the age of 74, as he was walking toward the church for his daily Mass and confession, a trolley hit him. The driver pushed the body to the side of the street and left it there because he thought it was a homeless man.

Two people came to his aid, and called a taxi to take him to the hospital, however, the taxi driver refused because he did not want his taxi to get all bloody by a homeless man.

Finally, he was taken to the hospital where he was left in a hallway because he did not have an ID on him, and once again, because by his attire and his poor hygiene, they thought he was homeless.

Not until the next day when everybody was looking for him, the hospital realized who he was.

However, by then it was too late. On June 10, 1926, two days after being admitted to the hospital, he passed away.

The funeral procession was attended by all of Barcelona’s residents and dignitaries.

He is buried in a crypt at the Sagrada Familia.

The Sagrada Familia  And in my humble opinion, it will never be finished, because this way it is unique and a greater tourist attraction.

Park Güell

The devil made me write it. #OurAuthorGang

As a child, I used to love to write.

However, due to the fact that I attended Catholic school, I was not allowed to write what I wanted to write because the nuns did not like what I wrote.

             If they asked us to write an essay about the sky, they wanted us to write something like: the sky is blue and pretty, the clouds are white and fluffy.

             I would write: as the skies turn into different shades of greys, the thunders get louder and louder as the lightning bolts dance in the sky.

             The nuns use to make me read what I wrote in front of the class. They mocked me and made fun of me in front of the whole class because I wrote nonsenses. Because the devil was inside me, making me write dark ugly sentences.

             So, I learned to write: the sky is blue and pretty, the clouds are white and fluffy, and I was praised for finally writing as a good girl should.

             Never again I wrote what I wanted to write. Never again I put down on paper my thoughts or ideas.

If people were laughing at them, why should I write them?

Nobody likes to be ridiculed, especially at our formative years.

             It took me many years to write again. Actually, it took me decades to write again. And some more years, to let somebody see what I wrote.

And now, finally, I am letting the world see what I write.

Yeah!!!

I already publish “Fulfill your dreams” in English and in Spanish “Realiza tus Sueños”.

I will be publishing “Backpacking my style” soon in English and in a not so distant future (hopefully) in Spanish “Mochileando a mi Manera”.

In the meantime, I am blogging about my six months trip through Eastern Asia in my personal blog and about this and that here. Nevertheless, I am sure I will be posting about my travels too.

English

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017DWXLHG

Spanish

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N74LJZB/