Did I mention that I haven’t watched TV in three weeks? I thought I would miss it more than I
do. Of course, I would be lucky to find
a program in English. When I first
arrived and was staying at a hotel, I was able to get one English program on
their TV.
There are 2 TV’s in my apartment, but I can’t get either of
them to work. I’m not sure why, and I
haven’t asked. I’ve been reading a lot,
and I usually have some homework to do at night, plus I’m living in a place
where life on the streets is quite entertaining.
First, there are the musicians that entertain the diners in
the many restaurants in the marina. The
fellow sings at one of the nicer restaurants is really quite good. The water acts as the speaker system, magnifying
every word of the songs he croons. Some
are ala Andrea Bocelli, some are ala Dean Martin. Then there is a father/son act (I
think). The father plays the accordion,
and the son accompanies him on a big hand drum.
They wander from restaurant to restaurant, and after they play two or
three songs, the son circulates around the tables to take up a grateful
collection. This is a picture of them I
took from my balcony.
The father becomes quite animated—really gets into la musica. Last Sunday, they had a third in their
combo. Maybe it was the grandfather—he played
a very sour sounding sax, and I think people must have paid them to go
away. I was about to go down to the
street and offer them 20 euro just to stop, but I didn’t want to hurt the old
guy’s feelings.
And then there are the fireworks. I’m never sure whether they’re connected to
some sort of celebration, or if people here just like them. But there are fireworks displays here two or
three times a week.
This last Sunday, I was resting my injured knee (a story for
another blog entry) and reading, when the church bells next door went crazy
ringing, ringing, ringing. Mind you, I’m
used to hearing them ring every half hour to announce the hour and hour and a
half (e.g. for 8:30 p.m., 8 long loud rings, and a couple of short dings to
signify the passing of 2 quarter hours).
Then at quarter after, one short ding, and at quarter to the hour, 3
short dings. But this was like the bells
went ringing mad. Then I thought I heard
a choir singing. A bit later, I was sure
I heard a band playing, so I limped out to the balcony to see what all the fuss
was about. There was a long procession
making its way along the marina road, led by a group of priests carrying a
large banner, followed by a bunch of regular folk. Then came a priest, maybe a bishop , wearing gold
embroidered vestments and swinging that incense burning thingie, and he was
followed by some men who were carrying a large statue of some
female saint on a platform which was decorated with lots of beautiful
flowers. Behind them was another group of priests carrying a red canopy, and then another gaggle
of regular folk.
They passed from one
end of the marina to the other and then disappeared. I thought they were going up the steps, but I
didn’t see them ascending. Then the
fireworks started, and it was quite a grand display. When the smoke cleared, I saw the procession
coming down the steps (and have no idea how they got in that position) and they
proceeded into the church, with the band playing, and then the
bells went crazy again. And after lots more clanging came lots more fireworks. It was a cacophony.
It was dark, so my pictures didn’t turn out so
well, but here's one where you can see the saint who was
being honored.
And any old day, there are a myriad of tourists wandering
about the marina. They mostly come to
eat, but some come to lay in the sun and swim.
I hear conversations in a multitude of languages. A lot of Germans and Austrian vacation here,
and there are always some Asians around, too.
The noise doesn’t stop until around midnight here, and I’ve
conditioned myself to sleep through it when I need to, but mostly I’m up late
and usually hear the last bell ringing at midnight. Unfortunately, I also usually hear the 5 a.m.
bells. But seriously, who would give up
my view and all this entertainment just to get a little sleep?
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