Local legend holds that a man living on an island in Mexico City’s Xochimilco district began hanging dolls around his property as a way of appeasing spirits after finding a dead girl in a canal. The island would gain notoriety as filming location for a popular movie in 1943, and the man would go on … Continue reading The Island of the Dolls
Mexico City sits largely on the former site of a lake that once covered most of the Valley of Mexico. Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, sat on an island in the middle of this lake until it was conquered by the Spaniards, who then set about draining the lake. The Aztec capital became … Continue reading The Canals of Xochimilco
It has been about six months since I visited Mexico City. Since then I have thought a lot about how much the Germans seem to dislike tailors, a profession they apparently thought entirely run by miserable wretches. The German word for tailor, schneider, can be used in idioms such as “er ist ein Schneider” which … Continue reading La Biblioteca Vasconcelos
In the far north of Greece, the old town of Sagiada sits a stone’s throw from the Albanian border on a densely forested hillside. These areas of the country depart quite a bit from from what you might picture when you think of Greece. While the southern parts of Greece are more arid, with scrubby … Continue reading The Ghost Towns of Greece: Sagiada
Several villages across Greece share the name ‘Plagia’, so it would be good to note that the subject of today’s post is now often referred to as Palia Plagia, or Old Plagia. It lies on a ridge, high enough that one gets good views of the seaside town of Lefkada a couple miles west. From … Continue reading The Ghost Towns of Greece: Plagia
To break up the stream of Greek ghost towns on this blog, here’s some other, more random, sights we got to see on our visit. Greece has always been a seafaring nation, and has myriad shipwrecks to show for it. Not far from Athens, the pitched-over hull of the Mediterranean Sky lies a stone’s throw … Continue reading Interlude
The island of Corfu has had a fraught history. Over the centuries, it has changed hands among the Greeks, Venetians, Byzantines, and Ottomans, among others. Its location, in an important sea lane where the Ionian Sea meets the Adriatic, has been a double edged sword. It led to Corfu Town, the island’s biggest city (which … Continue reading The Ghost Towns of Greece: Sinies
In the north of Greece, about ten miles from Mount Olympus, lies a deep, narrow gorge. The steepness of the surrounding hills coupled with the dense vegetation means the gorge receives little sun, especially in the winter. In the early nineteenth century a lumber mill was built here, and a company town sprang up around … Continue reading The Ghost Towns of Greece: Darkness
The jagged ruins of the village of Vathia, on the southernmost reaches of the Peloponnesian peninsula, make for a fierce skyline on a ridge overlooking the Ionian Sea. Its myriad tower houses are a testament to the clan war that raged here for over a century. These stone fortifications offer a glimpse into generations of … Continue reading The Ghost Towns of Greece: Vathia
The island of Corfu is, along with a few tiny satellite islands, both the northernmost and westernmost part of Greece. Somewhat confusingly, its largest settlement is also named Corfu (sometimes termed Corfu Town in order to make the distinction) and lies on the island’s eastern shore, facing the mainland. We spent two nights here, as … Continue reading Greece Part Two: Corfu Town
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