TOURIST MARCH-APRIL 2011
Bath
8 Historical Treasure of England.
Text by Lucy Weaver. Photographs by Colin Hawkins
Puerto Rico 14 Enchanted Island.
Text and photographs by Edita Klinkel
Eric Meola 18 Masterpieces of Photographer Eric Meola. Text by Lesya Hoover
Amish 24 Culture, Beliefs and Lifestyle.
Text by Aleksandra Chervinski. Photography by Bill Coleman - internationally acknowledged photographer of the Amish
Colorado 30 A state of Springs and Sunshine
Text and photography by Natalia Fodemski
Excerpt: 32 A True Tale of Faith, Greed and Forgery in the Holy Land By Nina Burleigh - an award-winning author and journalist Unholy Business
PHOTO BY ERIC MEOLA: SHEETS
EDITOR’S NOTE
TOURIST EDITOR-IN-CHIF Lesya Hoover info@touristliving.com
GENERAL MANAGER Anna Blashchishin DESIGN / ART DIRECTOR Valery Samovich design@touristliving.com MARKETING MANAGER Olena Babayan marketing@touristliving.com ADVERTISING MANAGER Larry Blashchishin larry@touristliving.com EDITOR Ana Tsapenko
PHOTO BY FRANK KOVALCHEK: VENICE
“The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” - Saint Augustine
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ur travel modes and preferences vary largely and depend on many circumstances. However, every trip is equally valuable as it recharges our emotions, sweeping away the hassle and monotony of everyday life, and fulfills our need for new experiences and discoveries. Tourist magazine wants to offer you an exciting journey around the world, which is filled with many unique and colorful cultures. We encourage you to take a glimpse into the authentic food, music, language, religion, and the way of life of different peoples. Only by learning more about other cultures you can begin to appreciate the great diversity in our world. However, it is most important to make a positive change in yourself, a change based on your own travel and cultural experiences. As travel is so much more than viewing sites and eating tasty foreign dishes, it is a time to have a fresh look at humanity and its great assortment of ideas and values. For people with inquisitive minds and unbeatable spirits – the world is a place to learn and grow. Let’s travel and read the book of the world we all live in!
Editor-in-Chief Lesya Hoover
TEXT Aleksandra Chervinski Lesya Hoover Edita Klinkel Lucy Weaver Natalia Fodemski Ana Tsapenko PHOTOGRAPHY Eric Meola Bill Coleman Frank Kovalchek Colin Hawkins Natalia Fodemski Address/Postmaster: Tourist Magazine is published bimonthly by Busy Bee Group, Inc. P.O.BOX 915281 Longwood, FL 32791 Subscribers If the Post Office alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligations unless we receive a corrected address within one year. For help on subscription call / write: (407) 703-3397 / info@touristliving.com Printed in USA Advertisers The advertiser assumes sole responsibility for all statements contained in the submitted advertising materials and will protect and indemnify Tourist magazine, its owners, publishers and employees against any and all liability, loss or expense arising out of claims resulting from the publication of the ad by the magazine. © 2011 Tourist Magazine
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BATH 8
NOURISHED BY NATURAL HOT SPRINGS, BATH OFFERS A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE WITH STUNNING ARCHITECTURE, GREAT SHOPPING AND ICONIC ATTRACTIONS.
Сцена из жизни индейцев в парке “Источник молодости“
Бат - один из красивейших городов Англии. Он окружен живописными окрестностями, холмами и зелеными долинами, покрытыми пышной растительностью, и знаменит своими целебными горячими источниками и древнеримскими термами (собственно, и само название переводится с английского как “баня”). Расположен он в 160 километрах к западу от Лондона (полтора часа на поезде от вокзала Паддингтон). Приезжайте в Бат и откройте для себя этот уникальный город, который является одним из самых значительных мировых архитектурных шедевров. Интересно, что Бат – это единственный из римских городов в Англии, который строился не как крепость, а как центр отдыха. Рядом с термальными источниками располагался древний кельтский храм речной богине Сулис (Сулис-Минерва в римской интерпретации), что, по мнению римлян, придавало воде особую целебную силу, поэтому первоначально город назывался Аква Сулис. Но Бат вовсе не похож на музей, это полный жизни современный город, в котором по последнему слову техники возведен оздоровительный курорт с минеральными источниками - единственное в Великобритании место, где можно расслабиться в
естественных термальных водах. Минеральные источники наряду с великолепной архитектурой и прекрасными музеями обеспечиваеют притягательность этого города для туристов, которые приезжают сюда со всего мира. По инициативе ЮНЕСКО город Бат, который принимает посетителей уже более двух тысяч лет, был занесен в список памятников мирового культурного наследия человечества. В городе Бат имеется большое количество прекрасно сохранившихся памятников архитектуры среди них необходимо выделить наиболее примечательные: Королевский полумесяц (Royal Crescent - жилая улица из 30 домов в форме полумесяца), Цирк ( the Circus) и знаменитый мост Палтни-Бридж, построенный в 1773 году. В центре города рядом со старинным аббатством находится знаменитый музей - Римские бани. В месте, где находится единственный в Великобритании горячий источник, римляне, большие любители лечебных вод, построили великолепный замок и банный комплекс, который в настоящее время отреставрирован и представлен в своем первоначальном виде. Вода постоянно наполняет просторный открытый бассейн, ядро комплекса. Вы можете прогуляться здесь по тем самым мостовым, по
TEXT LUCY WEAVER PHOTOGRAPHS BY COLIN HAWKINS
Dip into Bath
and you’ll discover one of the world’s architectural masterpieces. Nestled in a sheltered valley and surrounded by lush countryside, Bath is nourished by natural hot springs – the same thermal spa harnessed by the Romans.
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ar from a museum piece, Bath is a vibrant, modern city, boasting a stunning 21st century spa complex – the only place in the UK where you can relax in natural thermal waters. The baths, together with the city’s fabulous architecture and excellent museums, ensure Bath retains its appeal to visitors across the world. The golden city of Bath has been welcoming visitors for over 2,000 years. Designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, Bath presents some of the finest architectural sights in Europe and when visiting the city architectural highlights such as the Royal Crescent, the Circus and Pulteney Bridge are not to be missed. At the heart of the city next to Bath Abbey is the Roman Baths Museum. Around Britain’s only hot spring, the Romans built a magnificent temple and bathing complex that
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still flows with natural hot water. See the water’s source and walk where Romans walked on the ancient stone pavements around the steaming pool. The extensive ruins and treasures from the spring are beautifully preserved and presented using the best of modern interpretation. Above the Museum you can taste the waters, take a meal and enjoy being serenaded with live classical music in the 18th century Pump Room. Head across the road and you’ll discover the 21st century answer to the Roman Baths: the Thermae Bath Spa. Here, you can bathe in the mineral-rich waters as the Romans and Celts once did thousands of years ago, in a modern spa complex. The Spa’s piece-de-resistance is its roof-top pool – open all year round – with stunning views of the surrounding cityscape. The Spa is affordable and accessible at just £24 for a two-hour session. Pre-bookable treatments are also available including the Spa’s relaxing signature treatment,
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Watsu – the perfect way to unwind! Bath has a wide variety of museums and galleries covering all kinds of subjects that you wouldn’t expect including the Fashion Museum, the American Museum in Britain and the Museum of East Asian Art. There are also lots of attractions dedicated to Bath’s history – look out for the Building of Bath Collection which tells the story of how Bath was designed and built, No. 1 Royal Crescent showing how a townhouse would have looked in its Georgian heyday and the Jane Austen Centre which celebrates Bath’s most famous resident. Yet Bath is not buried in the past! Festivals, theatre and vibrant street entertainment bring life and excitement to this beautiful city. Theatre and festivals will also appeal to international visitors, so the language barrier is not a problem! The well-reputed International Music Festival showcases top musicians from around the globe and the Bath Christmas Market is a delight to behold as well as a great place to shop in the cold, winter months. There is a year-round programme of festivals and events so if you’re visiting the city, check out www.visitbath.co.uk to make sure that you don’t miss anything! WWW.TOURISTLIVING.COM
Bath is also a celebrated shopping centre, with a reputation that goes back to Georgian times. Set within a compact and accessible city centre Bath’s range of specialist and well-known stores leaves shoppers spoilt for choice. The city has a high proportion of independent shops with an excellent choice of boutique, gift and homeware shops. You’ll also find all the usual brand and high street names and the new SouthGate shopping area is a great place to shop till you drop! And if all this leaves you feeling hungry or thirsty there is a mouthwatering selection of restaurants, pubs and tea shops on every street. Try a local delicacy, the Sally Lunn Bun, at the oldest house in Bath, still made to the original secret recipe, or enjoy afternoon tea in the elegant Pump Room. To make the most of Bath, there are guided walking tours, open top bus tours and even balloon flights for a unique view of the city and surrounding countryside! For further information visit the official tourism website: www.visitbath.co.uk or contact Bath Tourist Information Centre for expert advice on +44 844 847 5257.
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Enchanted Island
Puerto Rico 14
THE ISLAND OF PUERTO RICO SEEMS TO SHOW VISITORS THE MANY FACES OF EDEN: OVER 250 MILES OF BEACHES, BEAUTIFUL DRY FORESTS, LUSH TROPICAL JUNGLES AND TOWERING MOUNTAINS. IT’S WORTH THE TRIP JUST TO SEE PUERTO RICO, BUT THERE IS PLENTY TO DO AS WELL.
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TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY EDITA KLINKEL
Puerto Ricans call their country Enchanted Island,
P
and it is a good description of this corner of paradise. Its warm climate all year round, sunny beaches, and wild subtropical nature are a dream for any traveler.
laya de los Piñones is a famous beach area in San Juan that you have to visit to consider your trip complete. You can pig out at one of the numerous fast-food places lining the beach, making it easy for hungry vacationers to indulge in sinful pleasures – oil-fried plantain pastries of many flavors (alcapurias), cod fried in dough (bacalao), and other local delicacies that only Puerto Ricans—and increasing numbers of visitors to their beautiful home country—can relate to. Our hosts in San Juan were a Cuban family who moved to Puerto Rico several years ago. Every morning, we came down for a tiny cup of Café Cubano, sometimes followed by a Cuban sandwich, a true masterpiece put together by the 16
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cook’s experienced hands. Our meals of traditional Cuban and Puerto Rican food would not be complete without flan. I even took a picture of it to remember the recipe: eggs, condensed milk, vanilla – and don’t forget the caramel topping before you shove it in the oven! Do you know what the main feature of the houses in San Juan (the capital) is that you will not see in most places? The bars on the windows. These are part of the landscape and very decorative. Every house has different bar designs. Each pattern is distinct and matches the style of the house as if it were trying to stand out at any cost. But the main purpose of the bars is still very practical – it is the simplest protection against robberies, too common in that part of the island. WWW.TOURISTLIVING.COM
When I saw different patterns on And what a journey that was – through a true jungle, the barred windows, my immediate reclimbing and squeezing between the rocks, sometimes on action was to make a collection of pictures reflecting the genuine art of the all fours, then continuing through lush greenery. bar design, but it got me in the trouble. I was told off and threatened several times, and police were summoned on me, until it finally Lechonera is another local attraction. It is a restaurant dawned on me – the inhabitants of the neighborhood didn’t serving smoked pig on a pit. We drove to the mountain area see the bars as art but as a basic security measure. My picin Guavate to try the best meat ever, as our local hosts had ture-taking was considered a threat to their security systems. promised. And the promise was fulfilled! The meat was Of course, when we started talking on a friendlier note, the carved in front of our eyes with a machete and immediately locals realized they were overdoing it a bit and told me the history and origin of the intricate patterns. All of that happened later, after I proved that I was si, soy una turista de America and not a criminal accomplice. We had the pleasure of being invited to visit a gorgeous mountain villa located in the central part of the island in Villa Alba. There we were given Fourtrax ATVs, which the owners used to drive on mountain terrain to reach their mountain river. The vehicles took us as far as the trunk of a tree lying across the road. It was too big of an obstacle for the small vehicle to conquer, so we had to continue on foot.
But the destination was worth the effort – we arrived at a concealed waterfall, falling into a calm pool at the bottom. We had to crawl under the hanging rock to finally jump into the crystal clear but oh-how-cold water! WWW.TOURISTLIVING.COM
served, still steaming, with several local side dishes–yellow rice, boiled yucca, and local beer. After dinner was party time. Puerto Ricans know how to party! In a small mountain village, we saw rows of open dance floors crammed with people enjoying themselves and having fun. Couples of different ages were dancing their heads off, following energetic Latin music rhythms. Music competing between one dance floor and another created a festive and uplifting mood for the crowds hanging around and watching the dancers. The trip to Puerto Rico was a short detour into the country of small and big wonders, its amazing nature and happy people leaving colorful memories of enjoyable culture.
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Eric Meola
... Eric attempts to highlight the mysteriousness and the preciousness of those last people in our world who believe in a sense of wonder, in magic, mysticism, and the beauty of life. - Robert Marthaller
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Eric Meola has gone to India and photographed every inch of it. He has brought back a vision of color unmatched anywhere on earth. When a master of color photography meets India’s festival of colors, we have the ultimate magical mystery tour! - Pete Turner Eric Meola’s India is a stellar collection of images and a must-have for the coffee table. It offers the reader a rare view of Indian culture filled with emotion, vibrant color and history. With this book, Eric has outdone himself. He has once again produced a book with images that are truly memorable. Eric brings back a collection of images that most photographers would have missed even if they were standing next to him. The composition, color, and graphic appeal are a testament to one of America’s best photographers. This is a must-have book. - Seth Resnick
Eric recalled : “When I went to Burma on this personal assignment right after shooting a big campaign for Johnnie Walker Scotch, I went through a sort of spiritual transformation. I came across this little boy getting his head shaved in the ceremony called Becoming Buddha at the Schwe Dagon Pagoda in downtown Rangoon and it was one of the most incredible things that I have ever seen in my life. Photographing him, getting that image, changed me both spiritually and the way I, as a photographer, saw things visually. I’m not sure that I can really explain how this all happened, but from that point on I just was empowered to walk into those situations and make images. Nothing intimidated me, I didn’t try to steal the images, I didn’t try to force my way into these situations. I was very aware of the personal space of the people that I was photographing, the culture where I was, and the religion. I respected that, and yet somehow I had been given this key to walk into these situations and make these images. It just was all transforming, and it started with being able to photograph that little boy in Burma.” 20
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PEOPLE
PHOTOGRAPHY
“I think probably it was shooting a lot, experimenting a lot, trying blurs, trying multiple exposures, shooting at different times of the day. But ultimately it comes back down to your eye. I was trying to make images that would stop people as they turn the page, whether it was through the use of color or graphics or the subject matter.”
- Eric Meola
PHOTOGRAPH © JOANNA MCCARTHY
Masterpieces of Photographer Eric Meola Text by Lesya Hoover
A
n artist makes an image with paintbrush or pencil, but it is possible, as photographer Eric Meola does, to create art first in one’s imagination, then to click the shutter – and voilà! It’s done! It may sound so easy. But everyone who has seen his photographs realizes that their uniqueness is not just technical; only artistic vision and talent can create a masterpiece. Anybody can take a brush and start painting, but that fact alone won’t make someone Rembrandt or Van Gogh. The same pertains to photography. The camera, no matter how fancy it might be, is just a tool, equivalent to a brush or a pencil. I was lucky to meet Eric Meola in person at Orlando Camera Club. He was speaking about photography with the enthusiasm of a person for whom his craft is not just a career or even a cause, but rather life-fulfilling magic. He spoke with the manner and modesty of a real artistic genius, of someone who loves “the art in himself and not himself in the art.” Eric’s interest in photography started in his childhood. His father was a doctor, who hoped that the son would follow in his footsteps. But when one of his father’s patients, an engineer who loved photography, introduced 13-year-old Eric to photography lab work, the boy’s fate was sealed. He worked hard in a convenience store to earn money so that he could buy photographic equipment. When Eric had saved enough and bought his first camera,
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his dream had come true, and his journey in the world of photography had begun. Of course, Eric also was busy with other things in life. For example, he graduated from Syracuse University and received a degree in English literature, but it didn’t distract him from his passion for photography. He worked as an assistant to famous photographer Pete Turner and tried to learn everything he could from his mentor. After 18 months, Eric opened his own studio and started working for himself. He did editorial work for such magazines as Life, Travel and Leisure, Esquire, and Time. Shooting pictures for Kodak that later were turned into the book Last Places on Earth was Eric’s dream come true. He was able to travel to remote corners of our planet and photograph what he wanted. But for Eric, that was not merely travel, but also a spiritual journey, which the book also turned out to be for him. Eric Meola is very proud of his distinctive abstract photographs which vividly express his unsurpassed understanding of shape, texture, and color, and which influence the viewer’s subconscious emotions. I personally experienced this powerful reaction during Eric’s presentation of his photographs at Orlando Camera Club, which created an unbelievable impression in me. Eric Meola’s photographic masterpieces create various emotions in people, just as classical music does, but they don’t leave anyone indifferent. WWW.TOURISTLIVING.COM
When I look at Eric Meola’s photographs, the energy of his images makes me believe in the inevitable: “Beauty will save the world.”
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AMISH Culture, Beliefs and Lifestyle
TEXT BY ALEKSANDRA CHERVINSKI PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL COLEMAN
internationally acknowledged photographer of the Amish.
www.amishphoto.com
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THERE IS A GROUP OF MORE THAN 200,000 PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES WHOSE WAY OF LIFE IS NOT SO DIFFERENT FROM THAT OF THEIR ANCESTORS.
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hey live completely off the land, use horsedrawn buggies instead of cars, and do not accept those basic electric-powered appliances that we take for granted (TV, radio, telephones etc.) They prefer hard manual labour and simple living to nearly all modern conveniences. The simplicity of these people is wide-ranging, including their clothes: men wear black suits and black hats with beards (no mustache); women’s wardrobes consist of plain dresses, usually dark grey or dark violet and made of thin cloth similar to wool, which are worn with aprons (married women have black aprons while single women usually wear white ones). Suits and dresses are made without a single button, which are considered luxury items. 26
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These unique people are called Amish. Being deeply religious people, the Amish are descendents of Swiss and German Anabaptists who immigrated to the States in the early eighteenth century. They believe in family values and the Bible, and they live by the laws of their ancestors separately from the rest of the world. The simple and peaceful lifestyle of the Amish people is the subject of interest and curiosity. Those who are unfamiliar with the Amish may wonder how they manage to survive in what seem to be such harsh conditions of hard manual labour and seclusion. But the truth is that the Amish not only survive but thrive. Since 1960, the population of Amish people in Pennsylvania has tripled. The Amish are born farmers. They grow all their own food; they make butter, bread, and cheese; and they sell their products at the farmer’s markets of nearby cities. The Amish use only manual labour, whether it’s ploughing, harvesting, milking their cows, or cutting their grass. The Amish also handcraft quilts and wood furniture. Homemade chests, chairs, beds, and rocking chairs are integral parts of their homes. WWW.TOURISTLIVING.COM
Despite their separation from the rest of the world, inside their communities the Amish are very close and are ready to help one another when needed. A good example is barn raising. Neighbors usually work for free, just helping their fellow community members. It is typical for an Amish family to have many children. Their kids do not attend American public schools; they have their own one-room schools, where the children receive an eight-year education. The Amish pay federal taxes but do not pay Social Security taxes, which means they do not receive these benefits; the Amish take care of their seniors and sick people themselves. Young Amish people have the freedom to leave their church or to be baptized and stay in the Amish community. Parents let their teenagers live in the city for several years and make their own decision on whether they want to become members of the Amish church. During that time, young Amish can try everything modern life has to offer. Shunning, or rejection by the family and the loss of family blessings, is something every young Amish person has to WWW.TOURISTLIVING.COM
fear if he or she decides to stay in the outside world. More than 80 percent of young people go back to the Amish community. Church rules called “Ordnung” have to be followed by all members. These rules touch upon most aspects of everyday life.The Amish are not allowed to serve in the Army, to be photographed, to drive cars and fly airplanes, or to own computers, TV sets, radio, watches, or even wedding bands. The Amish are allowed to marry only within their church. This is part of an unwritten moral code that has been passed on from generation to generation. The Amish follow Biblical commandments and laws very strictly. Among the main principles followed by the Amish are forgiveness and nonviolence. Is it easy to forgive a person who badly hurt you? Of course not. Sometimes it’s almost impossible. But the Amish have a different opinion. October 2, 2006: There was no sign of trouble on that beautiful fall day. One could hear only birds signing in the sky and the sounds of the buggies riding from time to time on the village road. Everything seemed peaceful and quiet in TOURIST | MARCH-APRIL 2011
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Lancaster County, Pennsylvania – the Amish country. Suddenly that silence was interrupted by shots fired inside the small wooden Amish school. When policemen entered the schoolhouse, they saw a terrible scene: ten girls from six to thirteen years old had been shot by Charles Roberts, who was also dead; he had killed himself after committing this horrendous crime. Five of the ten victims of violence did not survive. School shootings are not unusual phenomena in the American society, where violence is a fact of everyday life. Yet in the peaceful Amish community it became an unparalleled event, which affected everybody. This incident signified the clash of two civilizations. To be more specific, the modern civilization, which Amish try so hard to avoid, penetrated and struck something dearest to their hearts – their children. Thirty-two-year-old milk truck driver Charles Roberts lived with his family in Nickel Mines Community. He was not Amish but often served several Amish farms in that area, where they started calling him “quiet milkman.” He had a wife and three children. Charles was angry with God. Nine years prior to the shooting, his wife, Amy, gave birth to their first child, a girl they named Elise. But the child survived 28
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for only twenty minutes. Charles Roberts had raged against God since the death of his infant daughter and wanted to get even. On the morning of October 2nd, Charles Roberts said goodbye to his wife and two small children and went to the Amish school, West Nickel Mines School. He ordered teachers and boys to leave the school, tied up ten girls, and started to speak. He apologized for what he was about to do to the girls, but he said, “I’m angry at God, and I need to punish some Christian girls to get even with Him. I’m going to make you pay for my daughter.” Two sisters, Marian and Barbie Fisher, requested that they be shot so that the others might be spared. At approximately 11:07 a.m., Roberts opened fire. After some time, the shooting abruptly stopped: Roberts had committed suicide. Five of the ten victims of violence didn’t survive. The whole country was touched by what had happened to the girls, by this terrible act of violence. But even more shocking was the act of grace and forgiveness on behalf of the Amish community toward the killer’s family. The act of violence brought great suffering to the Amish people but didn’t cause any wrath. There was pain but no WWW.TOURISTLIVING.COM
hatred. When the milkman’s family gathered in his house the next day, their Amish neighbors came in and hugged the father of the criminal and said that they are going to forgive the killer and his family. Almost half of the people at Charles Roberts’ funeral were Amish. Then the Amish invited his family to attend the girls’ funerals. The Amish considered their response typically Christian: love and forgive your enemies. It may be hard to understand these actions of the Amish people. How could one forgive such a horrendous act of violence that had claimed lives of innocent children? Only the Amish faith and beliefs that follow the Christian teachings of love and forgiveness helped them to forgive right away the murderer who—and there is some kind of irony in this—for nine years after his daughter’s own death was feeding his plans for revenge and getting even with God.
of July, 1955, started its history in 1700, when the first European settlers came to Pennsylvania. During the 300 years of its existence, the farm changed hands, but all its residents, Quakers, Mennonites and Amish, operated this farm as a quintessential Pennsylvania German farm.
The Amish Farm & House If you want to spend some time at a picturesque fifteen acre oasis and learn more about Amish history and lifestyle, you should visit The Amish Farm and House in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The farm, which became a museum on the 1st WWW.TOURISTLIVING.COM
Photo© amishfarmandhouse.com You can rest assured that experienced guides will answer all your questions concerning Amish history and lifestyle. http://www.amishfarmandhouse.com TOURIST | MARCH-APRIL 2011 29
A State of Springs and Sunshine
THE BEST OF COLORADO
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY NATALIA FODEMSKI
Located in Southwestern United States, Colorado
is a state unique for its rectangular shape and immensely varied landscape of mountains, plains, mesas, canyons, rivers and plateaus.
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he first thing that comes to mind on hearing about Colorado is the Rocky Mountains, which cover more than sixty percent of the state’s territory. These mountains have exceptionally clean air and water, and delight the curious explorer with clear skies, wildflowers and an overall rich flora and fauna. The development and expansion of Colorado had begun some 140 years ago, influenced greatly by the region’s sunny dry climate, hot springs, mineral underground waters with healing properties and, most importantly, significant gold and silver deposits. In the mid nineteenth century thousands of people came to the almost uninhabited Wild West with the one purpose of getting rich. However, overlooking gold, silver and many other precious materials, Colorado’s land gave its people something that no money could buy — good health and a cure for tuberculosis. Almost 75% of sick people, who came southwest, were able to recover and proceed with living a normal life. Nature itself made them patriots of the Coloradan soil.
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Now this state has a population of almost 5.4 million people. Almost half of the population resides in the state capital, Denver, and its suburbs. Denver is a typical American megapolis with museums, stadiums, theatres, skyscrapers, and entertainment centers. It is home to one of the largest aquatic parks in the USA, and also enclosed huge aquarium, which has the rarest kinds of fish from all corners of the planet. The second half of Colorado’s population is scattered between Colorado Springs, Boulder, Fort Collins, Aspen, Pueblo, Grand Junction, Estes Park, Trinidad, and dozen of smaller towns. Included in the names of many towns of Colorado is the word «springs». There are such names as Colorado Springs, Idaho Springs, Glenwood Springs, Manitou Springs, Pagosa Springs. Tourists often ask where are the springs themselves? In Colorado Springs case you’d have to go to the small town of Manitou Springs. Here you will find the source of these healing waters. The springs were used by local Indian tribes such as the Ute, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Kiowa long before the white settlers came to the region. The word «manitou» WWW.TOURISTLIVING.COM
while time. More than 300,000 people go rafting down the had a meaning among native peoples of North America of the fast Arkansas River every year! That is one popular extreme spiritual healing bubbling water. Therefore the area of Manisport, supported by those who like water and want to receive tou Springs was considered sacred among the Indians. Tribal a healthy portion of adrenaline rush. fights and wars were prohibited on this territory. In Manitou Springs you can feel the true atmosphere of the «Wild West», the sort that we experience through Another sacred Indian territory is Garden films and literature about the times of the Gold Rush and the Western expansion. of the Gods in Colorado Springs. This is a City of Colorado Springs is located sixty one park created by nature and well known for its miles south of Denver, the geographical center of Colorado. The median height of the town is 6100 red and white rocks of unusual shape. feet above sea level. At the end of the nineteenth century this town was nicknamed Little London because of many English patients who had come Colorado is a red state if you look at it from an airplane. seeking a cure from lung diseases. Many of those people settled down in Colorado Springs. You don’t have to be an experienced rock-climber to get to the Modern life in Colorado began in 1871 when General Wiltop of Pikes Peak: all tourists have this unique opportunity. It can be done by car, by train, by bicycle and even on foot. You liam Jackson Palmer founded a town near the picturesque mountain of Pikes Peak with the intention of creating a high can even run to the top if in excellent physical condition. Since 1966 a marathon takes place each year in late summer. Pikes quality resort community. Today we can be sure that Palmer’s dream of creating a «Pearl of American West» has come Peak is the second (after Mount Fuji in Japan) most visited true. mountain in the world with breathtaking panoramic views of On average Colorado gets 320 sunny days a year, which the town and the seemingly endless snowcapped range of the Rocky Mountains. At the foot of the mountain there is is one of the main conditions for a good vacation. Sunny a unique Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. At Cheyenne Mountain, weather allows a variety of outdoor activities: excursions, hikwhere you’ll learn about wildlife in memorable ways, you can ing, mountain skiing, bicycling, rock climbing, fishing, golf, swimming in open mineral pools, bird-watching, photography, feed a giraffe or closely observe grizzly bears or mountain lietc. Just rafting along the winding rivers makes it a worthons. However, all visitors of Colorado Springs can tell you that WWW.TOURISTLIVING.COM
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wild animals such as deer, foxes, coyotes, and even bears and bobcats sometimes walk in the middle of the town and are an integral part of its landscape. Trip to the Royal Gorge Bridge, the highest suspension bridge in the world, should be marked in the plans of any Colorado visitor. This bridge looms at a height of more than 1,000
feet above the Arkansas River. Another wonder of Colorado, the Cave of the Winds is said to be the dwelling place of the Great Spirit of the Wind according to Native American legend. Whether you believe the legend or not, the cave with its stalactites and stalagmites offers an unforgettable geological spectacle, displaying rock formations hundreds of millions years old.
If you want to learn more about Colorado and plan to see this marvelous sunny state, please visit the site of
Colorado Personal Tour Guide: www.costourguide.com. the
We know and love Colorado, and we’ll be happy to show it to you!
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FAUNA
GOLDEN DART FROG
GOLDEN POISON FROG Most Poisonous Animal on Earth
The most poisonous animal is not a snake or a spider. It’s a beautiful little frog called Phyllobates Terribilis (the terrible), the Golden Poison Frog or the Golden Dart Frog. The golden frog is so toxic that even touching it can be dangerous. Terribilis holds the poison Batrachotoxin. A single frog contains enough poison to kill 20,000 mice or 10 people. It is probably the most poisonous animal on Earth. Phyllobates Terribilis is endemic to the Pacific coast of Colombia. The frog’s toxic skin secretions are used by the Embera Indians of the Choco region. The frog is the main source of the poison in the darts used by the natives to hunt their food. Phyllobates terribilis is harmless when raised away from its natural food source. They need a warm, humid environment as they come from one of the world’s most humid rainforests.
PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA
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BOOKS
UNHOLY BUSINESS
UNHOLY BUSINESS:
A TRUE TALE OF FAITH, GREED AND FORGERY IN THE HOLY LAND
by Nina Burleigh
an award-winning author and journalist “Skillfully constructed as a series of narrative vignettes, Unholy Business is indeed reminiscent of a good, if rather dark film Burleigh has a marvelous talent for thumbnail character sketches and many of her protagonists seem to leap off the page... Burleigh... narrates the case of the James ossuary in detail and with a zestful sense of adventure...” – Associated Press Excerpt: ‘Unholy Business’ Chapter One: The Billionaire’s Table Spring 2002 “That’s the stuff that dreams are made of.”Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon
A
Nina Burleigh Photo Credit: Louise Hitchcock 36
TOURIST | MARCH-APRIL 2011
t sunset, the collector and his lucky guests can’t help but notice the primal kaleidoscope in the heavens above the Mediterranean Sea. Three walls of floor-to-ceiling penthouse glass front the westward horizon, and every afternoon, shades of vermillion and violet, pink and indigo streak the sky and sea. Anyone witnessing the celestial display from this vantage point feels enriched, but the old man who owns the view, Shlomo Moussaieff, is in fact one of the world’s richest men. People tell two versions of how Moussaieff made his billions, with a twist depending on whether the teller likes or dislikes the old man. The nice version is that for four decades, he sold pricy jewelry to oil sheiks from a tiny shop on the first floor of London’s glittery Hilton Hotel, and then also knew the prostitutes they employed. The sheiks paid the girls in jewelry because they deemed it more honorable to give their “girlfriends” presents than to pay them hard cash. After these transactions, the unsentimental ladies rode the mirrored and gilt elevators downstairs and sold the jewelry back to Moussaieff, at prices far lower than what the sheiks had paid. Then Moussaieff sold the pieces again at full value. The nastier version of the story, told by men who think the old man has crossed them, is that the jeweler sold the sheiks precious jewelry and then the escorts stole the baubles and brought them back to the shop. At eighty-five, Moussaieff’s labyrinthine life story is WWW.TOURISTLIVING.COM
made up of a thousand and one equally fantastic and unverifiable tales. As he tells it, an abusive rabbi father kicked him onto the streets of 1920s Jerusalem when he was a boy of twelve, so he slept in dank, ancient tombs on the Old City’s edge with homeless Arab urchins, plucking his first Roman-era coins out of that hallowed dirt. He passed his teenage years lice ridden and deprived, sometimes sleeping rough in a synagogue where he overheard and memorized the Talmud, sometimes in an Arabic reform school memorizing the Koran, sometimes in a Christian hospital. After fighting in Europe in World War II, he was briefly jailed by the Allies for attempting to smuggle valuable Judaica from synagogues the Nazis somehow hadn’t plundered. In London a few years later, he began amassing enormous wealth through intimacy with the world’s richest Arab potentates. A stint in the Israeli secret service fits in somewhere. What is certain is that by the 1980s, he had created a colossal fortune from a jewelry business that landed him in the cosmopolitan upper echelon. One of his daughters is married to the president of Iceland. These days, the old man spends less time making money and more time disbursing it to enlarge his vast collection of biblical antiquities. He doesn’t care what people say about him, either. His only interest in life now, besides smoking and flirting, is, he says, “proving the Bible true” — an odd pursuit for an avowedly unreligious man, but an offshoot of an early obsession with finding God. He believes completely in the historical reality of biblical characters, but Yahweh remains beyond his reach. The antiquities inside the Tel Aviv apartment would keep a team of museum curators busy for decades. Among them are a pair of three-foot-high iron lions from what was supposedly Queen of Sheba’s palace in Yemen, chunks of long-demolished Syrian Jewish temples on the walls, whole slabs of Assyrian cuneiform from Iraq, vitrines packed with WWW.TOURISTLIVING.COM
pre-Canaanite pagan cult figurines, intact tile friezes taken from Roman baths in Israel. But these artifacts are only a small sampling of the six hundred thousand Bible-era relics he has collected over the years and which he stores in warehouses in Geneva and in his London townhouse. Almost all of them, he readily admits, were removed illegally from countries of origin. Moussaeiff’s collection, quirks and financial might are well understood among the antiquities traders in Israel. On most nights when Moussaieff is in Tel Aviv, a revolving cast of dealers and collectors drop in to sell, buy or simply sip Diet Coke, enjoy the sunset over the sea and watch the old man in action. His guests may also include socialites, politicians and scholars, attracted by the money, collection and mystique of one of Israel’s most intriguing characters. A dyslexic who can barely read, he is by turns profane and refined. He tells filthy jokes, veers between Hebrew and Arabic as the mood suits him, slyly calls men and women habibi — the Arabic word for sweetie — and will recite, eyes half-closed, bits of Holy Land arcana he has photographically memorized from the Bible and Koran. He can wax at length on the characters whose heads are commemorated on tarnished bits of Roman coins or the significance of clay figurines representing pre-Canaan gods and goddesses.
S
hlomo Moussaieff (born 1922) is an Israeli millionaire of Bukharian Jewish descent who has lived in London since the early 1960s. He is the son of Rehavia Moussaieff, and grandson of Shlomo Moussaieff of Bukhara. He made most of his fortune by selling precious jewelry to international royalty and high society, especially Saudis and Persian Gulf Arab States. He speaks Arabic fluently. The average price of a necklace in his store, located in the Hilton hotel in London’s Mayfair district, is over a million dollars.
-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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