Past Travel Pursuits Trips
2007
The Labyrinth of Solitude –
Yucatan, Mexico
Set between the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula is a region forged by the fusion of Mayan,
traditional Mexican and Spanish influences. We will explore this unique and proud culture through guided and independent
excursions and in-depth discussions of some of Mexico’s most creative literature. In addition to leading our discussions, Toronto novelist Béa Gonzalez will give informal talks on various aspects of Mexican culture and history. Andrew Graham, a knowledgeable and experienced birder, will be on hand to guide birdwatching tours for those who are interested. While there we will also be introduced to all things Yucatecan by our spirited local guide, Braulio Rosales.
Our trip begins in the historic and artistic centre of the beautiful colonial city of Mérida, known as the “cultural capital of the Americas.” From Mérida we will take day trips to the magical town of Izamal and to the estuary at Celestún. We will also be spending one night at the Hacienda Chichen Resort in Chichen Itza where we will tour the spectacular Mayan ruins. In Mérida, we will visit the main attractions, take a Yucatecan cooking class and rejoice in the many cultural offerings of the city.
Mystery & Manners in Savannah – Savannah, Georgia
To read Flannery O’Connor’s fiction is to be amused, provoked, and pushed to reconsider ourselves and our place in the world. A Roman Catholic and a native of Georgia, O’Connor created stories that inimitably blend humour, horror, and the mysteries of faith. While her writing is richly specific, evoking the dusty back roads and quirky characters of the American South, it deals powerfully with universal questions: What does it mean to
be good? How should we live? What is the meaning of death? How can the divine penetrate the everyday world? In her essays, O’Connor delves deeply into the mystery of writing, why people do it, struggle over it and sacrifice so much of themselves for it.
Our base will be Savannah, O’Connor’s birthplace and childhood home. Here we will hold our discussions, visit the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home Foundation and explore this beautiful antebellum city’s striking architecture, laid out around
twenty-four squares. We will travel by private coach to Milledgeville, where we will be received at Andalusia, the O’Connor family farm, by a close personal friend of hers and where we will watch a movie of her short story, “The Displaced Person.”
To Hell and Back with Dante:
The Flowering of the Late Middle
Ages
in Italy
Florence is one of the world’s most beautiful cities, with its domes, towers and frescoed palazzos. The home of Leonardo and Michelangelo, here the Italian Renaissance was born. Yet for many Florentines, the city’s most illustrious son is not an artist,
but a poet: Dante Alighieri.
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi retrovai per una selva oscura
che la diritta via era smarrita.
In the middle of the road of our life
I awoke in a dark wood
where the straight way was lost.
Thus opens The Divine Comedy, an epic journey thorough hell, purgatory, and paradise. Along the way, Dante sees the full range of the human soul, from sin and sorrow to love and wisdom. We will follow this remarkable journey by reading excerpts from the Comedy, which weaves together myth, theology, history, and vivid portraits of Dante’s contemporaries.
Two of his contemporaries, Giotto and St. Francis of Assisi give a fuller picture of Dante’s faith and times. Francis, with his mystical vision, vows of holy poverty, and love for all of God’s creatures, continues to have a profound influence. Giotto, often called the ‘father of Western art,’ painted a series of frescoes that gave visual form to the new humanism of Dante and Francis. With a bold new naturalism he modeled the outer form of men and women to reveal their inner feelings.
We will spend six nights in Florence and four nights in a villa in the surrounding hills. We will be guided on foot through the medieval city Dante might have known and explore Renaissance churches and renowned museums. We will discuss The Divine Comedy and the poetry of St. Francis and Jacopone da Todi. We will make excursions to Assisi, the beautiful hill-town of Francis’ birth, to view Giotto’s frescoes and to talk with the Franciscan friars and sisters, and to Siena to see its magnificent cathedral and civic square. And naturally, we will enjoy fine Tuscan food and wine.
Galicia – A Journey into the Heart of Mystical Spain
In the northwest corner of Spain lies Galicia, a land of mist and green, the end of the world for the Greeks and where Homer thought that the sun completed its circle. This is Celtic Spain, an interior land where myths and poetry abound and one is never too far from a monastery. The continent’s highest cliffs are to be found here, but also the fertile unions of sea and land which are
the rias, remarkable formations where the ocean calms and penetrates inland to bring life. Old prominent hills worn down by erosion abound and lush valleys appear here and there carved out by a thousand rivers. In the remotest spots are the briars, the ancient, mysterious forest.
Galicia is also home to one of the most important pilgrimages of the Catholic Middle Ages – the end of the road along the Milky Way that has as its destination the spectacular Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Along the cobble stone streets of this beautiful city the bagpipes sound out, merging hauntingly with the ringing of church bells.
To help us unearth the mysteries we will be discussing selections from Spain’s best loved mystical poets – St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa de Avila. We will also be reading the poetry of Galicia’s greatest literary luminary, Rosalia de Castro. Together we will visit the Roman cities of Lugo and Orense, the spectacular medieval city of Santiago de Compostela and the town of Ribadavia, whose old Jewish quarter has been declared
a cultural monument. Our lodgings will be in the countryside, surrounded by the natural splendour that makes Galicia so
distinctive. We will be accompanied on our trip by Rob Castle, Cantor at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, who will give short Gregorian recitals and talks about monastic life and history.
The American Southwest: The Power of Place - Santa Fe, New Mexico
Discover the power landscape has on how its inhabitants live, think and see the world in Santa Fe, America’s oldest capital city: a city whose beautiful, brown adobe architecture blends with the high desert terrain and whose great art and culinary tradition are recognized world-wide.
We will discuss the epic novel, Angle of Repose, in which Wallace Stegner exposed the myth of America’s West as a land of golden opportunity and fearless cowboys. The landscape becomes a character in its own right, deserving of fear and respect, and forcing its will on the people who carve their homes out of its resistant rock and soil.
One morning we will visit Stan and Rosemary Crawford, founders of the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market and garlic farmers, at their home in rural Dixon. They will tell us about how their environment colours their lives, including how their neighbours conserve and share scarce water. In the afternoon, we will travel along the scenic Taos High Road to the tiny old Spanish village of Chimayo, where we will be guided by local novelist and photographer, Don Usner, through the Santuario, a legendary church thought to have healing powers, and thence to the workshop of award-winning traditional rug weavers, Irvin and Lisa Trujillo. Another day, we will pay a visit to a local pueblo and then drive on to Abiquiú where we will tour the high desert home of Georgia O’Keeffe and behold her beloved painted landscape of dramatically coloured, enormous cliffs and hills.
Fall is a perfect time to come to New Mexico. The whispering aspens turn the mountains gold and the air is sunny, clear and crisp. There will be ample unscheduled time to wander through the back streets, the public squares and the many museums and galleries.
2006
Vive le Québec Libre!
“Je me souviens”
For 400 years, the sun has risen and set over the cradle of French North America – Quebec City. This historical city is the only urban area in North America to be added to the prestigious list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Our aim is to slip into the sabots (traditional wooden clogs) of French Quebecers and come to understand better how they see themselves and the vast English world that surrounds them. We will discover the emotional meaning of the motto appearing on Quebec license plates, "je me souviens" (I remember). And we will eat fabulously well.
We will explore the vast impact on Quebec society of the "Quiet Revolution" The Quiet Revolution is the name given to a period of Québec history extending from 1960 to 1966, a period of intense social change, of modernization and of a profound redefinition of the role of Quebec and French Canadians within Confederation.
One of the most important books to come out of Quebec, Thirty Acres traces the course of one man's life as he enters into the age-old rhythms of the land and of the seasons. At the same time, it is a novel on a grand social scale, spanning and documenting the tumultuous half-century in which a new, industrial urban society crowded out Quebec's traditional rural one.
A landmark of nationalist fiction, Hugh MacLennan's Two Solitudes is the story of two races within one nation, each with its own legend and ideas of what a nation should be. In his vivid portrayals of human drama in prewar Québec, MacLennan focuses on two individuals whose love increases the prejudices that surround them until they discover that "love consists in this, that two solitudes protect, and touch and greet each other."
Quebec physician-writer, Jacques Ferron was a fabulous storyteller. Two decades after his death, Dr. Ferron's voluminous body of writing, much of it based on his experiences as a rural family doctor, continues to amuse and bemuse. "He was very imaginative and a very good observer of people, life and society. He was also very engaged socially, and he had something to say about almost everything, from Quebec nationalism, which was one of his major preoccupations, to medicine and education.
The Other Poland – Krakow
A land of imagination and longing
Poland is a country of contradictions. Oppressed by just about every neighbor from Nazi Germany to the USSR/Russia, many in the West associate Poland only with a dark and tragic history. Perhaps this history provided the seeds of Poland’s rich tradition of literary, musical, and artistic expression. The miracle years following the implosion of the Soviet Union in 1989 signaled a new awakening for this former Soviet satellite and a new and spirited flourishing of creative culture.
The ancient city of Krakow, founded over a thousand years ago, is a wonderful place to consider the imaginative expression of the Other Poland. This beautiful city represents much of the historical, cultural, and intellectual heart of the nation. Krakow escaped destruction during the Second World War, making it possible to walk and marvel in a city where the stones truly tell the stories of its past. Krakow’s wonderful museums and living history are complemented by a vibrant café life and a multitude of summer festivals. Other areas of Krakow hold painful memories: Spielberg shot Schindler’s List on location in the original Jewish part of the town, Kazimierz.
Through the works of outstanding 20th-century Polish poets (Milosz, Rozewicz, Zagajewski, and Szymborska), novelists (Hanna Krall), filmmakers (Zanussi, Wajda, and Kieslowski), composers (Gorecki, Penderecki, and Preisner), and graphic artists (Nowosielski, Wyspianski, Lenica, and Rybczynski) we will acquaint ourselves with the Other Poland.
A Piece of the Rock
Literary Newfoundland
Tiny Quirpon Island, one of “the world's most secluded destinations” according to the London Sunday Times, affords you the opportunity to be at home with whales, icebergs, the sea and your self. As North America meets the Atlantic Ocean, at the northernmost point in Newfoundland, overlooking the Viking site of L'Anse aux Meadows, meet with your only (human) neighbors to discuss two novels of Newfoundland. Experience the importance of remoteness on the culture of Newfoundland at one of its most beautiful and solitary spots. The Quirpon Lighthouse Inn is a superb location for iceberg viewing and whale watching, a place to slow down in the (nearly) midnight sun of the summer solstice, at the edge of the world.
Several thousand of the icebergs produced by the Greenland ice cap reach the Newfoundland waters each year, starting in the north at Quirpon Island, known as “Iceberg Alley.” June is considered the best month for iceberg viewing. The ice that makes up an iceberg is believed to be at least 12,000 years old.
Many bird and whale species spend considerable time around the tip of the Northern Peninsula near Quirpon Island. Humpbacks are very common and favourites of viewers due to their spectacular tail displays. Minke are also plentiful and other species such as Orca and Right whales visit these waters. Boats, kayaks and the Lighthouse itself offer excellent opportunities to spot the whales. With the right light you can actually look down through the water and see the Humpbacks as they swim by and feed at your feet. Many days it is quiet enough to read in the new indoor whale watching station and still hear the whales as they surface.
2005
Irish Literary Genius
ReJoyce! in urbane Dublin; Yeats and Synge on the wild and mystical Aran Islands
We will focus much of our attention while in urbane Dublin on James Joyce, arguably the 20th century’s most influential novelist. We will discuss Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and “The Dead” from Dubliners. And we will not be able to resist Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest. We will take full advantage of Bloomsday, a kind of literary Holyday celebrated around the world, and especially in Dublin. It is a celebration of James Joyce’s novel Ulysses, in which Leopold Bloom, a Dublin Jew, goes about his life in the city of Dublin on June 16, 1904. We will hang out with local actors, writers, and musicians.
During the second week we will decamp to the wildly beautiful and mystical Aran Islands, where we will make our home in Kilronan village, right beside the pubs and the shops and the music sessions. We will spend the week discussing and reading aloud the poetry and plays of some of Ireland’s best, especially those with a special affinity for the West, e.g., W.B. Yeats, John Millington Synge, and Martin McDonough.
On Persephone’s Island – Sicily
A place apart
Our group will convene in Rome for the first night and then travel together by air Palermo. For five days we will be based in Palermo, the resurgent capital city of Sicily that combines the Baroque, Arabic, and Byzantine within a warren of medieval streets and ancient marketplaces. From Palermo, we will make the short excursion to the extraordinary medieval mosaics at Monreale, a fitting tribute to the accomplishments of the Norman conquest. The second leg of the journey will be by private coach to the medieval mountaintop town of Erice, a place imbued with mythological associations, and an ancient site dedicated to Venus. In this western part of Sicily, we will visit one of the world’s most perfectly preserved Greek temples at Segesta and the old world city of Trapani with it's Graeco-Arabic roots, and world-famous salt flats. We will then decamp to the Ionian Sea coast town of Siracusa (ancient Athen’s great rival, Syracuse) for our remaining five days in Sicily. Our route to Siracuse by private coach we will allow us to tour the breathtaking Greek temples of Agrigento and dine in the sparkling baroque city of Ragusa Ibla. Siracusa, settled by early Greek colonists in 733 BC, is the Sicilian city best manifesting a visible continuity with its ancient Greek past, both in historical and mythological terms. From Siracusa, we will make a special excursion to the honey-coloured tuffa built town of Noto, completely reconstructed after one of Sicily’s many devastating earthquakes and now a treasure trove of baroque architectural stylings. We will also allow time for optional day trips to such marvels as Mount Etna, the famed Taormina and the splendid Roman mosaics of the Villa Imperiale del Casale. We will return to Rome by air from Catania for our last night together with a farewell dinner.
2004
The Glory that was Rome
Look at the architecture of almost any city hall, trace the
roots of innumerable English words, consider the structure
of our legislative bodies and legal codes, and you will find
the Romans.
From obscure beginnings as a small local community in central
Italy, by the first century BCE the Romans had reached a political crisis the outcome of which would profoundly shape all
subsequent Western history. Join us for two glorious weeks
while we explore together this era, both through the words of
the Roman writers who most deeply understood their world,
and through the architecture and landscapes where they vividly
left their mark.
We will make full use of splendid resources, fully alive and long
dead, to appreciate the Rome's political, military and cultural
legacy and to understand what can go wrong with progressive
programs when a people who fail to rule themselves become
the willing subjects of a man with an army.
The Elixir of Andalucia
Long considered the heart of Spain, Andalucia is the region
that has provided the world with the most potent symbols
associated with the country - bullfighting, flamenco dancing,
olive groves and the white villages that lie there still untouched
by time.
Successive invaders, including the Phoenicians, Romans, Visigoths and Moors, have all left their indelible mark. Although the Christian rulers of Spain ejected both Jews and Moors from their kingdom, they could not remove their influences on
the country – let alone on Andalusia. Centuries of Moorish occupation and the inevitable mingling of blood have created a race and culture different from any in Europe.
You will find abundant physical evidence of the Moorish legacy,
in the splendour of the Alhambra in Granada and the
Mezquita in Córdoba, and in ruined fortresses and elaborate
tile work. Andalusia was also an important center of Jewish culture, with significant settlements in Seville, Granada, and
Córdoba, the birthplace of Maimonides, and home to the
country's second oldest synagogue.
No writer has plumbed the depths of Andalucia more profoundly
than the twentieth-century poet, Federico García Lorca. Fascinated from an early age by Andalucia’s mixed heritage, he adapted its ancient folk songs, ballads, lullabies, and
flamenco music into his poems and plays. His tragic death in
the early days of the Spanish Civil War marks a turning point
for the nation itself.
Join us for ten intoxicating days as we focus on several of the
ingredients that make up the unique Elixir of Andalucia.
