Jose Rizal the Philippine National hero, spent sometime in Europe.  He even published his last novel in Belgium and the original copy can be found in the museum in Fort Santiago, Manila stating the city where it was published Ghent.

On January 28, 1890, Rizal left Paris for Brussels, Belgium. He lived in a boarding house on 38 Rue Philippe Champagne which was run by two Jaceby sisters.

Here, Rizal was busy writing his second and controversial novel “El Filibusterismo”.

On July 5, 1891, Rizal left Brussels for Ghent a famous university city. He stayed at Ghent because the cost of printing is cheaper. Rizal had limited funds and lived in a cheap boarding house.

After his arrival, Rizal searched for the printing shop that could give him the lowest quotation for the publication of his novel. He found out that F. Meyer-Van Loo Press was willing to print his book on installment basis. He pawned all his jewels to pay the down payment and early partial payments. He had received money from a friend,  Basa and 200 pesos from another for the copies of Morga’s Sucesos which were sold in Manila.

Ventura, his friend  learned of Rizal’s predicament and immediately sent him the necessary funds. With his financial aid, the printing of Fili was resumed. The El Filibusterismo was dedicated to the martyrdom of the Gom-Bur-Za (Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora).

When I had the chance to visit Ghent I tried looking for the place where Rizal stayed.  I was told in the past that it no longer exists but a marker can be found stating that the Philippine National Hero once lived there.

Today it is now occupied by McDonalds.  We passed the place when my friend and I took the horse carriage for a city tour.  Unfortunately, we were so exhausted walking for days so we were not able to go back to take the photo of the marker.

However you can see from the photos below beauty of this medieval city where Rizal once lived.

It was way past noon when we finished our tour of the ruins of Paestum so we hurriedly got out of the site to look for a place to take a fast meal.  We still had to see a lot of places in the Amalfi coast area.

However, we saw this sign on the street and found it amusing then.  We asked our driver why slow food and he said because the they cook the food only when ordered as against the modern fast food.

Little did we know that this was a fast growing movement started by Carlo Petrnini in Italy  as they oppose what fast food is doing to the people - no longer appreciating the meal due to a hurried and  stressful life.

The movement has since expanded globally to over 83,000 members in 122 countries.  I actually just learned about this advocacy two years ago.

We finally found a place still open near the Ruins and the tourist information bureau.

The Basilica Café is named after the Early Christian Basilica (the Church consecrated to the Annunciation Madonna). The Basilica represents one of the most striking Paestum treasures, it is very close to Basilica Café in an enviable position, exactly in the heart of the archaeological area, a few metres far from the excavations entrance and the National Archaeological Museum of Paestum.

I actually kept the napkin of the restaurant (I keep all sorts of souvenirs) so the photo you see is that of the scanned paper napkin.

I cannot forget the pasta we ordered as it was simply excellent!  Although the cafe is also known for its pizza we could not afford the long wait.  I highly recommend this place to anyone who will want to visit the city of Paestum.

During my last trip to south of Italy with my usual travel buddy Bebeth, we wanted to see the ruins of Pompeii and/or Ercolano but being Easter Monday which was a holiday all over Europe, traffic along the Amalfi coast was horrible.

We had to settle for Paestum which was not bad. They say there are less crowds compared to the two bigger preserved city.

Legends tell of the Paestum’s founding by Jason and the Argonauts, but archaeologists, uncomfortable with the stuff of legends, attribute Paestum’s birth to the seventh century Greek colonists.  Paestum was long known as Poseidonia, indicating that the site was once a ceremonial center of Poseidon (The Roman Neptune), the god of the sea.

After paying the entrance fee of Euro 4 ( euro 6 if it includes the museum), we entered the site through an amphitheater which used to sit 2000 people.

Paestum is the home of three huge, elegant, breathtaking Doric-columned Greek temples which they say is the best preserved Greek architecture.

Since it was piercing hot walking around the plain, we  chose to visit the three important temples first.

The Temple of Ceres (Athenaion 500 B.C.) rises on the highest point of the town, since it was dedicated not to Ceres but to Athena, the goddess of wisdom and arts.

The Basilica (Heraion 550 B.C.) is the oldest temple of Paestum.  It was built around 550 B.C. in early Doric style.  It was called “Basilica” by mistake at the end of the 18th century because the archaelogists thought it was a Roman buidling.  For the ancients,  the Basilica was a civil and not a religious building.   Later on however, an altar was discovered near it.  It was situated outside the temple to enable the faithful to attend rites and sacrifices, since they were not allowed inside the temple, which was regarded as sacrosanct, the house of the god.

This altar and the small terracotta statues offered by the faithful to the deity and also found in this place, have allowed the experts to establish tht the so called Basilica is in fact an acient temple dedicated to Hera (Juno), worshipped as the goddess of fertility and motherhood.

The Temple of Poseidon (5th century B.C.) was also dedicated to Hera, a goddess worshipped in the whole area.  It was built around 450 B.C., being contemporary with the Parthenon of Athens.  Its style is similar to the Parthenon which is the classical Doric style.

The Forum (3rd century B.C.) of Paestum is one of the most ancient and interesting rectangular forums of the Roman period.

The Forum is a large square surrounded by porticoes, monuments and buildings, which were very important for the social and commercial life of the town.  It was built probably by the Romans on the very spot of the old Agora, that is the Forum of the Greek town.

The site is relatively small and can be visited in an hour.  It opens 9am and closes one hour before sunset.

Below are some inspiring travel quotes I want to share with my readers.  They are very true and it is wise to heed them during your next trip.

The first one below is a  favorite quotation of mine.  That is why whenever I have the chance and the means, I fly to other places locally or internationally.  No matter how many times I have moved around, I keep learning something new and I believe this is something you can never put a price on.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

Continue reading ‘Inspiring Travel sayings’

I have checked on the three most popular travel communities - Lonely Planet, Frommers, and Trip Advisor.  They all gave different recommendations but most of them are relatively unknown places but perhaps waiting to be discovered by the discerning tourists.

The popular Lonely Planet travel guide yearly published  the “Blue List”  which is sort of a bible of hot destinations.
Continue reading ‘Top Destinations for 2009′

I found a good video on Northcape. My last trip to that “Top of the World” was truly memorable. I posted on this here. While I was surfing, I came across the video below which brought back memories of the midnight sun, reindeers, Sami people, the plateau, and history.

Since I am a lover of old towns and medieval places, Salzburg has always been an old favorite.

You will see in this video from Lonely Planet, many places related to Mozart. From his birthplace to Mozart chocolates to the Seat of the Spirit of Mozart left in memory of the famous composer. Ofcourse there’s more to Salzburg than Mozart such as the modern art museum, film locations from The Sound of Music and ofcourse the cafes and yummy bakeries.