Chained and hooded men

In my previous post I have mentioned my last year’s trip to Corsica. It lasted for three weeks and my camera had time to capture quite a few interesting things.



One of those things was definitely a fact that many locals who take part in religious processions wear different hooded robes. As you can see on the above photo, they remarkably resemble those of the Ku Klux Klan (or more likely it's the other way around).

What is even more interesting is a specific procession held in a town of Sartene.
Held on Good Friday, U Catenacciu, literally meaning "chained one", is a dramatic night-time re-enactment of Christ's walk to Golgotha. The procession is lead by the Grand Penitent, dressed in a hooded red robe and chained at the ankles, who carries a heavy wooden cross through the narrow candlelit streets of la Vieille Ville.

In the past the Grand Penitent was usually an offender, who volunteered for the role. His identity was known only to a local priest. By doing this the poor guy was supposed to pay for his sins.
The whole event could get quite rough - not so much today than in the past. It could include stoning and beating the guy under the red hood. Hardly anyone made it through this without injury, but it seems like there is no record of a death incident.

In spite of those few insignificant matters the very cross and chain on the photo are already reserved until 2040.
Don't hesitate too long and make a reservation today!

Buy a Globe Trekker series DVD video about Corsica

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Hey there, foxy!

And for once I am talking about a four-legged, furry one. ;)



This truly wonderful encounter happened on a roadtrip around Corsica, France. We were just returning from a full of adrenaline, climbing adventure near a little village called Chisa (that's a story for another post I guess), when something jumped in front of the car and into the bushes by the narrow road.
I wasn't sure what it was, but it seemed to me like the little creature has stopped not too far from the side of the road behind some bushes.

My girlfriend was not too excited about stopping, but I decided not to listen to her ("once again", she would probably add).

So I stopped the car by the road just a few meters ahead and turned off the engine.
After a moment of hesitation I grabbed my camera, silently opened the door of our car and stepped out. From there I could finally see what it was. A young fox was observing us from a safe distance. My girlfriend decided to join me and tried to take a couple of photos of the lovely animal.
She has tried, but was not satisfied with the results. The problem was that it was too dark to take photos without the use of flash.
The fox didn't seem to appreciate the flash approach. We thought that it was going to run away, but even a couple of flashes couldn't scare the foxy away. It was obviously just too curious. After every flash it has just retreated for a few steps, but always came back after a while.

Unfortunately the photos were no good. It was too dark and the fox too far away. Hoping for a better photo opportunity, we have decided to lay low for a while.

We didn't have to wait for too long - the fox has decided to cross the road just in front of us. It jumped on a stone wall on the left side of the road and got ready for a photo-shoot. It just stood there and flirted with the camera in the late afternoon sun. If I tried to move closer than 3 meters it would get a bit nervous, but after I took a step back, it was in the relax-mode again.

It took several photos for the fox to get bored and to decide that it's time to move on with her afternoon stroll through the forest.

Only then I have realized that we have been absolutely silent for at least 15 minutes. We sat inside the car for another moment and just tried to exchange our feelings and observations.

As we drove on, we were both just so glad that we took some time to "stop and smell the roses". Nature can just be so beautiful!

And the moral of this story is (there just has to be one - there's a fox involved):

Even when with a girlfriend, it's not always a bad thing to notice a foxy walking by. Sometimes she (the girlfriend, that is) might even appreciate it!

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Another salty one

Quite a few nice photos came out of the trip to Sečovlje saltpans, described in the previous post. I think this is another one worth posting.

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