II : XVI - XXI Of the Sea and the Moon

Before commercial airlines were invented, there's only one way daredevils go exploring the world: hit the wave and go to uncharted waters. It hasn't been long since human being finally grasped the whole scope of our planet, if you think about it. For the most part of our race's time on earth, we've just been satisfied with the comfort of ignorance. However, once you tasted the sweetness of adventures, there's no turing back. 

Harold, for one, is cutting himself loose from all his past attachments, moving on to the next destination. Of course, it's easier to leave a place that had depressed him so much: Greece, was like a tomb of a civilization, a shell of what used to be so vivacious and rich.

Between 1809-1810, Lord Byron went back and forth from Greece (the general Mediterranean area) to Turkey (especially Constantinople, Troy, etc.) 

He visited important geographical marks in Odyssey and Iliad during that time including Ithaca, Odysseus' home, Athens, Troy, spending long bulks of time in that area, while writing the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. 

The imageries in Canto the Second were, of course, fresh and vivid. 

The ocean possesses something entirely inexplicable to our logical minds. It pulls you in and calms you down even when you see those fierce waves and hear those restless howls. It's as though a kind of subliminal siren song draws you close to the heart of the ocean. There's no way to escape it once you're intoxicated by the salty wind. 

The "dark, blue sea" has been a constant motif in Lord Byron's poetry. Having spend so much time abroad and about, it's understandable that the ever-changing climes at the sea would inspire the romantic poet. In stanza XVII, the ocean presents itself as a peaceful and vast sight in front of Childe Harold's eyes, filled with spirit. The sea is an interesting symbol, for it represent different things for different people. Byron, for instance, was an individual who's saturated with knowledge of history, hence the ocean to him became more than just a body water, but rather a mote of memories that connects the past and the presents. Here's another poem about the ocean:

The Dark, Blue Sea
by Lord Byron
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,There is a rapture on the lonely shore,There is society where none intrudes,By the deep sea, and music in its roar:I love not man the less, but nature more,From these our interviews, in which I stealFrom all I may be, or have been before,To mingle with the universe, and feelWhat I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.-
Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean-roll!Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;

Read the rest of the poem here, and the attached video provides you with a narrative perspective of the literature. This poem, to me is almost an expansion and a microscopic view of a small segment of "Childe Harold".

Let your mind race when facing the dark, blue sea...

you wouldn't be able to resist it.

The structure of a ship crew, called warlike here by Byron, to me is more like a corporation. You have the Captain who commands the executive decisions like a CEO; you have the experienced boatswain who functions as the maintenance head; and you have the mate who would be more similar than you think to a modern day PR department, overlooking crisis and figuring out how to solve all kinds of problems.

It takes a lot of will power and the calmest personality to be a captain, for he is responsible for the well being of the entire crew, just like what a good CEO of the company would be. He would be the one to blame for the crisis and the last one to loose up. Recently I heard the story of the captain of a ship that went on an exploration voyage to the north pole. A man of few words, the captain revealed in front of the journalist that he's accustomed to danger and accepted the fact that you have to be ready to yield to the power of nature at any time.

The sea is also a provider of neutral environments where people can forget about all the daily nuisances. Maybe that's why we still go on cruises although many a times those voyages prove to be the opposite of what the advertising says. Of course, it depends on what you ask for in the first place. Personally I've always had this fantasy of going sailing at the sea and see all the different colours of the water and all the different shapes of clouds. You get what you sign up for...minus the romanticized part. 

The brine consumes it all. 

The flow of your thoughts stirs into the unknown. 

The process is irreversible. 

The other universal motif that fascinates people across time and space is, if you still haven't guessed it yet, the moon. Every single poet, visual artist, singer as far as I know, regardless of age, cultural background, gender or race, has used the ethereal being, the moon, as a subject and a muse. Chinese poet Li Bai in Tang Dynasty would look up the sky with his drunken eyes, inviting the moon and his own shadow for another round. It's a whimsical sight, incredibly zen.

There are endless tales about the origin of moon and fascinating lores explaining the man in the moon, or in my case, I grew up knowing that the goddess Chang Eh took a leap of faith in her desire of coming immortal, left her home and her husband, and took residence in the palace of the moon. There's a white rabbit and a flowering three there to keep her company. The moon has always been a place of solitude and self reflection for philosophers throughout history. Since man's first step onto the surface of moon, we already know that it's a barren satellite planet of the earth, tucking and pulling the tides being one of her functions; yet we still enjoy fantastical stories with no scientific basis about the moon. Why? Because the moon we talk about in stories is more than a boring astronomical being, but a symbol that connects humanity and makes us one.

Here's a modern rendition by Pigpen Theatre Co. telling the tale of how the moon changes shape. A story of the steward of the moon with shadow puppetry in digital animation...the cutting edge modern and the traditional, the handicraftsman and the digital editing, you can't get more integrated than that!

I : XCIII A Wrap! To Be Continued...

The first part of Childe Harold's expedition wasn't the most uplifting and cheerful one. Many a place has he been to and many a sorrowful history has he recognized. Let us now pause and think about what we have seen through Harold's eyes: the flame of war, the love of people who love their countries and fought for their family, the beautiful and brutal culture in different corners of the world, and the equally beautiful living people everywhere. 

It's equally easy to destroy them all with just a little bit too much desire for power. Freedom comes with a great cost, but once you give the idea to the well deserving people, they will fight for it til the end.

It was certain that the poem will stir up some turbulence in the London society, especially since the war had still been going on when Byron sent this first canto to Dallas, his publisher at the time. Not the most patriotic piece of literature for an Englishman to be sure. Of course, the flourishing words and exotic scenes with such detailed descriptions in the poem helped to ease the controversy and tension.

Since this is a wrap for Canto the First of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, shall we recount the top 5 important characters in Byron's life that got included in this poem?

1. His mother Catherine Byron 
2. His Half sister Augusta Leigh 
3. His page Rushton 
4. His valet Fletcher 
5. His best friend John Cam Hobhouse

Catherine Byron: The Idiotic Mother of The Poet

All teenagers throughout the entire universe who had a mother would understand this: Byron had an intense and interesting relationship with his mother, a plain, ignorant heiress who didn't know anything about raising a child or how to give him proper education. It was Byron himself who demanded to go to study, interesting after a tutor from America, or as he said, he would become a "dunce". His mother got a temper: sometimes shower her little boy with kisses, while at other times with scathing and pointless screaming. She had also been a fury and gave Byron much embarrassment at Harrow.

Still, Byron was devastated when she eventually died before the two of them meet again, right around the time Byron returned to England after the first voyage oversea. He wept and stayed at her bedside and called her his only friend. He was exaggerating about the only friend but...losing his closest, possibly only relative that had been in his life all his childhood was some kind of viscous experience for a twenty something young man.

Augusta Leigh: The Lovely Half Sister That Got Maybe A Little Too Close

George and Augusta didn't grow up together. Augusta was several years senior of George, being the laughter of "Mad Jack" Byron's daughter from his previous marriage. The siblings loved each other and the relationship went beyond the kind of intimacy between a brother and a sister. It's no longer certain whether the rumored illegitimate daughter Medora and really been Byron's or not, but Augusta had definitely been one of Byron's dearly beloved.

Rushton: The Page and The Boxing Buddy

Early in the canto a little page was mentioned. Rushton was Byron's boxing buddy aside from his usual page duties. Although lame, the poet was an excellent sportsman in several fields including boxing and cricket.

Fletcher: The Typical Loyal English Valet Who Got Grumpy at Sea 

Fletcher had a simple life before beging "forced" onboard with his master. He was a most loyal valet, although not happy about having to leave his wife and English beer behind. He was one of the few who stayed by Byron's side until the very end, as the travelling companions often change from time to time.

John Cam Hobhouse: The Travelling Companion and "Balancing Wheel" in Byron's Life

John Cam Hobhouse, one of the quartet from Cambridge. Davies, Matthews, Hobhouse and Byron were college buddies who were all into poetry. Later on Davies' gambling habit eventually caused his deportation, Matthews, an open homosexual which was quite uncommon in early 19th century even in the high society, drowned while swimming in River Cam three days after Byron's mother died. Hobhouse was the only conscientious one and ended up in Parliament. The moral of the story? You choose your own path, and getting in a good college doesn't mean you're set for life.

In the following Cantos there will be more characters from Byron's life: just like all the writers ever, he's got the habit of making parodies of real people in his literature, the best known example being making his wife Annabella Milbanke the mother of his later literary hero Don Juan.

I : LXXXIX - XCII Spain: A History of Violence

The Spaniards, the French and the Dutch all helped America during the Revolutionary War. On the 3rd of Sep. 1783, The Treaty of Paris ended the tedious war that crossed several continents and prolonged for almost a decade after United States had already declared its independence on 4th of July, 1776, the glorious date that you're supposed to remember as long as you're a citizen of planet earth and believe in liberty of humanity. Anyway, it almost seemed to me that the American Revolutionary War inspired the French Revolution, which broke out as early as in 1791, although most of us attributed the year of 1793 of more importance during the progress of the war, during which a young Napoleon Bonaparte proved his worth for the first time. 

Everything that happened was connected, dare I say, especially since the world is getting smaller as men's ambition and thirst for power grows infinitely bigger, and of course, communication is made more convenient. The rise of Lady Liberty indubitably influenced the entirety of western civilization. (The statue physically rose in 1886 but since it's commemorating 1776 in the first place, let's pretend that Lady Liberty had already been there in spirit.)

A modern personification of United States (Columbia) during WWI 

Columbia had been the name for a land with which we associate freedom, after the guy who discovered her of course, Christopher Columbus, whose accomplishment initiated the Spanish colonization of the new world. 

So why is that part of the history relevant to our subject of discussion now? Obviously there's the connection of the Spanish Empire, but it's far more than just a name. The War of Pyrenees, or better known as the Great War, pitted the first coalition during the French Revolutionary Wars. After the initial outbreak in January, France got in full on attack mode and in two months' time, decided to break up with her long-term-ally Spain. Spain was miserably defeated. 

Francisco Pizarro

There's almost a bitterness in the poet's tone. Francisco, Gonzalo, Juan and Hernando, those are the names of the Pizarro brothers, their reign in Peru was quite short (1531-1538) but still a major part in the Spanish conquest of the new world, Quito (The Royal Audience of Quito) being a part of it, was established in 1563, ruling most parts of Ecuador, northern Peru, southern Columbia and some part of Brazil. 

And now? Spain is under attack! It's all cause and effect says the poet. 

There are three major battles mentioned in Stanza 90, all of which violent and none can draw a conclusion to the never-ending conflicts. Wellesley gradually becomes a name almost as big as Napoleon, who would eventually defeat the legendary French modern Achilles, Byron's personal hero.

• Battle of Talavera Think France, Spain and Britain as three gambler in Vegas. No matter what the statistics say in  the end, the biggest winner will always, did I say ALWAYS, be the house. Death was hosting the game this time, seizing his prize from all sides, with France losing the most at the battle of Talavera. Previously I mentioned this battle in The Inglorious Three, with Byron's descriptive and heart wrenching stanzas (around XLI) telling the tale of devastation.

• Battle of Barrossa This was a pointless one: that day in March 1811, the ally of Britain, Portugal and Spain trying to lift the siege of Cadiz against France and the battle of Barrossa broke. Technically they won, according to numbers and what not, but Cadiz remained under French control until more than a year later. French Marshal Claude Victor was even able to bargain a partial victory. Of course in war if the two sides both won it also meant that they both lost. Again, the grave played the house.

• Battle of Albuera Elaborated in stanza XLIII, (again, reference The Inglorious Three) the battle of Albuera was called the bloodiest of all during Peninsular War. Not only did it fail to lift the siege of Badajoz, it wounded the relationship between Spain and Britain, for it was said that Britain didn't play hard enough.

Marshal Claude Victor

All those struggles and all those lives lost, sill Spain didn't get her freedom and peace. It's such a tiresome and emotionally draining thing to do looking at the timeline of the war, for you see how people just so too far and plant so many seeds of evil over something rather trivial.

It is very hard to look at things the same way again after you've read lots about history. Sometimes, most of the time, we repeat the same mistakes our ancestors did. All the lost glory of past civilization was the cost of a transient vanity.

For Childe Harold, this has been a trip of personal growth. At this point, the boy who lamented the fall of his family estate is thinking about something much bigger. When you've climbed mountains and watched the rise and fall of nations, you would start to realize the frivolity of what you thought you held so dear.

I : LXXXV - LXXXVIII Blindly, They Fought On

On 5th of Feb. 1810, the French started bombarding Cadiz and the Siege of Cadiz continued until 24th of Aug. 1812. The fortification of this port city proved to be so strong. Those walls seemed to be invincible! Surrounded by three arm forces, Cadiz stood still, or at least, she held on for a long time. The French almost lost hope of ever taking this place. 

Map of Cadiz in 1813.

"War even to the knife!" A common mistranslation of the laconic phrase "guerra y cuchillo", General Palafox's respond to French invaders' demand during the brutal second siege of Saragossa "paz y capitulacion"(peace ans surrender). The phrase actually meant, concisely, "war and knife", the point being, they will defend till the last drop of blood. 

General Palafox painted by Goya

It was uneasy for the allied force to lift the siege, as the British didn't quite trust the Spanish. Of course, the Spanish didn't give up, hence winning Byron's high regards here. 

There's again, a time lapse in the mentioned events here. The author explored the city of Cadiz in 1809 when he witnessed the unforgettable bullfight. The siege happened a year after, and didn't commence until after the poem was published. When he was drafting the first canto of Childe Harold, Byron would have known about the struggle and hold-off between Anglo-Spanish defense and French assailers in the city of Cadiz. The ruthless fight between the noble looking matadors and the enslaved beast, is definitely similar to the people of Spain who's in a rather similar situation. 

Since his youthful years spent riding pony and reading a formidable amount of books in Aberdeen, Byron had been drawn to history. Of course, his lament on people's lack of perspective wouldn't make too much sense to those Spaniards in trouble. They couldn't do anything but picking up their knives and protect their families. No matter what era it is, war never ceases to cause unnecessary deaths. It's a vicious cycle that most of us just refuse to admit. 

The reality is, the human race is not very responsible when we take actions. The savage acts of destruction and barbarism leaves us barren lands, and a dejected sight of mortifying remains of our own kind. So many times have people of enlightenment stood and sigh in front of ruins of past generations, yet the more important question is: how do we break this behavior pattern?

I : LXXXI - LXXXIV When You're Engulfed in the Fire of Jealousy

Mozart's Magic Flute premiered on the 30th of September 1791, two months before the sorrowful early passing of the legendary musical prodigy. "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" (Hell's Vengeance Boils in My Heart), was the Königin der Nacht, or Queen of the Night's second aria. The ultimate archetype of "the lady engulfed in the flame of jealousy". Get a taste of the song here:

part of the sheet music from the opera

Queen of the Night played by Diana Damrau

Jealousy is that green-coloured devil who stirs up trouble and enjoys his destruction. The other Queen who had been famous for her jealousy was Hera, or Juno (depending on if you prefer the Greek way or the Roman). Her flame of jealousy ignited oh so many historical events, mostly saturated with blood and deaths: the exile of Europa, the fall of Troy, the terrible fate Aeneid had through, so on so forth.

Jupiter and Juno (Hera) by Annibale Carracci.

Lethe, one of the five rivers of the Underworld, is said to be the river of oblivion. You're supposed to drink it as you cross over to the other side, after which you forget everything about your earthly life. Our young traveler here is certainly going through some coming-of-age-aching. The scenes he's been exposed to, the events that have been exploding around him have all contributed his rapid emotional growth. He's no longer that lad whose main focus in life had been the tenderness of love. And he has also realized the danger of love. Indeed love many a time is related to jealousy, which is quite the root of most crimes, if you think about it! Now, I suppose the Cupid the cherubic angel will never seem the same to you, although he was a victim of jealousy himself, when Hera disapproved and got outraged by his love affair with Psyche.

Byron's The Girl of Cadiz might best demonstrate his impression of the women in this Spanish city of passion. It is said that the poet had the briefest encounter with a beautiful daughter of an Admiral, yet thanks to the rigid schedule he didn't hold a chance in developing any sort of relationship with her.

Harold's experience in Cadiz reminded me of the Kubler-Ross model, or, the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance. The model couldn't perfectly fit describing someone as emotionally enriched as our poet himself, but we can definitely see a soup of sensitive experience between the lines, especially the last two stages. 

He's almost ready to forget, to give up love, although still "bargaining" with the attraction he still felt. Eventually he channeled the emotions towards creativity, hence the verses and the lays.

In the face of the formidable Jealousy, Love is weak, and Death is merely a childish solution as "denial" is only the first stage of acceptance. Of course, it is still believed that Beauty prevails, just like Cupid and Psyche had each other in the end, Aeneid rebuilt his country, and Rome flourished.

I : LXXV - LXXX The Cost of Glory (or Silent Death of the Raging Bull)

It always takes longer, sometimes it seems infinitely longer, to prepare for a battle than when it actually takes off. The bullfight is like war in every aspect, including the sound of its fatal moment. Three clarion notes, and the slashing, the attacking, the killing begin, two forcefield charged to their maximum.

The bull represents different things in different cultures, but all has fascinating tales. Europa's gorgeous white bull to her, and to everyone represents passion, transformation,virility, strength. We know that the bull was actually Zeus in disguise, indeed, but the fact that the king of gods chose the bull as his animal embodiment, clearly suggested the kind of image a bull can project. It's majestic, a monarch amongst the herbivores to be sure. In other words, if a bull is onto you and he wants to kill you, it's purely for emotional motivation and purpose, he does't even want to eat you. So don't ever mess with that family.

Like a gladiatore the matador stumbles his way around the beast, teasing and trying and giving a show. How much fear must he have endured! It's an enclosed space, yet a perfect metaphor of the survival of the fittest. It seems a chaotic and primal fight, yet every single step, every movement is calculated, given  much thought, one side manipulation the other, and vice versa, and eventually neither could walk out intact. For the matador, it's also an emotional torture.

Some 100 years after Lord Byron's time, 1926 to be specific, Hemingway described another bullfight in The Sun Also Rises, this time in Pampona during the Festival of San Fermin. Full house every night, featuring minor bullfighters and gallant horses, it's a tradition, or an addiction of human race. Why else do you think action films will always be blockbusters and enjoy killer box office? Men always feel good about themselves then they are proven to be conquerors of nature, even if the cost is more than the reward.

This action packed stanza described the process of the fight right to the moment as the bull gave up. It's all very sudden just as its sudden start. You can almost see the flashing red mantle, the darts sticking out of the bull's body which bloodstreams across his skin, the glistening sword in the matador's hand...

The bull's ear is bestowed to the winner. It's similar to the golden fleece I suppose, although much bloodier and more symbolic. It's a useless piece of meat from your victim! What good is that for? It's a silent death after much celebrated and expected struggle. It's a show, with equal likelihood of survival and death, at least on the surface.

Again, it's a show, attracting men and women alike. Men are envious of, women smitten by the glorious matadors, only a silent death is the cost. 

I : LXV - LXVII Interlude

On the 29th of July, Byron arrived at Cadiz. Of course, it's impossible to match perfectly his agenda to that adventure of the Childe (the timeline would be skipped and sometimes backwards if you insist doing so.) In Cadiz, Byron was startled, and nonetheless, marveled by the bullfight, which I will get into details in a future post. And now as we get ready for a bloodier scene, let's do some fact check of the surroundings. 

Poster of Cadiz's carnival of 1926

Being one of those ever-so-populated cities, Cadiz have always attracted revels and its streets are always loud. The poster is for the carnival in 1926, more than 100 years since Byron set foot on its shore, but hey, things don't change that much, and the Spanish passion lives on. Rather different from the amiable Seville with her more sensible taste in arts and culture, Cadiz had an appetite much more fierce. Her blood-thirst desire fascinated the boy who hungered for strange sights.

Paphos is the birthplace is Aphrodite, also the name of Pygmalion's son with Galatea, the marble maiden that came to life thanks to the goddess herself. Another of her most noted business here was when Odysseus was on his way homewards, the goddess stopped by her birthplace to help our beloved hero.   

There's proper magic in those words: "a thousand altars rise, for ever blazing bright". The cult of Aphrodite started in Paphos. The city and the goddess is linked together for eternity.

The Temple of Aphrodite

The snapshots of Spain have been the richest of kinds. The votaries of Venus were, turned out to be, brought up to be compared with the crowds at the bullfight. It's a feast of sight, sound and scent all at once; and emotion too. You can almost see the ladies in the audience holding their breaths, worrying about the bullfighter, yet still over-excited about the glorious sight they about to witness.

All is ready and all is waiting; time stands still.

I : LIII - LIX Ode to the Spanish Maidens

There's always the constant struggle for a boy as he's at the turning point of becoming a man. Just you see, without a miss, in all literature formats: the ultimate choice between his country and his woman. If this statement sounds too sexist to you, well, you'll have to keep in mind that this was 19th Century, and people were shedding blood to prove themselves...competitions are still pretty primal if you ask me.

And here again we question the purpose of all those people giving up their lives for the glory of those few in power. It's a rather simple-minded attitude towards winning and losing: you either win (then you get all that glory, wealth and women and what not),or fight till the last drop in the battle field. There's no grey area in between, and submission is worse than hell.

For a romantic poet these few stanzas have been intense, almost hypnotizing with the war call and drum rolls as though phantom from the past. "Manhood's heart of steel" says Harold, as he sees his weak self.

Defensa del Parque de Artillería de Monteleón by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida depicts Pedro Velarde's last stand (he died May 2 1808)

And then we see a twist and redirect out attention to the Spanish maidens, the real subject our poet is paying praises to. The last five lines show us the transformation of a woman in the times of war: she's no longer the young girl, unexposed to any of the real danger, but a pilgrim of Athena's wisdom and courage, contributing to the victory in her own way.

There are incredible visual and sound elements within this stanza: the shrieking of an owl at night, the shiver of a maiden seeing, maybe a scratch on her skin, all in the memory now; and we see the ruins of a city, and the flashing weapons.

Some background information about the weapons mentioned here:
Bayonet: baïonnette. That's the knife, or spike shaped tip you see inserted on top of a musket or a rifle.
Falchion: fauchon. A one handed, single edged sword. It's heavy and is similar in shape to Chinese Dao.

Minerva and Mars. They are Roman names of Athena and Ares. (I'm not sure why the Greeks always prefer names starting with an A, and Romans an M). Minerva is the goddess of arts and craftsmanship. Interestingly her symbol is an owl (for the wisdom). Mars, on the other hand, is the god of war. Those two brother and sister are equally strong. Byron is probably indicating the male and females of Spain with them.

Mosaic of the Minerva of Peace (detail), Elihu Vedder, 1896

Zaragoza (known as Saragozza) is the city where Basilica, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar is. It's a city of stories,and beautiful, mind I repeat myself, BEAUTIFUL architectures (mostly Roman Catholic cathedrals of course). The two sieges Zaragoza endured between 1808 to 1809 cost her some 50,000 lives. 

Assault of the French army at Santa Engracia Monastery 8 Feb 1809

The female strength depicted here is soft, yet enduring. It's her grace and serenity in the face of danger, or even death, that marvels us the most. It's quite likely that the beautiful "her" has two layers of meanings: the actual women of Spain, and Virgin Mary, the spiritual symbol that several of the landmarks of Zaragoza represent.

 

During the second siege of Zaragoza, the defender surrendered rather quickly. In a way, it's submission and death at the same time - gravest tragedy of all. Ode to the women who stood still when the men fell; ode to the women who remain calm and hopeful when weapons lost their use, and all that's left is dignity.

There's an old fable that goes like this: the wave laughs at the dripping water below the cliff as he smashes onto the rock, but the dripping steam just keeps going. The wave, of course, eventually accomplished nothing with smashing against the giant rock, but the dripping water managed to make a hole on the stone. Persistence, or, as Byron put it so well, "tender fierceness" is the best quality one can have when all hope is lost.

The Spanish maidens embodies romance and tender beauty as opposed to the Amazonian women warriors. The contrast, of course, impresses us even more.

In stanza 58 our focus comes back to the men, yet showing another strength of the women. They seem to have the power of encouraging men to fight for their country, to win their love. The kisses are as if trophies, only bestowed to the victors.

The poet is so fascinated by the maidens in Spain as they are so very different from those in the North, which I'm assuming means England.  The portrait of a Spanish lady with a fan might vaguely depicts what is considered beauty in early 1800s. As you can see, it's definitely not what you expect in a stereotypically slender and meek British woman around the same era - just think about Byron's old lovers and you'll see my point.

Eugene Pierre Francois Giraud (French artist, 1806-1881) A Spanish Beauty with a Fan

It's her people that show the true beauty of a city. Its palaces may fall; its reigns may change; its technologies and fashions evolve, even the climate, can be altered by the traveler's perceptions. Only people leave consistent impressions. Jean-Paul Sartre's famous "L'enfer, c'est les autres" (hell is other people) can be reinterpreted as, at least for me personally, that Paradise is other people as well. It's just the difference of our perspectives. In the beauty of humanity we seek paradises, and only then, maybe, wars and conflicts will cease.