Gilt in the Lazuline Sea. Pilau Island, Tunisia
'Look, ReX!', I exclaimed, 'and be snappy about it!'. And ReX did look down and captured a little chunk of gold in the Lazuline Sea due east of Raf Raf, northern Tunisia. From about 8000 metres on high, not as sharp as I'd like but the best ReX could do...
Back in Amsterdam, I managed to find some tidbits of information about Pilau. Well-known portulanist Giovanni di Antonio da Uzzano in his fifteenth-century Practica della mercatura mentions our island as Camalera and it's clear from his description it's close to Ras el-Djebel near Bizerte.
Confusingly, Livio Sanuto (c.1520-1576) in his Geography uses both Gamelera and Garelmelen; moreover, in his index of place names he mentions two Gameleras, one an 'isoletta nel territorio di Tunis', the other an 'isola nel territorio di Tunis'. If you then go to the page (62) for the 'isola' it turns out to be one of the Kerkennah Islands off the central east coast of Tunisia well away from Pilau. These he identifies with the Cercina of Antiquity. Elsewhere he adds that Gamelera is 'scritto con tal nome'.
But our Pilau is more likely that tiny island - 'isoletta' - of which he has little to say but Uzzano more. If it's the same island its name from the Arabic and Maltese is translated into English as Fiery Summit.
Incidentally, Sanuto also has a few interesting remarks on Hammamet whence we were flying.
ReX and I were intrigued by Pilau's capital-'T' shape. But even more by the wonderful colors, which reminded me of a set of valued lapis-lazuli with gold cuff links I once owned!
Gilt in the Lazuline Sea. Pilau Island, Tunisia
'Look, ReX!', I exclaimed, 'and be snappy about it!'. And ReX did look down and captured a little chunk of gold in the Lazuline Sea due east of Raf Raf, northern Tunisia. From about 8000 metres on high, not as sharp as I'd like but the best ReX could do...
Back in Amsterdam, I managed to find some tidbits of information about Pilau. Well-known portulanist Giovanni di Antonio da Uzzano in his fifteenth-century Practica della mercatura mentions our island as Camalera and it's clear from his description it's close to Ras el-Djebel near Bizerte.
Confusingly, Livio Sanuto (c.1520-1576) in his Geography uses both Gamelera and Garelmelen; moreover, in his index of place names he mentions two Gameleras, one an 'isoletta nel territorio di Tunis', the other an 'isola nel territorio di Tunis'. If you then go to the page (62) for the 'isola' it turns out to be one of the Kerkennah Islands off the central east coast of Tunisia well away from Pilau. These he identifies with the Cercina of Antiquity. Elsewhere he adds that Gamelera is 'scritto con tal nome'.
But our Pilau is more likely that tiny island - 'isoletta' - of which he has little to say but Uzzano more. If it's the same island its name from the Arabic and Maltese is translated into English as Fiery Summit.
Incidentally, Sanuto also has a few interesting remarks on Hammamet whence we were flying.
ReX and I were intrigued by Pilau's capital-'T' shape. But even more by the wonderful colors, which reminded me of a set of valued lapis-lazuli with gold cuff links I once owned!