Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: snail

The Phoenicians and Greeks had already settled in the bay of Lagos. The Carthaginians introduced wine and olive cultivation in the 4th century BC. The Roman name Lacobriga is the first known name of the settlement. In 716 the Moors conquered Lagos. Under their rule, the city wall was renewed in the 10th century. In 1189, Dom Sancho I conquered Lagos, but three years later the Moors returned. It was not until 1241 that Dom Paio Peres Correia, with military support from German and English knightly orders, was finally able to wrest the city from the Moors. In the 15th century, Lagos' port was the starting point for numerous African expeditions undertaken by Portugal under Henry the Navigator (Dom Henrique o Navegador). He made Lagos an important base for his fleet and had the caravel developed and built here from around 1440. This new type of ship was not only seaworthy, but was also able to sail close to the wind and tack against the prevailing wind direction. From 1433 onwards, Gil Eanes set sail from Lagos several times, finally sailing beyond Cape Bojador for the first time. The cape was considered the border of the world at the time. Another sailor, Rui de Sequeira, conquered a Benin fortress called Eko in what is now Nigeria in 1472. Today Lagos, formerly Eko, is with around 16 million inhabitants much better known worldwide than its godmother in Portugal. The African voyages of Portuguese ships brought black slaves from Guinea and Senegal to Europe for the first time in modern times. In 1444, Lagos received an important slave market. Human trafficking was not banned until 1820. After the earthquake of 1755, a massive tidal wave eleven metres high devastated the city. Lagos was subsequently rebuilt and the city walls from that time still surround large parts of the old town today. Giant Snails. Mating.

Chaumont (pop. ~ 22.000) is located in the centre of Haute Marne. Peasants and artisans settled around an early existing fortified motte and so started the development of Chaumont, owned since the 12th century by the Counts of Champagne. - "Saint-Jean-Baptiste" was built at the beginning of the 13th century to meet the needs of a growing population. It was made a collegiate church in 1474 by Pope Sixtus IV and raised to "basilica minor" in 1948 by Pope Pius XII. - Strange little creatures populate the vines. There must have been a species of snails in medieval times, that fortunately go extinct meanwhile. Aggressive horror-snails!

Augustodunum (today Autun) was founded during the reign of Augustus, after whom it was named. It was an important settlement, the Roman theather, partly unearthed, could seat about 15.000 people, there is a Roman temple, walls... But it is the Cathédrale Saint-Lazare and the wonderful carvings, that made me return again and again. There had been a church here earlier, that was just too small, when Autun became a center of pilgrimage, after relics of St. Lazarus were kept here since about 970. Just like Vezelay, 90kms north, where the relics of St. Lazarus´ sister St. Maria Magdalena were kept at that time. In 1120 it was decided to construct this larger and more suitable cathedral. At that time this construction was influenced by Cluny III, that was a little older. The cathedral ("Latin Cross") was completed in 1146, only the porch which was added some years later After severe damage in 1376, during the Hundred Years' War, rebuilding and remodeling the romanesque structure started within the 15th century. At that time Gothic chapels were added and a massive crossing tower was built. A strange earthling with a phrygian cap and a snail creep through the foliage under the paws of a gargoyle.

I have to quote the menue: "Montgolfière de Cagouilles, flambées au cognac, crémée à l'ail et parfumé a l'estragon" "Cagouille" is a regional species of "escargots" ("helix pomatia"), that is often found in restaurants in Charente. But it may well be just another word for the "escargot".. The restaurant is located near a bridge over the Charente river. This was, where in 1242 during the "Saintonge-War" the Battle of Taillebourg began. The battle was fought between the troops of Louis IX and his brother Alphonse of Poitiers and Henry III of England and his follower Hugh X of Lusignan.

Boulogne-sur-Gesse was founded as a "bastide" in the 13th century, near the Cistercian Abbey of Bonnefont, that existed already since 1136. Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption, the bastide´s church, was erected here within the 14th century. On the right side of the nave (previous upload) stands an extraordinary Renaissance-pulpit. Here are some details of the pulpit´s carvings. While to the right a winged lion holds a coat of arms, "real life" happens to the left, where an amphibian salamander has caught a snail.