Diak a lae, lattistas? I'm just back from my latest trip to Timor-Leste, and this time I managed a quick visit to the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi, hidden away in Indonesian west Timor province.
Its a beautiful little jewel, peaceful, enclosed by emerald mountains. Lifau is the site of the first landing of Portuguese traders in 1515, and fifty years later, of the first Catholic mission of the island of Timor (Dominicans). This was the capital of Portuguese Timor until local uprisings pushed them eastward to Dili in 1769.
Above, an old Portuguese foreshore mansion in Pante Macassar, burnt out in the 1999 violence, with the mountains behind; and below, a mid-twentieth century monument to the first landing of Portuguese spice traders, at Lifau. Behind this monument is a long canal ditch - built in the 1600s to allows boats to be protected within the walled fortification.
2 comments:
I thought you might be interested in a friend's website. She's spent quite a lot of time in Suai.
http://www.suaimediaspace.org/
Thanks Fine - will check it out!
Post a Comment