Today a Facebook post featured a photo of the Globe Hotel, Jamestown, circa 1905. My grandfather, John Haren, was its licensee in the late 1920s. The photo shows a stately pub on a wide street with a few men and a couple of dogs. It depicts a glimpse of country South Australia that has long passed. 2 generations ago John Haren Snr was a farmer turned publican. From supplier of farm products to hospitality proprietor. He loved people and perhaps was not so fond of animals, hence the occupational shift. He was a generous man in times when generosity was not always able to be returned in currency. Times were tough and the Great Depression took its toll. Debts were not repaid. The Globe Hotel venture lasted had but 2 years.
My grandfather and, indeed the men in the photo, could not have dreamt of the world of 2023. As far as I know John Haren Snr never left the state of South Australia. That world travel for recreational purposes would be possible, albeit for a privileged minority, would not have been a thought that entered his consciousness. And yet, just two generations later, 2 of his grandchildren enjoy the same sort of generous hospitality that he offered, but in a country 14,000 kilometres away.
In his brief time in the Globe Hotel John Haren would have encountered people of many different nationalities and life experiences who were trying to make a life in a new country. Those experiences undoubtedly shaped him as person just as the encounters would have influenced his clientele. Each day we experience the rich Italian hospitality in so many ways through their food and wine offerings, their cheerful salutations of ciao and prego. Nothing seems to be too much of a bother. It shapes us as human beings. They are wonderful hosts.
Tropea, Calabria is a beachside village. The waters are turquoise. People flock from all over the world to be here to experience the village life that dates back to 12th century. The experience of 2023 is a very different one from 900 years ago when the monks and aristocracy established monasteries and churches. Places of contemplation to draw people toward a heavenly God. On the surface the outdoor cafes and bars with copious offerings of wine and food, not to mention the ubiquitous gelato, typify a hedonistic way of being that the monks would have shunned. And yet as people amble along the sandy beach, wander through the historic streets, climb hundreds of steps to be present in an historic church or catch a spectacular view of the coastline, the impression is that visitors are here for more than just a good time. There is a spiritual experience to be had by those who are open to it. An earthy kind of reality that transitions us from one point in time hundreds of years ago, to the present, and back again.
In May the pace is slow. Sauntering walks through the historic centre lead you through meandering alley ways revealing lives of ordinary people who live in an extraordinary place. The multiplicity of churches are an invitation as havens of rest. This is what prayer should be! Contemplating the history of a place and then resting in pew to soak up the sacredness of life. The simplicity of Tropea’s churches lends itself to a level of reflection that is not distracted by overwhelming artworks. Time to ease back and give thanks for the place, the people and the experiences we have each day. And to give thanks for the opportunities that were born way back at the Globe Hotel in the 1920s when Italy would have been a mysterious far-off place. The mystery remains, but the experience becomes immediate and compelling. Perhaps the men in the street chatting outside the Globe Hotel were having a similar experience after all!