The first time that I heard the phrase “victim of its own beauty”, it was in reference to Granada. And it came out the mouth of an Andalusian from Huelva. I agree with it a little. Granada gazes so much at the Alhambra from Albacín and at its Paseo de los tristes (Promenade of the Sad) that it forgets that there is more to the city. Sydney does the same thing with its bay (its bridge and its Opera house) and its beaches (with blue jellyfish). It has left the large remainder of the city a little unkempt, and a visitor you get the feeling that if you visit anything outside of the aforementioned spots, you are wasting your time- in the peripheries of Sydney.
This could also be called the narcissistic personality disorder of a city. Just like the hypochondriac, who becomes one after an illness, the narcissism of these cities has an underlying cause that should make the sternest psychiatrists sympathetic: The bay and Alhambra would make anyone conceited.
And if anyone asks, no Sydney doesn’t remind me a bit of Granada; if anything, of a kind of safe Rio De Janeiro. And yes, I prefer Granada.
This could also be called the narcissistic personality disorder of a city. Just like the hypochondriac, who becomes one after an illness, the narcissism of these cities has an underlying cause that should make the sternest psychiatrists sympathetic: The bay and Alhambra would make anyone conceited.
And if anyone asks, no Sydney doesn’t remind me a bit of Granada; if anything, of a kind of safe Rio De Janeiro. And yes, I prefer Granada.
