Most people in the UK are familiar with the Mary Rose, the famous ship of the English navy under Henry VIII which was sank in battle in 1545 before being recovered in 1982. Sweden has its own ship with a similar history, the Vasa, a 64 gun ship, that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628,…
Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is one of his most famous characters, the tragic antihero who has one of the most quoted lines in the bard’s work, “To be or not to be…”. Hamlet’s home is the Danish Royal palace, Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, so when we had the opportunity to see Hamlet in…
I was in Northern Ireland recently and took a trip to North Down, and after a pleasant lunch in the lovely seaside town of Bangor and a stroll along the marina, headed to nearby Newtownards. Anyone in the area will see one particular landmark rising up over the very scenic views; that of Scrabo Tower.…
On my recent trip to Poland, I went to visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine, near Krakow. I was aware of the mine as a key tourist attraction, although had never been on any of my previous trips to the city, and as we were driving more or less by the entrance, it seemed a good opportunity to…
On my recent trip to Poland, I went back to visit Wawel, or Krakow Castle again. I have been there a few times, but even in a city with so much impressive architecture and grand buildings, the castle that dominates one end of the old town is a must see. There have been buildings on…
I was in Poland recently, which involved flying to and from Lublin airport in the east of the country. Although there has been an airfield in Swidnik – the town near Lublin that is home to the airport – since 1939, and an aviation factory building helicopters since 1956, there has only been a commercial…
Given that many cities and towns in the UK were once fortified through the addition of city or town walls, it may be a little surprising to hear that only one – Londonderry in Northern Ireland – retains all of its walls in tact. However, if you add consideration that these walls would either have…
I’m in York today, and one of the outstanding monuments in the centre of the city is Clifford’s Tower. The tower is the remainder of the Norman keep that formed part of York castle that was built under orders from William the Conqueror to stamp his authority on the formerly viking city of York. The…
I wrote recently about the 750th anniversary of Simon de Montfort’s great Parliament at Westminster, and to mark that event, I went along to the Worcestershire town of Evesham where de Montfort, the former ruler of England, is buried at Evesham Abbey. Evesham Abbey was founded by St Egwin around 700AD, with the legend being…
Sierra Leone is in the news at the moment for the wrong reasons, with the Ebola outbreak making headlines around the world. I thought it would be a good time therefore to write about a trip to Sierra Leone which was altogether more positive, in this West African state that I have found to be…
I mentioned recently that I was in rural Spain, and although staying near the sea, there is an impressive series of mountains near by. Driving on the mountain roads of Spain is quite an experience, with plenty of narrow roads filled with bends winding around the hills, frustratingly short of places to stop to enjoy…
I find myself – as I quite often do – in the little Spanish village of Els Poblets, near Denia, roughly half way between Alicante and Valencia. This was our base when attending the Grand Prix at Valencia a few years ago, and a frequent holiday destination for us. When walking through the village, we…