The joy of soup – Segovia, Spain
Winding alleyways of medieval confusion allow cool breezes to waft in from somewhere just out of view. Open plazas and grand promenades are to be avoided - the sensible traveller takes refuge in...
View ArticleRavenna, Italy – The missing link
The images leap out with unmatched vividness and, in the darkness inside a church, the gilded tesserae catch the candlelight and illuminate the space with a spooky glow.
View ArticleNikko – Religion, Japanese Style
Property 913 – Shrines and Temples of Nikko I think it would be pretty easy to write a history of Europe and the Middle East based entirely around themes of religious discord. Leaving aside the actions...
View ArticleToo many notes! – Salzburg, Austria
Property 784 – Historic centre of the City of Salzburg, Austria If it is possible for a city to make a living entirely off the exploits of one person, I suspect that city would be Salzburg. On the...
View ArticleThis is what it sounds like when Popes cry – Avignon, France
The result of this relocation was that a papal palace was built in central Avignon, and that it ended up looking like a crenellated kneecap.
View ArticlePanic attacks and sea stars – Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Property 154 – The Great Barrier Reef, Australia I was in fifteen metres of water, having a panic attack and trying not to drown, but also hoping that no-one would notice. That is what I remember most...
View ArticleThe Alhambra – Jewel of a lost culture
Property 314 – Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada The Alhambra rests on the spur of a crop of low mountains. Below it lies the rambling accretion of the medieval city, overlaid with the...
View ArticleCultural Cringe Vanquished – the Sydney Opera House
Australians have long had an inferiority complex, often called the “cultural cringe”. This was particularly directed at Britain and everything British, the progenitors of modern Australia. The British...
View ArticleThe Tower of London – the Political Prison
Emerging from the Tube I was instantly confused. My sense of direction is normally pretty good and I can identify the cardinal points intuitively, at least to within the low degree of accuracy that one...
View ArticleBritain’s Valhalla – Westminster Abbey
You can tell that Westminster Abbey is a cemetery is because there are hundreds and hundreds of dead people buried beneath your feet, plastered into the walls, and tucked away in transepts.
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