As you know, Daniel Defoe’s story about Robinson Crusoe was based on several real-life stories about shipwrecked sailors. In those days, shipwrecks weren’t really terribly unusual. But the novel was primarily based on the story of Alexander Selkirk, a...
It’s a pretty spooky place. There have been fortifications on this site for hundreds of years. The present fort was in use until 1956 – and is now open to visitors. You can see from the map below that it’s located in the very tip of a spar of land...
The Avenue of the Giants is justifiably well-known. Its located in an area that is a National Park and a World Heritage Site – and those trees are big!And don’t be put off by the fact that it’s a National Park. Yes, I know, it’s got plenty of...
No joke, I have honestly been messing around for over two hours trying to decide what image to add here as the lead photograph for this article. I’m no copyright lawyer but I’m pretty sure that there’s no way I’m allowed to put work by a...
It’s likely that every New Year’s Eve you and your friends sing Auld Lang Syne. You might know that it was written by Scottish poet Robert Burns. And as his active years were in the 1700s, that shows just how old the song has been around. And it all...
Gender discrimination, prostitution, sex for sale … it’s all here in the (relatively) hidden area of Herbertstraße. If you’re under eighteen, you can’t stroll down this street. Women aren’t welcome either. Herbertstraße is one of the last...
Anne Lister was born in 1791 in Yorkshire. That’s many years before homosexuality became legal in Britain and at that time, the word ‘lesbian’ didn’t exist but nevertheless, Anne grew up to be a pioneer in the world of being true to her own...
A few years ago, the idea of visiting a place where an assassin hid when he fired the shots that killed an American president would probably have been seen as insensitive.But today, it’s now getting on for sixty years since those events took place. The president...
I was just a kid but I remember the time when a whole new era started. It was a medical breakthrough that happened on the other side of the world but it was exciting news.It was 1967 and in South Africa, a team of surgeons had just completed the first successful human...
Do you remember when steampunk was a thing? Well, the perfect interior to match that look is to be found in this building. It’s gorgeous, it’s got a curious history and it’s been used in umpteen films, TV shows and music videos. And, it’s open...
This battered building has a varied history. Built in 1888 it started life as a theatre. It continued in its role until the final couple of years of the Second World War. It was one of the very few theatres in Hamburg that survived Allied bombing unscathed but when...
“Hey,” said the American tourist “We had a great time in London. Let me tell you about some of the things we saw. We saw that famous statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus…” Let me stop you right there. You didn’t. I’m sorry, it...
In 1930 a youngish man called Grant Wood visited Eldon, Iowa. There he saw a house and sketched it. Shortly afterwards, in a later sketch, he added a man and a woman standing in front of the building. These people weren’t strangers that he’s rustled up...
You can’t not. Well, I can’t resist. If ever there was a road just begging to be driven, it’s the Stelvio Pass.The road itself is pretty hair-raising – all those hairpins. The scenery is nothing short of fantastic. It ranges from typically...
Baku in Azerbaijan is the location of that fabulous building (the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center) and this ancient and modern city is also known as the City of Winds. Due to the gloriously-named Khazri and Gilavar the city is known for its harsh windy weather. The...
There’s a good reason why the Yungas Road in Bolivia is known as the ‘world’s most dangerous road’. I agree it doesn’t look it in the photograph above so how about this one… That gives you a better idea. Pretty scary stuff. The top...
Understandably, this tiny town in western Spain is often voted one of the world’s most attractive – if not beautiful – places. It features almost fairytale-like architecture and is located in the Las Batuecas National Park in the Sierra de Francia...
There are lots of fabulous advantages of being a traveller in this day and age – even more so than ten or twenty years ago. Today we can go to places that at one time would have been seen only in books. And the Kanheri Caves are a great example.The caves look...
If perchance you were a child in the twentieth century – as I was – or if you are a devotee of classic comics, then the name of Hergé will be familiar to you. That’s because it was dramatically announced at the beginning of each television episode of...
It’s one of those things I’d never really thought about. Of course, we’ve all heard of gunpowder and explosives but it had never occurred to me to wonder where these products actually came from. Where were they made? Visit the Waltham Abbey Royal...
For visitors from other parts of the world, Kaymakli seems to be magical and other-world-y. In this region of Turkey there are several underground cities and although Kaymakli isn’t the deepest, it’s certainly the largest. It’s thought that...
This Modernist building caused quite a stir when it was opened in 1935. It was the first building in the UK to be created using a welded steel frame and its architects were both fleeing from Hitler’s regime. They were German Erich Mendelsohn and Russian Serge...
This amazing beehive-like structure was built just in time for the millennium. No, not the one we remember – it was built in 1799. It’s known as the Palace of the Winds and was built was part of the women’s chambers of the City Palace. The structure...
All over the world, there are mysterious caves. And many of them are open to visitors these days. They are truly fascinating and have been used for many purposes. Some date back for thousands of years. The Chislehurst caves are also available to visit and have a...
Sol Kerzner came from a hotel background. His family started and ran a chain of hotels so when as a young man, Sol graduated from his Johannesburg university he joined the company and eventually ran the entire shebang. The hotel chain became the richest and most...
There are plenty of bars that claim Ernest Hemingway as a once-upon-a-time customer. But I’ll bet that the claim of El Floridita , the bar in Havana, has a pretty good reason. In fact, the Nobel Prize winner is still there drinking at the bar – in the form...
Probably the most well-known method of crossing the River Mersey comes from a 1960s pop song – from the early days of Merseybeat. Continued to fame as a theme sung by football crowds, it is of course Ferry Cross the Mersey. Ferries have been used to cross the...
Just look at that photograph. It doesn’t get much more idyllic than that, does it? I live in Fort Lauderdale, often described by people marketing the place as the ‘Venice of America’ and as you might expect, Giethoorn gets the ‘Venice’...
Local authorities are much better now at preserving historic buildings and places. It used to be that anything more than 50 years old was likely to be knocked down in the name of progress but the situation is a little better now. But Pier 54, with a curious maritime...
I’ve rarely seen street art that I haven’t appreciated. And that appreciation is doubled – no, much more – when the venue is the Berlin Wall. When the wall came down in 1989, artists from all over the world commemorated this with the creation...
It may well be that you’ve been to Charing Cross station in London and, like me, not really noticed the lavishly decorated monument that stands right outside. And if you’re English – we tend to be a bit blasé about the history that’s liberally...
The news is full of it at the moment – the Aurora Station that plans to be the first hotel in space. Hmm, so let’s forget for the moment that reports are saying that a 12 day trip into space, inclusive of transportation and accommodation, will cost...
Number two Willow Road is the central apartment in a row of three – built in the late thirties and designed by Ernő Goldfinger. Goldfinger was a well-known designer and architect – he was originally from Budapest but made his home in London for many years...
Have you ever wanted to see a huge elephant? An elephant that is actually a building you can go into? No, I thought not… But just in case you have, then Margate City in New Jersey is the place to head to. This Lucy, this humungous elephant, could be deemed a...
They were a fierce lot, those Scots. And this castle, located right on the Scottish border has seen more than its fair share of what newsreaders today would call ‘skirmishes’. It was built as long ago as 1470 by the Kerr Clan and is said to have been built...
Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd created The Knotted Gun, also known as Non-Violence, after the shooting of John Lennon in 1980. As an activist for peace, Lennon would have been appalled at the situation with guns today, especially in his adopted homeland, the...
It started in the 1930s on the west coast of America. The tiki culture, exotic and at that time a new style, gradually travelled across the country. It was inspired by the South Pacific and the exciting culture of what was then a far off land. As the Second World War...
It’s funny but there are tourists who visit London and ask their hotel concierge or the local tourism office about how they can get tickets to tour 10 Downing Street. I really doubt that in their country you’d be able to book tickets to tour the...
Superkilen is a public park with a difference. It wasn’t created by city planners but by a design group who aimed to demonstrate the multiculturalism of the area within the design of the area – a feature that the park intends to promote. It has three main...
Andy Sweet was only 28 years old when he was murdered in Miami Beach. But he left a legacy we can all enjoy. Andy was fascinated by the area where he was born and brought up and documented it on film. Andy was born in 1953 and when he grew to adulthood he realised...
I am particularly fond of artworks that change along with the weather, the time of day or the human interaction that’s going on in the vicinity and Cloud Gate in Chicago ticks all those boxes. The fact that we, as human spectators and passers-by, can affect a...
Until it was closed in 1853, Cross Bones was an unconsecrated, unofficial graveyard. Many of the corpses that were buried there were those of babies due to the high infant mortality rate in earlier times, or those of women thought to be prostitutes. It was closed...
It’s something that was glossed over for many years. We know all about it now though, the fact that millions of animals served Britain and its Allies during the wars of the last century. It’s said that eight million horses died in the First World War...
Långholmen is one of the several islands in Stockholm and you may remember that I’ve written about it before – that fact that the old prison there is now being used as a hotel and hostel. The old prison also houses a museum so you can find out about the...
The Riverside isn’t in the least bit swanky or posh. You can tell that from the photograph above. But if you’re an aficionado of the blues then it has to be on your list. Since the forties it’s been either home or home-from-home for many blues...
If you know what a walleye is – and you’d like to catch a few – then the Northwest Angle is the place to go. If you’ve no idea what a walleye is – and furthermore don’t really care – then the trip still has plenty to offer...
Hartlepool in the north east of England is rarely on anyone’s list of places they absolutely must visit. Which is a shame because it’s only a few miles from one of the most wonderful areas on the planet (the North Yorkshire Moors, says this Yorkshire girl)...
I’m bonkers about cats, I admit it. My lovely boy, Stan, is possibly the best cat ever in my particular world. So I’m not in the least surprised that in Amsterdam there’s a museum devoted entirely to fantastic felines. How did this come about? Well,...
I could happily spend hours – even days – in a great bookstore like this one in Bucharest. But even non-bibliophiles seem to love to visit the Cărturești Carusel Bookstore in Bucharest. It gets great reviews from TripAdvisor for the vastness of the store...
I’m not sure that Downey, California has a huge amount to fascinate the traveller but if you’re on a road trip and passing through, it’s an idea to take a look at the world’s oldest branch of McDonalds. It opened in 1953 so I’m imagining...
At first glance, Bletchley Park looks simply to be a rather ornate English country house. It’s only about 50 miles from London – to the north – and was built in the late nineteenth century. It has elaborate features, as you can see in the photographs...
For well over a hundred years, the City Of New York has partly functioned underground. Out of sight to those of us on the surface, millions of people travel from place to place, quickly and efficiently. They are travelling on the subway – itself a marvel of...
This place is like one of those dreams. You know, those dreams you have when deep down you know you should get out of bed but you’re dreaming that you’re floating weightlessly in a beautiful lagoon… Ik Kil in Mexico is a cenote. A cenote is simply a...
It’s only about a hundred miles away from the fabulous city of Glasgow but yet the Isle of Jura is almost like going back in time. It’s the sort of place that you have to plan to visit – spontaneity isn’t recommended here due to the remoteness...
Once you’ve been to Lençóis Maranhenses, you might well exclaim, as other travellers have, that the photographs don’t do the place justice. And yet the photographs are magnificent. Can you imagine that this place is even more spectacular than the...
Many people travel to visit Ascott House and Gardens, a fabulous country estate in Buckinghamshire. And if it’s on your itinerary, make sure to allow time for a detour to Bridego Bridge. Yes, an ordinary country railway bridge in ordinary English countryside. It...
Are you in love with signage the way I am? I know that some people might think that having a passion for signs might indicate a person who is a bit, well, odd – but the Neon Museum in Vegas is my idea of paradise. Well, one of my ideas of paradise… Las...
It looks like an ugly lump of concrete and … well, it is. It is also a protected historic monument. Really. The fact that it dates from 1941 gives us a clue as to why it’s a historically important structure. And its name? Schwerbelastungskörper means...
This is a genuine secret garden that was lost – well, unknown – for many years. It had been creatyed in Victorian times but had fallen into disrepair and become overgrown. But in the 1990s a door was found into the walled garden that was buried in the...
This is a curious house with a curious history. It’s been seen in films and TV shows and residents need to access the place via a funicular. And it had curious beginnings. The original owner had been given the piece of land and the fact that he didn’t have...
Isbjerget means ‘iceberg’ and you can see why that name was chosen for this complex of variously sized apartments. Take a look at the photographs and the drone footage below and you can see exactly why. This award-winning housing development opened in 2013...
Just as Eileen Gray did in the South of France, so Lina Bo Bardi created another dream house – this time in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The house is named el Casa de Vidro (the Glass House) and was designed in 1951. Lina, born in Rome, was a pioneer of...
It started life in 1929. Piscine Molitor, probably one of the most stunning man-made vistas in Europe – has a history that travels from Johnny Weissmuller (who found Hollywood fame as Tarzan of the Apes) through the decades to Pi Patel (whose tiger Richard...
Just look at that bridge. Located in a public park in Gablenz, Germany, the bridge was constructed in the nineteenth century. The park is a popular place to visit as its gardens – abounding with rhododendrons and azaleas – are spectacular. What’s...
It’s certainly not the best looking house I’ve ever seen but it is supposed to be decidedly spooky. And with its history, it’s hardly surprising. The architecture is interesting, to say the least, but this house – which is now a museum –...
I know, it’s a real cliché to say ‘step back in time’ but nevertheless when you visit Den Gamle By in Denmark that’s what you’re doing. Den Gamle By is the old town of Aarhus and has been preserved as an outdoor museum. The photographs...
No, it’s not a roller coaster. But it looks like one, doesn’t it? In fact, it’s an art installation but one that the public can enjoy – by travelling along and around it but on foot rather than at roller coaster speed. And the view is...
In December 2017, Prince Harry and American actor Meghan Markle announced their engagement. The scene for the to-be-historic photographs and interview was Frogmore House, a Grade 1 listed building in the possession of royalty for hundreds of years. Travel specialists...
You might have thought that Fidel Castro had plenty on his mind in the nineteen sixties. But no. In addition to other issues that might have been taking up a little thought, the Cuban was thinking that what Havana really needed was an ice cream parlor. And preferably...
Rednaxela Terrace is a street in the Mid-Levels section in Hong Kong. This is an affluent area and is a great attraction because of its massive walkway system. The area is built on hills and in early times, the only way to get from place to place was by a series of...
I suspect that you and I could start a conversation about the purpose of art, and what is art for, and what is the importance of art … and I think we’d still be talking about it in a week’s time. There’s a lot of ground to cover there....
It must be one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. And if you’ve been there, I’m willing to bet that you remember that smell, that special aroma of sage, juniper and myrtle blending together in the sun. Marseille is the second largest cities in...
There are some pretty amazing places to visit on this earth – and below it. Salina Turda is an astounding example. This ancient salt mine is now a fascinating place for travellers to visit. What? Visiting a salt mine? Do you think that’s a bit specialist?...
Sheats Apartments building is an early example of the work of architect John Lautner. Built in 1949, it was intended for use as accommodation for UCLA students and seems to have spent most of its life to date as such. The building contains eight self-contained...
I’m not quite sure what it is about the Belgians. Their famous statue, Mannekin Pis, has been making schoolboys snigger since the seventeenth century. Did you know, by the way, that the one you see there today peeing away happily isn’t the original? The...
Totally spooky. I can’t imagine what it would be like to see Fort Boyard in the twilight or in a ghostly mist. It’s actually a fort but has the look of a stone ship – pretty forbidding, I think. Work began to create this creepiness in 1801 under...
It started life as an opulent theatre, opening in 1919. It later transitioned to a cinema, as so many theatres did when people decided that moving pictures were more interesting than moving, acting, singing human beings. And what singers there had been there. True,...
I honestly thought it was a joke. But it turns out that the Heart Attack Grill is real. And it lives up to its name. Its mission, if it can be said to be a mission, is to serve up the sort of food that if eaten on a regular basis would lead to a heart attack. Yes, the...
The roads in South Africa have considerably improved since my adventurer dad made his first African endurance drive in the early sixties. However, there are still plenty of challenges for the adventurous driver and the Sani Pass is definitely one of them. This...
The Englischer Garten in Munich is so called because its style is based on the parks that were popular in England during the eighteenth-century. This large urban park was modelled on the English versions. This is why it’s easy to see why there was a famous...
The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior is to be found in Westminster Abbey, London. Many countries have similar memorials – which honour the dead of the First and/or Second World War but this is the first of its type being installed in the abbey in 1920. Most people...
Chetham’s is the oldest operating public library in the English-speaking world. It was founded in 1653. If you think that was a long, long time ago then I have to also tell you that the building (the gorgeous building) dates from 1421. It originally housed...
You’ve heard that name before, haven’t you? Hamelin? That’s right, it’s Hamelin where the legend of the Pied Piper began. The story of the Pied Piper refers to an incident which apparently happened in the Middle Ages, in 1284. The story...
Leeds is a splendid city. There are many things to see and to do within the city itself and going a little further afield to the outskirts takes the traveller to even more fabulous places. But today, we’re staying in the city centre itself. We start by shopping...
You can’t stay at La Concha Motel in Vegas anymore, but you can visit to see the astonishing lobby building. (As seen in the photograph above). The lobby building, which was initially erected in 1961, has been restored and is used as the visitors’ centre...
It’s likely that you know what the most recorded song in history is? It’s Yesterday written by Lennon and McCartney, of course. But do you know that the second most popular, the runner-up, is Girl from Ipanema? Ipanema, as you can see from the map below,...
The Village of Juzcar nestles in a valley in the Andalusia area of Southern Spain. It is – or rather, was – one of the White Villages of Andalusia – the traditional whitewashed villages that have not changed for hundreds of years. And Juzcar was...
If I told you that the connection between a Swedish water tower and a café in Canvey Island, Essex, UK, was the Sydney Opera House then you’d probably think that I’d lost it at last. Fair enough. But read on. Canvey Island in Essex is not really the sort...
That title is wrong, to be honest. Riverside, Iowa isn’t the birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. It’s the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk – as you can see on the photograph of the plaque. Captain James T. Kirk is, of course, the original...
Travelling by train overnight is – to me – one of the most luxurious and romantic ways to get from point A to point B. Someone else has to worry about the driving, the navigating … you’re in a proper bed and not trying to sleep in a cramped...
It’s very tricky to pronounce, it was used as a filming location for an episode of The Game of Thrones – and it’s totally amazing. For centuries, the sea of the Bay of Biscay has been pounding this Basque Country coastline and forming all manner of...
If your pulse rate raised just a little when you read ‘Macondo’ above then you’ll know why you have to go there. And go now before the place becomes ‘disneyfied’. This small town in Colombia is where Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born and...
Incredible Irish designer Eileen Gray designed the house that I – and plenty of other people too I’m sure – would describe as a dream home. Completed in 1929, the house overlooks the sparkling blue sea. It was a labour of love – more about...
If you’re American, you might not be as gobsmacked by this as I am. To me, it comes into one of those only-in-America categories. But the Wienermobile – for that is what the vehicle you see illustrated is – really is a thing. I admit that I had to go...
Here’s a mosque that dates back for hundreds of years. It’s said that the mosque was built in 1421 by Ayuba. Ayuba was a trader who was spending the night in Larabanga because he was travelling across the Sahara. The story goes that he was given...
James Bond’s arch-enemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld is hiding out in his mountaintop retreat in Switzerland. It is inaccessible by any means other than a scary helicopter flight. But Blofeld is a criminal mastermind and his goal is a simple one – world...
You probably didn’t know that May 5th is designated as Betty Willis Day. In fact, it may be that you’ve no idea at all who Betty Willis was. But I’ll bet you know one of her pieces of design work. Yes, the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. Graphic...
Thought that Hitler shot himself in his Berlin bunker in 1945? Not according to Argentinian legend. Hitler escaped from Berlin and made his way to the Hotel Eden in La Falda, Argentina. The hotel had originally been built by a German national and by the time of the...
The Gateshead Millenium Bridge is an amazing sight when stationary but once it moves – to allow river traffic to pass under it – it’s quite astonishing. You can see how it does so in the time-lapse video below. In many places in the world moving...
In this context, ‘popular’ refers to folk art – art and creative activities that are traditional to the people of Mexico. The museum opened in 2006 and it’s located in an old firehouse that was designed in the 1920s by architect Vicente...
