Grand Palais and Petit Palais in Paris

31 August 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  5 minutes

Grand Palais © MarkusMark

Grand Palais © MarkusMark

The Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées, commonly known as the Grand Palais (English: Great Palace), is a large historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located between the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and River Seine on Avenue Winston Churchill in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. Construction of the Grand Palais began in 1897 following the demolition of the Palais de l’Industrie (Palace of Industry) as part of the preparation works for the Universal Exposition of 1900, which also included the creation of the adjacent Petit Palais and Pont Alexandre III.   read more…

The Périgord in southwestern France

31 August 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Nontron © Jbardini/cc-by-sa-3.0

Nontron © Jbardini/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Périgord is a natural region and former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne departement, now forming the northern part of the Aquitaine region. It is divided into four regions, the Périgord Noir (Black), the Périgord Blanc (White), the Périgord Vert (Green) and the Périgord Pourpre (Purple). The geography and natural resources of Périgord make it a beautiful, unspoiled region rich in history and wildlife, and the newly created Parc Naturel Régional Périgord-Limousin aims to conserve it as such.   read more…

The Russian warship Aurora

30 August 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Fisss/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Fisss/cc-by-sa-3.0

Aurora is a 1900 Russian protected cruiser, currently preserved as a museum ship in St. Petersburg. Aurora was one of three Pallada-class cruisers, built in St. Petersburg for service in the Pacific Far East. All three ships of this class served during the Russo-Japanese War. The second ship, Pallada, was sunk by the Japanese at Port Arthur in 1904. The third ship, Diana, was interned in Saigon after the Battle of the Yellow Sea.   read more…

Rimini on the Adriatic Sea

29 August 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Beach of Rimini © Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinna/cc-by-sa-3.0

Beach of Rimini © Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinna/cc-by-sa-3.0

Rimini is a medium-sized city of 145.000 inhabitants in the Emilia-Romagna region, and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It is located on the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient Ariminus) and Ausa (ancient Aprusa).   read more…

The Brunswick Palace

28 August 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Shopping Reading Time:  5 minutes

Brunswick Palace © wingsch.net

Brunswick Palace © wingsch.net

Brunswick Palace (German: Braunschweiger Schloss or Braunschweiger Residenzschloss) on the Bohlweg in the centre of the city of Brunswick (German: Braunschweig), was the residence of the Brunswick dukes from 1753 to 8 November 1918.   read more…

Theme Week Corsica – Bastia

27 August 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  3 minutes

Bastia at night © Jean-Michel Raggioli/cc-by-sa-3.0

Bastia at night © Jean-Michel Raggioli/cc-by-sa-3.0

Bastia is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse, 50 km (31 mi) West from Elba, an Italian island, and 90 km (56 mi) away from continental Italy which can be seen a few days per year when visibility is excellent.. It is also the second-largest city in Corsica after Ajaccio and the capital of the department.   read more…

Hohenzollern Castle

24 August 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  6 minutes

Corona Prusia - Prussian King's Crown (Hohenzollern Castle Collection) © Mirko Junge/cc-by-sa-3.0

Corona Prusia – Prussian King’s Crown (Hohenzollern Castle Collection) © Mirko Junge/cc-by-sa-3.0

Hohenzollern Castle is a castle about 50 kilometers (31 mi) south of Stuttgart. It is considered the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family, which emerged in the Middle Ages and eventually became German Emperors. The castle is located on top of Mount Hohenzollern at an elevation of 855 meters (2,805 ft) above sea level, 234 m (768 ft) above surrounding Hechinge and nearby Bisingen to the south, both located at the foothills of the Swabian Alps. It was first constructed in the first part of the 11th century.   read more…

The island of Hiddensee

24 August 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Dornbusch Lighthouse © Manfred Betschinger/cc-by-sa-3.0

Dornbusch Lighthouse © Manfred Betschinger/cc-by-sa-3.0

Hiddensee is a car-free island in the Baltic Sea, located west of Germany’s largest island, Rügen, on the German coast.   read more…

Theme Week Turkish Riviera – Gullet, the motor glider of the Turkish Riviera

23 August 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Tall ships, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  6 minutes

Gulet type schooners near Bodrum © Georges Jansoone/cc-by-sa-3.0

Gulet type schooners near Bodrum © Georges Jansoone/cc-by-sa-3.0

A gulet is a traditional design of a two-masted or three-masted wooden sailing vessel (the most common design has two masts) from the southwestern coast of Turkey, particularly built in the coastal towns of Bodrum and Marmaris; although similar vessels can be found all around the eastern Mediterranean. Today, this type of vessel, varying in size from 14 to 35 metres, is popular for tourist charters. For considerations of crew economy, diesel power is now almost universally used and many are not properly rigged for sailing.   read more…

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