Szczecin in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship

31 January 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Facades of new buildings in Szczecin's Old Town © ProhibitOnions

Facades of new buildings in Szczecin’s Old Town © ProhibitOnions

Szczecin is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland with a population of 408,000. In the vicinity of the Baltic Sea, it is the country’s seventh-largest city and a major seaport in Poland. Szczecin is located on the Oder River, south of the Szczecin Lagoon and the Bay of Pomerania. The city is situated along the southwestern shore of Dąbie Lake, on both sides of the Oder and on several large islands between the western and eastern branches of the river. Szczecin borders with the town of Police. Szczecin’s architectural style is due to trends popular in the last half of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th century, Academic art and Art Nouveau. In many areas built after 1945, especially in the city centre, which had been destroyed due to Allied bombing, social realism is prevalent.   read more…

The Munich Residenz

30 January 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  7 minutes

Munich Residenz © Gryffindor

Munich Residenz © Gryffindor

The Munich Residenz is the former royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs in the center of the city of Munich. The Residenz is the largest city palace in Germany and is today open to visitors for its architecture and room decorations, and displays from the former royal collections.   read more…

The seaside resort Royan

29 January 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Royan Harbour © Cobber17/cc-by-sa-3.0

Royan Harbour © Cobber17/cc-by-sa-3.0

Royan is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department, along the Atlantic Ocean, in southwestern France.   read more…

The Kruger National Park

26 January 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Environment Reading Time:  5 minutes

Pafuri Gate at the North Entrance of the Kruger Park © Entropy1963

Pafuri Gate at the North Entrance of the Kruger Park © Entropy1963

Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,485 square kilometres (7,523 sq mi) in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 kilometres (220 mi) from north to south and 65 kilometres (40 mi) from east to west. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa’s first national park in 1926.   read more…

Brescello in Reggio Emilia

26 January 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Museum of Don Camillo and Peppone © Szeder László/cc-by-sa-3.0

Museum of Don Camillo and Peppone © Szeder László/cc-by-sa-3.0

Brescello is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Emilia in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 80 km northwest of Bologna and about 25 km northwest of Reggio Emilia. It has 5,504 inhabitants. Situated in the north-western side of the province, close to the borders with the provinces of Parma and Mantua (Mantua is in Lombardy), Brescello lies on the southern shore of the river Po, near the confluence with the Enza.   read more…

The Phoenix Lake in Dortmund

25 January 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Lake Phoenix from East Shore © Rainer Halama

Lake Phoenix from East Shore © Rainer Halama

Steel was refined in Dortmund-Hörde for 160 years. The name Phoenix stood for the blast furnace plant on the Phoenix-West site and the Hermannshütte oxygen steel plant on the Phoenix-Ost site. Structural change in the region brought the end of the steel era. In 2001 the plant site became one of the region’s many industrial wastelands.   read more…

The porcelain and wine city of Meissen

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

Meissen seen from 'Juchhöh' in the nearby mountains 'Spaargebirge' © Olaf1541/cc-by-sa-3.0

Meissen seen from ‘Juchhöh’ in the nearby mountains ‘Spaargebirge’ © Olaf1541/cc-by-sa-3.0

Meissen is a town of approximately 30,000 about 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony. The Grosse Kreisstadt is the capital of the Meissen district.   read more…

The Docklands in London

23 January 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London Reading Time:  9 minutes

Canary Wharf from Thames © S nova

Canary Wharf from Thames © S nova

Docklands is the semi-official name for an area in east and southeast London. It forms part of the boroughs of Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham, Newham and Greenwich. The docks were formerly part of the Port of London, at one time the world’s largest port. They have now been redeveloped principally for commercial and residential use. The name London Docklands was used for the first time in a government report on redevelopment plans in 1971 but has since become virtually universally adopted. It also created conflict between the new and old communities of the London Docklands.   read more…

Lazise on Lake Garda

22 January 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Alessandro Vecchi

© Alessandro Vecchi

Lazise is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about 120 km west of Venice and about 20 km northwest of Verona. It is situated on the eastern shore of Lake Garda. It has a population of 6,300 and an area of 65.0 km².   read more…

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