The four-masted steel barque Pommern

21 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Museums, Exhibitions, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  5 minutes

Museum ship Pommern © Mark A. Wilson

Museum ship Pommern © Mark A. Wilson

The Pommern, formerly the Mneme (1903–1908), is a windjammer. She is a four-masted barque that was built in 1903 in Glasgow at the J. Reid & Co shipyard.   read more…

Dinan in Brittany

21 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Chateau de Dinan © Luna04

Chateau de Dinan © Luna04

Dinan is a walled Breton town and a commune in the Côtes-d’Armor department in northwestern France. Its geographical setting is exceptional. Instead of nestling on the valley floor like Morlaix, most urban development has been on the hillside, overlooking the river Rance. The area alongside the River Rance is known as the port of Dinan and is connected to the town by the steep streets Rue Jerzual and its continuation outside the walls the Rue de Petit Fort.   read more…

Tallinn in Estonia

20 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, European Capital of Culture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Brunswyk/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

© Brunswyk/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. Tallinn occupies an area of 159.2 km2 (61.5 sq mi) and has a population of 432,000. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, 80 km (50 mi) south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn’s Old Town is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is ranked as a global city and has been listed among the top 10 digital cities in the world. The city was a European Capital of Culture for 2011, along with Turku in Finland. Tallinn is the financial and business capital of Estonia. The city benefits from the high level of economic freedom, liberal economic policy and has a highly diversified economy with particular strengths in information technology, tourism and logistics. Daily Mail called Tallinn one of world’s seven smartest cities. Tallinn is internationally renowned as a tourist destination, receiving more than 1.5 million visitors annually. The number of visitors has been growing steadily over the past decade. Tallinn Passenger Port is one of the busiest cruise destinations on the Baltic Sea, serving more than 520 000 cruise passengers in year 2013. From year 2011 regular cruise turnarounds in cooperation with Tallinn Airport are organised.   read more…

The Eurotunnel

19 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Eurotunnel schema © Arz - Commander Keane

Eurotunnel schema © Arz – Commander Keane

The Channel Tunnel (French: Le tunnel sous la Manche; also referred to as the Chunnel) is a 50.5-kilometre (31.4 mi) rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent, in the United Kingdom, with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais, near Calais in northern France, beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is 75 m (250 ft) deep. At 37.9 kilometres (23.5 mi), the tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world, although the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is both longer overall at 53.85 kilometres (33.46 mi) and deeper at 240 metres (790 ft) below sea level. The speed limit in the tunnel is 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph).   read more…

Miami Beach

19 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Miami / South Florida Reading Time:  11 minutes

Biscayne Island © Averette/cc-by-3.0-en

Biscayne Island © Averette/cc-by-3.0-en

Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County in Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a series of natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper. The neighborhood of South Beach, comprising the southernmost 2.5 square miles (6.5 km2) of Miami Beach, along with Downtown Miami and Port of Miami, collectively form the commercial center of South Florida. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 88,000. Miami Beach has been one of America’s pre-eminent beach resorts since the early 20th century.   read more…

Eiderstedt, St. Peter-Ording and Tönning

19 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

EIDERSTEDT PENINSULA

Eiderstedt - Lighthouse Westerhever © Viola sonans

Eiderstedt – Lighthouse Westerhever © Viola sonans

Eiderstedt is a peninsula in the district of Nordfriesland in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is approximately 30 km in length and 15 km in width and has been created through diking (polders) from three islands: Eiderstedt around Tönning, Utholm around Tating, and Evershop around Garding. The diking started around the year 1000 AD. Since these three islands were administrative districts of their own, the area was originally called Dreilande – “Three Lands”.   read more…

Theme Week Crimea – The spa and holiday resort Yalta

18 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Livadia Palace - Yalta Conference © Hinnerk/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Livadia Palace – Yalta Conference © Hinnerk/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

Yalta is a resort city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea. It is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black Sea, surrounded by wooded mountains. It has a warm humid subtropical climate with many vineyards and orchards in the vicinity. The term “The Greater Yalta” is used to designate a part of the Crimean southern coast spanning from Foros in the west to Gurzuf in the east and including the city of Yalta and multiple adjacent urban settlements. The town came to worldwide attention in 1945 when the Yalta Conference between the Big Three powers – the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom – was held at the Livadia Palace.   read more…

Tropea on the Coast of the Gods

17 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Santa Maria dell'Isola © Marcuscalabresus/cc-by-sa-3.0

Santa Maria dell’Isola © Marcuscalabresus/cc-by-sa-3.0

Tropea is a municipality located within the province of Vibo Valentia, in Calabria. The town is a famous bathing place, situated on a reef, in the gulf of St. Euphemia connected with the mainland by a narrow strip in the Tyrrhenian Sea, toward the south with respect to Vibo Valentia and northward with respect to Ricadi and Capo Vaticano.   read more…

Budapest

17 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

Budapest Castle © Karelj

Budapest Castle © Karelj

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country’s principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. Budapest has 1.7 million inhabitants, the Commuter Area is home to 3.3 million people. The city covers an area of 525 square kilometres (202.7 sq mi) within the city limits. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with a unification on 17 November 1873 of right (west)-bank Buda and Óbuda with left (east)-bank Pest.   read more…

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