© Kolossos/cc-by-sa-3.0

Canossa in Reggio Emilia

[caption id="attachment_227257" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Canossa Castle on a cold winter night © Giorgio Galeotti/cc-by-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Canossa is a comune and castle town in the Province of Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is where Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV did penance in 1077 and stood three days bare-headed in the snow to reverse his excommunication by Pope Gregory VII. The Walk to Canossa is sometimes used as a symbol of the changing relationship between the medieval Church and State...

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Theme Week Florida Coasts - First Coast

[caption id="attachment_225300" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Sunrise over Ponte Vedra Beach © flickr.com - Craig ONeal/cc-by-sa-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Florida's First Coast, or simply the First Coast, is a region of the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida. The First Coast refers to the same general area as the directional region of Northeast Florida. It roughly comprises the five counties surrounding Jacksonville: Duval, Baker, Clay, Nassau, and St. Johns, largely corresponding to th...

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The Enchantment of the Seas

[caption id="attachment_216912" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Webwolf67[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Enchantment of the Seas is a Vision-class cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean International. In September 2017, Enchantment of the Seas evacuated the company’s employees and their families from Miami when they had been endangered by Hurricane Irma. In the 2021 season, the Enchantment of the Seas will operate from Baltimore, Maryland. Home port is Nassau in the Bahamas. The two propellers are highly skewed fixed p...

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The port of New York

[caption id="attachment_151774" align="aligncenter" width="590"] South Street Seaport © flickr.com - ian reid/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]New York Harbor, part of the Port of New York and New Jersey, is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the United States Board on Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental, commercial, and ecological usages. In 1824 the first Ameri...

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Achrafieh in Beirut

[caption id="attachment_225927" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Moussa Sursock's palace © James Bradbury/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Achrafieh is an area in eastern Beirut, Lebanon. In strictly administrative terms, the name refers to a sector (secteur) centred on Sassine Square, the highest point in the city, as well as a broader quarter (quartier). In popular parlance, however, Achrafieh refers to the whole hill that rises above Gemmayze in the north and extends to Badaro in the south, and includes the Rmeil quart...

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The Super Bowl LIV in Miami Gardens

[caption id="attachment_207423" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © nfl.com[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The NFL Super Bowl LIV, the 54th Super Bowl and the 50th modern-era National Football League (NFL) championship game (American Football) will decide the league champion for the league's 2019 and 100th season. The game will be played on February 2, 2020 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. This will be the 11th Super Bowl hosted by the South Florida region and the sixth Super Bowl hosted in Miami Gardens, which hosted ...

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Theme Week Palestine - Al-Bireh

[caption id="attachment_171128" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Manara Square, border between Ramallah (left) and Al-Bireh (right) © Abutoum[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Al-Bireh is a city in the central West Bank, 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) north of Jerusalem. The city borders Ramallah to the west. To the north is the Israeli settlement Beit El, to the east another Israeli settlement called Psagot and to the south al-Am'ari Refugee Camp and Kalandia. It is situated on the central ridge running through the West Bank and is 860 meters...

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Tortuga in the Caribbean

[caption id="attachment_153046" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Tortuga Island © NASA[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Tortuga (French: Île de la Tortue, Englisch: Turtle Island) is a Caribbean island that forms part of Haiti, off the northwest coast of Hispaniola. It constitutes the commune of Île de la Tortue in the Port-de-Paix arrondissement of the Nord-Ouest Department of Haiti. Tortuga is 180 km² (69 mi²) in size and has a population of 30,000. In the 17th century, Tortuga was a major centre of Caribbean piracy. Its tourist...

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Dana Point in Orange County

[caption id="attachment_150758" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © D Ramey Logan/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Dana Point is a city located in southern Orange County, California. The population is at 34,000. It has one of the few harbors along the Orange County coast, and with ready access via State Route 1, it is a popular local destination for surfing. The city was named after the headland of Dana Point, which was in turn named after Richard Henry Dana, Jr., author of Two Years Before the Mast, which included a descr...

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Siciliy's green diamonds - the pistachios city of Bronte

[caption id="attachment_153926" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © SR/Julia Leiendecker[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Bronte is a town and comune of Sicily. Bronte is located slightly northwest of Mount Etna, on the side of the valley of the Simeto river. It is about 30 kilometers west of the coast. In 1799, King Ferdinand III created Bronte as a Duchy, and rewarded admiral Horatio Nelson with the title of Duke for the help he had provided him in bloodily repressing the revolution in Naples and so in recovering his throne. ...

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