Ludwigsburg on the Neckar

16 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Ludwigsburg Residential Palace © Mussklprozz/cc-by-sa-3.0

Ludwigsburg Residential Palace © Mussklprozz/cc-by-sa-3.0

Ludwigsburg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg district with about 87,000 inhabitants. It is situated within the Stuttgart Region, and the district is part of the administrative region (Regierungsbezirk) of Stuttgart.   read more…

Agadir on the Atlantic

15 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Daniel*D/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Daniel*D/cc-by-sa-3.0

Agadir is a major city in central coastal Morocco, the capital of Agadir-Ida Ou Tanane province (MA-AGD) and of the Souss-Massa-Drâa economic region some 508 km to the south of Casablanca, 173 km south of Essaouira and 235 km southwest of Marrakech. A majority of its inhabitants speak Amazigh (Berber) as their mother tongue. The city is located on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Sous River flows into the ocean. Agadir was the premier sardine port in the world in the 1980s and has a famous beach stretching over 10 km with one of the finest seafront promenades in the world. Its climate has 340 days of sunshine per year which allows for swimming all year round. The winter is unusually warm and summer heat is never oppressive (summer haze however is common). Agadir is the premier tourist destination in the country, a claim sometimes disputed by Marrakech, and the premier fishing port of Morocco. Business is also booming with the export of citrus fruit and vegetables produced in the fertile valley of Souss. With its white buildings, wide flowered boulevards, modern hotels and European style cafes, Agadir is not a typical city of traditional Morocco but it is a modern, active and dynamic city, turned towards the future. The bay of Agadir and the nearby Bay of Taghazout are members of the “Club of the most beautiful bays in the world”. The city is served by the Agadir–Al Massira International Airport.   read more…

Narbonne in southern France

15 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Canal de la Robine seen from Boulevard Gambetta © MartinD

Canal de la Robine seen from Boulevard Gambetta © MartinD

Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region with 50,000 inhabitants. It lies 849 km (528 mi) from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about 15 km (9.3 mi) from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is marginally the largest commune in Aude, although the capital is the slightly smaller commune of Carcassonne.   read more…

Theme Week Dresden – State Art Collections

13 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

© Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (English: Dresden State Art Collections) is a cultural institution in Dresden, owned by the State of Saxony. It is one of the most renowned and oldest museum institutions in the world, originating from the collections of the Saxon electors in the 16th century. The Staatliche Kunstsammlungen has been a state-owned enterprise since January 1, 2009. The association includes twelve museums which operate independently within the context of their own collection, but all share various institutions and facilities as well as a central administration. In 2012 2.5 million visitors visited the museums.   read more…

The Lighthouse of Saint-Mathieu

13 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Abbay and lighthouse of Saint-Mathieu © Pline/cc-by-sa-3.0

Abbay and lighthouse of Saint-Mathieu © Pline/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Saint-Mathieu lighthouse is a lighthouse located on Pointe Saint-Mathieu in Plougonvelin, around Brest in Finistère. The lighthouse is open to the public. Saint-Mathieu was built in 1835 among the ruins of the ancient Abbaye Saint-Mathieu de Fine-Terre. It is a major lighthouse of the French coast, with a theoretical range of 29 nautical miles (around 55 km). It was classified as a monument historique on 23 May 2011.   read more…

Valletta on Malta

13 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, European Capital of Culture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

Grandmaster's Palace © Zairon/cc-by-sa-3.0

Grandmaster’s Palace © Zairon/cc-by-sa-3.0

Valletta is the capital of Malta, colloquially known as Il-Belt (English: The City) in Maltese. It is located in the central-eastern portion of the island of Malta, and the historical city has a population of 6,966. Valletta is the second southernmost capital of the EU member states after Nicosia.   read more…

The Galway Hooker

12 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Galway Hooker in Belfast © Ardfern/cc-by-sa-3.0

Galway Hooker in Belfast © Ardfern/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Galway hooker (Irish: húicéir) is a traditional fishing boat used in Galway Bay off the west coast of Ireland. The hooker was developed for the strong seas there. It is identified by its sharp, clean entry, bluff bow, marked tumble-home and raked transom. Its sail plan consists of a single mast with a main sail and two foresails. Traditionally, the boat is black (being coated in pitch) and the sails are a dark red-brown.   read more…

Grosseto in Tuscany

11 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Porto Romano dell'Isola di Giannutri © Aldo Ardetti/cc-by-sa-3.0

Porto Romano dell’Isola di Giannutri © Aldo Ardetti/cc-by-sa-3.0

Grosseto is a city and comune in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies 14 kilometres (9 miles) from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river. It is the most populous city in Maremma, with 83,000 inhabitants.   read more…

Koblenz, at the confluence of Rhine and Moselle rivers

11 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Panorama Fortress Ehrenbreitstein © Holger Weinandt

Panorama Fortress Ehrenbreitstein © Holger Weinandt

Koblenz is a city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck (German Corner) and its monument (Emperor William I on horseback) are situated. As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the town celebrated its 2000th anniversary in 1992. The name Koblenz is from Latin (ad) confluentes, confluence or “(at the) merging of rivers”. Subsequently it was Covelenz and Cobelenz. In the local dialect the name is Kowelenz. After Mainz and Ludwigshafen am Rhein, it is the third largest city in Rhineland-Palatinate, with a population of c. 106,000 (2006). Koblenz lies in the Rhineland, 92 kilometers (57 miles) southeast of Cologne by rail.   read more…

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