Padstow on River Camel

21 November 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Gull waiting to steal people's chips in Padstow Harbour © geograph.org.uk - Nicholas Mutton

Gull waiting to steal people’s chips in Padstow Harbour © geograph.org.uk – Nicholas Mutton

Padstow is a town, civil parish and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town is situated on the west bank of the River Camel estuary approximately five miles northwest of Wadebridge, ten miles northwest of Bodmin and ten miles northeast of Newquay. The population of Padstow civil parish was 3,162 in the 2001 census.   read more…

Cornwall’s Mousehole

19 November 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Olaf Tausch

© Olaf Tausch

Mousehole is a village and fishing port in Cornwall. It is situated approximately 2½ miles (4 km) south of Penzance on the shore of Mount’s Bay. The village is in the civil parish of Penzance and is renowned as one of the most picturesque harbours in England. An islet called St Clement’s Isle lies 400 metres offshore from the harbour entrance.   read more…

Spain’s autonomous city of Ceuta

18 November 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Ceuta map © Omar-Toons

Ceuta map © Omar-Toons

Ceuta is a 18.5 square kilometres (7.1 sq mi) autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish exclave Melilla are the only Spanish territories located in mainland Africa. It was regarded as a part of Cadiz province prior to 14 March 1995, when the city’s Statute of Autonomy was passed. Ceuta (like Melilla) was a free port before Spain joined the European Union. As of 2008 it has a population of 75,276. Its population consists of Christians, Muslims (chiefly Moroccan Arabic speakers), and small minorities of Jews and Hindus. Spanish is the official language. Ceuta (and Melilla) have declared the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha or Feast of the Sacrifice, as an official public holiday from 2010 onwards. It is the first time a non-Christian religious festival is officially celebrated in Spain since the Reconquista.   read more…

Galway has everything for a relaxing city break

17 November 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, European Capital of Culture Reading Time:  11 minutes

The Tribes of Galway on Eyre Square © flickr.com - Eoin Gardiner

The Tribes of Galway on Eyre Square © flickr.com – Eoin Gardiner

Galway (Cathair na Gaillimhe) is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the fifth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. The population of Galway’s Borough area is 75,414 according to the 2011 census.   read more…

The port city of Aalborg

16 November 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Nytorv Square © Tomasz Sienicki

Nytorv Square © Tomasz Sienicki

Aalborg is a Danish industrial and university city in North Jutland. The city of Aalborg has a population of 102,312 (124,921 including Nørresundby) making it the fourth largest city in Denmark in terms of population. The municipality of Aalborg has a population of 197,426 (2010) making it the third most populous municipality in the country after Copenhagen and Århus. The earliest settlements date back to around AD 700. Its location by the Limfjord made it an important harbour during the Middle Ages, and an industrial centre later. Today, the city is in transition from a working-class industrial city to a knowledge-based one.   read more…

Shenzhen, the ‘iPod City’ in China

16 November 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Shenzhen © Joe.H.K.

Shenzhen © Joe.H.K.

Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China’s Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China’s first – and one of the most successful – Special Economic Zones (SEZs). It currently also holds sub-provincial administrative status, with powers slightly less than a province.   read more…

Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland

14 November 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

Mitchell Library © Andeggs

Mitchell Library © Andeggs

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country’s west central lowlands. A person from Glasgow is known as a Glaswegian. Glasgow grew from the medieval Bishopric of Glasgow and the later establishment of the University of Glasgow in the 15th century, which subsequently became a major centre of the Scottish Enlightenment in the 18th century. From the 18th century the city also grew as one of Britain’s main hubs of transatlantic trade with British North America and the British West Indies. With the Industrial Revolution, the city and surrounding region shifted to become one of the world’s pre-eminent centres of Heavy Engineering, most notably in the Shipbuilding and Marine engineering industry, which produced many innovative and famous vessels. Glasgow was known as the “Second City of the British Empire” for much of the Victorian era and Edwardian period. Today it is one of Europe’s top twenty financial centres and is home to many of Scotland’s leading businesses. Glasgow is also ranked as the 57th most liveable city in the world. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Glasgow grew to a population of over one million, and was the fourth-largest city in Europe, after London, Paris and Berlin. In the 1960s, comprehensive urban renewal projects resulting in large-scale relocation of people to new towns and peripheral suburbs, followed by successive boundary changes, have reduced the current population of the City of Glasgow council area to 580,690, with 1,199,629 people living in the Greater Glasgow urban area. The entire region surrounding the conurbation covers approximately 2.3 million people, 41% of Scotland’s population.   read more…

Bundeswehr Military History Museum

12 November 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  5 minutes

MHM Dresden © Kolossos

MHM Dresden © Kolossos

The Bundeswehr Military History Museum (German: Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr) is the military museum of the German Armed Forces, the Bundeswehr, and one of the major military history museums in Germany. The museum is under the technical and administrative chain of command of the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office. It is located in a former military arsenal in the Albertstadt neighborhood of Dresden. The arsenal, an enormous, neo-classical building, was decommissioned and became a military museum.   read more…

Theme Week Rome – Castel Sant’Angelo, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon

11 November 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  15 minutes

Castle Sant'Angelo © Andreas Tille

Castle Sant’Angelo © Andreas Tille

CASTEL SANT’ANGELO

The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant’Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Rome. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum.   read more…

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