Theme Week Bulgarian Black Sea Coast – Balchik

27 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

© ARKADIUSZ MARKIEWICZ/cc-by-sa-3.0

© ARKADIUSZ MARKIEWICZ/cc-by-sa-3.0

Balchik (Romanian: Balcic, Turkish: Balçık) is a Black Sea coastal town and seaside resort in the Southern Dobruja area of northeastern Bulgaria. It is in Dobrich Province, 35 km southeast of Dobrich and 42 km northeast of Varna. It sprawls scenically along hilly terraces descending from the Dobruja plateau to the sea, and is often called “The White City” because of its white hills.   read more…

Portrait: Charles Darwin, an English naturalist, geologist and biologist

27 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  7 minutes

Charles Darwin by Julia Margaret Cameron, c. 1868 © Alfred Steiglitz Collection - Art Institute of Chicago

Charles Darwin by Julia Margaret Cameron, c. 1868
© Alfred Steiglitz Collection – Art Institute of Chicago

Charles Robert Darwin FRS FRGS FLS FZS JP (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental concept in science. In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey.   read more…

Theme Week Bulgarian Black Sea Coast – Tsarevo

26 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© panoramio.com - SpaceControl/cc-by-3.0

© panoramio.com – SpaceControl/cc-by-3.0

Tsarevo (also transliterated as Carevo or Tzarevo) is a town and seaside resort in the Municipality of Tsarevo, Burgas Province, Bulgaria. It lies on a cove 70 km southeast of Burgas, on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast at the eastern foot of Strandzha mountain, at a few kilometers from Strandzha Nature Park.   read more…

Basse-Terre in the Caribbean

26 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Town Hall of Basse-Terre town, the capital of Guadeloupe © LPLT/cc-by-sa-3.0

Town Hall of Basse-Terre town, the capital of Guadeloupe © LPLT/cc-by-sa-3.0

Basse-Terre is the western and larger of the two main islands of the French overseas department of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. The capital of Guadeloupe, also called Basse-Terre, is located on the island. The eastern main island is called Grande-Terre. As Saint Marie and Honoré, Basse-Terre and the town of Deshaies in the northwest of the island have been the main filming and setting locations for the British-French dramedy television series Death in Paradise since 2011.   read more…

Theme Week Bulgarian Black Sea Coast

25 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  7 minutes

Primorsko © flickr.com - Boby Dimitrov/cc-by-sa-2.0

Primorsko © flickr.com – Boby Dimitrov/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, also known as the Bulgarian Riviera, covers the entire eastern bound of Bulgaria stretching from the Romanian Black Sea resorts in the north to European Turkey in the south, along 378 km of coastline. White and golden sandy beaches occupy approximately 130 km of the 378 km long coast. The region is an important center of tourism during the summer season (May–October), drawing millions of foreign and local tourists alike and constituting one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations. Prior to 1989 the Bulgarian Black Sea coast was internationally known as the Red Riviera. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, however, its nickname has been changed to the Bulgarian Riviera.   read more…

Tahrir Square in Cairo

25 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  6 minutes

Tahrir Square obelisk (2022) © Onceinawhile/cc-by-sa-4.0

Tahrir Square obelisk (2022) © Onceinawhile/cc-by-sa-4.0

Tahrir Square (Arabic: Maydān at-Taḥrīr; English: Liberation Square), also known as Martyr Square (Maydān al-Shuhadā’), is a public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political demonstrations. The 2011 Egyptian revolution and the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak occurred at the Tahrir Square.   read more…

Poutine

24 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit Reading Time:  7 minutes

Vladimir Poutine restaurant in Montreal © Jwslubbock/cc-by-sa-4.0

Vladimir Poutine restaurant in Montreal © Jwslubbock/cc-by-sa-4.0

Poutine is a dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. It emerged in Quebec, in the late 1950s in the Centre-du-Québec region, though its exact origins are uncertain and there are several competing claims regarding its invention. For many years, it was used by some to mock Quebec society. Poutine later became celebrated as a symbol of Québécois culture and the province of Quebec. It has long been associated with Quebec cuisine, and its rise in prominence has led to its growing popularity throughout the rest of Canada.   read more…

Salisbury in Massachusetts

23 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Town Hall © John Phelan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Town Hall © John Phelan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Salisbury is a small coastal beach town and summer tourist destination in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The community is a popular summer resort beach town situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of Boston on the New Hampshire border. It is home to the new Salisbury Beach Boardwalk, full of souvenir shops, restaurants, cafes, arcades and panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 9,236 at the 2020 census. Parts of town comprise the census-designated place of Salisbury.   read more…

Dong Xuan Center in Berlin

22 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin, Bon appétit, Shopping Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Peter Kuley/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Peter Kuley/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Dong Xuan Center is an Asian wholesale market on Herzbergstrasse in the Berlin district of Lichtenberg in the Lichtenberg district. It was developed from the late 1990s on the former site of Siemens Plania AG, partly using existing industrial and administrative buildings. Expansions and new uses are constantly taking place. The focus is on sales, services and, from 2024, cultural events. The model and namesake of the Berlin Dong Xuan Center is the Dong Xuan Market in Hanoi, which was built in 1889 and is the largest and oldest market in the Vietnamese capital.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top