Portrait: 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare

1 June 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  8 minutes

William Shakespeare by John Taylor

William Shakespeare by John Taylor

William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet, and the “Bard of Avon”. His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.   read more…

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London

31 January 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London, Museums, Exhibitions, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Schlaier

© Schlaier

The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare’s playing company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend and grandson Sir Matthew Brend, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.   read more…

William Shakespeare’s hometown Stratford-upon-Avon

29 December 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Mercure The Shakespeare Hotel © Green Lane

Mercure The Shakespeare Hotel © Green Lane

Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, 22 miles (35 km) south east of Birmingham and 8 miles (13 km) south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term “on” to indicate that it covers a much larger area than the town itself. Four electoral wards make up the urban town of Stratford; Alveston, Avenue and New Town, Mount Pleasant and Guild and Hathaway. The estimated total population for those wards in 2007 was 25,505. The town is a popular tourist destination owing to its status as birthplace of the playwright and poet William Shakespeare, receiving about three million visitors a year from all over the world. The Royal Shakespeare Company resides in Stratford’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre, one of Britain’s most important cultural venues. Apart from tourism, which is a major employer locally, especially in the hotel, hospitality industry and catering sectors, other industries in the town are boat building and maintenance, bicycles, mechanical and electrical engineering, food manufacture, Information Technology, and call centre and service sector activities (both of which are growing sectors), a large motor sales sector, industrial plant hire, building suppliers, market gardening, farming, storage and transport logistics, finance and insurance, and a large retail sector.   read more…

Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, where the legend of Hamlet’s tragedy lives on

24 October 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Kronborg Castle © Fiskfisk

Kronborg Castle © Fiskfisk

Kronborg is a star fortress situated near the town of Helsingør (immortalized as Elsinore in Shakespeare’s Hamlet) on the extreme northeastern tip of Zealand at the narrowest point of the Øresund, the sound between Denmark and Sweden. In this part, the sound is only 4 km wide, hence the strategic importance of maintaining a sea fortress at this location commanding one of the few outlets of the Baltic Sea. The castle has for centuries been one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites list on November 30, 2000. Along with the fortress Kärnan, Helsingborg on the opposite of Øresund, it controlled the entranceway to the Baltic Sea.   read more…

Inverness and Loch Ness in Scotland

29 July 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

Inverness Castle © Mlm42

Inverness Castle © Mlm42

Inverness is a city in northern Scotland. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland. It lies near the site of the 18th century Battle of Culloden and at the northeastern extremity of the Great Glen (An Gleann Mòr), where the River Ness enters the Inverness/Moray Firth making it a natural hub for various transport links. It is the northernmost city in the United Kingdom. A settlement was established by the 6th century with the first royal charter being granted by Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim (King David I) in the 12th century. The Gaelic king, Mac Bethad mac Findláich (MacBeth) nicknamed Rígh Dearg (The Red King) held a castle within the city where he ruled as Mormaer of Moray and Ross.   read more…

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