New World Art Capital: Athens

If you are interested in art, then Athens should be the place to go to next. The art scene in Athens is booming. New cultural spaces open almost daily. Studios and apartments are turned into galleries. For artists, living in Athens is cheaper than elsewhere. Artist have moved their studios from London and Berlin to Athens. And art is seen in Athens, not only bought.

Slow Travel: Walking From Somerset to India

Parents like to remind their children to eat slowly. And slow cooking has progressed from being a fad to being a way of life. Time to think about slow traveling. And quite frankly, you can't see anything when doing Europe in three days. My advice, take a page out of Thomas Coryat's book and start walking.

Superhighway from Londinium to Isca

A Roman road was uncovered in Puddletown Forest in Dorset. While the existence of the road was a well-known historical fact, it had been well hidden by the forest that it could not be located so far. The harvesting of a planting of Norway spruce firs by the Forestry Commission brought parts of it to light finally.

Why You Should Visit St Botolph-without-Aldgate in London

The church of St Botolph without Aldgate had a curious show piece, a head in a glass case. The provenience of the head is a great mystery. Different theories as to its history have been proposed, but there are no clues as to whom the head was once attached to. And it looks like the mystery will remain unsolved. 

When Visiting London, Get an Oyster Card

When visiting London, the first thing you should get is an Oyster Card from Transport for London (TfL). The card can be used on all public transport in London and offers a pile of advantages over buying single tickets. You will travel at a discount and it even saves you some advance planning. 

Mystery on Skye

Books with a certain patina aren’t always the worst ones to read. If you are going on a holiday to Scotland and have planned to go to Skye (or if you never considered doing that), Wildfire at Midnight by Mary Stewart should be part of the reading stuff to take along. Consider it a guidebook extraordinary when you do so. 

Stonehenge Tourists 3,500 Years Ago

Tourists in Stonehenge are not an invention of our times. Skeletons found by archaeologists suggest that there were visitors from all over Europe to Stonehenge 3,500 years ago. The most recent find is one from a youth originating in the Mediterranean. 

Drinking Tea at Buckingham Palace

There are several ways you may go about getting your tea at Buckingham Palace. Apart from the obvious ways as a family member or a ruling head of state, there are the invitations for the garden parties of the Queen. The newest way to get your tea at the Palace, though, is the Café just opened for the new tourist season. 

10 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Come to London in 2012

There are ten obvious reasons why you shouldn’t come to London in 2012, against only two reasons why you should. If you’re into betting, this alone should convince you. If you aren’t, maybe you should have a closer look at the drawbacks. And should you decide to come to London against my advice, please don’t blame me for ‘I told you so’ after you didn’t enjoy it. 

More Pieces in The Puzzle of Stonehenge

Sheffield University presented preliminary evidence on a further circle near Stonehenge found near the river Avon. After blue stone chips found on the site they named it Bluehenge. The circle is not evident as a stone circle anymore, but 27 holes on a ramped mound bear witness to its one time existence. It is time to rewrite the history books (again). 

St. Michael The Door Warden

Besides many other jobs assigned to him by God, St. Michael is the foremost door warden. As such, his churches and chapels may often be found on doorways to the Otherworld. Therefore, whenever you find some building dedicated to St. Michael, it is worth while investigating its history. It might stand on one of the doorways to the Otherworld. 

Bruce Castle (and a Ghost)

Bruce Castle is a misnomer; it is a manor house in Tottenham in London. But living up to a grand name, it has a history and a resident ghost, as well as quite a few open questions that still need to be worked out. 

Light and Shadow in The Gardens

Chatto & Windus published Christopher Lloyd: His Life At Great Dixter by Stephen Anderton. What started out as a biography of a great gardener became a double biography of Christo and his mother Daisy. But there is reason and system to this. 

The Isle of Glass

Approaching through the dense September morning’s mist, St. Michael’s tower looms dark and brooding in the half darkness on the sunless island. By perception warped and cloaked in misty shroud, the tower seems to scale the sky, a dominant power heralding either doom or just plain power to the traveler coming its way. Its indistinct outlines blurred by the wet droplets in the air and in the eyes make it seem slim and incredibly high, part of the stairs to heaven, a reminder of the Tower of Babel. 

A Room for Every Day of The Year

Knole House in Kent is the family seat of the Sackville-West family. The house came into Sackville hands during the reign of Elizabeth I. The present Lord Sackville describes the family and the house in his new book. 

The Basel Tattoo

Every year in August, the Basel Military Tattoo is the magnet for over 80,000 people. It sounds like an old event, but it started out as late as 2006. But Basel has a long and living tradition of Pipes and Drums, so the event took to the city like a fish to water. 

Pritzker Prize for Architecture Awarded to Peter Zumthor

Architect Peter Zumthor from Basel, Switzerland, received the Pritzker Prize, the highest accolade an architect can get. Zumthor’s modern buildings built with traditional materials and using ancient crafts have made him a household name for outstanding architecture on building sites in difficult surroundings. Buildings designed by him may be found in the Alps as well as further afield in interesting locations.

There is Music in The Ceilings of Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle was once a Royal residence of the Scottish kings. But being situated near the border to England, it was a castle of strategic importance before that. When the Scots started to convert it into a residence, the builders included a curious code into the ceiling of the king’s bedchamber. The code was recently cracked to reveal the music hidden within.