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. 

Bang Goes The Acropolis

The Acropolis has become the byword for Athens, though every Greek city sported an acropolis, an upper town. It was built and destroyed several times during its 7,500 years of history and it found many uses. What sticks in the mind, though, is the moment when the Venetians blew it up. 

Austrian Mystery

Books with a certain patina aren’t always the worst ones to read. If you are going on a holiday to Austria (or if you never considered doing that), Airs Above The Ground by Mary Stewart should be part of the reading stuff to take along. Consider it a guidebook extraordinary when you do so. 

The Founder of Abbottabad

Abbottabad has been all over the news for all the wrong reasons, thanks to someone called Ossama Bin Laden. The town on the Indian subcontinent is a British invention. These days, it forms part of Pakistan. 

Graffiti in the Church

When a relatively new church built in 1961 fell into disrepair, the diocese of Freiburg (Germany) decided to sell it for profane uses in 2005. The parishioners had other ideas and collected enough money for a thorough renovation. All that was missing was some artwork.