What do you do when you want a peaceful cottage where you can escape the stresses of daily life? If you happen to be the king of Portugal, you renovate an old monastery into a romantic castle using bright colours and the ubiquitous glazed tiles (below). This is what Ferdinand II (cousin of Prince Albert,Continue reading “Palace of Pena, Sintra, Portugal”

First founded in 1290 in Lisbon, the university moved to Coimbra in early 16th century, and was the only university in the Portuguese-speaking world until 1911. The university was founded by king Dinis, whose mortal remains were dug up (for research) recently, and, as is customary these days, a recreation of his facial features wasContinue reading “University of Coimbra, Portugal”

The Musée Condé at the Château de Chantilly outside Paris happens to own one of the best-known medieval manuscripts, ’Les très riches heures de duc de Berry’. As this well-known marvel needs to be rebound, there has been an exhibition around the famous illuminations depicting the months. The château itself is mostly a reconstruction fromContinue reading “Books in Chantilly”

The Northeast Greenland National Park is the world´s largest at 972 000km2. The interior is covered by the Greenland ice sheet, but the coastal areas are ice free in the summer. There is no permanent population, only military and research posts with changing staff. The most accessible parts of the park are in the southeast,Continue reading “NE Greenland National Park”

Ittoqqortoormiit is one of the world’s remotest settlements, on the east coast of Greenland, with a population of about 350. The name means ’big house dwellers’ and it was founded by a Dane, Ejnar Mikkelsen (his memorial is below left) and 85 inuits, in 1925. The village lives on services, hunting and fishing, and dogsContinue reading “Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland”

The Scoresby Sound (or Scoresby Sund in Danish, Kangertittivaq in Greenlandic) is the world’s largest fjord system, where the longest part extends 350 km inland. The name comes from the English explorer William Scoresby who mapped the area in 1822. The names given to the area are usually descriptive – for example, Bjørneøer (bear islands,Continue reading “Scoresby Sound, Greenland”

The architecture of Art Nouveau adapted itself to every city that took it on – Barcelona, Helsinki, Nancy, Brussels – developing a set of idioms particular to each city. This also holds for Riga. The freely flowing continuous decoration, the human form, the often asymmetrical facades are all common Art Nouveau features, but the interpretationContinue reading “Art Nouveau, Latvian Style”

One of the well-known scenic stretches of track, the Flåmsbana between Myrdal and Flåm provides a quick descent from 867m to sea level over 20km in about an hour. Myrdal s a non-descript stop (above left) on the Oslo-Bergen track, a bit after the highest point of that stretch (which is at 1200m above seaContinue reading “The Flåm Railway, Norway”

The Jungfrau Railway (Jungfraubahn) is the highest railway in Europe and takes you from the hamlet of Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch, the saddle between the peaks of Jungfrau and Mönch at the height of 3454m. The original goal was to add an elevator to the peak (4158m), but this was never done. The rack railwayContinue reading “The Jungfrau and Its Railways”

Neuf-Brisach might not be very big, but at least it is perfectly symmetrical. The reason, naturally, is that it was designed and built at one go – no natural growth here (see the plan below). The town was built around 1700 by Louis XIV’s famous fortification guru, Vauban (before ennobling called Sébastien Le Prestre). HeContinue reading “Neuf-Brisach – A Perfectly Formed Town”