Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

Stave awake

Talk about accuracy.  Have you heard of Stave churches?  When the Viking finally converted to Christianity (11th to 12th century) they certainly did it in style. The churches themselves are made entirely of wood, often without even nails or screws. Their name comes from the unique post-and-lintel system used in construction—thick wooden posts known as…

Read more

Message in a bottle

Sending out an SOS . .  Some things are just not meant to be. The beautiful island of Montserrat is known for many things - breathtaking - almost otherworldly - scenery, surrounded by glorious seas, world-class architecture and, at one point, one of the top recording studios in the world. George Martin (probably the fifth…

Read more

Low-key Smokys

The Great Smoky Mountains, popularly known as the Great Smokies or the Smokies, is a mountain chain in the Southeastern United States that runs along the North Carolina-Tennessee border. This mountain chain is one of the subranges of the Appalachian Mountains and is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains forming the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. Read more…

Read more

Prosaic mosaic

As we humans (supposedly) get smarter, we should also do smart things.  That's not always the case, but here it is.  In 2010, workers encountered an especially impressive mosaic while digging the foundation for a new hotel in Antakya, Turkey. They found an ancient mosaic measuring 9,000 square feet, making it the largest intact mosaic ever…

Read more

Dive light in

Deep blue waters that glow in the dark come night-time sound like something out of a fairytale. However, that's exactly what the world's bioluminescent bays offer, and they make for a pretty spectacular sight. The eye-catching effect is actually the result of a high concentration of plankton which, when they move, causes the waters to light up…

Read more

Miles of tiles

Many specialist skills, those creating and molding incredible pieces over the decades, have long since disappeared into our overall void of mass-manufactured sameness.  But, fortunately, there are those who still carry the torch of the artisan.  Saied Hussain has been hand making tiles out of cement for over 50 years. He says he’s one of the…

Read more

Like, how much actual money is there in the world?

If you added up all the money from all the countries in the world, how much would it amount to?  The short answer is, probably a lot. All jokes aside, to make this question answerable, let's start by asking, "How much money is there in actual United States dollars?" Since the statistics for the U.S. are…

Read more

Distinctive and immediately recognizable

The architecture of Japan is one of the things that sets the country apart from others. It's very distinctive and immediately recognizable, and something whose charm beckons out to many tourists. While in cities like Tokyo, where landscapes change continuously as older buildings give way to new and modern ones, there are areas where you can take a look…

Read more

Uh . . . coffee-flavoured coffee?

Nearly every expat or regular visitor can remember their first words in Spanish. They may not be the first you were taught, or learned from a self-teaching course pack, but the ones that most stuck in your head, or the first sentence you were able to pronounce without hesitating. But did you know that there's more…

Read more

A penny for your plots, my dear

Buying a home is pricey, unless you plan on moving to the small town of Legrad in Croatia, in which case, it’s unbelievably cheap - as low as 1¢ US. Legrad once had the second-biggest population in Croatia, but when the Austro-Hungarian empire collapsed, new borders were formed. And the town — which is on the…

Read more

Not just G adventures: 5G!

The more you travel, the more you want to travel.  And each time you go, you want even more.  More adventures, more variety, more experiences, more personal. If this sounds like you, our affiliate friends G Adventures are the travel guides for you.  Never the typical tour, they have the choices to take you way…

Read more

Wonders worth searching for

Many of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World collapsed into rubble a long time ago. The Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria, both of which were destroyed by earthquakes. Some of these wonders perhaps never existed at all, like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. We are going to take a look at…

Read more

Have you packed your bike?

Look!  It's a Saab! Let's face it, exercise is a must-have if you want to slide your way into a healthy old age.  Walking is a natural first choice, and it requires no major equipment outlay. But, riding a bicycle takes your exercise - and fun - to another level entirely.  Bikes these days are…

Read more

Liechtenswhere?

One of the only two doubly landlocked nations in the world, the ‘Principality of Liechtenstein’ is unquestionably a European country worth exploring. As of July 2010, the nation accommodates a meagre population of 35,002. It is widely acknowledged as a tax haven and was accused of assisting wealthy Germans in tax evasions involving millions of Euros. Liechtenstein…

Read more

Hole-y crap!

Planet Earth holds some of the strangest, natural tourist destinations in the solar system.  Earth is perpetually bombarded with debris from outer space. Luckily for us, most of it burns up during entry through our atmosphere and we enjoy this bright burn in the night sky in the form of fleeting meteor showers. But on…

Read more

Watch your step

We think this is a good thing:  recycling is the way forward.  And here's an unusual and creative take on it. A massive new theme park is being built in the Middle East - on an oil rig. The project, called The Rig, will be spread over a whopping 1.6 million sqft in Saudi Arabia…

Read more

Climate games

More and more, it's hard to support those individuals who are unconvinced about climate change when, thanks to technology, we can see it before our very eyes.  And, even if we turn out to be incorrect, will we not have moved humankind a few steps forward into a better world? YouTube is striving for a…

Read more