HMS Belfast
One of the last surviving ships from WW2, HMS Belfast is a fascinating piece of history moored on the River Thames near Tower Bridge, it’s easy to spend several hours…
Tag: heritage
Prizren
The second city of Kosovo, Prizren was an unexpected delight, with a compact old town filled with historical sights, located at the base of the Sar Mountains. The best views…
Penshurst Place & Parham Park
A pair of grand houses built two centuries apart (the 14th and 16th) but both strongly connected with the Elizabethan era. Parham Park is one of the finest Elizabethan houses…
Bunratty Castle and Folk Park
One of the most popular tourist attractions in Ireland, Bunratty combines a 15th century castle and a folk park recreating Irish life from the 19th century. Other than the tour…
Irish monasteries, churches and cemeteries
Religion has played a huge role in Irish history, often tragically in the centuries long conflict between Catholics and Protestants. The number of monasteries, churches and cemeteries across the country…
Irish houses and gardens
As is standard across most of Europe there were plenty of grand old houses with accompanying gardens to explore in Ireland. Kylemore Abbey Built in 1860s with Manchester cotton money,…
Downtown Los Angeles
Much maligned, but definitely improving, downtown Los Angeles still feels like a work in progress, with grand architectural statements sitting next to vacant or derelict lots. In a relatively small…
Hermannsburg Historic Precinct
A fascinating place to visit for it’s heritage and art history, Hermannsburg Historic Precinct was the first Aboriginal Mission in the Northern Territory. As it’s name suggests it was established…
Alice Springs Heritage & Views
For a relatively young place, established in 1872 as Stuart, and renamed to Alice Springs in 1933, there is a significant amount of heritage to be explored. The obvious place…
Gunn’s Camp
Gunn’s Camp began in 1938 as Public Works Department camp to accommodate married men (unsure where the unmarried stayed) who worked on the Hollyford-Okuru Road. 8km up Hollyford Road off Milford…
Symonds Street Cemetery
Symonds Street Cemetery is somewhere that almost everyone in Auckland will have been past or over, but few will have walked through. It’s encircled by Symonds St, K Road, the…
New Zealand cemeteries
Cemeteries are fascinating places, providing perspective on your life and the times in which people lived and were buried. Here’s a selection from across New Zealand, starting with probably the…
Arrowtown
An historic gold rush era town close to Queenstown, Arrowtown is worth visiting for it’s heritage, and in April / May is one of the best places in New Zealand…
Macetown
An evocative place to spend the night alone camping, Macetown is an abandoned gold rush era town about 15km from Arrowtown. Once home to 300 people, a school, a church…
Portland
Often proclaimed as one of the most liveable cities in America, I found Portland a pleasant if not hugely exciting place to visit. Though I was there on a day…
Seattle
On a good day one of the most enjoyable cities in America, Seattle has much in common with it’s near neighbour Vancouver (three hours away), and while it’s natural setting…
Australian Parliament buildings
As a federated country Australia has rather a lot of parliament buildings, one for each of the six states (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia),…
Vancouver
Vancouver was a place I expected to love, and thankfully it lived up to expectations, not often the case. With a beautiful natural setting and cool architecture, plus the buzz…
Old St. Paul’s and St Paul’s Cathedral, Wellington
Home to one of the most beautiful church interiors in New Zealand, Old St. Paul’s is an icon of the capital. Only taking nine months to build, it opened in…
Ballarat
One of the most architecturally beautiful cities I’ve visited, Ballarat is a gem an hour and a half west of Melbourne. Flush with gold rush wealth from the 1850s they…