Just a twenty minute drive south of our campsite, Camping Gavina, we arrived at the ancient city of Tarragona. We travelled here to see some impressive Roman ruins on the coast. This second-century amphitheatre is still quite well intact today and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The surrounding area is the oldest Roman settlement in the Iberian […]
history
Why Visit the Louvre
I like being outside rather than couped up in a museum, although the Louvre is an exception. Situated on the Rive Droite, the Louvre houses almost 40 000 interesting historical and art objects that range from prehistoric times until the 21st century. It is also one of the most visited museums in the world, […]
Jardin Des Plantes, Paris
If you’re a lover of nature, greenery, foliage, flowers and all the other wild plants out there, the Jardin des Plantes is definitely for you. Situated near the Latin Quarter in Paris, the original name of the garden gives us a clue as to its function: Jardin royal des plantes médicinales (the royal medicinal garden). The garden was founded […]
Santa Cruz, La Palma
Spanish speaking places can be confusing geographically in that there are many different places with the same names. There’s Las Palmas, and then there’s La Palma. There’s Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and then there’s Santa Cruz de la Palma. Just to be clear, the latter is the capital city of the island of […]
Kilkenny Cathedral
Called St. Canice Cathedral to some, this limestone church was also known by the fancy name of the Diocese of Ossory. The round tower next to it, dates back to the ninth century and with tickets, you can climb to the top for a good view of Kilkenny (there’s only one other round tower in Ireland that takes […]
Kilkenny Castle
It’s just about a two hour drive to Kilkenny from Cork City on the M8 (take some cash with for the toll, about €2). Not surprisingly, it was a cold and cloudy spring day when we set out. Our destination was the lovely Zwartbles farm – I wanted to visit the little black lambs just outside the city of […]
Hore Abbey
If you didn’t notice, the photo above has a cow in the foreground that is unfortunately making a wee. They just have a knack for doing that kind of thing when there’s a camera pointing at them. It’s not my favourite photo but I thought I’d just leave it there for effect (whatever that […]
The Rock of Cashel
There’s a bit of mythology surrounding the history of how the rock that the fortress is built on was formed. The story is that St. Patrick banished the Devil from a mountain about 30 kilometres to the north. As far as I understand, it seems like the Devil bit that mountain (for whatever reason), causing a gap in the mountain. That […]
The Burren
“Of this barony it is said that it is a country where there is not water enough to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury them.” – Officer Ludlow The Irish Gaelic word for this unusual landscape in County Clare is Boireann, “great rock”. It’s about 250 square kilometres of limestone […]