Travel Europe History

The Tour of Flanders is Belgium's most brutal day in the saddle. The bike-crazed Flemish don't just send riders over cobblestone roads. Nor are they content to break the racers' legs with nearly 20 steep hills. No, the worst of all cycling worlds meet in Flanders with narrow, vertical roads paved with slippery, dangerous cobbles. The hills are so steep they are called "muurs", or walls, and they come one after another, for hours, until the riders are shattered with exhaustion. The Tour of Flanders is so fiendishly difficult that the man who wins it earns everlasting fame.

After six years in the idyllic Loire Valley, comedian Ian Moore, his family, and his ever-expanding menagerie are beginning to feel like they're on the cusp of the peace and tranquility they hoped for when they moved from dreary Crawley to la belle France. Their grand project, a writing school called Les Champs Créatifs, is finally complete - only, nobody's signed up.

Packed with a wealth of information, this publication charts the evolution of garden design through a selection of some of our best-loved country house estates and historic gardens, including Hampton Court Palace, Chatsworth, Sissinghurst, and Kew. In addition, it also provides fascinating profiles on the geniuses who created some of our most inspirational gardens, including William Kent, Lancelot "Capability" Brown, Humphry Repton, Gertrude Jekyll, and Sir Joseph Paxton.

Geoffrey Fletcher's London was not the big landmarks, but rather 'the tawdry, extravagant and eccentric'. He wrote about parts of the city no-one ever had before. This could be an art nouveau pub, a Victorian music hall, a Hawksmoor church or even a public toilet in Holborn in which the attendant kept goldfish in the cisterns. He was drawn to the corners of the city where 'the kids swarm like ants and there are dogs everywhere'.

Der John Verlag veröffentlicht die schönsten irischen Sagen, Mythen und Legenden als Hörbuch. Die grüne Insel Irland blickt auf eine lange Geschichte zurück. Erste menschliche Spuren stammen aus der Zeit um 8000 v. Chr. Die ersten Kelten, die die irische Kultur bis zur Christianisierung prägen sollten, gelangten um 600 v. Chr. auf die Insel.

David Gorji, an American of Caucasus Georgian descent, describes his quest to seek his ancestral roots, where he discovers a gorgeous land called Georgia and its most hospitable inhabitants, the Georgians. Gorji's excitement at learning about his newly reclaimed homeland is evident in his fireside-like narration about this marvelous country, its rich history and culture, amazing heritage, and millennia-old winemaking and feasting traditions.

Of all the trademarks of Venice - and there are many, from the gilded Basilica of San Marco to the melancholy Bridge of Sighs - none is more ubiquitous than the gondola. The internationally acclaimed "American with the Venetian heart," Donna Leon, tells its fascinating story ( The Washington Post). First used in medieval Venice as a deftly maneuverable getaway boat, the gondola evolved over the centuries into a floating pleasure palace, bedecked in silk, that facilitated the romantic escapades of the Venetian elite.

Since time immemorial, people have passed through these misty mountains as they traveled between the Scottish lowlands and highlands. The old ways through the mountains - the Mounth passes, as they are collectively called - are the subject of this book. Twelve roads are profiled, from the Causey Mounth on the eastern coast to the Monega Pass deep in the heart of Scotland. Each route is considered from an historical perspective, followed by a guide to walking the road (or what remains of the road) today.

With blithe humor and bright style, Storace conjures up anarchic cities and idyllic towns and harbors where the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires continue to maintain a presence. This program includes an exclusive interview with the author who discusses her work and answers questions about her life in Greece.

A selection of travel writing and personal observations of England in the 1930s by the thriller writer, Victor Canning. AUTHOR: Victor Canning is best known as a thriller writer, though he also wrote historical romances and books for children. Over a writing career spanning 50 years, he wrote more than 60 books and over 80 short stories. Many of his books have been filmed. “Everyman’s England” is a collection of travel articles which were published in book form in 1936.

Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated by castles. Their history, the part they have played in the development of history through the centuries, the magnificent architecture and feats of ancient engineering and construction. Not only that, castles are great places to visit for a day trip to learn more about them and see the spectacle.

1968 reist der Autor Franz Fühmann von Ost-Berlin nach Budapest. Hinter ihm liegen die Überwindung seiner Alkoholsucht und die Desillusionierung durch den Einmarsch der Truppen des Warschauer Paktes in Prag. Schreibend beginnt er, sein Handeln innerhalb der sozialistischen Gesellschaft, in der er lebt, zu reflektieren, und er schafft es, die Krise als Ausgangspunkt für einen Neuanfang zu nutzen.

Every journey has its stories. Beginning with Enid Blyton and childhood in the Isle of Purbeck, Peter Fiennes embarks on a unique exploration of Britain. He follows in the footsteps of some our greatest writers, tracing the paths recorded in their books, journals and diaries, and looks for the country they knew. How much has time changed us? And has it been for better, or worse? Are we trapped in the past?

The City of Falling Angels opens on the evening of January 29, 1996, when a dramatic fire destroys the historic Fenice opera house. The loss of the Fenice, where five of Verdi's operas premiered, is a catastrophe for Venetians. Arriving in Venice three days after the fire, Berendt becomes a kind of detective - inquiring into the nature of life in this remarkable museum-city - while gradually revealing the truth about the fire.

Everybody imagines the world's most interesting man to be a fictional, gray-haired lothario who drinks Mexican beer and boasts of his legendary exploits. But what if a man like this really lived? It turns out he did, and there were two of them--both Victorian explorers.

We follow in the footsteps of the intrepid British traveller as they explore the far-flung shores of the world in the company of some of the world’s finest chroniclers, including Charles Darwin, Kenneth Williams, James Boswell, Freya Stark, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Fanny Trollope, Mungo Park, Nancy Mitford, Wilfred Thesiger, Horace Walpole, Evelyn Waugh and many others, in this entertaining collection of travellers’ tales.

Es sind unerhörte Episoden, die Ulrich Wickert aus Frankreichs Geschichte und Gegenwart zu erzählen weiß. Er spannt einen weiten historischen Bogen und lässt es sich nicht nehmen, eine Fülle von komischen wie nachdenklich stimmenden Erfahrungen auszubreiten. Mit dem ihm eigenen Witz und mit pointierter Ironie wägt Wickert ab, was die Franzosen so liebenswert macht und weswegen man ihrer bisweilen überdrüssig ist. "Vom Glück, Franzose zu sein" - lauter wahre Begebenheiten, die so unglaublich klingen, als handelten sie von einem unbekannten Land: von Frankreich.

Join us on a fascinating ramble through the towns and villages of the British Isles during the last 400 years in the company of some of its most illustrious chroniclers, including Jane Austen, William Cobbett, Daniel Defoe, Sir Walter Scott, Virginia Woolf, Francis Kilvert, Celia Fiennes, Chips Channon, Fanny Burney and many others, told entirely in their own words.

Cuando se cumplen diez años de la publicación de su memorable Las rosas de piedra, Julio Llamazares concluye con este libro el que sin duda es el proyecto literario en español más importante de las últimas décadas: su recorrido por las setenta y cinco catedrales de España.

À la fin du XVIIIe siècle ils étaient trois à rêver, avec leur œuvre, d’atteindre les sommets, d'atteindre le firmament : Mozart et sa « Petite musique de nuit », les frères Montgolfier et leur ballon. Hélas la petite sonate ne fut jouée qu’après la mort de l’auteur, et c’est Pilâtre de Rozier qui s’envola à la place des deux frères!