The Peruvian city of Cuzco, high up in the Andes mountains, was the capital of the Inca empire from the 13th century until 1533 when it fell to the Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, the city now attracts over two million visitors a year, many […]
The Channel Islands are a group of islands off the coast of Normandy, northern France. Their unique history has created an unusual combination of English and French cultures. This, together with the pretty scenery and sunny climate, makes them a popular holiday destination. The Channel Islands are not one of Europe’s microstates, but like Andorra, Liechtenstein […]
Armenia – or Hayastan to give it its Armenian name – is a small, landlocked country in the South Caucasus, a mountainous territory between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Lying at the eastern most boundary of Europe, the region is a strategic crossroads linking the ‘Old Continent’ with Asia. Over the centuries, Armenia […]
Before visiting Easter Island, I had not really realised quite how isolated it was. In fact, it is one of the remotest inhabited places on our planet. Set in the south eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, the small triangular island lies over 3700km west of Chile and more than 2000km east of tiny Pitcairn Island […]
During my latest visit to Oman, as well as visiting the coastal capital Muscat, I ventured into the interior to the Al Hajar Mountains, to Nizwa with its fort, and to the impressive Jebel Akhdar, or Green Mountain. Click on the pictures below for a description of each place. Situated at the South-Eastern corner […]
Socotra is a place of legends and myths. In ancient times, the Phoenicians – the seafarers from what is today Lebanon – believed that it was on this mysterious island in the Indian Ocean that the phoenix lived. It was also thought to be the home of another mythical bird, the giant roc, which […]
Uruk, in what is today southern Iraq, is one of the oldest cities on earth and a thought provoking place to visit. As I walked around the crumbling remains, the ground littered with shards of pottery thousands of years old, it was a strange feeling indeed. Referred to in the Old Testament as Erech, the […]
