The Asti Palio is not just another horse race. In Asti , an ancient, mid-sized town in northwestern Italy, the annual Palio is laden with tradition, pageantry, exuberance, gloom and joy. And it’s great fun. As in Siena, where a better-known Palio is held, people prepare all year for the big event. Medieval costumes are purchased …
Remarkable Cathedrals of Northern France The medieval cathedrals of northern France are marvels of craftsmanship, designed and created with incredible skill. Centuries later we still gaze at them in awe. Four that I find remarkable are in Strasbourg, Tours, Bourges and Laon. And for more even more beautiful cathedrals, you should read this post about …
It is difficult to choose the 5 greatest cathedrals in France, but those listed here seem to me to be the most impressive. Whatever your views, there’s no denying the significance of cathedrals in France. To believers, a cathedral is a sacred, holy place of worship. Others may see a treasure house of fabulous art, …
Humans have been developing ingenious ways of killing each other for millennia. Some weapons are simple and brutal while others show a horrifying creativity, but eventually all become quaint museum artifacts. Such are the exhibits in Chateau Castelnaud, a 13th-century fortress high above the Dordogne valley, in France’s Périgord region, now a privately owned museum of …
The mountaintop town of Erice, on the west coast of Sicily, looks medieval, but it’s much older than that. Waves of conquerors left their mark long before the Normans got there in 1167, built their fortresses and changed the name from Eryx to Monte San Giuliano. That name stuck until 1934, when it was changed …
For eight centuries, devout pilgrims have crawled up the Grand Stairway of Rocamadour on their knees, doing penance. I didn’t climb the 200-plus steep, worn stairs on my knees, but I was mightily impressed by them. They carry the weight of history. This medieval town in southwestern France is carved right into the rock of …
The Padirac Chasm – Gouffres de Padirac – is an amazing, eerie, natural phenomenon not to be missed when you’re in the Dordogne region of France. It’s basically a huge sinkhole with a series of underground galleries hollowed out of the limestone of the Massif Central, the rugged, mountainous plateau that covers almost one-sixth of …
The History of the Black Madonna The Black Madonna has been a figure of mystery for centuries. Some say she’s simply a statue of the Virgin Mary carved from black wood, or perhaps has soot on her skin from the smoke of thousands of candles. But speculation about the black woman goes much deeper than …
The Eiffel Tower or Tour Eiffel symbolizes Paris now, but when it was built for the Universal Exposition (World’s Fair) in 1889, it was expected to be torn down within 20 years. The main thing that saved it was technology. Wireless transmissions, sent from an antenna on the tower, could travel far, so the French government …
The little country of Malta, a member of the European Union, consists of a series of Mediterranean islands located 90k south of Sicily, Italy. This densely populated country holds an incredible variety of attractions for visitors, from prehistoric temple ruins to art festivals to scuba diving. It’s surrounded by clear waters and is sunny most of the …