April 2012 Trafalgar Square is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early 19th century around the area known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars over France and Spain that took place on 21 October 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar. The area around Trafalgar Square has been a significant landmark since the 1200s, as distances from London are meas

November 2016 Saint John Lateran is the first Christian Basilica built explicitly to gather the entire city community around its bishop, although Christians had already started to build churches before Constantine came to power: there is mainly literary evidence of them, affirming that forty already existed in Rome, whereas the artistic development is demonstrated by art from the catacombs. This sufficiently shows how Christianity, although persecuted, was so vital that it ne

The first permanent European settlers arrived in Athens in 1797, more than a decade after the United States victory in the American Revolutionary War. In 1800, the town site was first surveyed and plotted and incorporated as a village in 1811. Ohio had become a state in 1803. Ohio University was chartered in 1804, the first public institution of higher learning in the Northwest Territory. Previously part of Washington County, Ohio, Athens County was formed in 1805, named for

August 2017 Santillana del Mar is a historic town situated in Cantabria, Spain. Its many historic buildings attract thousands of visitors every year. There is an old saying that Santillana del Mar is The Town of Three Lies, since it is neither a Saint (Santa), nor flat (llana), nor is it by the sea (Mar) as implied by its name. However, the name actually derives from Santa Juliana (or Santa Illana) whose remains are kept in the Colegiata, a Romanesque church and former Bened

April 2012 Every traveler to the British capital needs to have a selfie with the Palace of Westminster somewhere behind them - if not, they haven't really been to London. For all my walking around the city, I did not pass near this iconic spot more than a handful of times. On most of my visits with AFVdR, we were seeing "non-tourist" London - which I greatly appreciated. From that first visit to London with Brian in 2001 (of which only bits and pieces of memory remain), I r

July 2017 “The School of Bologna was established independently, it arose and stood out as a private school.” It was with these words that Carducci celebrated the birth of the Alma Mater Studiorum, during celebrations for its 8th Centenary in 1888. The prophet-poet himself admitted the artificiality of the centenary, as he acknowledged that it was impossible to determine the exact date it was founded, given that the Studium of Bologna was not established at the behest of a sov

History After US independence from England, the new country also inherited the Northwest Territory which stretched between the Ohio and the Mississippi and to the Great Lakes. At that time, the land was mostly untouched by the Europeans except for French fur traders and a few intrepid explorers. Right on the Ohio River, across from Virginia (and close to Pennsylvania) Marietta was the only town of substance. In fact, it served as the capital of the entire territory unti

February 2017 The Alcazar of Seville is one of the most spectacular monuments in Spain. A splendid example of the Mudejar style of architecture, the Alcazar is a must on any Seville itinerary! Also known as the Reales Alcazares de Sevilla, the Royal Alcazar, or the Real Alcazar, the Seville Alcazar is the oldest European royal palace that’s still in use. Located in the heart of the historic core of the Andalusian city, the Royal Alcazar of Seville is part of Seville’s UNESC

September 2014 The Royal Albert Hall was built on what was once the Gore estate, at the centre of which stood Gore House. The three acre estate was occupied by political reformer William Wilberforce between 1808-1828 and subsequently occupied between 1836-1849 by the Countess of Blessington and Count D’Orsay. After the couple left for Paris in May 1851, the house was opened as the ‘Universal Symposium of All Nations’, a restaurant run by the first celebrity chef, Alexis Soye

November 2016 The Basilica of The Holy Cross in Jerusalem is located in Rome, in the Esquilino quarter, close to the Aurelian Walls and...

Backstory After finishing my 3.5 year stint in Bangladesh very battered emotionally and mentally, I needed some change (and something...

Getting there AQ and I decided to head south to Marietta on the Ohio River. On the way there, we would pass by Cuyahoga Valley National...

Background While Brian and I were living in Jakarta, I befriended some guys in the neighborhood who worked near the Puri Sakti house. I...

January 2020 Hindsight is 20-20. The trip to Valencia was my last before the world shut down due to COVID. Had I known, I would have...

September 2001 I remember just bits and pieces of that first journey to London since Brian and I returned to New York and 9/11 occurring...

February 2019 I'm still not sure how I found Porto Venere. Perhaps after my disappointment with Cinque Terre I was hoping to find...

Lakewood Park West of downtown are lovely suburbs built on the bluffs overlooking Lake Erie. AQ had visited before and said they...

July 2014 Covering over 125 hectares and comprising more than 15,000 trees, El Retiro Park–recently named a UNESCO World Heritage Site–is...

July 2014 On one of my solo London walkabouts while visiting AFVdR, I passed through St James' Park. It might be one of my favorites in...

April 2017 After a great time in Bolzano, I stopped in Trent on the way back to Verona. The train ride between the two cities was...