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Sieges, Decline, and Revival - The History of Conwy Castle in Wales
It turned out King Edward I would soon need his new castle at Conwy - the first of his castles in northern Wales that had been completed. (left: King's Tower)In 1294, Madog ap Llywelyn rebelled and...
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Hiking in Hessian Switzerland (Hessische Schweiz)
We've been doing some more hiking tours south of Göttingen. One of the areas - situated near Eschwege - is called the Hessian Switzerland (Hessische Schweiz) due to its mountains and pretty vistas....
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From Paleolithic Cave to Mediaeval Church - The Steinkirche near Scharzfeld /...
The karst landscape in the southern Harz not only has some interesting rock formations and a castle that makes use of the limestone cliffs as curtain walls, but some caves as well. One of these can be...
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Rocks, Romans, and a Ringwall - Hiking Tours in Summer 2016
I've already presented the hiking tours in the juniper heath near Rossbach and the 'Hessian Switzerland'. Here are some more we did this year.Karst landscape in the MeissnerThe tours included a second...
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Castles, Celts, and some Churches - Summer Tours 2016
I undertook no larger journey this year, but my father and I - sometimes together with some friends - did a number of day tours and hiking trips which accumulated a fair amount of photos. So there will...
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The Volcano that Burped - The Blue Dome near Eschwege
The Blue Dome (Blaue Kuppe) near Eschwege in northern Hessia is an interesting geological feature. It is a 10-12 million year old volcano that never really erupted but got stuck in the surrounding...
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14th Century Stonghold and Film Set - A Virtual Tour of Doune Castle
Ivanhoe has been there, Monty Python's knights in search of a grail, and Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall, the star crossed lovers from Outlander. Castle Doune, near Stirling in Scotland, has developed...
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The Annual Nano Post
Some of you may have noticed the little blue counter in the sidebar that appeared at the beginning of November. Yes, it is National Novel Writing Month again, and therefore I'm a lazy blogger and...
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Look What I Got - aka: I Won Nano Again
And I did it again, even earlier than in 2015. I won the Nano 2016 as well. Of course, I will continue writing until the end of November. There should be some more words by then. 62,000, to be ecaxt.
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Kings and Stewarts - The History of Doune Castle, Part 1
We've had a look at the architecture of Doune Castle back in October. This post is going to deal with its history.The name Doune derives from the Gaelic word dún, fort, but archaeological traces for a...
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Dowager Queens, Skirmishes, and a Bonnie Prince - The History of Doune...
Doune Castle had been the favorite residence of the Duke of Albany since 1401 at latest - he wrote letters dating from Doune Castle regularly since 1401 - as well as his son Murdoch and Murdoch's wife...
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Merry Christmas
I wish everyone a merry and peaceful Christmas.My Christmas forestI've been asked for more photos of my pretty Christmas decorations. I picked my wood turned splinter tree forest this year, since it...
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Happy New Year
I wish everyone a happy New Year.Kiessee Lake with ducks and swansHere are some winter and water photos for you. :-)The Kiessee Lake - a flooded gravel pit which had been in use until 1955 - is a...
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Revisiting the Weidelsburg
I've mentioned that we revisited Weidelsburg Castle in my 2016 summer travel post. I wanted to take photos of the place after the restoration work going on in 2008 was finished (1). Here is a bunch of...
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Winged Winter Visitor
There are winter days when the balcony and the garden below look like this.Winter view from my balconyIt usually only lasts a short time, but this year we got a colder winter. Albeit there is not much...
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Memories of Summer
Right now, the weather is dreary and grey, with rain and wind - no longer winter, but not yet spring. So I looked for some nice summer photos to cheer myself and my readers up. View from Hanstein...
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Between the Landgraves of Hessia and the Archbishops of Mainz: Castle...
Castle Grebenstein, situated 15 miles north of Kassel, is another of those less well known castle ruins that dot the German landscape. Instead of the keep which is usually the main remaining - and...
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Traveling to Flanders
I'm off until April 10th, visiting Flanders. Like I totally need another 2,000 or so photos. :-)The raised bog in the Solling in AugustI wanted to go there for quite some time, visiting the towns of...
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A Virtual Tour through Mediaeval Ghent
Let us take a little tour of Ghent, this time with photos from the main camera. The smartphone camera works well enough on the small mobile screen, but when I checked my Twitter travel series (link see...
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Dominated by the Cathedral - Antwerp's Old Town
Antwerp is a bigger city than Ghent or the charming Bruges, with one of the largest ports in Europe and a famous shopping mile, but the historical centre is no larger than in the other towns. Interior...
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