History hiding in the trees: Beelitz Heilstätten
It’s already August, the last month of Germany’s €9 ticket. Time to make a trip outside of Berlin, perhaps one of the last ones this summer. With 29 degrees in the forecast I packed my cap, sunscreen and sunglasses. I added my lunch and a book and took a train…
A walk through history on Rhodes
Rhodes’ medieval citadel is one of the best preserved ones in Europe and earned its place on the Unesco heritage list. We can thank the Knights Hospitallers for much of what Rhodes looks like now. They moved to the island in the 14th century and left their mark in the…
Looking back at the GDR in the Kulturbrauerei
It’s strange to walk through the city these days. Guides stand in the middle of the sidewalk, bike tours race by, people have cameras around their neck and the terraces are full of people having breakfast, even on a weekday. Tourism is returning to the streets of Berlin. It’s minimal,…
A visit to the Roman city of Conímbriga
Diving into Portugal’s Roman heritage The Romans entered Portugal in the third century BC. During the approximately 700 years under Roman rule, many new towns were founded, some of which you can still visit today. Others had been vacated and forgotten, until someone dug up the ruins. Conímbriga, situated about…
The home of the knights Templar in Tomar
My walk on the camino led me through the town Tomar, about 140 km North of Lisbon. It’s a pretty small city, but one of the bigger ones during my trip. There is also enough to see and do for a day, so I planned an extra day here. Things…
Berlin history at the Stasi museum
Berlin has so many different faces. Friedrichshain has a lot of old buildings and even the new flats are build to resemble the old style. Nothing is really bigger than about 6 floors and the neighborhood feels like a town within a city. A 30-minute walk from my house it’s…
Persepolis still manages to impress
Around 550BC Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire. He first defeated the Medes and from there the empire grew conquest by conquest. It became larger than any empire had been before. Cyrus himself built a palace at Pasargadae. His successors preferred other locations. Darius I founded a new capital…
Tourism for the masses in Prora
Living in Berlin opens up a whole new world of weekend trips. It seems hard to find the time to relax and get away from it all, so I decided to commit to buying train tickets. I was pretty tired when I made my way to Gesundbrunnen, from where the…
History and heritage
This weekend I went into the suburb of Abbotsford to visit one of Melbourne’s heritage buildings: the Abbotsford convent. At the moment the former convent is a place where art meets health and where locals come in the weekend for a bite to eat and to relax in the surrounding…
Stepping into different times
On the outskirts of Budapest, about a half an hour drive from the centre, lies Memento Park. It is a memorial park where they’ve gathered different statues from the communist period. They come from all over the country and give you a peak into Hungary’s history. You can wander around…