I was rather perplexed by this bizarre mystery that I came across in Malta just recently. Here is a slab of concrete measuring roughly six foot by three and right in the middle of it is a single footprint. Nothing before and nothing after and nothing to either side and almost impossible to leap into the middle and back out again without losing balance unless you are a World Champion Hopper…
Intrigued?
Posted in Age of Innocence, Arts and Crafts, Childhood, Growing up in the 1950s, History, Literature, Travel
Tagged Arts and Crafts, Childhood, Devil's Footsteps, Devon, Europe, Halloween, History, Life, Malta, Mystery Foosteps in Concrete, The Nightthe Devil walked in Devon, The Supernatural, Travel and tagged Culture
Even though travel restrictions are easing I am not yet minded to risk it so I still have no new stories to post so I continue to go through my picture archives and see where I was on this day at any time in the last few travelling years.
On 28th October 2016 I was on holiday on the Mediterranean island of Malta…
In two years from June 1940 the Luftwaffe flew three-thousand bombing raids over Malta, nine thousand buildings were destroyed and seventeen-thousand more severely damaged. In March and April 1942, more explosives were dropped on the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta – smaller than the Isle of Wight – than on the whole of Britain during the first year of the Blitz.
People needed somewhere safe to shelter and two-thousand miners and stonemasons were recruited to build public shelters and began to tunnel into the limestone rock of the island.
Even though travel restrictions are easing I am not yet minded to risk it so I still have no new stories to post so I continue to go through my picture archives and see where I was on this day at any time in the last few travelling years.
On 25th October 2012 I was travelling to Northern Italy to visit Venice, Verona and Padova. Instead of reading a travel guide in preparation I read a book about William Shakespeare and the Italian connection.
I’ll see you later in the Colosseum…
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Cathedrals, Europe, Food, History, Hotels, Italy, Literature, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Culture, Francesco do Mosto, Life, Padova, Shakespeare, Stratford upon Avon, Travel, Venice, Verona
Even though travel restrictions are easing I am not yet minded to risk it so I still have no new stories to post so I continue to go through my picture archives and see where I was on this day at any time in the last few travelling years.
On 21st October 2011 I was in the city of Valletta on the island of Malta …
Posted in Europe, Food, History, Literature, Malta, Natural Environment, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Beheading of John The Baptist, Caravaggio, Cathedral of St John Valletta, Grand Harbour Malta, Knights of St John, Malta Postcards, St John the Baptist, The Baptism of Christ, UNESCO Malta, Valletta
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Beaches, Childhood, Europe, History, Natural Environment, Travel, Wales, World Heritage
Tagged Aberdovey, Bible Society, Christianity, Culture, Lake Bala, Life, Mary Jones' Bible, Religion, Wales
Even though travel restrictions are easing I am not yet minded to risk it so I still have no new stories to post so I continue to go through my picture archives and see where I was on this day at any time in the last few travelling years.
On 18th October 2011 I was in the delightful town of Castres in the South of France…
Lining the river on the right bank were les Maisons sur l’Agout which is the old medieval riverside quarter where the old tanners’ and weavers’ half timbered houses with running balconies overhang the water and their colourful shutters and windows cast reflections on the gentle water of the river. It reminded me of Girona in Catalonia although this was much smaller in scale and rather more attractive.
Posted in Cathedrals, Europe, Food, France, History, Natural Environment, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Castres, Culture, France, Languedoc, Life, Photography, reflections, River Agout
Even though travel restrictions are easing I am not yet minded to risk it so I still have no new stories to post so I continue to go through my picture archives and see where I was on this day at any time in the last few travelling years.
Actually, I had a couple of flights booked this Autumn but the airline cancelled. I wasn’t at all disappointed about that and delighted to get a full refund.
On 15th October 2013 I was in Iceland looking for the Northern Lights…
“Narrow swirls of light would sweep across the great dome of sky, then hang there like vapour trails…. Lights would flicker brightly in the west, then vanish in an instant and reappear a moment later behind me, as if teasing me.” – Bill Bryson – ‘Neither here Nor there’
When we arranged this trip to Iceland we hoped of course that we would see them, Margaret asked us to go with them specifically – “to see the Northern Lights”, we agreed immediately but we were careful to bear in mind that this natural phenomenon is not like the Blackpool Illuminations, they can’t just be turned on and off for the benefit of tourists, no one is guaranteed to see them (unless you happen to be Bill Bryson writing a travel book that is) and many people leave disappointed.
We were among the lucky ones…
Posted in Europe, History, Iceland, Literature, Natural Environment, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Aurora Borealis, Culture, Keflavik, Life, Nature, Northern Lights, Reyjkavik
Even though travel restrictions are easing I am not yet minded to risk it so I still have no new stories to post so I continue to go through my picture archives and see where I was on this day at any time in the last few travelling years.
In October 1977 I was in Benidorm on the Costa Blanca in Spain. I know that it was October but to be honest I cannot be entirely specific about the date so I have just chosen one at random.
Posted in Beaches, Europe, Food, History, Literature, Natural Environment, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Alicante, Benidorm, Benidorm in the 1970s, Costa Blanca, Don Juan Benidorm, Freddie Laker, Los Pelicanos, Spain
Sometime between the end of the afternoon and the early evening the square had been transformed from a market place to an open air theatre with swarms of people and this is something that occurs every single day of the year. The snake charmers and the monkey men had packed up and gone home and had been replaced by a carnival of musicians, storytellers, transvestite dancers and other entertainers.
Posted in Africa, Food, History, Hotels, Literature, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Africa, Djemma el Fna, Henna Tattoo, Life, Marrakech, Morocco, Photography, Riad Nafis
Even though travel restrictions are easing I am not yet minded to risk it so I still have no new stories to post so I continue to go through my picture archives and see where I was on this day at any time in the last few travelling years.
On 8th October 2010 I was in the Moroccan City of Marrakech…
Here was a whole new experience with street after street of shops all overflowing with things for sale that we didn’t need but each with an owner who didn’t understand this and was determined to part us from the cash in our wallets. The place was murderously busy with a stream of people oozing past the shops like a flow of molten human lava and progress was so slow we could only shuffle awkwardly as though our shoe laces were tied together and it was quite impossible to walk with any kind of normal rhythm.
Posted in Africa, Arts and Crafts, History, Literature, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Africa, Djemma el Fna, Life, Marrakech, Morocco, Photography, The Souks Marrakech, Water Sellers Marrakech
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