Monday 17 December 2007

Combe Sydenham, Somerset

This is where Elizabeth Sydenham lived,who married the widowed Sir Francis Drake in 1585.

Culbone,Somerset, England

The Church here is only 35 feet only, is believed to be England's smallest parish church.

Thursday 6 December 2007

Fowey, Cornwall, England

Kenneth Grahame who wrote The Wind in the Willows was married here in 1899.

Bolventor, Cornwall, England

Here is the Jamaica Inn, which gave its name to one of Daphne du maurier novels about smuggling.

Tuesday 4 December 2007

Vezelay,Yonne, France

St Bernard here on 31 March 1146 called for a Second Crusade.
King Richard the Lionheart met the french king here in 1190 before he departed for the Third Crusade.
The abbeyhas relics of Mary Magdalene.
Saint Francis of Assisi founded a monastery here about 1217

Roche de Solutre, Saone-et-Loire, France

This place has given its name to a type of prehistoric flint tools;Solutrean

There is also a museum of prehistory, explaining about the prehistoric site.

Thursday 29 November 2007

Pontigny, Yonne, France

Thomas a Becket lived in the abbey from 1164-1170.

TS Eliot visited here.

Eguisheim, Haut-Rhin, France

Pope Leo IX was born here in 1002, he was Pope from 1049-1054.

Finds from palaeolithic times include a Cro-magnon skull.
These finds are in a Colmar museum

Eguisheim is also on the Alsatian Wine road.

Wednesday 28 November 2007

Nozeroy, Jura, France

The House of Orange-Nassau, ancestors of the Dutch Royal Family has links to this place.

William 111 of England once owned a piece of propertty here.

Nevers, Nievre, France

A blue line on pavements directs visitors to the main tourist sights.

There is a cathedral , Ducal Palace and the Saint Gildard convent which Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes fame entered in1866 anddied there in 1879.

Morez, Jura, France

This is where eyeglasses have been made during the last 200 years.

Over 12 million pairs of glasses are made by 42 manufacturers.

There is also a museum about the history of the eyeglass industry.

Tuesday 20 November 2007

Montbeliard, Doubs France

This is the site of a Peugeot production plant as well as a Peugeot museum.
It was here that the first Peugeot automobile was made.

(It was in the Gland valley to the south hat the Peugeot family once lived)

Montbard, Doubs France

George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, the great French naturalist was born here in 1707,he wrote 36 volumnes of Histoire Naturelle and was made administrator of tthe King's Garden in Paris.

The mother of St Bernard was born here in the chateau in 1070.

There is also an Art Museum.

Monday 19 November 2007

Montargis, Loiret, France

Pralines were invented here(one of the oldest shops to supposely sell pralines is still in business)

Thre is also an museum with an egyptian mummy,and saffron is grown in the area.

Gwardamangia,Malta

A villa here was where the future Elizabeth 11 stayed rom 1949-1951.
The villa was owned by the late Lord Mountbatten.

This place also has st Luke's hospital.

Habsburg Castle,Aargau Canton,Switzerland

Built in the 11th century, this castle whose name means Hawk's Castle gave its name to the famous dynasty.

The Habsburgs once owned a lot of northern Switzerland.

Soay and st kilda, st Kilda Archipelago, Scotland, UK

This island is inhabited only by a breed of sheep which possibly arrived in about 4000BC.

Some of these sheep have been transfered to Hirta.

Soay means sheep island in Old Norse.

St kilda has tallest cliffs in britain

Friday 16 November 2007

Lons-le-Sauniere, Jura, France

Rouget de Lisle, the author of the Marseillaise, the French national anthem was born here in 1760.

Also has an archaeological museum with a 210 million old dinosaur.

Lons-le-Saunier is also a spa town.

Thursday 15 November 2007

Aloxe-Corton, Cote-d'Or, France

Charlemagne supposedly once owned vineyards here.

Almost all of the wines produced here are red.

(The vineyards are located on Limestone and marl, the vineyards produce over a million bottles a year)

Wednesday 14 November 2007

Gevrey-Chambertin, Cote-d'Or,France

Gevrey-Chambertin is the location of Chambertin, a pinot noir and Grand Cru vineyard located in the Cote de Nuits district of Burgundy.

Its wines were one of Napoleon's favourite.

Tuesday 13 November 2007

Besancon, Doubs,France

Besancon is the birthplace of the writers Charles Nodier and Victor Hugo.

(Besancon lies in an oxbow loop on the Doubs river, and was once held by the Habsburg .

The Musee es Beaux arts has paintings by Constable, Goya,Picasso,Rubens and Titian.

Museums of archaeology, french resistance,natural history and time are located in Besancon.

There is also an annual Micronara trade air about microtechnologies.)

Besancon, Franche-Comte, France

Besancon is the birthplace of the writers Charles Nodier, Victor Hugo.

There are also museums of natural history ,wartime ,Fine Arts/archaeology and clockmaking.

Autun,Saone-et-loir, Burgundy, france

Named after Augustus.

This town gave its name to Autunite,a mineral with high uranium content.

The Bonaparte brothers went to school in this town.

Napeleon I's oreign minister was once bishopo Autun.

Constantine The Great won a battle nearby.

In AD725 an Umayyad(muslim) forces won a battle here,making Autun the furtherest point of advance for Umayyad forces.

The cathedral has relics of Lazarus.

Malaga Andalucia Spain

Malaga is the birthplace of properly the greatest artist that Spain has produced;Picasso
There is a museum to him, only a short distance from where he was born.

Antonio Banderas,who played Zorro in the Mask of Zorro was also born in Malaga.