Early in the 8th century the then bishop of York, John, founded a monastery. When he died in 721 his body was buried in a chapel of the monastery’s Saxon church. In 1037 he was canonised and his monastery, and the town that had grown up around it, became a place of pilgrimage.
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If you look at a map of England you will see that Hull, or Kingston upon Hull to give it its proper name, is rather out on a limb. Lying on the Humber Estuary its location so close to the sea has resulted in a history shaped by sea-going trade and shipping.
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! London hasn’t seen any rain now for 37 days (although a light sprinkling is forecast for this morning before a return to heatwave conditions. The temperature has swung between the high 20s centigrade (reasonably comfortable) to the low and even mid 30s (not so comfortable!)
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In 1888 William Hesketh Lever, owner of the Sunlight Soap factory on England’s Wirral Peninsula, founded a village to house his workers. He based it on some innovative principles for his time (and perhaps they also seem quite radical still today?) His vision was to provide his workers with decent, sanitary housing in a considered architectural and picturesque form.
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One morning in Budapest we spent wandering the city’s Jewish Quarter. In the early 2000s this area underwent a revival, with the famous ruin bars springing up in courtyards of buildings slated for demolition and a mixed community moving into the area to open shops and restaurants, create art or simply to live.
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While we enjoyed exploring Buda, and loved the views of the Danube and Pest beyond, it was the latter that we spent the most time in. We stayed there, we ate and drank there, we visited museums and we wandered its streets.
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Budapest is a city of two halves; so much so that it was once two cities, Buda and Pest, separated by the River Danube. Although now united as one, each has its own characteristics. Buda is hilly, with historic buildings, panoramic views, and winding streets.
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It has been hard to find ‘perfect’ days this past June. It started too cool and too dull, then in the space of a few days transformed itself to an extreme heatwave. Temperatures hit 35 Celsius and the high humidity made life in London pretty tough. Such is a our changing climate, unfortunately, and England wasn’t built for heat.
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Galle Fort is not only, as the name suggests, a fortification; it holds within its ramparts a beautifully preserved/restored colonial town. The town was founded by the Portuguese, then extensively fortified by the Dutch during the 17th century. Later it became the southern headquarters of the British colonial rule.
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Kandy is Sri Lanka’s second largest city after Colombo and was listed by UNESCO in 1988. It has a long and proud history. It was the last stronghold of Sinhalese independence, resisting both Portuguese and Dutch rule long after the rest of the island had been conquered.
