We were in the neighbourhood, so my sister suggested we drop into the Normandy town of Bayeux and check out the Bayeux Tapestry. Now I’m always the first to admit my ignorance of something, and although I had heard of the work, I have to say I knew nothing about it. I imagined an old tapestry, hanging vertically in a cold, dark, ancient chapel somewhere in France. But mate was I in for a history lesson. As I contorted our…
Dark Tourism in Nis, Part I The city of Nis, now the third largest in Serbia, has a long history. It was part of the mighty Roman Empire, and the birthplace of the Emperor Constantine. A city of culture and wealth, it was located on the main route between Europe and the Middle East. A long history will record triumph and glory, but also tragedy and terror. Two sites within Nis allow visitors a glimpse into the latter; evidence of…
Ancient Athens Part IV Athens is an amazing place, where something ancient seems to be hiding around every corner. If you are based in the middle of the city, you have a bunch of historic sites all within walking distance. After having visited the Acropolis and the Panathenaic Stadium, I headed off on the hoof to discover more of ancient Athens. A short walk east of the Acropolis brings you to Hadrian’s Arch; the Hadrian in question being Roman Emperor…
Ancient Athens Part III There are handful of things that make me feel like a kid again. Going to the beach, riding a pushbike, and the Australian Football League Grand Final all transport me back to the happy, carefree days of my childhood. There’s one other event that also turns me back into a frothing, excited kid, and that’s the Olympics. I love ’em. Every four years it’s a two week festival of sport that has me enthralled, even though…
Ancient Athens Part II After a fascinating visit to the Acropolis Museum, it was time to check out the Acropolis itself. Rising majestically from the centre of Old Athens, the Acropolis mesa supports an extraordinary collection of ancient structures. After entering the Acropolis precinct from the south-east gate, the first site you come across is associated with everyone’s favourite God, Dionysis. Dion was the God of Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll, and his cult gave rise to the grand…
Ancient Athens, Part I Athens is a modern, vibrant city of over three million people. Clustered between the mountains and the shores of the Aegean, it is one of the most densely populated cities in Europe. It is also the ancient heart of the Greek Empire, the birthplace of democracy, and a bloody interesting place to spend a couple of weeks. I grew up in Melbourne, which, at least when I was a kid, had the second biggest Greek population…
Windmills of Crete You don’t have to spend long in Crete to realise it’s a pretty dry place. Most of the native vegetation is low and scrubby, the hardy goat is the grazier’s choice of livestock, and the ubiquitous olive groves are irrigated with thousands of kilometres of polypipe. The island gets about 500mm of rain per year (in comparison Sydney gets about 1170mm), and bugger all of it falls in the summer months. Back in the days before the…
Faster, higher, stronger If you had a look at the Tokyo Olympics back in July this year, you would have noticed a few sports making their debut at the Games. Four new events were added to the list in Tokyo: surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing and karate. The addition of new sports is always controversial, with the crackers and French Onion dip flying as the revolutionaries and reactionaries passionately argue their positions. Back in the good old days of the Olympics,…
After a short drive we arrived within sight of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and the massive steel shell built over reactor four to trap the remaining radioactive material. The bus pulled up at a permitted viewing area about half a kilometer from the Plant and we piled out for photos. Many of our Geiger counters began beeping to tell us the programmed upper limit of detected radiation had been reached. Although the counters default to a relatively moderate alarm…
‘Dark Tourism’ has become more than a catchphrase; it’s now a bona fide part of the broader tourism industry. There is no shortage of people who want to see first-hand the places where significant historic tragedies, crimes and disasters occcurred. I am one of them. A Dark Tourism destination may attract a general history buff, or perhaps an individual who believes a particular tragedy, its victims and its lessons should not be forgotten. Thrill seekers, drawn by macabre fascination, may…