Findan was an Irishman from Leinster. The Nordmanni took his sister. Findan’s father gave him a satchel of coins and instructions that he was to go the raiders and bring her back. Joined by some friends he set out to find the Nordmanni. Unfortunately, they found him first, slaughtered his companions, clapped him in irons [...]
Tag Archives | history
The Ancient City of Hoi An – Travel to Vietnam
Long before GATT, the TWO and global trade, there was the Vietnamese port city of Hội An. From 2,000 years back the little settlement with the giant harbor served as a conduit for goods coming and going throughout the Pacific Rim and beyond. In the 10th Century spices, silks and ivory from Hội An were [...]
The Church of the Black Christ – Portobelo, Panama
I don’t like it much when a vulture stares at me at the entrance to a church. I don’t like it much either when three crows are sitting, all consubstantially trinity-like, on the Catholic’s cross at the narthex. Yes, that’s right, the entrance to a Catholic church is called the narthex. And no, I’m not suspicious. ~ ~ [...]
Ya. Chamonix and All That.
Yesterday I was up in Taos Ski Valley with the kids. We were tubing with my daughter’s school. It was incredibly fun. My little boy, watching the skiers on the slopes around us asked if he could learn how. “Oh no,” was my first thought. I grew up in Colorado and skiing was always part [...]
Where the Fairy Tern is Winging: Convicts, Mutiny and Executions: A Guest Post by Jim McIntosh
Editor’s Note: Brutal rule by an oligarchy is never as far off as we might think. It is something that has happened far too often throughout history and it is a danger the supposedly democratized “Western world” is dangerously close to falling back into at the moment. Too few people hold too much power and [...]
La Bastida – Spain’s Most Unique Archaeological Park
Just last September (2012) archaeological excavations at La Bastida in Murcia, Spain revealed some astonishing discoveries. La Bastida Spain was perhaps the most powerful Bronze Age (~4000 years ago) city in Europe, and excavations turned up a unique and imposing construction and fortification system matched only by the Minoans. For travelers, these discoveries are now [...]
Dutch East India-Netherlands Monument in Amsterdam
Joannes Benedictus van Heutsz was one bad dude. As Military Governor of the Aceh Province in what was then known as the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), van Heutsz set out to crush the twenty-five year old rebellion against the brutal Dutch rule. He was wildly successful. Of course it is estimated that some 70,000 [...]
William Bligh and the Jamaican Breadfruit Tree
There is a memory of the Bounty’s William Bligh in the form of a tree in the Jamaican mountains outside of Kingston. It should be obvious by now that I have a thing for historic travelers. I’m not sure how old I was but after reading the 1932 novel “Mutiny on the Bounty” by Nordhoff and Hall [...]
Walking the Cova de Montserrat
Hitler thought the Holy Grail was hidden somewhere inside a mountain in Catalonia. According to Wolfram von Eschenbach, Titurel safeguarded the Grail at Munsalvaesche. The Benedictine monks of Montserrat, however, always claimed the Grail was hidden in the caves and tunnels under the sanctuary northwest of Barcelona. Montserrat juts up from the edge of the [...]
The African American Heritage Trail of Washington DC
Yarrow Mamout, a devout Muslim, had a hauling business through the 1790’s. By 1800 he had earned enough to buy a house in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington DC. From the get-go, African Americans have been a vital part of the life and growth of the nation’s capital. When Mamout bought his house in 1800 [...]
Loretto Chapel – My Shot of the Day – November 19, 2012
There is nothing better than a good mystery. Many times, a mystery reaffirms faith in a larger power. But, what happens when there is no actual mystery? The author Willa Cather based her masterpiece Death Comes for the Archbishop on the life of Bishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy, the Frenchman who was appointed the first Archbishop of [...]
On the Road with: Giuseppe Acerbi
On a chilly afternoon in early April 1799, a group of large horse drawn sledges appeared on the ice off the coast of Oulu in Finland. They had come all the way from Sweden and the horses were tired. Clouds of steam rose from the animal’s flanks. They blew and stomped on ice so clear [...]
Purchase Fine Art Prints and Books by Jim O’Donnell
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Twenty-One Beautiful Birds of Panama – Birdgasm!
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Spring Rainstorm Pictures – My Shot of the Day – April 1, 2013
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Seeking Some Sassy Ceviche at the Fish Market in Panama City
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Arabian Sea Sunset
