Author Archives: Profusion of Eccentricities

Understanding Amsterdam – a visit to the Rijksmuseum

Posted on June 8, 2017

Amsterdam.  It is hard to distil any city to its essence, more so when it has more than one story to tell, when there is more than one truth.  To some, Amsterdam is a twee tourist destination of clogs and tulips … Continue reading →

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Finland – flashfoward and flashback

Posted on June 3, 2017

Second only to travel itself, I love the anticipation of travel: the building excitement as a long awaited trip draws nearer; the adrenaline of a last minute decision to book; the pleasing intricacies of itinerary research; lying awake at night … Continue reading →

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Flashback Friday – Exploring Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico

Posted on May 19, 2017

Two hours and hundreds of years away from the all-inclusive beach resorts of the eastern Yucatán lies the ruins of the Mayan city of Chichén Itzá.  At the heart of the complex, the pyramid of Kukulcan squats, brooding and massive.  It … Continue reading →

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Flashback Friday – Cave diving in the Yucatán, Mexico

Posted on May 12, 2017

Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsular is full of holes, a veritable Swiss cheese of limestone, eaten away by water, weather, wind and time.  Some of the holes are big enough for a person to squeeze through, some don’t even require much squeezing and, … Continue reading →

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Pictish stones and sacred wells – the secrets of Scotland’s Black Isle

Posted on April 13, 2017

The Black Isle is neither an island nor black.  The peninsula lies 10 miles north of Inverness, with the waters of the Cromarty Firth to one side and the Moray Firth to the other.  For a small, sparsely populated place it is … Continue reading →

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The real Westeros – Scotland’s Secrets #12

Posted on April 10, 2017

Wester Ross is the informal name for that part of Scotland where the Highlands meet the west coast.  Its borders are not precisely defined, running from somewhere close to Skye to the vast expanse of rock and moorland north of Ullapool.  It … Continue reading →

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Surrounded by stones – Ring of Brodgar, Orkney

Posted on March 28, 2017

First, the facts.  At 104 metres in diameter the Ring of Brodgar is the third largest circle of its kind in Great Britain.  It is so large that it is hard to fit all of the 27 surviving stones in … Continue reading →

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