A salty sea-scent hung in the air as I strolled around the historic Hanseatic Wharf in Bergen. In earlier centuries, the fragrance would have been a bit more, well…ripe, to be kind. I tried to imagine how it must have smelled in centuries past, when the fishing fleet delivered thousands of tons of…
Category: Europe travel
VIDEO: Riding Norway’s Spectacular Flam Railway
I’m in love with train travel. I never miss an opportunity to ride the rails. During my many years as a travel writer and photographer, I’ve been blessed to take some of the world’s most spectacular train rides. I rode the El Chepe train through Mexico’s Copper Canyon, enjoyed magnificent scenery on the…
Mystery of the 1,500-Year Old Carved Animal Heads from the Oseberg Grave Ship
If I had to choose one word to describe Viking civilization, it would be mystery. The popular TV series by the History Channel paints Vikings as bloodthirsty warriors. While it is true they sailed far and wide, discovering new lands and raiding settlements, they spent most of their time farming. Vikings didn’t wear…
VIDEO: Raising the Vasa Warship from its Watery Grave in Stockholm, Sweden
In the 1620’s, intent on making Sweden a mighty military power, King Gustavus Adolphus began constructing a fleet of warships. The Vasa warship, first of the massive vessels to be completed, was the most powerful warship that had ever sailed the Baltic Sea. It measured more than 226-feet long and was 164-feet tall…
VIDEO: Sweden’s Crystal Kingdom – Kosta Boda Glassworks
From an early age, I was fascinated by the art of glassblowing. In those days, my exposure was limited to visiting tourist shops during family vacations, where glassblowers created a menagerie of crystal animals. I was transfixed each time an artist extracted a molten blob of glass from a blast furnace and fashioned…
VIDEO: The Kladruber Horses of the Danish Royal Family
Like thousands of tourists before me, I made my way to Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark. But rather than join the queues waiting to visit the Parliament and Supreme Court, I decided to stroll around the exterior. At the rear of the palace, an electrified fence surrounded a pasture where two enormous white…
