Tagged With "Basilica Cathedral of St. Augustine"
Comment
Re: Stockholm's Skansen Museum Park: Where Gumbo Was #27
There's a museum in Wales, near Cardiff, with a similar theme, St. Fagans National History Museum , which I visited with a Welsh friend and enjoyed very much. And another, Auchindrain Museum , near a Scottish friend's home in Argyll. I love this sort of place. Time travel again!
Blog Post
First time in forever: Flights from JFK to Cuba
Cuba Travel Services, a licensed agency for U.S. travelers with permits to visit Cuba, is expanding its service to the New York area, home to more Cubans and Cuban-Americans than any area in the U.S. outside Florida. The flights will operate as...
Blog Post
Government St., Mobile: A Great Historic Street (Pt. 2)
Barton Academy, 504 Government St. First Public School in Alabama I've walked on Government Street in Mobile Alabama four separate times. The funny thing is, as I finished up seeing the sights that I came for, I kept...
Blog Post
Alaska Airlines adding 3 new routes
Alaska airlines will be adding 3 routes from its busy Seattle and Portland hubs next year. New routes include daily nonstop service from 1) Seattle and Milwaukee; 2) Seattle and Oklahoma City; and 3) Portland, Ore., and St. Louis....
Blog Post
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, July 18, 2015: The Winged Lion of Venice
The winged lion is a symbol you see everywhere in Venice -- palaces, flags, statues -- everywhere. It seemed a somewhat unusual mascot for a seafaring power and made me wonder what the origin to the symbol was. Turns out the...
Blog Post
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, December 9, 2014: Enjoying the Sunset
One evening as we were returning to our hotel near St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, slowly cruising down the Grand Canal on a vaporetto (water bus) , the sun began to set. In the last moments of daylight, that magical time of day...
Blog Post
A Day in Chartres
If you’re looking for a nice escape from the crowds and chaos of Paris, consider heading to the small city of Chartres for a day or two. Situated 60 miles (96 km) southwest of Paris, just an hour’s train ride from the...
Blog Post
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge – The Creepy and the Miraculous
If you follow Interstate 275 south through the city of St. Petersburg, Florida until you run out of land, you’ll be greeted by a gentle slope of road that seemingly rises from the waters of the Tampa Bay. This...
Blog Post
Charleston and its Single Houses: Where Gumbo Was #79
TravelGumbo member Club2013, by e-mail, was the only one to correctly place Gumbo’s secret destination: Charleston, SC. He found the special characteristics in an almost generic “old town” streetscape, and hit the nail on the head....
Blog Post
The Loire River Valley
Many find a visit to the Loire Valley to be the highlight of their visit to France, as did we. When we were planning our journey I discussed our itinerary with my friend, Wayne. Wayne and his wife had...
Blog Post
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Oct. 27: Paris's Stravinsky Fountain
The Stravinsky Fountain, its figures inspired by Stravinsky’s music (and especially the Rites of Spring), is one of my favorite places in Paris to sit and watch people, especially children. It’s sandwiched into a plaza between the Pompidou...
Blog Post
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Oct. 30: Monet's Gardens at Giverny
Almost as if he were painting with plantings and water, the Impressionist painter Claude Monet spent years creating gardens and water features around his house and studio in Giverny, west of Paris and on the edge of Normandy. Monet and his family...
Blog Post
Saguenay Fjord — Deep and Long but not very Tall
I’d heard as a schoolboy that the Saguenay Fjord was one of the longest in the world. Years later someone told me the area around Tadoussac was pretty, sparsely developed and inviting. Given a spare day or...
Blog Post
Montreal: Je Me Souviens
There are many great cities to visit in Canada, two of my favorites (for different reasons) being Vancouver and Montreal. Vancouver has one of the most breath-takingly beautiful settings of any city in the world, and I’ll be discussing it...
Blog Post
Quebec — A Walled European Fortress In America
Quebec, like New York, is both a city and a state (or rather, a province). It’s an island of French heritage and culture within our Anglo-North American continent. We combined this visit with stops in Montreal and...
Blog Post
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Nov 8, 2013 : The Sanctuary Knocker, Durham Cathedral, a World Heritage site
Set high in England's Durham Cathedral’s North door and known as the "Sanctuary Knocker", dating back to 1093 AD, this magnificent door knocker played an important spiritual and social role in the history of Durham Cathedral, now a beautiful...
Blog Post
A Visit to Ireland: Part 1) An overview of the Country and its People
I remember being in Wales several times and looking across the sea to the west, thinking that I needed to get to Ireland. Well I finally made it, completing this journey with my brother on our annual "getaway trip"! It was a trip we really...
Blog Post
Verona: More than Romeo & Juliet
Verona from the hills, looking toward St. Anastasia and the Ponte Pietra My visit to Verona last summer was almost an accident—but a lucky one. It wasn’t on the original plan for our three weeks in Northern Italy, but online...
Blog Post
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Jan 31, 2013: Lindisfarne, the Holy Island
Located 2 miles from the north-east coast of England and linked to the mainland by a tidal causeway, Lindisfarne has an area of some 1,000 acres and is the site of the first Christian monastery established by Saint Aidan in 635AD when he came here...
Blog Post
A Visit to Ireland: Part 2) the Rock of Cashel
There are few places in Ireland with a richer history than the Rock of Cashel . Situated at the edge of the town of Cashel, the rock is a huge outcropping on top of which rests a complex of old buildings situated some 60m (200ft)...
Blog Post
Hardy's Monument at Black Down
Standing high above the Dorset coast, overlooking the town of Weymouth and the isle of Portland is "Hardy's Monument" built in 1845 on the highest point of Black Down. Sculpted in famous Portland stone from nearby quarries (as was St. Paul's Cathedral...
Blog Post
Hardy's Monument at Black Down
Standing high above the Dorset coast, overlooking the town of Weymouth and the isle of Portland is "Hardy's Monument" built in 1845 on the highest point of Black Down. Sculpted in famous Portland stone from nearby quarries (as was St. Paul's Cathedral...
Blog Post
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, February 25, 2015. St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is celebrating its 450 th birthday in 2015 and everyone’s invited! It was in 1565 that Pedro Menendez of Aviles proclaimed the land for Spain. The first Catholic mass was held at what is now the Mission de Nombre de Dios by...
Blog Post
Left Bank of the Tiber
I’d looked online for an apartment for my week in Rome, until I was sick of the thought of going. At some point I came across a recommendation for a women’s hostel in Trastevere (Tras TAY veree), on what I came to think of as...
Blog Post
Washington Oaks Garden: a Peaceful Paradise in Florida
With all that Florida has to offer, you'd think it would be hard for anybody to pick a favorite place in the state. In my case though, it's not. By a mile,my favorite place is Washington Oaks Gardens State Park. Washington Oaks is one of the most...
Blog Post
Pictures from a small island - Portland Bill
Some 5 miles to the south-west of Weymouth is Portland Bill, a narrow promontory (or 'bill') at the southern end of the Isle of Portland, and the southernmost point of Dorset, England. This point of Portland bears the brunt of the many storms that...
Blog Post
San Juan, Puerto Rico: Outside the Walls
Because Puerto Rico was the first freshwater island for 16th-century travelers from Spain, and because it guards the entrance to the Caribbean, its Spanish masters went out of their way to defend it, not only with the huge fortifications at the...
Blog Post
Silver Plume, Colorado
I love going on leisurely road trips -- the kind where you've several spare hours to pull over somewhere and explore. If a place seems interesting, I like to check it out. So it was this past summer while we were visiting...
Blog Post
Old City Hall, Toronto. Where Gumbo was #86
Gumbo was visiting the corner of Bay and Queen streets in Toronto, Canada -- specifically the Old City Hall. Congratulations to PortMoreby who correctly solved the problem and notified us by email! Jonathan L also...
Blog Post
Signs of......
If you're interested, you can find collections of signs from the following cities: Boston Charleston Honolulu Las Vegas Prague Quebec City Toronto Toronto (Queen St West)
Blog Post
Index: Mont-Saint-Michel
A Visit to Normandy: Magnificient Mont St. Michel Mont-Saint Michel: Like no other, Part 1, Island and Village Mont-Saint-Michel: Like no other, Part 2, the Abbey
Blog Post
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, May 4, 2015: Take a Seat, Please!
A stack of chairs turns into an abstract display of color simply by turning a digital camera dial. At the other end of the spectrum, with color limited to shades of black and white, they are equally abstract but quite different! Both images...
Blog Post
Florida warned: take action against future flooding
17th c. Castillo de San Marcos, guarding America's oldest city, may be endangered by rising waters. With all the jokes about earthquakes in California creating ocean-front lots in Nevada, it's easy to forget that things are changing in numbers...
Blog Post
Casa Batllo, Barcelona (Where Gumbo was #101)
Roderick Simpson and Dr.J have both correctly placed Gumbo as visiting Casa Batlló in Barcelona.Honorable mention goes to HistoryDigger for getting the city and architect. Designed by the premier Catalan...
Blog Post
"Tide of the Century" Coming to Mont Saint-Michel
Crowds gathered along the coast of Brittany ,near Mont Saint-Michel, to watch Saturday’s high tide. The tide will be the first in nearly a month of large spring tides due to culminate on March 20 and 21 . March 21 has been touted as "the tide of...
Blog Post
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, March 9, 2015: St. Peter's Basilica, Rome
While visiting Rome recently, one of our favorite cities anywhere, our day's walk through the Baroque section ended by the Tiber River just as the sun was setting. We were a little lost, a state I like to be in while exploring...
Blog Post
Gumbo’s Pic of the Day, April 10, 2015: A glance down the Jurassic coast
Heading west along the Jurassic coast road from Weymouth, Dorset, the road rises steeply up the hill which rises above the Tropical Gardens at Abbotsbury. Stopping for a moment to look back, there is a breathtaking view that encompasses much of Lyme...
Blog Post
Gumbo’s Pic of the Day, April 3, 2015: A brisk day on Portland Bill
The tip of the isle of Portland in Dorset, England, is called 'Portland Bill' and it is a place that I often visit as it displays dramatic visual day-by-day changes as the weather fronts surge in from the Atlantic. It is a place where no less...
Blog Post
'New Machu Picchu'...but who will benefit?
Peru is making plans for a cable car link to Kuelap, high in the Andes. Kuelap, centuries older than Machu Picchu, predates the Incas. It's the largest pre-Columbian stone-built city in South America, with over 400 round houses and a 1.5 km stone wall...
Blog Post
Government St., Mobile: A Great Historic Street (Pt. 1)
I haven't heard anybody else say this, especially in the local area, but Government Street in Mobile, Alabama is one the most spectacular historic streets in the world, even today. I had a chance to walk a good portion of Government St. in March of...
Blog Post
Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Quebec. Where Gumbo was, #73
Gumbo was visiting the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, a massive church set near the banks of the St. Lawrence River in the Canadian province of Quebec. Congratulations to GarryRF for being the first to recognize the site, and...
Blog Post
Welcome to the town of Dawson City, Yukon
Dawson City owns its existence as a direct result of the Klondike gold discovery in 1896 in the nearby creeks. Dawson was founded in 1897 and incorporated as a city in 1902. By 1898, the population was almost 40,000. It was the largest...
Blog Post
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge – The Creepy and the Miraculous
By JP Chartier If you follow Interstate 275 south through the city of St. Petersburg, Florida until you run out of land, you’ll be greeted by a gentle slope of road that seemingly rises from the waters of the Tampa Bay. This...
Blog Post
A Place of Fairy Tales & Magic – The Biltmore Estate
By JP Chartier NUZZLED SNUGLY, DEEP WITHIN THE PISGAH NATIONAL FOREST AND ENCIRCLED BY MOUNTAINS THAT BREATHE BLUE SMOKE IS WHERE YOU CAN FIND THIS PLACE OF FAIRY TALES AND MAGIC. The opulent and somewhat imposing French Renaissance,...
Blog Post
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, November 26th, 2014: St. Simons Island, Georgia
A wide sandy beach stretches out in front of The King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort on St. Simons Island, Georgia. The hotel was founded in 1935 as a seaside dance club by Frank Horn and Morgan Wynne. The hotel took on this name...
Blog Post
Charleston's Cathedral of St. John the Baptist: Where Gumbo Was (#76)
Visiting Charleston recently, I was struck by its handsome cathedral and unusual spire. The church seems reasonably well-rooted in the 19th century, but the tower reminded me of the turn-of-the-last-century church of Saint-Jean-de-Montmartre ...
Blog Post
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, April 12, 2015: Cambridge, England
Last weekend, I visited two of the most famous University cities in the world: Oxford and Cambridge. Both cities have a long history dating back to the medieval times, but it was Cambridge that stole my heart. With its quaint houses,...
Blog Post
Shroud of Turin is Back on Public Display
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons: Shroud of Turin Over a million people have signed up to see the Turin...
Blog Post
Capella Palatina, Palermo, Sicily (Where Gumbo Was, #102)
I've visited dozens of wonderful churches in my life, some vaste and grand like St. Paul's in Rome or Westminister Abbey in London, others smaller and with a more intimate feel. As a rule, I'm partially to smaller chapels and...