A market town in Ireland’s Ancient East, Dundalk is minutes from the border with Northern Ireland and halfway between Belfast and Dublin. The big local landmark is Roche Castle, a ruined Norman stronghold on a cinematic misty outcrop. In a matter of minutes you can get to other Medieval monuments, Neolithic stones and exhilarating sweeps …
The town of Ennis in County Clare is sure to spark your imagination if you’re into history. Strewn across the landscape are the decaying ruins of Medieval abbeys, friaries and castles accessible to the public and ready to be investigated. Most of these have been disintegrating slowly since the 16th century, but Ennis Friary in …
Kerry’s County town, Tralee is at the base of the majestic Dingle Peninsula in the southwest of Ireland. Tralee has a few attractions to keep you absorbed a day or two. At the immersive Kerry County Museum kids can travel back to Medieval times, while Siamsa Tíre has Ireland’s National Folk Theatre, where you can …
The County Town of Carlow is in a corner of Ireland that has been inhabited since before recorded history, as the awesome Brownshill Dolmen testifies. This Neolithic portal tomb on the edge of town is topped with a humungous granite capstone, claimed to be the heaviest in Europe. You can make outings to noble estates …
At the confluence of three rivers on the northern edge of the Black Forest sits the eight largest city in Baden-Württemberg. Pforzheim is one of the small but illustrious set of German cities that can trace its history back to Roman times, when it went by the name Portus. But in modern times Pforzheim has …
In North Rhine-Westphalia’s hilly and wooded Bergisches Land, Remscheid is a city comprising an assortment of small towns. You need only look at the sickle on Remscheid’s coat of arms to know how this city made its living in days gone by. With forges across the landscape Remscheid was a tool-making city, and established far-reaching …
In the Rhine Gorge, Rüdesheim am Rhein is a wine-making town under lofty Riesling vineyards. The landscapes are full of drama, where the high gorge walls plunge to the broad, island-studded river. And guarding the banks are Medieval castles inscribed in UNESCO’s Upper Middle Rhine Valley World Heritage Site. This part of the Rhine, not …
Wedged between the Pegnitz and Rednitz rivers, the city of Fürth is just a few kilometres away from Nuremberg in Middle Franconia. And while Fürth’s bigger neighbour may get all the headlines there’s a lot to love about this historic city. For one thing, Fürth was only partly damaged in the Second World War, leaving …
Once a mining city, Lünen in the east of the Ruhr area now has a new vocation in manufacturing and green energy. The remnants of the mines are clear to see, in the enormous headframes of the Zeche Minister Achenbach and Gneisenau collieries. But the grim side-effects of the industrial age have been forgotten: A …
The oldest city in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schwerin got its city rights from the great duke, Henry the Lion in 1160. The first thing to mention about Schwerin is the enthralling palace and seat of the prosperous Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Looking like a Loire Valley Château the palace is on an island of its …