Arriving to a palace after a bumpy bus ride seems fitting. You arrive as nothing and leave thinking yourself to be a little bit more royal, perhaps even above a bus seat. Like a dish of rich, creamy royal butter, Drottningholm Slott appears before me, set up on Drottningholm, literally Queen’s Island, just outside of Stockholm. Luckily its composition is nothing like butter for the Swedish sun has decided to shine. It would be a shame to see such a grand palace melt into nothing. The palace I admire today was built in 1662. However, the first royal residence to stand on these grounds did Continue Reading
Cheating Death on Stockholm’s Rooftops
“Don’t worry, we haven’t lost anybody yet,” my guide assures me. It’s the “yet” part that scares me. Would they really tell someone with a heart leaping out of her chest like a cartoon character if they lost someone or not? I put my faith in two Swedes that I won’t fall to my end as I observe others tiptoeing across the rooftop of Stockholm’s old Parliament building. Stockholm oozes sophistication, from its outward appearance of sparkling streets and grand buildings to inside its trendy bars where you get those looks that seem to say, “Are you lost?” Then again, Sweden’s capital has a Continue Reading
Sóller, Mallorca Wishes You Were Here
I step off of the wooden train car into a state of isolation in Sóller. For centuries Sóller kept to herself, cut off from the island. The sea functioned as Sóller’s only means of communicating with the outside world. The peaks of the Tramuntana mountain range wanted to keep Sóller forever in that isolation, but the historic train route from Palma altered that agenda in 1912. The train station welcomes in a variety of languages, suggesting Sóller is not so alone these day. The building itself used to be an ancient fortified house from the 17th century. It would later take on the identity of a Continue Reading
Sweet Slow Travel and The Train To Sóller
If you live on the Balearic Island of Mallorca, a far distance can be 20 minutes away. Perhaps it is the island mentality, but you don’t take the slow road in Mallorca if there is a faster way. The Ferrocarril De Sóller chugs along at the slowest of paces for a local, taking over an hour to go from Palma de Mallorca to the town of Sóller. Covering 27.3 kilometers, the route is frequented not by locals but tourists with time. They hop abroad not just for the train’s slow pace but to experience a part of history on the island. I arrive at Placa de l’Estació in Plaza de España in Palma de Continue Reading
Fort Pulaski, Georgia Wishes You Were Here
“We were absolutely isolated,” Confederate commander, Col. Charles H. Olmsted said of the bombardment on Fort Pulaski in Georgia. I muttered to myself the same as I approached this 19th century fort on Cockspur Island, around 15 miles east of Savannah. A glassy moat surrounding fortified bricks only furthers those feelings of being very much alone. Fort Pulaski doesn’t seem inviting based on its outward appearance, moat, drawbridge and all. The construction on Fort Pulaski began in 1829. It would take $1 million dollars, 25 million bricks and 18 years to build. Many believed it to be Continue Reading
The Basilica of St. Stephen in Budapest Wishes You Were Here
A robed man waits for a couple to shell out their “donation”. While every guidebook will tell you entrance into the Basilica of St. Stephen is free, the holy might have a different notion. I pay my forced donation, lending the couple without change a giant sigh of relief. Now the unidentified ticket agent has change to give the duo so they too can enter the largest church in Hungary. The neoclassical cathedral might need all of the donations it can get for it took over 50 years to build. The dome caved in in 1868, destroying the structure. It would be rebuilt from Budapest’s floor up and Continue Reading
Hungary’s Parliament in Budapest Wishes You Were Here
I never knew I was on the Hungarian government’s bad side. “It doesn’t work,” the ticket agent to Hungary’s Parliament building tour says to me almost laughing. She seems to say, “You fool. You don’t even haven enough money on your credit card to tour all of this opulence.” Luckily my friend spots the check on this one. Budapest’s Parliament has long been a structure I have wanted to see in person. A huffy ticket agent who thinks me a pauper or criminal won't stop me from living up to the dream. Guards in furry coats pace outside as I make the call. As it would turn out, there is no Continue Reading