Trapani is a city in western Sicily with a crescent-shaped coastline. At the western tip, offering views as far as the Aegadian Islands, is the 17th-century Torre di Ligny watchtower. It houses the Museo di Preistoria e del Mare, with archeological artifacts. North of the harbor, the Chiesa del Purgatorio church holds wooden sculptures that are paraded around the city during Easter’s Processione dei Misteri.
Category Archives: Cities
Walking Tour: Palermo – Island Of Sicily (4K Video)
Palermo is the capital of the Italian island of Sicily. The 12th-century Palermo Cathedral houses royal tombs, while the huge neoclassical Teatro Massimo is known for opera performances. Also in the center are the Palazzo dei Normanni, a royal palace started in the 9th century, and the Cappella Palatina, with Byzantine mosaics. Busy markets include the central Ballarò street market and the Vucciria, near the port.
Walks: New York City’s Meatpacking District (4K)
The Meatpacking District is a hip commercial area on the far west side. It’s home to the Whitney Museum of American Art, high-end designer clothing stores and a stretch of the High Line, an elevated park built atop former railroad tracks. At ground level, the cobblestone streets are filled with trendy restaurants and clubs that have taken over the cavernous spaces once occupied by the namesake meatpacking plants.
Aerial Views: Brisbane – Eastern Australia (4K)
Brisbane, capital of Queensland, is a large city on the Brisbane River. Clustered in its South Bank cultural precinct are the Queensland Museum and Sciencentre, with noted interactive exhibitions. Another South Bank cultural institution is Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, among Australia’s major contemporary art museums. Looming over the city is Mt. Coot-tha, site of Brisbane Botanic Gardens.
Walks: Trafalgar Square – Waterloo Road, London
London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom, is a 21st-century city with history stretching back to Roman times.
TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 – Intro 0:30 – Trafalgar Square / St Martin-in-the-Fields 0:52 – Duncannon Street 1:20 – Charing Cross Station 1:34 – Strand 6:51 – Aldwych 8:08 – Waterloo Bridge 9:48 – City of London Skyline 10:23 – Waterloo Bridge 10:34 – National Theatre 10:55 – Waterloo 17:15 – Waterloo Underground Station 18:06 – Waterloo Road 19:32 – The Old Vic
Bicycle Tour: Linz – Northern Austria (4K)
Linz, city, capital of Bundesland (federal state) Oberösterreich (Upper Austria), north-central Austria. Linz lies along the Danube River 100 miles (160 km) west of Vienna. It originated as the Roman fortress of Lentia and became an important medieval trading centre. By the 13th century it had all of the outward characteristics of a city but none of a city’s rights. It became the provincial capital in the 15th century during the residence of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick III and was noted for its fairs. The see of a Roman Catholic bishop since 1785, Linz has become an important cultural centre, with the Johannes Kepler University (1966), schools of art and music, a college-level Academy of Industrial and Art Design (1947), a seminary, scientific institutes, museums and art galleries, libraries, archives, an opera house, and theatres.
Urban Views: Living In China’s Megacities (Video)
More than 60 percent of China’s population of 1.4 billion currently lives in cities. Within a decade, the share of urban dwellers is expected to increase to 75 percent. Construction is booming and competition for residential land is fierce.
But the right to live in a city in China is conditional. Authorities want their modern cities to be peopled with well-educated, highly-qualified or politically well-connected residents. As a result, certain standards have to be met to be eligible for a modern, urban home. Only members of China’s political classes and the financially successful have a hope of qualifying. Yet more than half of the people who live in cities are so-called “migrant workers.” They come from rural communities and have no official rights to settle in cities. They are there to work. With no proper rights, they are merely tolerated while they serve as merchants, servants, waitstaff, cleaners, construction workers and tradespeople.
But while they are indispensible to daily life in the cities, they are unable to afford their exorbitant rents. This documentary looks at how and where these workers live, and asks whether middle and working class Chinese even figure in the official vision of shiny, high-tech cities. The filmmakers also look at what happens to those who oppose official plans, or stand in the way of the building boom.
Walking Tour: Tonsberg -Southeastern Norway (4K)
Tønsberg, historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around 102 kilometres south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tønsberg.
Walks: Cafes & Market Of Rue Mouffetard, Paris
Rue Mouffetard is a street in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. Situated in the fifth arrondissement of Paris, Rue Mouffetard is one of Paris’s oldest and liveliest neighbourhoods. These days the area has many restaurants, shops, and cafés, and a regular open market.
Spring Walks: Covent Garden – London (Video)
A shopping and entertainment hub in London’s West End, Covent Garden centres on the elegant, car-free Piazza, home to fashion stores, craft stalls at the Apple Market, and the Royal Opera House. Street entertainers perform by 17th-century St. Paul’s Church, and the London Transport Museum houses vintage vehicles. Upscale restaurants serve European cuisines, and nearby theatres draw crowds for plays and musicals.