Category Archives: Views

Walks: Hydrangeas At Hakusan Shrine, Tokyo

The Ajisai (Hydrangea) at start of summer in Japan are in full bloom at Hakusan Shrine in Tokyo.

City Walks: Nördlingen – Bavaria, Germany (4K)

Nördlingen is a town in Bavaria, Germany. Its old town is encircled by well-preserved medieval walls with towers and covered parapet paths. The city center is anchored by the massive Gothic St. George’s Church. Its tower, called the Daniel, has views across town. The Rathaus (town hall), with its gabled roof and towers, is one of several medieval buildings, some half-timbered, on the main square.

Walking Tour: Oxford – Southern England

Oxford, a city in central southern England, revolves around its prestigious university, established in the 12th century. The architecture of its 38 colleges in the city’s medieval center led poet Matthew Arnold to nickname it the ‘City of Dreaming Spires’. University College and Magdalen College are off the High Street, which runs from Carfax Tower (with city views) to the Botanic Garden on the River Cherwell. 

Views: Denmark’s $34 Billion Energy Islands

The energy islands and the wind farms with a combined capacity of 5 GW are expected to be commissioned by 2030.

The North Sea energy island will have an initial capacity of 3 GW which could potentially be further scaled up to 10 GW offshore wind. This will be an artificial island.

Views: Zion National Park, Southwestern Utah (4K)

Zion National Park is a southwest Utah nature preserve distinguished by Zion Canyon’s steep red cliffs. Zion Canyon Scenic Drive cuts through its main section, leading to forest trails along the Virgin River. The river flows to the Emerald Pools, which have waterfalls and a hanging garden. Also along the river, partly through deep chasms, is Zion Narrows wading hike. 

Walking Tours: San Marco Quarter In Venice (4K)

In this walking tour, I take you around St Mark’s Square, walking till Rialto, you will see all the best attraction of Venice: The Basilic, the Clock Tower, St Mark’s Square, the Doge Palace, the beautiful restaurants, the nice shop, and of course the amazing Rialto bridge.

At Rialto, we take the “vaporetto” and navigate the “Grand Canal” till Accademia, walking at the top of Accademia bridge. We will visit the “Dorsoduro” sestiere till Basilic of Santa Maria della Salute, where we took a “traghetto”, a traditional venetian gondola used to cross the “Grand Canal”. The Traghetto takes us to Giardini Reali, and finally we will arrive at St Mark’s Square.

San Marco is the tourist heart of Venice, home to iconic sights like St. Mark’s Basilica, the Doge’s Palace and the Bridge of Sighs. The area is often thronged with people, and the restaurants on and around St. Mark’s Square offer multilingual menus for the international crowd. The surrounding streets are filled with casual snack bars, upscale fashion boutiques and shops selling glass art and gift items. 

Village View: Clerkenwell In Northern London

‘Clerkenwell was right outside the London city walls, but close enough to it, so was ideal for monasteries. With four or five in the area, people came to serve them, shops opened and you had quite a nice little village.’

Carla Passino June 14, 2021

A medieval well lies hidden inside a brick office block on Farringdon Lane. It may look a little more than a hole in the ground, but it’s from there that Clerkenwell came to life.

‘The parish clerks from the City of London would come to perform plays and read from the Bible and, because they gathered around this particular well, it became known as the well of the Clerks,’ explains Mark Aston, local-history manager for Islington Council, under which authority Clerkenwell falls. ‘It’s not only water that sprung from it, but Clerkenwell’s name itself.’

Read full article in Country Life Magazine

E-Bike Tours: Snowdonia National Park, Wales

As a conservation charity, we’ve been searching for alternative ways to get around the estates, gardens, and the places in our care, reducing our reliance on traditional diesel-powered vehicles. Thanks to a new collaboration with Raleigh, electric assisted bikes (e-bikes) are now helping us to meet our climate change objectives. Using e-bikes to travel from A to B will enable us to step towards a greener future, moving us closer to our goal of being carbon net zero by 2030. These Snowdonia Rangers tell us how the transition from four wheels to two has been going, and the benefits it’s having on their roles.

Snowdonia is a region in northwest Wales concentrated around the mountains and glacial landforms of massive Snowdonia National Park. The park’s historic Snowdon Mountain Railway climbs to the summit of Wales’s highest mountain, Mount Snowdon, offering views across the sea to Ireland. The park is also home to an extensive network of trails, over 100 lakes and craggy peaks like Cader Idris and Tryfan. 

Morning Drives: Central Rome – Italy (4K Video)

Rome is the capital city and a special comune of Italy (named Comune di Roma Capitale), as well as the capital of the Lazio region. The city has been a major human settlement for almost three millennia. With 2,860,009 residents in 1,285 km2 (496.1 sq mi), it is also the country’s most populated comune. It is the third most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the centre of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4,355,725 residents, thus making it the most populous metropolitan city in Italy. Its metropolitan area is the third-most populous within Italy. Vatican City (the smallest country in the world) is an independent country inside the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city; for this reason , Rome has sometimes been defined as the capital of two states.