Bergen is Norway’s best known city for visitors. And although I’m a Drammen patriot, I’ll happily admit Bergen is recognised for good reason, not least for its proximity to the famous world heritage-listed western fjords.King Olav Kyrre granted Bergen (then named Bjørgvin) city status in [...]
The powerful Hanseatic League has been mentioned frequently on this blog, and we've covered several Hansa cities: Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck in Germany; Torun, Gdansk and Krakow in Poland; Tallinn and Riga in the Baltic countries. In neighbouring Sweden, there's Stockholm and enchanting Visby. In Belgium, there's Bruges and Antwerp. Finally, there's lively London and beguiling Bergen. And there are [...]
A donkey, a dog, a cat, a rooster - you're looking at the famous Bremen Town Musicians. This 200-year-old Grimms brothers' fairytale is about four friends, all a bit worse for wear and mistreatment at the hands of abusive owners. Well, nothing for it, only [...]
Christmas marzipan has appeared in the shops up here in the northern European world; a sure sign of the approaching Yule (which is what we call Christmas, heathens that we are). A bit early, in my opinion, it's just October. But what can you do - [...]
1918! A monumental year. World War I ended, empires broke up, national borders were rearranged, political orders changed dramatically, and new countries appeared. One of these was Latvia. The little Baltic country declared its independence from Russia on 18 November 1918, just one week after the [...]
Notaries Public in Poland. There’s something I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever google. But I have – and this is what I’ve learned: According to one of Poland’s many notaries, A notary acts as a person of public trust, they safeguard the security of legal [...]
I was first in Bruges just after uni. It was a brief trip, just 3-4 hours, and what I remember best was cleanliness! Not so much as a gum wrapper littered the cobbled streets. Years later, I returned with Ali. Possibly an even shorter visit. [...]
