History

(Part 1 of 3)

Dublin is a city with a fascinating history dating back to the Vikings, yet modern Dublin is a city of culture and literary greats.

George Bernard Shaw was born in its Portobello neighborhood. Oscar Wilde lived there and loved it. William Butler Yeats was born there and is still celebrated, and James Joyce followed his most famous character, Leopold Bloom, through a day in Dublin.

Open until March 31, 2015, in London, the exhibit “Aerofilms: Britain From Above” showcases Aerofilms, Ltd.’s, archive of 95,000 aerial photographs of Britain and Europe from the firm’s beginnings in 1919 through World War II. 

South of Mérida in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula lies an area of limestone hills and valleys. It’s called the Puuc region, taking its name, appropriately, from the Maya word for “hill.”

Slovenia’s Postojna Cave exceeded all my expectations. 

First of all, it was the largest and most impressive cave I’d ever visited. Secondly, its many outstanding formations of stalactites and stalagmites as well as columns extending from the cave floor to the ceiling were more spectacular than any I’d seen elsewhere. Then there were the cave’s mysterious olms, the world’s largest troglodytic amphibians.

I was asked to follow up on a comment I made in my letter titled “Explore UNESCO Sites” (May ’14, pg. 12). 

Margo Wilson; Scottsdale, AZ

After spending time in many of the tourist-laden cities of Italy, I found the town of Arezzo to be an unexpected (and untouristed, at least in early May) exposition of medieval and Renaissance architecture and art. 

2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One. The war officially began on July 28, 1914, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia. Through 2018, nations throughout Europe are holding events, including battlefield tributes in Belgium and France, reenactments, remembrances at war cemeteries and museum exhibits.