So, the “Sisters” are a series of massive hills that have each essentially been sliced down the middle by natural erosive processes to reveal massive, sheer cliffs that stretch along the English coastline like a series of rolling waves. To make the scene all the more striking, these cliffs are entirely white. Perhaps you’ve heard of the “White Cliffs of Dover”? This is part of the same system of cliffs, which is called the “South Downs”, but Seven Sisters is arguably even more iconic because the entire stretch has been kept completely natural and undeveloped. The white color comes from the fact that the earth here is made of an extraordinarily pure form of limestone: chalk! Indeed, the earth here contains about 98–99% calcium carbonate, with very little clay or sand, making them appear dazzlingly white! They stay so white because they are in a constant cycle of erosion, where after some time the outer layers of chalk crumble away revealing fresh, white chalk.
“Cinque Terre” literally translates to 5 lands, and indeed, it is not 1 place, but 5 places. It is a collection of 5 historic towns dotting the rugged, mountainous Mediterranean coastline between La Spezia and Genoa. These towns emerged between 1000 and 1200 AD, and—in their prime—were able to flourish because they combined fishing, boat building, agriculture, and maritime trade. You’ll hear them referred to just as “fishing villages” but that is only part of the story. Agriculture is also massively important to the appearance of these towns even today. The main staple of these towns, in additional to olives, was wine.
I doubt you will be surprised to learn that the Leaning Tower of Pisa was actually not supposed to lean. In 1173, when work began on this structure, the intention was for it to just be your typical free-standing bell tower. Although I should acknowledge that there was really nothing “typical” about this in the 1100s; Italy was leaps and bounds ahead of (most of) the rest of the world, which is part of what makes these sites so incredible. Anyway, construction took about 200 years, including an almost 100-year-long pause due to wars and political instability. It was officially finished in 1372.
Although Florence was founded under the Romans in 59 BC, its meteoric rise did not begin until about ~1,000 AD. The intervening years saw Florence weather Gothic invasions, Byzantine rule, Lombard control, Frankish conquest under Charlemagne. A thousand years of the same struggle for incremental gains that most every city in the world was experiencing, until Florence’s petri dish yielded something entirely unique. Going into the 1400s, Florence had a unique combination of enormous private wealth, political competition, educated merchants, civic pride, and intense rivalry among wealthy families. You might assume that they the powers that be would opt to duke out their competitions in war, business, and industry (and there was certainly some of this), but the Florentine elite chose a new arena for competition: the arts. You may have heard of the Medici? This was one of those wealthy families that is famously supported some of the artists that would establish Florence as a cultural juggernaut and kick-start the Renaissance. They even have their own Netflix show now.
In this article, we’re going to be agnostic with the location within London. Indeed, this article has been sitting around as a ‘draft’ since 2023, and I have just been adding to the gallery every time I walk by a mural in my day-to-day life. So, I stumbled onto all of these randomly, and accordingly, they are really from a random collection of places. I think the London neighborhoods covered here include Camberwell, Stoke Newington, Little Portugal, Bow, Bethnal Green, Walthamstow, Peckham, Hackney, Finsbury Park, Waterloo, Nunhead, Stockwell, Fitzrovia, Clapham, Earl’s Court, Soho, Notting Hill, Streatham… and probably more!
It turns out that Glasgow has a reputation for murals! The one at the top of the gallery below is, perhaps, the most famous of them all. It was done by an Australian-born street artist named Sam Bates, better known under the moniker Smug. He’s offered little information on the intended symbolism of the mural, but because the subject is holding a robin and appears to have some sort of halo—both imagery that were/are commonly associated with St Mungo—the mural has been widely interpreted as a modern St Mungo. The mural’s close proximity to Glasgow Cathedral, which is the resting place of St Mungo, serves to reinforce this.
When you think of Scotland, I’m betting you don’t immediately think of Glasgow. You probably think beautiful scenes in the Scottish Highlands, or the charming cobblestone streets of Edinburgh. Indeed, this is the image that Scotland likes to show to the outside world, but the largest city in Scotland is actually not Edinburgh; it’s Glasgow! With a metro area population of ~1.8 million, the joke goes that this is where Scots actually live. It could be said that Edinburgh and Glasgow are two sides of the same coin. They are the largest two cities in Scotland, and they are literally right next to each other at only 70-80km (45-50 miles). Edinburgh is smaller, but it is the administrative, governmental, diplomatic, academic, and financial hub of Scotland. It’s well-connected, it’s expensive, and it’s posh. Glasgow, on the other hand, is none of these things.
You’re gonna love it. 😉
Today we return to football tourism with our quest to visit all the stadiums in the English Premier League. Up to this point we’ve covered Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge, Fulham’s Craven Cottage, West Ham’s London Stadium, Spurs’ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and Brighton’s AmEx Stadium. Now, at long last, we’re visiting Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, which sits in North London, within walking distance of my new flat! We’re going watch the EFL Cup quarter-final against the classic South-London side, Crystal Palace.
So here’s our destination today, along with a couple of nice pictures from the walk over. This match took place on December 23rd, so you will see lots of Christmas imagery & references in the images.
Here’s a fun fact for you: the concept and tradition of the Christmas tree originated right here, in Alsace! The first written records of Christmas Trees anywhere in the world first appear here in 1521, in a small Alsatian village called Sélestat. If you’d imagined there were snowy spruce trees in the Israeli desert for the actual birth of Jesus… I’ve got bad news for you. 😬
Anyway, Sélestat is about a ~20-minute drive from the places we’ll be visiting today! But this is not a historical expedition; we’re going to visit a few more present-day Christmas Markets!
This is (probably) the oldest Christmas Tree anywhere in the world. The first written records of Christmas Trees anywhere in the world first appear here in Alsace in 1521. Those records actually come from a little town called Sélestat which is just south of Strasbourg, but the first records of Strasbourg’s tree follow soon after. At this time, Strasbourg was already the largest city in the region and record keeping was a bit spotty, so I think it’s fair to generally just award the title of “the Birthplace of the Christmas” tree to Alsace in general.
So, this isn’t just a Christmas Tree; this is THE Christmas Tree!
