Author: Ms. R.

Among Korkeasaari Zoo’s many historical landmarks, the bear castles are among the oldest. Built during the early 1900s, these three cages were once a central attraction at the zoo, showcasing polar bears and Finland’s native brown bears. Their design now offers a glimpse into the past’s standards for animal welfare. The bear castles were constructed with sturdy stone walls and iron bars. The enclosures were small and lacked the naturalistic elements we now recognize as essential for animal well-being. As……

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Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai, popularly known as “Perarignar (Elder Brother) Anna,” was Chief Minister of Madras and Tamil Nadu for less than two years between 1967 and 1969, but arguably influenced the state’s politics more than any other Tamil politician before or since. He first came to prominence in British Madras as a member of the Justice Party and the social movement Dravidar Kazhagam, which was led by “Periyar” E.V. Ramaswamy. Periyar strove for caste equity through self-respect and the……

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The Smokies are home to fire lookouts that rise above already high mountain summits and surrounding trees, thereby offering some of the park’s best views. The most storied is Mount Cammerer, which is located on a 0.6-mile spur off the Appalachian Trail near the North Carolina/Tennessee line on the northern edge of the national park. The most commonly hiked route to Mount Cammerer begins at Cosby Campground, which is one of the park’s quietest campgrounds. Hikers follow the Low……

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The seminal Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra lived in many Spanish cities—including Madrid, Seville, and Toledo—but this domicile museum in Castilla y León has been preserved with antique furniture to give the impression you’re paying the writer a visit. In this house, a nobleman died accidentally, leading to imprisonment for Cervantes before he was cleared of blame. It is also one of the homes in which Cervantes wrote the first part of his classic novel, Don Quixote….

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Amid the hustle and bustle of the Istanbul waterfront, with ferries coming in and out of shore, with peddlers and pedestrians walking by, with the sights and smells of Turkish food vendors, and with two large historic mosques across the street and the public square, you can step right into this site and walk through the courtyard. Known in Turkish as Şemsi Paşa Camii, this mosque is unique for several reasons. First, it is smaller size than other Ottoman mosques……

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Along the sun-dappled hills of Sonoma County, where salt air from the Pacific breezes through rolling vineyards and the soil sings with centuries of winemaking history, great wine waits to be made. And at Decoy, a winery known for its distinguished portfolio of California wines, that terroir combines with a deep level of craftsmanship, to make for accessible but elegant bottles that burst with the delicious traces of California’s land. Decoy has become an iconic brand thanks to the……

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Continually occupied from prehistory until today, the site of Flag Fen in the United Kingdom is home to a wide range of evidence and artifacts from different eras.  Most important is perhaps the preserved remains of the Fen Causeway, an ancient road through the Fens where many people would have convened. Raised above the then-undrained bog, the causeway was a massive timber construction from different species of trees. These peaty conditions are what lead to the quality of the……

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For centuries, the northeastern region of Portugal, known as Tràs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, was isolated from the rest of the country by mountain ranges, protecting unique cultural traditions. Inside the walls of the ancient castle of Bragança, a charming museum introduces visitors to one such culture: The cherished mask traditions of Northeastern Portugal and the Zamora district of Spain. These folk traditions are said to have Celtic origins (or Roman, depending on who you talk to) and have been……

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The ruins of the LAMCO mining site, once the largest iron ore mining operation in the world, sprawl out against the backdrop of a nature reserve at the base of West Africa’s tallest mountain. Throughout the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, the ore extracted from this site made LAMCO—the Liberian American (Swedish) Minerals Company—Liberia’s biggest revenue earner, and Yekepa the third largest town in Liberia. Operations were disrupted in the bloody civil wars of the 1990s and early 2000s. Today, the……

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