Author: Ms. R.

A late February night in 1986 the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme was fatally wounded by a gunshot at Sveavägen in downtown Stockholm. Ha and his wife, Lisbeth Palme, were walking home from a cinema when a lone gunman walked up to the couple, shot the prime minister in the back, and wounded Lisbeth with a second shot. Olof Palme died from his wounds with his wounded wife refusing to leave his side. It took almost three years, until……

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Halfway between Istanbul and Ankara, in one of the most historic and beautiful parts of northwest Turkey, is a deep valley covered in dense pine forests and blessed with thermal springs. And in this valley is something that seems right out of a Disney movie: row upon row of identical, castle-like, turreted chateaus. When the occasional morning mist enshrouds the blue towers, it’s a dreamy scene, but when you look a little closer, something seems off. The roads between……

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In the hilly woodlands of northwestern Turkey, in Bolu Province, halfway between Istanbul and Ankara, sits an otherworldly sight: Burj Al Babas, the world’s most epic ghost town. Right next to the historical town of Mudurnu, which is famous for its 600-year-old mosque and traditional Ottoman houses, there are rows upon rows of turreted chateaus. The only residents are a few stray dogs and cats. Burj Al Babas is an example of development gone terribly wrong. A property developer from……

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The Laurel and Hardy Museum was started by Bill Cubin, a fan of the early 20th-century comedy duo. It started as a few scrapbooks of photos, and over time grew until the collection filled a small room in Cubin’s home in the town of Ulverston. He began inviting locals and fellow fans to see his collection and eventually interest spread. Laurel and Hardy were a comedy duo act consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel and American Oliver Hardy. As the……

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Stubborn as a donkey, Via del Borgo or Via degli Asini (The Donkey’s Road) has shuffled along since it was built in the 14th century. One of the most fetching features of medieval Brisighella is this arched passageway that was born as a plain, old road. As with many other roads in the Middle Ages, it was used as an outpost for guards. The road was later covered and converted into housing for the families of men who carted……

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This story is excerpted and adapted from Dave Seminara’s Mad Travelers: A Tale of Wanderlust, Greed and the Quest to Reach the Ends of the Earth, released in June 2021 by Post Hill Press. Thirty-some-odd years ago, Don Parrish decided to visit all 50 U.S. states. Completing that feat only stoked his appetite for more, so he set out to apply the same concept on a global basis, visiting every region of every country. He says he’s a homebody……

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The city of Porto, Portugal has many historic buildings, but for fans of transport history, the three remaining lines of the Porto Tram System are a thing of wonder.  The Porto Tram Museum is located by the Duoro River and houses several overhead electric-powered streetcars (and some horse-drawn examples), but the fact that these historic vehicles still provide a public service in the city is a tribute to their craftsmanship. Very much like the San Francisco cable cars, they……

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January 13, 1982, saw 6.5 inches of snow fall on Washington, D.C. In spite of the foul weather, officials at National Airport decided to open the airport to traffic around noon. One of the outbound flights that afternoon was Air Florida Flight 90, which would stop in Tampa before reaching its final destination in Fort Lauderdale. Even though the temperature was below freezing, the pilots did not activate the engines’ de-icing systems. The co-pilot repeatedly relayed instrument warnings to……

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The harsh desert of northeastern Mexico does not seem like the type of place for a civilization to thrive, but history shows us that life always finds a way. Chiquihuitillos is an archaeological site displaying petroglyph and cave painting examples by the native Alzapa people. Given the lack of water sources near the shelters, it is believed that the area was less of a living place and more of a ceremonial space. Symbols are in varying styles, showing that……

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Standing at the intersection of Rockville Pike and Beach Drive is a tree known to locals as The Linden Oak. It is one of the largest (Quercus Alba) in the state of Maryland and the largest in Montgomery County. Estimates indicate that this towering specimen seeded in 1718, meaning that it is over 300 years old. In addition to being on the scene nearly 50 years before the American Revolution, the Linden Oak dodged another brush with death in……

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Near the intersection of Beach Street and the John F. Fitzgerald Surface Road in Boston stands the Chinatown Gate, a traditional paifang gateway that marks the official entrance to the city’s Asian-American neighborhood. A small block of marble in the plaza outside the gateway memorializes what’s known in China as the June Fourth Incident, but more commonly referred to in the west as the Tiananmen Square Massacre. In April 1989, a student-led protest began in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square demanding……

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