travels in – Julian Worker Fiction Writing

Avignon

Sur le Pont d’Avignon On y danse, On y danse Sur le Pont d’Avignon On y danse tous en rond On the bridge of Avignon We all dance there, we all dance there On the bridge of Avignon We all dance there in a ring “Sur le Pont d’Avignon” is a song about the PontContinue reading “Avignon”

Carcassonne

As part of the Treaty of the Pyrenees between France and Spain in 1659, France gained Roussillon and Perpignan, parts of Luxembourg and towns in Flanders such as Arras and Béthune. The treaty set the new border with Spain at the Pyrenees and because of this decision Carcassonne’s importance as a military base dwindled rapidlyContinue reading “Carcassonne”

Montsegur

I visited Montsegur to see the place where the Cathars had made their ‘last stand’ against the besieging forces of the King of France. I was also intrigued about the Cathar treasure many people believe was spirited away during the final days of the siege. By the beginning of 1240 most Cathar leaders, and almostContinue reading “Montsegur”

Mirepoix

The town of Mirepoix has the finest main square west of the Rhone. The whole square comprises wooden arches topped by houses in different pastel shades. The houses are all half-timbered and some of their cross beams show carvings of human heads or grotesque animals. The finest examples can be found on the Maisons desContinue reading “Mirepoix”

Bo Kaap – Cape Town

Extract from – Ten Traveller’s Tales Head along Wale Street away from the city centre and in five minutes you will enter the Bo Kaap district, located on the slopes of Signal Hill, with Table Mountain looming nearby. The residents of this inner city area with its brightly painted houses invariably being picked out byContinue reading “Bo Kaap – Cape Town”

Arles – France

What have the Romans ever done for us? Well, in the city of Arles there’s both a Roman Arena and a Roman theatre for tourists to see. The Arena was the largest Roman building in the whole of France and staged gladiatorial contests when 30,000 people would have crammed in to witness the spectacle. LookingContinue reading “Arles – France”

Bhutan

Standing by the doorway I watch, in the paved courtyard in front of me, the individual deities performing their final pirouettes for the crowd, who warmly applaud each balletic finale. As the dancers pass by me, they are displaying the more human traits of tiredness and exhaustion, a result of performing in a heavily maskedContinue reading “Bhutan”

Macedonia

Travelling into Skopje, from Alexander the Great airport, I was expecting to see refugees walking along the road heading for Serbia. I was told that people were no longer allowed to walk on the roads and along the train tracks as there had been too many accidents in the preceding months. Now, the refugees wereContinue reading “Macedonia”