While the fortress was originally built in the ninth century by Sawwar ben Hamdun during the fighting between Muslims and the Muladies, the building was in poor repair thanks to the civil war ravaging the Caliphate of Cordoba that Granada was part of at the time, and proved insufficient in keeping their enemies from overrunning them. In fact this castle was largely ignored until the eleventh century when renovations of the ruins were first attempted by a vizier of the Zirid Dynasty. But it wasn’t until Mohammed ben Al-Hamar (1238-1273) …

It’s been a while since we’ve made a Game of Thrones post – long enough that there’s a new season past, and one about to shoot!
It’s also been almost a full year since we visited Malta, where all did not go to plan. We were ready to go on our planned driving route, but after a very short drive, it became apparent that driving on the wrong side of Maltese roads was a bit of a challenge for me. It was also a bit of a challenge for my dad, …

Derived from the Portuguese word for Bethlehem, Santa Maria de Belem, or simply Belem as locals call it, is a civil parish in the Lisbon municipality situated on the mouth of the Tagus River. While the first settlement of this region dates back to the Paleolithic period, it wouldn’t gain any true significance until the founding of the Portuguese Kingdom in 1248 CE under King Afonso III. Thanks to its proximity to the Tagus River the small village saw an influx of commercial activity as mariners and seafarers chose to …

Thanks to a Portuguese couple we met during our 2011 Mediterranean cruise, we were able to visit yet another UNESCO site as we went through a whirlwind tour of Lisbon and stopped at the impressive Jeronimos Monastery which had earned the designation in 1983 due to it being one of the most prominent late-Gothic Portuguese monuments of the Manueline architecture style. Built upon the site of the Hermitage of Restelo originally constructed in 1459 by the Portuguese infante and patron of Portuguese exploration, Prince Henry the Navigator, to house a …

Recently I wrote about how the UNESCO’s World Heritage program is intended to protect those sites singled out as cultural and natural treasures. Having come across this recent report Aljazeera did on the program and the impact it’s having on some of the very sites it’s meant to protect. I thought I should share, and let you weigh in on whether it is in fact doing more harm than good.

During our Mediterranean cruise we inadvertently ended up doing a tour of a number of World Heritage sites. And having written about those locations and the efforts taken by their respective country to maintain them and the cultural heritage they represent for generations to come, I thought I should talk a little more about what UNESCO’s World Heritage program is.
The scope of the program is to preserve cultural and natural heritage around the world deemed to be of great value to humanity, affirmed in the international treaty adopted by UNESCO …

Chichen Itza is in fact the first Heritage Site that Nicole and I visited together thanks to her parents, who organized a family trip down to Mexico for Christmas a few years back.
Perhaps one of the greatest Mayan sacred sites on the Yucatan peninsula, the fusion of Mayan and Toltec civilizations from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries certainly makes it the most important example of this union, found upon almost every inch of the monuments and artistry that comprise the grounds of Chichen Itza.
And even though climbing the Castillo …

In what now seems like an intended tour of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, instead of simply a Mediterranean cruise we were tagging along on, we managed to coordinate a trip out to our sixth Site of the trip, the Medieval fortress of the Nasrid dynasty. Literally meaning “the red one,” the Alhambra is a complex located in Granada, Spain that begun construction in 1238 CE by Muhammad I. Al-Ahmar of the Granada Emirate in al-Andalus.
While the exterior was left plain and austere, successive Emirs oversaw expansions and improvements upon the …

Literally meaning ‘underground’ in Greek, the Hypogeum of Paola, Malta, is a subterranean temple dating back to the Saflieni period of Maltese prehistory (ca. 3600 BCE). Originally thought to be a sanctuary, its builders later turned the structure into a necropolis.
Discovered by accident in 1902 while workers were cutting cisterns for a new housing development, it was officially recognized as an UNESCO World Heritage site in 1980. Between 1992 and 1996 the site was closed for restoration, and ever since has limited the number of people allowed entry per day …

Named for Jean Parisot de la Valetta who led the successful defense of the island from an Ottoman invasion in 1565 CE, the official name given by the Hospitaller’s was Humilissima Civitas Valleta – Most Humble City of Valletta – but given their desire to see the city realized as an artist’s masterpiece, the nickname Superblissima – Most Proud – used by the ruling European houses of the time, seems more apt.

Colloquially known as Il-Belt in Maltese – The City – Valletta is the capital of Malta. The name …