Did you know ... ? King Midas, Herodotus (father of history), St. Paul and St. Nicholas (remembered as Santa Claus) were born in Turkey. Bodrum’s Tomb of King Mausolus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, gave us the word mausoleum. The world’s oldest known human settlement, from
Did You Know? Nijmegen, with a 2,000-year history, is deemed the oldest city in the Netherlands. The country first imported bicycles in 1869; Deventer hosted the first bicycle club (1871). In the 16th century, the Oudewater weighhouse was used to weigh humans — to determine if they were witches. The
Did You Know? Hippocrates, the father of medicine, led classes and tended the sick on Kos. Christian tradition says John, one of Christ’s disciples, wrote the Book of Revelation on Patmos. The name Dodecanese is Greek for twelve islands. The “Colossus of Rhodes,” destroyed in a 226 B.C. earthquake, was one
Did You Know...? The Mayflower Pilgrims (1620) and Roanoke’s ill-fated settlers (1586) departed England at Plymouth. The total height climbed if walking the 630-mile South West Coast Path is 114,931 feet (Everest is 29,028). Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540) and Agatha Christie (1890) were born and lived in Devon. Devon
Did You Know ... ? Emperor Rudolph II bought Cesky Krumlov (the town) in order to park an illegitimate son in the castle (1602). Nearly 180 Czech castles, chateaux or their ruins are open to the public. The Czech composer, Bedrich Smetana, was born in Litomysl. The Sedlec Ossuary, near
Did You Know...? The name Cyclades, meaning Circular Islands, reflects the fact the archipelago encircles sacred Delos. The island of Ios is said to be the burial place for the poet Homer. Santorini’s caldera measures 12.3 square miles and up to 1,300 feet below sea level. The ancient sculpture, “Venus
Did You Know ... ? Sacsayhuaman, with stones weighing more than 100 tons, was built without the wheel. Machu Picchu provides a secure habitat for endangered species, including the ocelot. Vilcabamba was the real "lost city of the Incas," not Machu Picchu. By design, some of Cusco's streets align with
Did You Know...? Crete is Greece’s largest island (3,189 square miles) and Europe’s southernmost point. The palace of Knossos includes an example of the first flushing toilet system. Domenicos Theotokopoulos — the artist, El Greco — was born on Crete. The first known cultivation of olive trees occurred on Crete
Did You Know ... ? The Royalist Hotel in Stow-on-the-Wold is Britain’s oldest inn, founded in 947 as a hospice for lepers. Cirencester was a Roman city called Corinium. Several villages include chipping in their names; the word refers to a market. The area has more than 3,700 miles of
Did You Know ... ? It took Costa Ricans 15 minutes, at today's Santa Rosa park, to fend off an 1856 Nicaraguan invasion. Costa Rica is home to 1,500 species of orchids. In the 1960s, the Irazu volcano spewed ash and mud on San Jose, 35 miles away. Monteverde (the