What does Swansea and Gower mean to you? Is it a place of learning? A hub of industry? A city of sporting excellence? Or perhaps, a gateway to exploration and adventure? Do you picture endless days on pristine beaches, leisurely walks along rugged clifftops or a vibrant cultural tapestry? Swansea and Gower in Wales weave all these facets together, offering a captivating mosaic of experiences.
Meet sporting legends and trailblazing women who defied societal norms in an era dominated by men. Venture into the world of Ancient Egyptians, unraveling their lives – and deaths. Marvel at the grandeur of Norman lords’ ambitious creations and the fripperies of Victorian industrialists. Indulge your palate with the savory allure of lamb raised on Atlantic salt meadows. Feel the adrenaline rush as you hurtle downhill on a mountain board, crocodiles snap food from your grip, or you ride a wave.
Stroll around the coast and lakes, and meander through fields of fragrant lavender or golden sunflowers. Immerse yourself in nature’s symphony, from pounding waterfalls to the serene serenades of insects. Unearth a world brimming with wonder, right on your doorstep, here in Swansea and Gower.
The Scottish Highlands are at the most northerly extreme of mainland Britain. The region was once a place of turmoil and bloodshed, of clan warfare and royal misadventure. Now the Highlands are somewhere to explore at leisure. It is a place rich in history, a land of hills and craggy mountains, of secluded coves and sandy beaches, and appealing towns and villages.
With this book as your guide, meet Felicity, a large and friendly puma; learn the rules of Shinty, a unique and popular Highland sport; sit in the shade of Europe’s oldest living tree; take a turn around the Devil’s Elbow, if you dare; find yourself at the very center of Scotland; visit a fairy village; take a stroll around an impossible garden; and shake it all about at the Earthquake House.
Written by someone who loves the Scottish Highlands whatever the weather, this book will help you explore this wonderfully beautiful region.
Seattle has fueled the hopes, dreams, and imaginations of countless individuals throughout its history. Their energy, ideas, and inventions have influenced the city’s skyline, the evolution of air travel, the music and art worlds, and even the very coffee we drink. They are the reason Seattle is gifted with so many unusual, offbeat, and truly compeling places for explorers to discover and enjoy, from a coin-operated attraction filled with enormous shoes, the world’s greenest commercial building, and urban old growth forests, to a haunted staircase and museums dedicated to pinball, dialysis machines, and rubber chickens.
111 Places in Seattle That You Must Not Miss invites and inspires locals and visitors alike to seek out the Emerald City’s hidden treasures, overlooked gems, and charming curiosities.
New York, New York – a crazy quilt of evolving neighborhoods, trends, and tastes, and home to natives and newcomers of every nationality, ethnicity, and outlook. New York City’s history and grand ambitions live in every street, park, and hidden alleyway. This unusual guidebook invites the adventurous and curious to explore a wildly diverse selection of little-known places, including: a trapeze school, a giant Buddha in a former porno theater, a Coney Island sideshow, Louis Armstrong’s home, a Central Park croquet court, a Gatsby-era speakeasy, and a secret balcony where slaves worshiped 200 years ago. Play chess with the masters on a Midtown office-tower wall; have a pint at a legendary prizefighter’s hangout in Soho; whisper messages across a crowded train station. Unexpected and quirky, most of these destinations are so under-the-radar they will astound even longtime New Yorkers who thought they knew it all!
Revised and updated edition.
Palm Beach County is known for its glistening beaches, world-class golf and fun in the sun. But beneath the glitz and palm trees lies a legacy of scandal, darkly rich history and a trove of hidden gems.
A playground for the Kennedys, Vanderbilts and Rockefellers, Palm Beach was born of oil and railroad money. Creating an oasis for the elite, the island became a centerpiece of lavish vacationing and hidden dealings. With wealth and power came secrets and whisperings. Over the decades new generations of socialites have graced the island, maintaining a degree of glory days while business executives continue to find rest and relaxation within county lines.
111 Places in Palm Beach That You Must Not Miss provides an in-depth and diverse look into the past and present of the 561. Whether you were born here or are simply enjoying a long weekend, there is much to be discovered between these pages. From hidden artwork in Tequesta to haunted quarters in West Palm Beach to Japanese traditions in Yamato, navigate the varying landscapes of the wealthiest county in Florida.
Chicago is the City of the Big Shoulders. What started off as a small, fur-trading settlement is today a bustling metropolis. Chicago’s colorful past remains hidden in the nooks and crannies across this wonderful, modern city.
This fully updated edition reveals compelling secrets in places that even native Chicagoans may not know. It invites locals and experienced travelers to explore the Windy City through its people, its history, and its stories.
Adventures await you, from the glamorous to the gritty. Sip cocktails atop an iconic building with sweeping city views, or paddle a kayak down the infamous Bubbly Creek of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. Snorkel a 32-acre, limestone sheet shoal, one of the most bio-diverse ecosystems in the Midwest. Or purchase a ten-gallon cowboy hat and take a ride a mechanical pony on your way out of the shop.
Whether you’re an out-of-towner or a diehard Chicago dweller who thinks you’ve seen it all, these 111 hidden places are waiting for you to seek out and enjoy.
Bristol is one of the UK’s biggest cities but is small enough to sometimes feel like a village. It is a city built on trading with much of its former maritime heritage now transformed into buzzing independent harborside businesses in which to eat, drink and let your hair down. Both water and green spaces abound. And you’ll have to get used to hills when exploring this cosmopolitan city because like Rome, Bristol was built on seven of them. Step away from the obvious – the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the SS Great Britain (both designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel), or the wonderful We The Curious where science and art collide – and discover unexpected treasures such as secret gardens, hidden memorials to the past and unusual modes of transport.
Journey through the old haunts of world famous pirates; past the Oscar-winning animation studio home to Morph and Wallace & Gromit; along shopping streets that sell everything from handcrafted violin bows to locally-made gin; and through an indoor market selling everything from spices to fossils. If you know where to look, Bristol will unravel its secrets in front of your eyes.
Make the most of Norwich with this new guide to the sights and secrets of East Anglia’s premier city, from the unknown treasures of its magnificent cathedral to the legends and stories behind its historic pubs. It’s a place of numerous historical layers, with intrigue and interest lurking on every corner, from the black circus proprietor who inspired one of The Beatles’ most famous songs to remnants of England’s most notorious red-light districts. It’s eminently walkable, too, but you can also bike or even canoe your way around the center, maybe even heading out to explore the natural beauty of Broads National Park which lies just beyond.
Manchester is far more than a grey provincial city preoccupied with the business of making money. The bales of cotton goods awaiting export have gone from the grand warehouses styled like palaces, and the cotton mills no longer hum with the sound of machinery. Yet the buildings remain in all their glory of tiles, terracotta and stained glass – converted to hotels, offices, chic apartments, hipster bars, fine eateries or gritty drinking dens. The textile trade may have disappeared, but you can find sustainable fashion in the old rag-trade district, and top quality coats and jackets are still being hand-sewn in the last remaining family-owned clothing factory. This book will also take you to alternative Manchester – Radical Manchester from Peterloo to the Pankhursts, Literary Manchester from Elizabeth Gaskell to Anthony Burgess, and of course to Madchester, the crazy music scene of Morrissey, Tony Wilson, the Hacienda and Factory Records.
Step away from the traditional highlights of the city of innovators, great benefactors, artists, presidents and hucksters to discover innumerable interesting and unknown sites, artifacts and other treats in Washington, DC. Visit places hiding in plain sight, that may go unnoticed or simply be unknown to long-time residents and visitors alike. Play a round of miniature golf among the cherry trees. Buy original art works out of a vintage cigarette machine. Catch a show at one of the refurbished theaters where Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington used to gig. Commune with the Godfather of Go-Go music in his memorial park. Get away from the tourists and peace out by walking a labyrinth alongside the Potomac River. Try a salad made of indigenous root vegetables at a Native American café.
Discover Hastings and Rye, the heart of 1066 Country, where history, charm, and the sea collide. Hastings, an ancient fishing mecca still home to Europe’s largest beach-launched fleet, has long carved its own path along the Channel coast – from the castle-capped Old Town to the vibrant, artistic streets of St Leonards. Walk where William the Conqueror landed, and explore the nearby town of Battle, where England’s most famous clash reshaped a nation.
Beyond Hastings, this region brims with contrasting delights: the medieval jewel of Rye, one of England’s loveliest towns, quirky Dungeness with its shingle expanse, Bexhill’s understated charm, and timeless back-country villages.
From sunken forests older than the Pyramids to Roman relics, forgotten castles, wartime memories, eccentric locals, and modern creatives, the stories here span millennia. Rich, evocative, and endlessly surprising, this guide invites you to explore the landscapes, history, and culture that make Hastings and Rye utterly unforgettable. Dive in and experience it all.
Tokyo is a city that enshrines the past and the future, where the Far East meets the Western world. Time and again throughout its history, the city has been afflicted by natural disasters. Yet, despite total destruction, it has risen up again and again like a bamboo shoot in the wind. Thanks to the latest construction methods, today’s new buildings withstand even the strongest earthquakes and typhoons. But even without the influence of natural forces, the city constantly changes and renews itself. With this exceptional travel guide by Christine Izeki and Björn Neumann, you can easily explore the Tokyo Metropolis from unusual vantage points, far away from the crowded tourist tracks. The authors take you to unknown nooks and green oases in the middle of the concrete desert. They reveal where Japanese teens meet up and where the hippest cafes can be found. This guidebook is for anyone who wants to explore Tokyo from a different perspective while enjoying unique discoveries and the authentic culture of this international city.
Women’s history is everywhere in Washington, if curious locals and adventurous tourists know where to look. As the District of Columbia evolved into one of the world’s top tourist destinations, women emerged as pioneers and a town created to house the federal government matured into a gilded city affluent in feminist culture. Historic houses, hidden alleyways, and neighborhood parks stand as memorials to America’s founding mothers who built the nation’s capital. This book records the legacies of these women and encourages readers to explore their names on headstones, street signs, and buildings, while also discovering where hidden history is unmarked. Rising from a strong foundation, modern DC women have continued to nurture the legacy of their foremothers as chefs, artists, athletes, philanthropists, politicians, and entrepreneurs. Most notable are the stories of collaboration in which these women flout the myth that nothing gets accomplished in Washington.
Feminism in the city is fueled by the creativity, leadership, and fortitude of local women, each with a personal experience that is uniquely special. While no story is the same, the themes of preservation and progress are weaved throughout this book as a reminder; her story is history and it is still being written.
Lancaster and Morecambe are like chalk and Lancashire cheese. So near, yet so far apart in what they offer. Morecambe, the traditional seaside resort, its ‘Bring me Sunshine’ favorite son Eric Morecambe and Victoria Wood’s ‘two soups’ cafe. Plus, its awesome 1930’s Art Deco Midland Hotel, haunt of Coco Chanel and Laurence Olivier.
Lancaster, with its Roman remains, its impregnable ‘John O’Gaunt’ castle and characterful Georgian buildings, built in part from slave-trade profits. Notorious Lancaster, known as the ‘Hanging Town’ for its use of the noose, with its fearsome castle cells that held Quaker maker George Fox.
Leave the crowds behind and embrace the true character of this story-filled region, one special place at a time.
Welcome to Birmingham, a super-diverse city with an ever-shifting identity. This is the quiet medieval market town that overnight became the center of the industrial revolution, over the centuries rolling out leather wares, jewelry, steam engines, motor cars, fountain pens, gun smithery, toys, chocolate, heavy metal music and nanotechnology. The city’s drive to successively reinvent itself as motor city, conference capital and shopping destination reflects that initial burst of energy. The result is a city of many layers, bold planning experiments, overlapping fragments and pockets of creative endeavor which can be tough to navigate without a guide. However, its many treasures coruscate more brilliantly for being lost. This book tells the story many would miss through the art, places, buildings, people and the dynamic mix of cultures that reveal the Birmingham identity, from the smallest architectural details to epic civic structures. Only here can you chill on a bench with local heroes Black Sabbath, will you be greeted at the museum by the fallen angel Lucifer, chance upon a golden Burmese peace pagoda, time travel in the Shakespeare Library and find the world’s oldest surviving instance of railway architecture.
Paris is known as the City of Lights, but it is really the City of Museums. Explore iconic centers of fine art with fresh eyes and dig deeper to uncover a world of museums dedicated to art and artists, science and industry, literature and film and curiosities both unusual and fascinating.
Can you identify all the great artists of French impressionism? Do you know about French contributions to early automobiles and airplanes? Are you fascinated by haute couture? Would you like to visit the ateliers of great painters and sculptors? Do you love music and film? Are you an obsessive collector of something truly peculiar? Or do you simply want to learn about new and compelling things in the world around you?
111 Museums in Paris That You Shouldn’t Miss highlights destinations, both well-known and obscure, where you will discover new treasures throughout this magnificent city.
Paris, souvent désignée comme la Ville Lumière, mérite aussi le titre de Ville des Musées. Plongez dans les trésors emblématiques des musées dédiés aux beaux-arts et explorez ces joyaux de la culture avec un regard renouvelé. Vos visites vous plongeront dans un univers captivant de musées où l’art et les artistes, la science et l’industrie, la littérature et le cinéma ont une place de choix, un monde fait de curiosités à la fois insolites et fascinantes. Pouvez-vous citer tous les grands artistes de l’impressionnisme français? Connaissez-vous les contributions majeures de la France aux premiers pas de l’automobile et de l’aviation? Êtes-vous passionné par la haute couture? Envisagez-vous une visite des ateliers des grands peintres et sculpteurs? Appréciez-vous la musique et le cinéma? Êtes-vous un collectionneur passionné, obsédé par quelque chose de véritablement unique? Ou aspirez-vous simplement à découvrir des éléments nouveaux et fascinants dans le monde qui vous entoure?
111 Musées à Paris à ne pas manquer dévoilent des musées, qu’ils soient célèbres ou méconnus, où vous pourrez dénicher de nouveaux trésors dans cette magnifique cité.
Text in French.
Sheffield is yet to be discovered. Were you aware that football’s first professional rule book was written in Sheffield, and that it is home to the oldest ground in professional use? Did you know that climbers the world over come to Stanage Edge for the challenges offered by one of the world’s most fearsome millstone grit escarpments? Did you know that the Arctic Monkeys grew up in Sheffield, and that you can see the room at Yellow Arch Studios where they rehearsed as schoolboys and cut their first album? Did you know that the steepest hill in the entire 2012 Tour de France is in Sheffield? Did you know that Sheffield’s craft breweries produce some of the finest beers in the world? Did you know that you can walk out of the center of Sheffield, through parkland, and directly into open countryside? You need this book fast then, don’t you, you soft ‘aporth!
What do movable dolls’ eyes have to do with a Catholic church? Where could you meet Plain Bob Maximus and Surprise Major? Why does just one person know where Oliver Cromwell’s head is buried? And where is a dog a very large cat?
The answers to all these questions lie in Cambridge, which combines the magnificence of a medieval university with the dynamism of a high-technology hub. Tens of thousands of visitors flock to Cambridge every year to see the colleges, go punting on the river, and shop. But there is much more to Cambridge than its university and Silicon Fen. Over the centuries, town and gown together have transformed this city, which was an inland port until the 17th century. Eccentricity is something of a Cambridge tradition, and the town seems to delight in taking its visitors by surprise, whether that’s with a huge metal time-eating grasshopper, May Balls held in June, sculptures that dive into the ground feet first, or a museum that makes a feature of broken pottery. You will find these and many more curiosities in this book.
London is full of strange and beautiful sights. It is a place for traditions and rebels, for the establishment and every alternative subculture. This book celebrates the diversity of the city. It invites you to see Little Ben or the fake 10 Downing Street, and answers both conventional and unusual questions. What, apart from Rolling Scones, will you see at God’s Own Junkyard? Where does an old-school gentleman buy his wine and umbrellas? Why did Robbie Williams feud with his next-door neighbor? How has the city commemorated the Queen Mother and Princess Diana? In which park do 100-year-old naked ladies cavort on the banks of the Thames? Where did Lenin and Julian Assange campaign for their beliefs? And which bridge rolls itself up?
Step away from the traditional highlights of the city of innovators, great benefactors, artists, presidents and hucksters to discover innumerable interesting and unknown sites, artifacts and other treats in Washington, DC. Visit places hiding in plain sight, that may go unnoticed or simply be unknown to long-time residents and visitors alike. Play a round of miniature golf among the cherry trees. Buy original art works out of a vintage cigarette machine. Catch a show at one of the refurbished theatres where Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington used to gig. Commune with the Godfather of Go-Go music in his memorial park. Get away from the tourists and peace out by walking a labyrinth alongside the Potomac River. Try a salad made of indigenous root vegetables at a Native American café.
Cornwall is known for its spectacular scenery, tiny fishing harbors, sandy beaches and surfing. Outside the tourist hot spots it has an intricate landscape full of life, where the ancient meets the modern. This guide takes you deep into this landscape, to old forgotten places and new exciting venues, from Land’s End to the Rame Peninsula, from Lizard Point to Bude.
Come with us from the old – to where Excalibur was thrown into the lake hundreds of years ago – to the modern – to the settings for the Poldark TV series. Come with us from the tiny – the tombstone of Alfred Wallis – to the huge – the intricate folded rocks on Millook beach. Join us from the noisy – Trevithick’s Puffing Devil – to the quiet – the tranquil Japanese garden.
Cornwall has changed. It is an intriguing mix of modern gastronomy, mining heritage, ancient ruins, literary festivals, traditional dances and brand-new technology. This guide is a personal selection of the best places, a mix to cover all tastes; please join us on our journey.
The Lake District delights its visitors with a series of superlatives: England’s largest national park, highest mountain, deepest lakes and now a new World Heritage status. One of Britain’s best-loved and most visited locations unveils its secrets. This unusual guidebook explores 111 of the area’s most interesting places, it leaves the well-trodden paths to find the unknown: marvel at a stained glass window which inspired the American flag, let others flock to Hill Top while you explore Beatrix Potter’s holiday home, walk through ancient forest to talk to fairies and swim with immortal fish. Pause to wonder at a stunning lake where a President proposed, view a constellation of stars like nowhere else, find out why exotic spices are used in local cuisine.
New York, New York – a crazy quilt of evolving neighborhoods, trends, and tastes, and home to natives and newcomers of every nationality, ethnicity, and outlook. New York City’s history and grand ambitions live in every street, park, and hidden alleyway. This unusual guidebook invites the adventurous and curious to explore a wildly diverse selection of little-known places, including: a trapeze school, a giant Buddha in a former porno theater, a Coney Island sideshow, Louis Armstrong’s home, a Central Park croquet court, a Gatsby-era speakeasy, and a secret balcony where slaves worshiped 200 years ago. Play chess with the masters on a Midtown office-tower wall; have a pint at a legendary prizefighter’s hangout in Soho; whisper messages across a crowded train station. Unexpected and quirky, most of these destinations are so under-the-radar they will astound even longtime New Yorkers who thought they knew it all!
Revised and updated edition.
Discover the Finger Lakes: 4,692 square miles of Upstate New York packed with history, vineyards, waterfalls, gorges, and hidden treasures.
111 Places in the Finger Lakes That You Must Not Miss takes you off the beaten path to the odd, the unexpected, and the downright fascinating. Explore stories, legends, and secrets most visitors never find.
Have lunch at the world’s smallest diner. Spin on the world’s fastest carousel. Stand beneath waterfalls taller than Niagara. Tour a haunted winery. Browse a collection of brains. Try your hand at circus school. Wander the village where A Christmas Carol comes alive. Visit the Dalai Lama’s North American retreat.
The Finger Lakes have been called magical, creative, historic, and breathtaking – and you’ll see why. Adventure, mystery, and wonder await at every turn.