Tag Archives: UNESCO World Heritage sites

Goslar: all fairytale, no twee

Easter Sunday in Goslar, at the foot of the Harz mountains in Germany, with a carillon in the town square at noon and a snowfall I never knew existed outside of musical theater: a fairytale village, but real.  Realness is what sets Goslar apart.  We’ve visited charming half-timber villages before, and enjoyed them, but they often […]

In which we visit the caves of Matera

We got on the bus in Naples and departed six hours later in another millennium.  Matera, in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy, has been continually occupied by humans since Paleolithic times.  We were there to see the Sassi di Matera, cave dwellings and churches that people have been living in for over 9000 years.When […]

Abbey of Saint-Savin, romance, and Fresco Neck™

After hours of looking up at the frescoes in the Abbey of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, in Saint-Savin, France, we were developing a serious case of Fresco Neck™. (Fresco Neck™  is my trademarked diagnosis of the neck cramping and fatigue resulting from chronic fresco, mosaic, and stained glass viewing).  Let me assure you, it was worth it.  These […]