Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range

Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range

From the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range World Heritage Inscription: Set in the dense forests of the Kii Mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean, three sacred sites—Yoshino and Omine, Kumano Sanzan, Koyasan—linked by pilgrimage routes to the ancient capital cities of Nara and Kyoto, reflect the fusion of Shinto, rooted in …

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Problematizing Global Heritage in Fez, Morocco

Problematizing Global Heritage in Fez, Morocco

More than 12 million tourists visited Morocco in 2018, and their numbers are certain to increase in 2019. And why not? This North African kingdom calls up to most foreigners an image of medieval mosques, archaic bazaars filled with handmade crafts, and medinas—those labyrinths of narrow alleys behind ancient walls. In Morocco, historic monuments seem …

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Kootenay National Park, British Columbia

Kootenay National Park, British Columbia

Kootenay is adjacent to two other national parks: Banff (which borders to the east) and Yoho (which borders to the north). It is also a component of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage Site. As with Yoho, there is one primary highway which runs through the park, and everything you’d want to see …

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The Next Trip: Eastern Canada

In what is becoming an annual thing for me, I’ll be starting on another North American road trip soon. Compared to my road trip around the western US and Canada last fall, this should be relatively short. I am pretty apprehensive about this trip. My father left the hospital this week was placed in a …

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A Guide to Visiting the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan

A guide to visiting the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan

It was a rainy day in November but the cloudy and gray sky, combined with half-destroyed buildings and ghostly railway tracks, seemed like the ideal scenario for photography. I was wandering around industrial warehouses with broken windows and rusted Soviet machinery. I bumped into a Lenin bust which was surrounded by weeds and located in …

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Gateway Arch National Park, Missouri

Gateway Arch National Park, Missouri

Overview Gateway Arch National Park, formerly the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, is a United States National Park in St. Louis, Missouri. The primary attraction is the Gateway Arch which commemorates the westward expansion of the United States. St. Louis used to be known as the “Gateway to the West”, which is why it was selected …

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Everything You Need to Know About the Territories of the United Kingdom

Territories of the United Kingdom

This article focuses on the Territories of the United Kingdom. It is part of a 4-part series explaining current day situation of the remnants of the colonial empires of the early 20th Century, almost all of which are small islands scattered around the world. Other parts of the series will examine the status of Dutch …

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George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, Indiana

George Rogers Clark National Historic Park, Indiana

The George Rogers Clark National Historic Park commemorates George Rogers Clark, the man who led several of the most successful and famous military actions in the western theater of the Revolutionary War. This National Park Services site is located in Vincennes, Indiana which was the location of his most famous victory, when he and a …

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Wapusk National Park, Manitoba

Wapusk National Park, Manitoba

Wapusk National Park is a Canadian National Park located outside of Churchill, Manitoba. It is a sub-arctic park which is located along the shore of Hudson Bay and it is home to one of the largest polar bear denning areas in the world. The word “wapusk” comes from the Cree word for polar bear. The …

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