Skallskog is a secluded farm without running water or electricity that most Swedes have never heard of. Hidden deep in the Nordic wilderness, this humble collection of cattle barns and russet-red farmhouses may seem like a place of little importance. But this is where you’ll find the disappearing roots of an ancient Swedish singing tradition …
Continue reading ‘Kulning’: A hypnotic Swedish singing tradition (BBC Travel)
Vallentuna, Sweden (CNN) — Drive north of the Swedish capital for about half an hour and you'll reach the lakeside district of Vallentuna, a pleasant community with cobblestone churches, picnic areas and playgrounds. It's also a journey deep into Sweden's ancient Viking past. Scattered among Vallentuna's greenery are dozens of mystical runestones that form the gateway …
Continue reading Swedish runestones open gateway to ancient Viking civilization (CNN Travel)
(CNN) — Seen from a boat drifting along Copenhagen's wide canals, the neighborhood of Christiania is a verdant enclave walled off from the city by thick trees. Half a century after it was founded as a breakaway anarchist commune, it seems to have matured into an unlikely slice of paradise. But all is not well …
Though the Basque and Armenian languages share no superficial resemblances, they do share a baffling litany of words and grammatical elements. A few steps from the entrance to the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, one of San Sebastian’s most visible landmarks with its sky-piercing gothic spire, lies a simple, two-faced earthen slab. In this corner …
Continue reading Europe’s baffling linguistic enigma (BBC Travel)
Bayonne, France -- It didn’t take long after my arrival in Bayonne, France, to realise that this riverside town of meandering medieval alleyways flanked by narrow wooden-framed homes is a different kind of Basque Country. French Basque Country counts a population of just less than 300,000, compared to more than two million Spanish Basques, with …
Continue reading The French region with a new currency (BBC Travel)
Justin Calderón 