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Feb

Into Armchair Travel? Try the Wheredunit of Mystery Books

by Joyce McGreevy on February 23, 2021

Coastal Sicily, the home of fictional detective Montalbano, is a popular destination for armchair travelers who read mystery novels. (Image by Giuseppe Costanza/ Pxhere)

1. Which Sicilian detective begins his day with espresso and a sunrise swim?
(Answers below the post)
Giuseppe Costanza/ Pxhere

Follow the Clues Around the World!

Pandemically speaking, today’s most favored mode of transport is armchair travel. But must safety rule out excitement? Not when you travel via mystery books. These page-turners whisk you away to virtually any corner of the world.

Stereotypes persist about mystery books. Like the idea that they’re merely puzzles. That the author presents a lineup of suspects, then interposes an obstacle course between the reader and the Big Reveal. You know, cryptic messages, red herrings, butlers arching an eyebrow, bodies falling out of closets, that sort of thing. Read more...

Joyce McGreevy Comments

Art of Travel/Literary World/Worldwide Sites

Jan

Art Discoveries: The Mystery in the Ceiling

by Meredith Mullins on January 25, 2021

A Humbert painting unveiled via curtain, showing art discovers that can inspire travels to the past. (Image © Meredith Mullins and Charlie Meagher.)

What treasure is hidden in this Paris ceiling?
© Meredith Mullins/Charlie Meagher

Follow the Clues & Travel Through History

The world loves stories about surprising art discoveries—treasures that are unearthed via bizarre circumstances and that send the finder on a compelling journey, perhaps including travels through history.

In 1940, four teenagers followed their dog down a narrow cavern and found cave walls filled with hundreds of prehistoric paintings—the now famous Lascaux caves in France.

Cave painting of a horse from the Lascaux caves, showing that art discoveries can lead to new adventures and travels to the past. (Image courtesy of the French Ministry of Culture.)

A dog discovered the famous Lascaux cave paintings.
(Photo courtesy of the French Ministry of Culture) Read more...

Meredith Mullins 6 Comments

France/France (Paris)/Travels to the Past

Nov

Gaining Perspective in a Chaotic World

by Meredith Mullins on November 17, 2020

The Rewards of Seeing from Varied Angles

How often does your perspective change these days? Can you think of times when you expanded your view of a situation or of the world just by changing your point of reference? Read more...

Perhaps when you summited a mountain and the 360-degree vista expanded exponentially while distant objects became flattened miniatures that suddenly seemed small in the grander scheme of things?
Or, when you looked down and found a detail in the street that you’d never seen before even though you’d walked over it a thousand times?

Meredith Mullins 2 Comments

Art of Travel/Life Lessons/Worldwide Sites

World Views: