Travel Photographer and author Steve Davey will be speaking at the Destinations Show at Earls Court this weekend. We have a signed copy of Steve’s latest book Around the World in 500 Festivals to give away to one lucky winner.
Around the World in 500 Festivals is a rare book that will fascinate and inspire. A large-format, beautifully illustrated coffee-table volume, it is a photographic exploration of the richness and variety of the world’s most colourful, moving, joyful, and spectacular celebrations. Thousands of festivals, great and small, take place around the world every year.
The book contains:
– A unique selection of 500 unmissable festivals around the world
– More than 200 full-colour photographs that capture the spirit and immediacy of the events
– Special features in the form of extended photographic essays
– Original research and stunning photography by an internationally recognized writer-photographer.
To win a signed copy of this beautiful book simply fill in the form below… Continue reading Win a copy of Steve Davey's Around the World in 500 Festivals
Let me start by saying that I never really understood the obsession surrounding the historic U.S. Route 66. It is well known all around the world as one of the America’s icons. You can buy countless books, posters, calendars, magnets and whatever else you can imagine branded with the Route 66 shield. Somehow I never got too fascinated by it. A couple of years ago I did manage to see and drive some bits of it in Texas and Oklahoma but, to be honest, those stretches didn’t blow my mind away. As I already wrote on this blog, there are so many more interesting and scenic roads in the US. For me the only truly fascinating aspect of this famous route were the small ghost towns along it. One of them was the town of Texola located on the border of (where else) Texas and Oklahoma which I visited in 2011. With only 36 inhabitants (according to a 2010 census) it was practically a ghost town. Many buildings (including a gas station which once served Route 66) were falling apart or were completely overgrown; usually both. A great photo opportunity, but I seriously wondered where these 36 people lived. It was a fascinating little place but scarcely a reason to specifically follow the Route 66. 
by Kasia Nowicka
With the short days of winter upon us there might be fewer daylight hours, but it’s more important than ever to enjoy them outside! The skies are full of birdlife and walking is great for keeping you warm so get off the sofa and try one of these 
The most loved hill in Britain?
by Gregor Swiderek
He collected me from my hotel at 8am – a friend of his, an artist, was doing the driving so I was able to sit in the back and admire the scenery without worrying about coming up with intelligent conversation. The first stop was an archaeological site that was a last minute addition to the trip because a teacher I’d met the day before said I must visit it. Tepe Sialk is, archaeologists are almost sure, a ziggurat that was built around 3000 BC, which would make it one of the oldest ziggurats in the Middle East. It looks mostly like a large hillock but the shape, blurred as it is by weathering and caked mud, is suspiciously unnatural. Excavations that have happened sporadically over many decades, have uncovered all sorts of things, some of which are displayed in a small museum on the site. Hossein had in fact worked there on a couple of the excavation seasons, and was keen for me to talk to the aged museum supervisor, who spoke French, thanks to working for many years with French excavation teams. Regrettably my spoken French is hopeless; Hossein was clearly disappointed that I couldn’t talk with the supervisor, as was I.
