Napier, New Zealand, is world renowned for its Art Deco buildings – it has such a smorgasbord of structures on display that it could take days just to photograph them. But WHY does Napier have so many? From tragedy rises beauty. One of New Zealand’s nicknames is “The Shaky Isles” – because it sits on the boundary of…
This week’s travel theme is N for Napier, a city on New Zealand’s North Island, most noted for its extensive array of Art Deco buildings. And one of the first places to catch the eye of tourists is the Masonic Hotel, right on the waterfront of this seaside town. It is the third iteration of…
Malecon is a Spanish word for boardwalk, or embankment, or esplanade. And there are a number of famous Malecons – the most famous is probably in Havana, Cuba (the 8km long Avenida de Maceo). Other Malecons include Mazetlan’s which is 21km long and a collection of roads and avenues. It’s not, strictly speaking, a…
This is the border between Mexico and the United States. So is the entire state of Hawaii. No, I haven’t gone mad. You see, in 1953 the US Department of Justice interpreted the Immigration and Nationality Act to say that there is a 100 mile zone surrounding borders … and that includes border crossings, or “ports…
Imagine a town of just a few thousand people in the 1930s, quietly ekeing out an existence from fishing, and fruit-growing, and not much else. Then imagine that in 1945, the first ‘tourist trade’ begins – with DC3s carrying 20 passengers at a time. For another decade or so things are still quiet – although…
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Mazatlan is a gorgeous building, not unlike many similar cathedrals around the world – and especially around Latin America. Apart from the Star of David stained-glass windows. But more on that later. Religion, and especially Roman Catholicism, has played an integral part in the life of Mexico.…
One of my guilty pleasures as a young married man was was watching TV’s “Love Boat” on a weekend evening with my new bride – and each week, they’d transport us via the magic of television to Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas. So when Shirley and I got the chance to go on a…
This week’s travel theme is Mexico and today we are at one of the busiest border crossings in the world – where Tijuana in Mexico becomes San Ysidro in the United States. It’s possible to catch a tram (or light rail, to be more accurate) from the heart of San Diego right to the border…
This week’s travel theme is Mexico and we are going to consider the similarities – and the differences – with its neighbour to the north. At roughly the same time as kids in the US are celebrating Halloween, south of the border it’s the Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos. But while there…
Hooray for Cahuenga! Somehow, it doesn’t have the same ring, does it? The area now called Hollywood was once known as Nopalera (or Prickly-Pear Field in Spanish) and later as Cahuenga Valley. Then, in 1896, developer HJ Whitley supposedly asked a local Chinese merchant what he was doing with his wagon-load of timber. The response came…
Cairns Communications 