Countries Archives - Page 4 of 211 - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Countries, South America, Sport

Hutton and why Scots cheer Argentina against England

15th July 202615th July 2026 funtime65

And for the day that’s in it’s hats aff to Watson Hatton and why Scots cheer Argentina against England.

And you thought it was because of Diego Maradona and his Hand of God.

When it was Scottish teacher Hutton, the Father of Argentinian Football, all along.

For it was Gorbals boy Watson who popularised the game in Buenos Aires along with his fellow Caledonian emigres.

Watson, a keen sportsman (obvs) introduced kickball at the St Andrews Scotch School in the nation’s capital in 1882.

And the Glaswegian was behind the formation of the Argentine Association Football League in 1893.

And two years later the Buenos Aires English High School and a former pupil’s team in 1898 which became known as the Alumni Athletic.

Argentinian Alumni

Now historians of Argentinian football will know all about Alumni, the leading lights in that country’s game in the first two decades of the 20th century.

Watson was himself standing on the shoulders of another giant, an Alec Lamont, a head teacher from St Andrews, who two years prior to Watson’s league set up the Argentine Association Football League.

The earliest known league outside of Britain which St Andrews won after a play-off with Old Caledonians.

Our cup of Lipton tea

Now World Cup anoraks will be quick to tell you that the first final was between Argentina and Uruguay.

But it was an established rivalry by 1930, again because of Scots.

Glasgow tea magnate Thomas Lipton donated the Copa Lipton trophy in 1905 for competition between both nations which ran until 1992.

Watson’s son Arnold starred for Alumni and scored in Argentina’s 2-0 Copa Lipton win over Uruguay in 1906.

And that Scottish thread has been running through Argentinian teams ever since.

James Brown’s Boys

With a James Brown, one of the original Scottish settlers to Argentina in 1824 delivering manifold to the Argentinian cause.

Seven brothers and a cousin, all grandchildren of James Brown, would play for Argentinean clubs and six would also play for the Argentinian national team.

Jorge Gibson Brown captained Argentina from 1908 to 1913 and if you recognise that name in a previous Argentina team then ten out of ten.

Jose Luis Brown scored one of the goals as Argentina won the World Cup in 1986.

Vamos Argentina

While World Cup winner and key member of today’s Argentina team Alexis Mac Allister, is clearly one of Jock Tamson’s Bairns.

All of which you can regale your Argentinian friends with when you visit the country’s iconic grounds.

And the museums Museo River Plate, Boca Juniors’ interactive Museo de la Pasion Boquense and the intimate Diego Maradona Shrine at Argentinos Juniors Museo.

While, of course, you can pay pilgrimage to the Father of Argentinian Football himself, Watson Hutton.

At the British Cemetery (Cementerio Britanico) on Avenida Elcano in the Chacarita neighbourhood of the capital, accessible via the Federico Lacroze subway station.

Countries, Culture, Europe

In the sandlestraps of Odysseus

13th July 2026 funtime65

And ahead of the release of this summer’s Ancient Greeks blockbuster here’s how to follow in the sandlestraps of Odysseus.

Now we know, like your Bandanaman, you’ll recognise Ody’s itinerary from studying the poem in your Ancient Greek class.

We join Ody in the island of Ogygia where he is held captive by the goddess Calypso (poor little soldier).

And those of us who love the Maltese archipelago might recognise it on Christopher Nolan’s movie as its little sister Gozo.

Our love odyssey

But don’t take our word for it. Well, actually do, but no less a figure than the ancient historian Callimachus.

Which lies 350 miles southwest of Corfu (Ody’s penultimate stop Scheria in the poem).

And perfectly aligns with Odysseus’s perilous maritime journey.

And, of course, we channeled our inner Calypso and Ody by getting engaged on Malta and honeymooning on Corfu.

High land and island

Ody tells us that his journey back to his homeland of Ithaca all began at the end of the Trojan War.

And yours will too, in what we believe was Troy, in north-west Anatolia.

Its archaeological site is situated on the mound of Hisarlık, near the village of Tevfikiye, 20 miles south of city Çanakkale.

You may too want to visit (best not raid) the foot of Mount Ismaros in Thrace, in north-east Greece.

Better known among Homerians as the Land of the Cicones (Ismarus).

Before diverting to the island of Djerba, Tunisia, this lad really could have done with GPS, or this site.

To the Land of the Lotus Eaters which Herodotus and Pliny the Elder credit as being the site of Lotophagi.

And where Ody no doubt enjoyed his downtime with the inhabitants who subsisted on narcotic, memory-erasing lotus plants.

Never mind the boulders

Now you would need that if your next mission is to fight and blind a one-eyed monster, Polyphemus.

On the island of the Cyclopes, which we know today as Sicily.

And which is also billed as the Land of the Laestrygonians where man-eating monsters sank Ody’s pals’ ships with boulders.

Of course today’s Sicilians are far friendlier although best start by calling them Sicilian and not Italian.

Now following Ody’s trail you’ll be glad that the Med islands transitioned from chasing tourists to welcoming them.

Pigging out

It helps, of course, to have the right God on your side.

Which would be, and we really hope you don’t need him.

But if the sorceress Circe tries to turn you and you’re family into pigs then Hermes is your go-to god.

Of course, don’t let any of this put you off visiting Cape Circeo (Mount Circeo), the erstwhile Aeaea.

A small peninsula on the west coast of Italy, about 100 km south of Rome.

While for all the misadventures Ody has in Sicily, Homer obviously likes it because he sends him back there (or Trinicaria).

Though maybe not mention his name around the island as Ody’s crew destroyed Helios’ sacred cattle there (no, us neither) and Zeus totalled them out at sea.

Ithaca Homer run

All of which meanderings and choppy maritine mayhem brings us to Ody’s home in Ithaca.

Where his Scary One, Penelope is waiting for him.

Now you can overload on all things Homer, or better still get a local guide to take you around.

The Cave of the Nymphs, Stavros Archaeological Museum, Polis Cave, and Homer’s School.

How to get there quicker

And because few of us have ten years free to wander around the east Med and daren’t risk the wrath of our Scary Ones either.

The quickest way to get to Ithaca is either by sea through Kefallonia and Lefkada, as well as with the mainland (Patras and Astakos).

While the closest airports are Kefallonia and Aktion-Preveza.

America, Countries, Europe, Flying, Sport

A tale of Lief, Erling and Transatlantic Norse power

11th July 202611th July 2026 funtime65

The Americans have never seen anything like it before, only they have… it’s a tale of Leif, Erling and Transatlantic Norse power.

Because, in truth, Leif Eriksson and the Vikings were the first settlers of North America.

Nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

When the longboats made terra firma at L’Anse aux Meadowes in Newfoundland.

And made their way over the years, four million of them, to the Upper Midwest and the Pacific Northwest.

Mostly to Minnesota, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Washington State and California.

The Norse Home Country

Well, they’ve been joined, as we’ve all seen in the last month, by crewmen and women from the Old Country.

With the Norwegians giving the Scots a run for their money as the party people of this World Cup.

With their Viking-rooing, or Viking rowing crowd surge.

Even taking over escalators in Boston.

And those very same Scots taking to Norway as their adopted team.

Well, the nearest train station for Shetlanders is Bergen.

Row, row, row your boat

And while none got wet in its production apart from spilled lager.

Modern Norsemen did put their backs into it to row all the way across the Atlantic.

With 338 Norwegian supporters crossing the Atlantic on Norse Atlantic Airways’ longship to New York.

Of course, most of us don’t have that amount of time (and that’s our excuse) so we avail instead of their flights.

The stuff of legend

Norse have been putting on extra seats for Miami for their quarter-final match with England.

And we dare say that Norse flights will be in high demand for the final on Sunday, July 19 in New Jersey.

But here they are, should you be free for next Sunday, from £1,082 return Saturday to Monday.

America, Countries

Okie Bronco saddle up for National Cowboy Day in Oklahoma

10th July 202610th July 2026 funtime65

Okie Cowboy saddle up for National Cowboy Day in Oklahoma… where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain.

Now there are many states that claim to be the home of the Cowboy and we’re making it our mission to trail as many as we can.

Although by new-fangled transport because Izzy here has nowhere to go and is getting there slow.

But ahead of the Cowboys’ Big Day, which celebrates its 21st birthday this year, we’re flagging up Oklahoma.

Whose charms Irish cousin Eddie O who has relocated to Edinburgh has been regaling us with these past months.

So let’s whip-crack-away, whip-crack-away, whip-crack away out to Oklahoma to see what’s been going on.

Well, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum are inviting Wild West fans to join them for a celebration of our Stetson-hatted heroes and heroines.

A ride good time

Of course, the Okies are encouraging us all to go native and dress up in our Western duds.

While we can also look forward to a presentation from Cowboy Cook Kent Rollins.

There will be family-friendly activities and crafts while exploring Prosperity Junction and Liichokoshkomo’ (no, us neither).

And we dare say a nod to famous Oklahomans Will Rogers and Gene ‘The Singing Cowboy’ Autrey.

The biggest boot

Now the Museum is certainly putting its foot down in stamping its claim on being the Home of the Cowboy for this year.

To correspond with the centenary of Route 66.

With the erection of a towerig 35ft-foot (sorry) sculpture, the biggest in the world, that celebrates the Great Highway’s history.

The newest attraction at the museum, it is designed by Okie artists Cameron Eagle and his son Daniel.

Beyond its artistic significance, it reflects the family’s deep roots in Oklahoma, as Cameron’s grandfather helped build Route 66.

The fun kicks off, as it always does, on the fourth Sunday of the year, this year Sunday, July 25… so get your boots on.

America, Central America, Countries, Sport

A healthy attitude to altitude

5th July 20265th July 2026 funtime65

And ahead of a certain football game in Mexicoo City here’s how to build a healthy attitude to altitude.

Courtesy of our friends from Denver, the Mile High City.

Where the first piece of advice we were given was around booze.

And that visitors need drink only half as much to get twice as drunk.

And twice as much water as you would at home.

Not easy when you’re at an international travel fair and are being wined and dined around town.

Even when you’re breakfasting at the institution that is The Milk Market.

Food for thought

Breakfast of champions: And that’s OJ, honestly

It turns out too that I should have been side swerving all those lovely sugary treats the Americans do so well.

And rather seeking out the broccoli, bananas, avocado, cantaloupe, celery, greens, bran, chocolate, granola, dates, dried fruit, potatoes and tomatoes.

Which all help you replenish electrolytes by balancing salt intake.

Dressed to chill

Got it covered: Keep cool and your head protected

Now we expect that the England football fans are all dressed in their best retro tops and ready to go.

But maybe those lion and crusader costumes might chafe a bit in the heat and thin air.

Better too having extra protection against the sun which is naturally closer higher up.

A different hat: But maybe not in the heat

Because there’s 25% less protection from the sun up in the air.

So sunscreen is a must.

With Denver receiving more than 300 days of sunshine each year (more than Miami).

So bring sunglasses, sunscreen and lip balm.

Take it easy

The welfare of the people who take the pitch, of course, will dictate the mood.

Of the fans who have followed them out and up to Mexico City.

Our altitude advisers tell us that the effects of exercise are more intense at altitude.

Bandanaman: And the Bandanettes at Coors Field

So if you normally run ten miles a day at home.

Then you’re best to try six miles at altitude until you build up the red blood cells.

The Mile and a Half City

Which, of course, England manager has been reminding us he hasn’t had the luxury to do with his players.

Getting his excuses in early.

He might want to try this one too should his attackers balloon the ball over or if the Mexicans hit their target.

And bear in mind too all of you at the footie or plans to take in magical Mexico City.

The Mile and a Half City.

Which we found a sample deal with £1,032 round trip from Edinburgh with KLM, through Amsterdam and back through Paris with Air France.

America, Countries

Bismarck, the state capital you never knew

4th July 20264th July 2026 funtime65

And on this day of days, the USA’s 250th anniversary, a shout-out to Bismarck, the state capital you never knew.

Because while the powerhouses of New York, Boston, Philly, DC, Chicago, Miami, Vegas, San Francisco and LA will hold the biggest parties.

America is bound by its Capitol motto E pluribus unum… out of the many few.

Which means that the lesser-known Bismarck is just as important as any of the 49 others and the District of Colombia’s colossus.

And on my radar ever since my American History tutor Ted Ranson put me back in my box.

When I berated the Americans I’d met on my first trip to New York for not knowing Edinburgh was the capital of Scotland.

The awesome Ted

So Ted challenged me to name the capital of North Dakota.

Which since 1873 so near enough 150 years ago has been known as Bismarck.

Renamed from Edwintom for the-then German Iron Chancellor, whose career I also tracked as a history major.

By the Northern Pacific Railway to attract German investment and European immigrants to the developing Dakota Territory.

Consigning Edwin Ferry Johnson, the railroad’s engineer-in-chief, to a note in history.

And his brother by a different mother

So because nowhere else will you find the 250th July 4th focus on Bismarck, North Dakota, we will.

And we heard it straight from the horse’s mouth when we met up with adopted North Dakotan Teddy Roosevelt.

When we reminisced over his treks with Scots Father of the National Parks John Muir.

And the totemic Teddy waxed lyrical about the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library slated for this very day.

In Medora, 155 miles, or two hours’ drive, along Interstate 94 West.

Read all about it

Teddy’s library covers eight chapters of his storied life.

Beginning with his childhood in New York City, followed by his early adulthood.

Including his formative time ranching and hunting in the Little Missouri Badlands in the 1880s.

Which puts us in this place at this time in North Dakota.

Dakota makes you feel like the one

Now the first pit stop for anyone wanting to know what is happening today, even if virtually from abroad is the America250 site.

So you can enjoy Mandan Rodeo Days, the North Border Bronco Rally in Walhalla.

The Turtle Mountain Chief Little Shell Memorial Powwow in Dunseith.

And bringing it back to Teddy as always must the Broadway hit (and we love a Broadway show) Teddy & Alice: An American Musical.

Now wherever he is now my old hippie Americanophile tutor Ted will be proud.

That I have explored many of the places and faces he enthused us with back in those heady student days in Aberdeen.

Like his hero and namesake Ted you were our Man in the Arena.

Now door to door my American odyssey would be a 16-hour marathon through the Eastern seaboard or Chicago.

America, Countries, UK

Glasgow and Boston now sisters by a different mister

3rd July 20263rd July 2026 funtime65

And where better to mark their new bond than The Haven… Glasgow and Boston now sisters by a different mister.

In this the 250th anniversary of the USA the cradle of the revolution was overrun by familiar old faces.

A friendly invasion by the Tartan Army, the legendary foot soldiers who follow their national team around the world and at this World Cup.

Cone yersel: With Scotland’s biggest fan

And put traffic cones on statues.

In the manner of the iconic one of the Duke of Wellington in the Merchant City back in Scotland’s biggest city.

All of which came to the attention of Michelle Wu, the Mayor of Beantown.

Boston with pride

Cone but not forgotten: With Mum at the Duke of Wellington statue in Glasgow

Mayor Michelle chose Boston’s Scottish pub The Haven, to sign a letter of intent to sister the cities.

To be formalised next April during Tartan Week.

The Sisterhood

And so Boston joins a sisterhood which was kicked off in a spirit of war reconciliation by Nuremberg in Germany in 1985.

Following a student exchange programme in the Fifties.

And closely followed by Rostov-on-Don in Russia, which is currently suspended.

Dalian in China was next up with Havana in Cuba hot on its heels and then Turin joining the party.

Lahore in Pakistan was next with Marseille joining the fun in 2006.

Before Bethlehem, and Mykolaiv in Ukraine got in on the act.

Haverin’ about The Haven

And what of Boston’s Scottish pub, The Haven.

An oasis in an island of Irish Boston bars?

And where was it when I worked for a summer after university in the Black Rose and had The Black Velvet Band whirling round my head?

Well, Jason Waddleton was off doing his own thing in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire.

When this Aberdeen Uni alumnus was off in Boston.

But he got there in the end and opened up his Scottish ‘Cheers’ in 1998, the last time Scotland made the World Cup, in France.

Of course, he was full of beans when Scotland got drawn in his adopted city to play two games and win one, against Haiti.

All of which means The Haven is the pub to go to when you’re in Boston.

It’s where everybody knows your name and your clan.

Countries, Europe, Sport, UK

When the famous Tartan Army met the Teuton Army

2nd July 2026 funtime65

When the famous Tartan Army met the Teuton Army in the Euros in Germany two years ago it changed everything.

With bonds between the 200,000 Scots and their German hosts forged and rekindled.

And promises made to meet up again in two years time in America at the World Cup.

Alas, our paths weren’t to cross in the US with Scotland and Germany being drawn apart and both being knocked out early.

But did last night at a Scottish-German get-together in Edinburgh last night.

Where we raised a Prost and a Sláinte with Harald, Charlotte and unsere alten Freunde.

And parked any Schadenfreude for England’s travails until they squeezed by DR Congo.

Back at kindergarten

Not, in truth, that the Germans have ever bought into the grudge that England feels for them.

With, in fact, it being the Dutch with whom the Germans share a rivalry.

Now while football was to the fore, and the World Cup is poorer for Scotland and Germany being out.

We were in town to celebrate the links between our countries and learn, of course, new things.

Because, after all every day is a kindergarten day.

And didn’t we discover our hosts for the night. Anderson Strathern LLP, boasted a Nuremberg chest heirloom dating back to 1701?

My German footballing odyssey

My own German footballing odyssey involved Nuremberg .

When I took in my first game in Deutschland, a Bavarian derby with Bayern Munchen during my first Oktoberfest.

And not even getting a smack in the nose back outside the Hofbrauhuis.

For trying to split up two footballing frauleins, from one of their boyfriends I’m saying, has put me off my love of football.

Which was cemented on a memorable tour around the Ruhr, the spiritual home of German football, while also visiting the German football museum.

Where they bask in the glory of four World Cups and three European Championships (count them).

Flower of Scotland in Germany

World in our hands: At the German Football Museum

So everything is still rosy in the German garden and also in the Ruhr region which will bring a different tourist over next year for their very special gardening spectacle.

All of which has got me thinking, mibbeees I should present a trip to the Ruhr Valley as a horitcultural holiday to Der Scary One.

And I slide off to Essen, Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen.

America, Countries, Flying

All over for Uber with LA’s driverless cars

30th June 202630th June 2026 funtime65

They’re something to be said for cutting out the muddleman and in La La Land they’re gearing up for it being all over for Uber with LA‘s driverless cars.

And at the risk of getting blacklisted by the car ride behemoth and getting stranded somewhere unfriendly.

I’ve decided to get on board the driverless revolution.

Which transforms your holiday from. the moment you land at LAX.

Flying by the seat of your pants

From standing around jet-lagged after your luggage has been waylaid and you’re looking out tired for a car-reg to take you Downtown.

When you could have taken the train, explored the historic station and original Spanish settlement which I did on the way back.

Or if you just want to get to your destination after your weary journey then LAX will cut out that muddleman.

You know the Uber driver who is new to the country and doesn’t know their way around and drives you around in a circle.

OK that was in Santa Monica and then before that in Washington DC but you get the picture, which they didn’t.

Tech it in your stride

The Tech Tourism experience begins the moment visitors land at Los Angeles International Airport.

Where one of the world’s largest multi-billion dollar airport modernisation projects is creating a faster, smarter and more seamless journey.

Which gets you out on your trip quicker because of facial recognition and biometric screening to automated check-in and faster immigration processing via the Mobile Passport Control (MPC) app.

LAX is embracing a future of frictionless travel.

Electric trickery

The result is shorter queues, fewer document checks and a faster journey through one of the world’s busiest airports.

Then there’s the SkyLink, which opened this year.

The new automated people mover, a driverless electric train system which will connect terminals.

As well as the consolidated rent-a-car facility and Metro services.

Allowing visitors to bypass road traffic and move through one of the world’s busiest airports with unprecedented ease.

Right that’s your in-airport experience sorted.

Herbie and the driverless fleet

Now to get you out there and explore the City of Angels.

Without having to worry about your drivers, what they tell you is wrong with the country.

And whether you’ll get to your destination.

Wheno Waymo‘s autonomous vehicles will sort out your sensors and real-time mapping.

With Herbie, and wasn’t he the first, navigating the city’s busy streets .

Visitors can simply book a ride through an app.

And experience firsthand a technology that is redefining urban mobility.

Countries, Europe, Sustainable Tourism

Baden-Baden is so gut they named it twice

27th June 202627th June 2026 funtime65

Now where better to get away from the heat stifling the continent of Europe than a spa, right, and Baden-Baden is so gut they named it twice.

And if that name sounds familiar then you probably recall it from the England WAGs, Victoria, Cheryl, Coleen, Abbey and Co.

All pampering themselves here 20 years ago.

And earning themselves the mantle of Baden-Baden Girls… OK, we just made that up but still.

The girls, of course, availed themselves of the Brenners Park hospitality.

A £1,000-a-night 1800s spa hotel on the outskirts of town, and the Italian restaurant Garibaldi.

While they naturally went in for some retail therapy with the wags (that’s funny people) declaring the Wags had renamed the town Shopping-Shopping.

Spending £57,000 an hour on one party excursion.

Ja dancer

Now we can’t say we know if the Equipage dance, music and cocktail bar were around back then.

The WAGs and their families made do instead with Garibaldi.

Where Elen Rives, Frank Lampard’s then partner climbing on a table and singing I Will Survive.

And Neville Neville, the dad of Gary and Phil, and that really is his name, got renched in beer and brandished a replica World Cup (they never did get their hands on the real one).

To be fair, when England football wives aren’t in the small town of just 30,000 then there is a more sedate feel.

Much like we’d say an Oberammergau, although without Der Passion, more say Der Passsion Fruit cocktails when the WAGs are there.

And prides itself on its motto of the good-good life.

The good-good life

Baden-Baden, of course, is nothing to do with a negative outcome…

I mean, who would call themselves that?

But rather bad means bath, although Bath-Bath sounds more of an order.

For those denonymophiles, and yes, we made that up to… there is a very good reason why Baden-Baden was named twice.

It is to differentiate it from other Badens in Germany, theirs starting off life as Baden in Baden, the Baden region, before getting abreviated.

You’ve been Tangoed

And why apart from nostalgia are we honing in on Baden-Baden?

Well because we and the Unesco-listed Great Spa Towns of Europe are celebrating.

Five years of collaboration this year.

With Baden-Baden running a full weekend, with its popular annual tango event.

In the collonades of the Trinkhalle, or pump room

Alongside a film screening of the silent film Der Skandal in Baden-Baden.

Guided tourse addressed Baden-Baden’s significant role in the development of music in Europe.

And the Kurgarten was transformed into a scene from the heyday of th Great Spa Towns of Europe.

Now, you don’t have to be a WAG or their appendage to stay at Brenners Park.

So maybe we’ll see you there because you know how much we, and she, love a spa.

And you might very well see my very own shopaholic will be there around the shoes.