Culture Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Ich bin Queen Berliner

27th July 202627th July 2026 funtime65

It has been a gay magnet since the hedonistic Cabaret Thirties and for the tragic day that’s in it we say Ich bin Queen Berliner.

And reflect on making the pilgrimage to the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism in Berlin.

Not because I’m gay, because I’m not, but rather that is not the point but because hate crime comes for us all.

Spelling it out: Remembering the gay victims of the War

As best expressed by Pastor Martin Niemoller in his testament They First Came.

Inscribed on a wall in the Hall of Witness at the New aEngland Holocaust Memorial in Boston.

Outside my old Faneuil Hall stomping ground.

And the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC.

A cloak of honesty

That points to the Nazi vilification, victimisation and evisceration of homosexuals and lesbians.

Berlin wears its history in its memorials and museums but not as a hair shirt but as a cloak of honesty.

The German capital is, of course, a great learning city and a great walking one.

And you can stumble upon the memorial to the gay victims of the Third Reich.

While on your way through the city to your digs.

In the shadows

Learn how 50,000 were convicted and thousands sent to their deaths in concentration camps.

And were still criminalised after the War and that it was not until the Millennium that there sacrifice began to be acknowledged.

And 18 years ago that a lasting memorial was erected.

The kiss-off

Everyone’s doing it: Brezhnev and Honecker

In a concrete tribute with a film depicting a same sex couple kissing inside.

Which is the Berliners’ calling card to the world.

With their satirical merchandising of the Brezhnev and Honecker kiss on every stand.

Anyone can, and does kiss each other at the big Berliner Pride party at the Brandenburg Gate.

Or Christopher Street Day on July 15 and 25 over these past 47 years in commemoration of the Greenwich Village protests from 1969.

The most enabling resistance day

Christopher Day 2026 will forever be remembered for the victims of homophobia.

But the near million and maybe more, and many straights among them, will be back next year.

For the most enabling resistance day in its history.

Countries, Music, UK

Roll up for Jay and Macca’s Magical Mystery Tour

26th July 202625th July 2026 funtime65

And as recommendations go there’s some beating this… roll up for Jay and Macca’s Magical Mystery Tour.

And we won’t even ask Jay Johnson for a refund for not getting Paul McCartney to wave and greet us.

Like he did to the passengers on his bus on Hope Street in Beatles Town.

With Macca even showing the gasping tour group who he was talking to on his video call… one Ringo Starr.

With a little help from his friends

Now if you think that was just too much of a coincidence then you might be right.

Because MMT boss is only the brother of Holly Johnson, he of Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

And he knows Macca as well as he knows himself after playing him in stage production Two of Us.

A tale of Macca and John Lennon meeting in New York in 1976 in Lennon’s NY flat.

And how they almost got back together.

In my life

New tales to tell his Fab Four fans then on his tour around Liverpool.

Where they were born, strummed their first songs together and the places we all know and love from their songs.

Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields… and the stories behind them.

Now Lennon famously said that while he was born in Liverpool he grew up in Hamburg.

Where then Super Six (OK, our name), including Lennon’s pal Stuart Sutcliffe and Ringo’s predecessor Pete Best honed their act.

Jasterday

All of which you’ll learn in fuller detail in Stefanie Hempel’s Beatles-Tour.

With a ukulele set thrown in from Stef… it was George Harrison’s favourite instrument after all.

Now your Beatles odyssey should, of course, take in Abbey Road in London.

And the Dakota Building and Strawberry Fields tribute in New York.

As well as, of course, Liverpool and the Cavern Club from where you’ll pick up your Magical Mystery Tour Bus.

And insert your own Beatles-related link here.

And we’ll Get Back to you.

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.

Countries, Culture, Music

The Daddy of all Songdays

21st June 202621st June 2026 funtime65

And for the day that’s in it we mark our fathers with the Daddy of all Songdays.

I can still hear James G (Jimmy G) in my head singing through the old house in Glasgow, 18 years after his voice faded.

Life is just a bowl of cherries, That old black magic has got me in its spell, Thank you very much for the Aintree Island.

So much so that I’ve a ceramic bowl of cherries by his headstone with my Dear Old Mum in the family plot in Donegal.

For him to nibble at when nobody’s around.

Daddy playlist

Now every one of us will have our own shared songs that conjure up our own fathers.

And while we belt out our own favourites and Daughterie turns on my playlist.

And twists my arm to belt out my karaoke favourite.

Here are five Father’s Day bangers…

Marilyn’s model

My Heart Belongs to Daddy (Marilyn Monroe): And of all the men in Marilyn Monroe’s life, she reminded us all that her heart belongs to Daddy.

Which is probably why the two men whose counsel she returned to were father-figures in Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller.

Although we would never have imagined the loathsome Hugh Hefner would slime his way into buying a burial plot next to him in Los Angeles.

No heirs and graces

Father and Son (Cat Stevens): And putting aside Ronan Keating wedging himself into a duet with the now renamed Yusuf Islam.

The weight in this father-song relationship rests with the son.

‘From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen/

‘Now there’s a way and I know that I have to go away.’

Reminding us too that it is the natural way of things for a father, however hard, to let his son go to make his own way in life.

Isn’t she wonderful

Isn’t she lovely (Stevie Wonder): And Stevie’s paean to his daughter Aisha.

Isn’t she precious, less than one minute old is Stevie’s glorious capture of the moment you discover you’ve been blessed with a girl.

Which is, of course, what you’re robbing yourself of going down the Big Reveal route.

The Living Years

The Living Years (Mike & the Mechanics): And I wasn’t there the morning my father passed away either.

An anthem to missed moments and reflections on regrets.

But with the lift of the orator telling us that his father passes on his spirit to his own baby.

And that is a fact.

My Old Man

The Old Man (Phil Coulter): Now few people do pluck-at-your-heartstrings nostalgia as well as the Irish.

And Phil Coulter puts this song ahead of My Boy which he wrote for Elvis, Ireland’s Call or The Town I Loved So Well about Derry.

Now, I can’t say he showed me the colours of the pheasant as he rises in the dawn (not much cause for that in Glasgow).

Or how to fish and make a wish beside the Fairy Tree (or that either in Scotland).

But there were scores of others between us.

And I never will forget him/
For he made me ‘what I am’/

Though he may be gone/
Memories linger on/
And I miss him, the old man/

So here’s to us, the fathers

Now, of course, there are a plethora of songs about deadbeat or dads in denial.

Papa Was A Rolling Stone, Cat’s in the Cradle, Papa Don’t Preach or maudling music (Don’t Cry Daddy) (Daddy’s Eyes).

But we’re dwelling on the joys of being a father today (and every day).

And who knows, I might even channel my own James Brown Dancing Dad later because Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag.

America, Countries, Music

Pour another cup of ambition in Dolly’s Tennessee

19th June 202619th June 2026 funtime65

And because we never restrict ourselves to 9 to 5 on our travels… we invite you to pour another cup of ambition in Dolly’s Tennessee.

And tell us that you’re surprised that Dolly Parton has dotted new song references all around the Volunteer State.

We are namechecking, of course, the brand-new travel stop opening in Cornersville on Wednesday.

Stretch and try to come to life

Located off Interstate 65, the flagship destination offers weary travellers a chance to refuel and recharge.

And sup a Dolly’s Cup of Ambition Coffee and barbecue.

To the backdrop of live music and a genuine Southern welcome.

While you can channel your inner Country star by hopping on a tour bus inspired by Dolly’s own years on the road.

Check out her Life of Many Colors

We will always love you: A younger Dolly

The opening is just one chapter in what’s shaping up to be the Year of Dolly.

In Nashville, the new SongTeller Hotel and Life of Many Colors Museum will soon welcome guests.

For an immersive celebration of her music, stories and career.

There’s nowhere though that is celebrating Dolly’s 80th year more or louder than Dollywood in Pigeon Forge.

As it should be.

Making a splash

And visitors can look forward to the park’s biggest-ever ride investment at NightFlight Expedition.

The groundbreaking attraction invites us to soar, splash and travel from here to the moon and back in true Dolly style.

So for all that she’s given us we should give back by marking her eight decades with a visit.

And fly out with Aer Lingus from your pre-clearance European airport in Dublin with Aer Lingus.

For a sample week in July from €947.35.

Indulge the song-dropping

And indulge the song-dropping.

And this pitch.

From Jolene to journeying down every open road, from her Coat of Many Colors to a whole state stitched together with new attractions.

Dolly is once again proving she’s the one calling the tune and making all the right moves.

Countries, Culture, Deals, UK

Where there’s a Will, there’s an Irish, you will, you will, you will

12th June 2026 funtime65

Ok, so this is a bit of a laboured Irish ink to Shakespeare country (what’s new, you say) but where there’s a Will, there’s an Irish you will, you will, you will.

Is it just me (again, probably) but I could just see Father Ted’s char lady Mrs Doyle in one of Shakespeare’s comedies?

But certainly Irish actors were the go-to for Chloe Zhao when she was casting Hamnet, the moving film around the death of the son of Will and Anne (or Agnes).

With Jessie Buckley scoring an Oscar for Best Actress opposite Irish compatriot Paul Mescal.

Stratford on the map

While all the world’s a stage and millions’ focus is centred on footballers running around the field, hopefully with a football attached, let’s not forget the other players.

The ones that put Stratford-on-Avon in the Heart of England on the map.

Our friends at Institute for Culture Travel have put together a mini-break to Shakespeare Country.

Because each of us must play our part.

Its Oxford, Blenheim Palace and the Cotswolds trip departs on August 9 and will set you back €1,189pps, with a single supplement €259.

Will’s World

Cottage industry: Anne Hathaway’s Cottage

You’ll base yourself in Stratford, perfect to explore Will’s World and the heritage connected to his life and times.

Now, if you’re worried, having mugged up on Will that you’ll be put in his second best bed.

Like the fate of poor Agnes, who was bequeathed this in his last will and testament.

King of the castle: Or queen in Warwick Castle

Then don’t be… your three nights will be spent in the lush 4* Crowne Plaza Hotel.

So boiled all down you can look forward to…

Return flights from Dublin, taxes and transfers
Three nights in the 4* Crowne Plaza Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon with breakfast
Four lunches and one evening meal
Entrance to Warwick Castle
Full-day excursion to Oxford and Blenheim Palace
Visit to Shakespeare’s Birthplace and Anne Hathaway’s Cottage
Excursion through the scenic villages of the Cotswolds
Private transfers and local guide throughout.

Countries, Culture, Europe, Sport

You can be straight at Valencia’s Gay Games

3rd June 20263rd June 2026 funtime65

Las Fallas brings out the sniggering schoolboy in all of us which only proves you can be straight in Valencia’s Gay Games.

The 12th iteration of the GG, which dates back to 1982, will be held under the sun from June 27-July 4.

And here’s the interesting thing, straights are welcome to compete, which is as it should be.

Just like modern Modern Games are now inclusive, so are Gay Games.

All of which is in keeping with the original Olympians in Ancient Greece.

For whom brotherly love in combat was a blood bond.

Ya dancer

GG features many of the events we know and love from Olympic Games in its 39-sports roster.

But which self-respecting Gay Games could not include DanceSport, same-sex ballroom?

Or The Pink Flamingo, a playful team event combining aquatics, theatre, and comedy.

Or cheerleading… Ole Valencia.

Spectators too are included with everybody encouraged to join in the 3km International Rainbow Memorial Run.

There’s music, fashion, film and The Memorial Quilt Exhibition and countless other events.

Transvia the way to go

Our amigos at Transviasport are the go-to travel providers for the Games.

With Olympia Ronda I and II coming in at €66 and €68 a night.

Our amigos in Valencia have helpfully mapped out the best places to enjoy ourselves while we’re there.

With the gay-friendly Piccadilly Downtown Club in Ruzafa a magnet for indie, pop, rock, and disco fans.

Or Deseo 54 in the Sagunto District, for international house and pop and commercial music.

If it’s cocktails and cakes you’re after, and it always is, then Cafe de las Horas in El Carmen District.

And which combines old palatial stables with a baroque design in a cosmopolitan atmosphere.

A Fetish for fun

Hand in hand: Through Valencia’s streets

While how could the Fetish Morning’s Social Club not stop us in our tracks?

Popular after party for the LGBTI+ crowd.

Which despite its name is not a fetish club and is welcome to mixed ages.

And with that we’re away to train… for the cocktails and the dancing.

Countries, Deals, Europe, Music

Good times with CHIC in Marbella

2nd June 2026 funtime65

Leave your cares behind, these are the good times in Marbella with CHIC at the Starlite Occident Festival.

Rick Astley and John Legend will also be there and Kool & The Gang and Lenny Kravitz and rock legends Deep Purple.

And you can be too and stay at the best billet at the El Fuerte Marbella, 15 minutes from the festival site.

Stars come out at night

The only 5* in Marbella Old Town, built in 1957 and reimagined in 2023, has long been a favoured retreat for the stars.

With Penélope Cruz and Walt Disney among the famous names to have stayed within its walls.

Now in its 14^th iteration, Starlite Occident has earned its reputation as one of Europe’s most exclusive boutique festivals.

The best arenas we know are of the open-air amphitheatre.

And Occident is set within a former quarry.

Music to our ears

Beyond the music, the festival is billed as a complete lifestyle experience.

With award-winning restaurants including Tanabata, Temazo, Sandra’s Caviar Bar and Ánima.

Plus the Starlite Night Club, where DJs and special performances keep the party going into the early hours.

Highlights of the 2026 line-up include Lenny Kravitz (29 June), Gipsy Kings (3 July), Maroon 5 (7 July), Rick Astley (10 July), Anastacia (14 July), John Legend (20 July), Kool & The Gang (23 July) and Nile Rodgers & CHIC (26 August).

El of an hotel

El Fuerte Marbella’s quiet elegance is evident throughout the hotel, where each space reflects a balance of style and comfort.

The rooms and suites feature chic design with a soothing, relaxed feel, thoughtful amenities and Molton Brown products.

Take a dip in either or both of the two swimming pools set in landscaped gardens – including one reserved for adults.

An outdoor hot tub, a beach club, a gym, and inviting indoor-outdoor areas that flow seamlessly together.

For guests seeking wellness experiences, Spa by Clarins offers a subterranean haven.

With a serene, low-lit hydrotherapy pool, sauna, steam room and six treatment rooms.

Feed your soul

El Fuerte Marbella has a strong emphasis on gastronomy, showcasing local Andalucian ingredients wherever possible.

A sumptuous breakfast buffet at Soleo Beach Club is complemented with views of the Med, and tastes, in Le Marché.

Levante takes guests on a culinary journey that combines Andalucia’s abundant pantry with global ingredients.

And, of course, for celebrity watchers, the El Puerto Deportivo hotspot is also nearby.

Make my Day

El Fuerte Marbella has introduced a brand-new Day Pass experience for 2026.

Priced from €79.50pp, the pass offers non-resident guests access to an exclusive premium sunbed by the pool.

Or the beach from 11am-7pm, plus entry to the hotel’s VIP area.

Even better, 50% of the booking value is included as credit to spend at Bar Levante.

Prices at El Fuerte Marbella start from €390 per night in a Standard Double, with breakfast included for two people.

Countries, Deals, Music, UK

London Paddington Musical tour which is simply the zest

30th May 202630th May 2026 funtime65

And here’s something to get your teeth into… the London Paddington Musical Tour which is simply the zest.

Now nobody has done more to promote the orange-flavoured preserve than the Peruvian teddy bear.

Apart maybe for Elizabeth Windsor although I’d pitch Dundonian James Keiller.

As it was Jamesie who invented the first commercial marmalade as far back as 1797.

All of which you can chew on as you follow in the Great Bear’s paw steps around London.

With our pals at Irish holiday provider Keith Prowse Attractions.

Meet the Browns

You’ll join Paddington on a journey from ‘deepest, darkest Peru’ to London and revel in his misadventures.

KP is also offering packages including tickets to the interactive Paddington Bear Experience on London’s South Bank.

Where your mission is to save Marmalade Day.

The Paddington Bear Experience has recreated the whole world from the moment you arrive at Paddington Station.

And take the train to meet the Browns at 32 Windsor Gardens.

Deepest, darkest Peru

What makes this trip extra tangy is that you’ll be transported to Peru.

To retrieve oranges and turn them into marmalade on Montgomery Clyde’s marmalade making machine.

All to serve the Marmalade Day Festival Street Party at Windsor Gardens where you’ll be Paddington’s guest of honour.

A nice appetiser, of course, for the main fare, your Paddington the Musical spectacular at The Savoy.

Bearly believable deals

ESCAPE TO LONDON WITH PADDINGTON!:

July 17-19 from €319pps

Package includes:

Ticket to The Paddington Bear™ Experience
2 nights at the President Hotel
Breakfast included

SEE PADDINGTON LIVE ON STAGE!:

May 21-23 2027 from €497pps

Package includes:

Stalls ticket to Paddington the Musical
2 nights at the Copthorne Tara Hotel London Kensington
Breakfast included

THE ULTIMATE PADDINGTON WEEKEND:

November 6-8 from €592pps

Package includes:

Ticket to The Paddington Bear™ Experience
Stalls Ticket to Paddington The Musical
2 nights at the Royal National Hotel
Breakfast included

FAMILY PADDINGTON ADVENTURE IN LONDON:

December 16-19 from €2,564 per family (2 adults & 2 kids)

Package includes:

Tickets to The Paddington Bear Experience
Stalls Tickets to Paddington The Musical
2 nights at the Hilton London Metropole (Family Room)
Breakfast included

*Flights can be added at time of booking for best price options

Countries, Culture, Sport, UK

Stonehenge really did host the first football match

22nd May 202622nd May 2026 funtime65

And who hasn’t speculated that the stones make perfect goals, well perhaps we weren’t wrong after all and Stonehenge really did host the first football match.

We’ve come a long way, of course, since the old slabs of stone were put up in the west of England.

And each generation has added to the legend of Stonehenge by putting their own spin on it.

The latest comes from Win Scutt, who oversees Stonehenge for English Heritage.

And he believes our prehistorians ancestors held sporting gatherings there some 4,500 years ago.

To go along with the religious or ceremonial occasions, giving tribute to the elements and praying for nature’s rewards.

Greece is the word

Hellas for leather: Rhodes Ancient Games

Now Winn references the Classic Greeks, always makes you come across as knowledgeable,.

He says: ‘I think there were probably games, just like the Panhellenic Games.’

But despite being a prehistoric nerd, he seems steeped too in the modern world.

As he proffers that our forbears might have been participating in a reality TV type contest.

‘I think there might have been a sport in getting these stones here,’ he said.

‘Teams of people, a bit of competition, a challenge.’

Cursus games

No VAR: Stonehenge football. Pic: Kintish website

With the wind in his sails by now.

Awith historian Dan Snow on his tail for his TV docu Stonehenge: The Discovery with Dan Snow, he lets loose.

‘With the Stonehenge Cursus (circle), I think we should at least consider that this was not simply a route or a boundary,’ he added.

‘It may have been a place of gathering, display, movement and performance, perhaps even competition.’

The next goal

Can you dig it? Archaeology at Stonehenge

All of which tempts us to pay another visit to the old stones.

We are, of course, a little blase about standing stones (one of the old father-in-law’s fave days out).

With the Callanish Stones in Lewis and the Orcadian Ring of Brodgar up here in Scotland.

While the older Avebury standing stones, near to where my own Druid goddess was raised in Berkshire is our New Age go-to site when we head to her relatives.

But we’ll promise ourselves now to hang a turn to the Stonehenge Visitor Centre and of course I always have a football in the boot of the car just in case.