Mary Jane Walker's Blog: Adventures at Snow Farm Part 1 – Skiing with a broken shoulder! , page 35

A Trip to the Orkneys

This post is taken from a chapter in my new book 'A Maverick Inuit Way and the Vikings'. It describes a visit to the Orkney islands north of the Scottish mainland, where there are many famous Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age sites such as the standing stones of Stenness and the buried village of Skara Brae, as well as more modern castles and cathedrals. Once part of Norway, the Orkneys maintain many Norse traditions as do the Shetlands further north, which I'll write about in another post.

Cyprus, the island that copper's named after

I travel to Cyprus, a divided island nation in the north-eastern corner of the Mediterranean, tucked up hard by Turkey and Syria. Cyprus used to supply the ancient Mediterranean world with its copper, and the element is named after the island in English and other languages. I see turtles at the Alagadi Turtle Beach, visit Larnaca and Nicosia and the Paphos Forest in the west, with a monastery linked to founding president Archbishop Makarios, and the resort of Kato Pyrgos.

From Brexit to Break-Up? Mrs May's Ulster Fry

After visiting Great Britain and Northern Ireland, I ask whether the Brexit campaign has been totally mishandled and is going to lead to the break-up of Britain, something a Scottish political scientist named Tom Nairn predicted back in the 1970s. Brexit has raised an Irish Question, a Scottish Question and even a Shetland Question, as well as major issues of political trust and, most recently, a demonstration by 670,000 in London backed by Mayor Sadiq Khan (a London Question, too?)

Edinburgh's Festivals

In this post I describe my visit to the historic Scottish city of Edinburgh to see the Festival Fringe (or Fringe Festival) in 2018, and to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo which was held at the same time. I see a whole variety of performances including the famous Russian group Pussy Riot.

Israel, through a Kiwi Lens

I visit Israel and comment on the dramatic mixture of the old and the new���a brand-new country and age-old sights���a modern society and primitive land-grabbing. Some aspects of Israel's story resemble the colonial history of my own New Zealand. In the course of reflecting on these things I visit Tel Aviv and Jaffa, Haifa; Mount Carmel National Park; the Sea of Galilee; and Nazareth.

On Tour with David, the Horse Rescuer

In this post, I visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem with Sarah and with David Gerber, a local veteranarian and proprietor of Al Buraq Arabians, and we then travel out further into the Palestinian Territory of the West Bank, visiting Jericho and Hebron, the ruins of Herod the Great's palace at Herodium, the monastery of Mar Sabah, Ramallah, Nablus, Sebastia, Burqin and Jenin. Check out the video at the start!

Out into the Palestinian Territory

This is the second in my series of four posts about Israel and Palestine. In this post, which is as short as the last one was long, I head to Bethlehem and the Walled Off Hotel and Aida Refugee Camp, on the far side of the Israeli West Bank Barrier, or wall. Jerusalem has an undecided international status in international law.But in Bethlehem, though it is a suburba of Jerusalem, I am unambiguously in the territory of the Palestinian National Authority.

From Jordan to Jerusalem

In this blog I travel from Jordan to Jerusalem with Sarah, and explore the sights and heritage of the Old City: the four traditional quarters (Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim), the famous churches, the Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock, and the controversially rebuilt Hurva Synagogue. Once again, I get into history, and talk about how the city came to be partitioned..

A Journey through Jordan

In this post, I go to Jordan and see the sights of Amman, which used to be known as Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Yes, the original Philadelphia! Then I travel with Sarah, a friend I met in Lebanon, down to the Dead Sea, the Red Sea, and the amazing rock-hewn city of Petra. Along the way, we enjoy a camel ride at Wadi Rum, and catch up with another Kiwi author, who married a Bedouin, when we get to Petra.

The Last of Lebanon

In this post, the third of three on Lebanon, I show some lovely pictures of Byblos lanes, and visit the President's summer palace Beiteddine and the Silk Museum at Bsous. We go to Deir El-Qamar, a lovely town with a dark secret, which leads me on to discuss the origins of French intervention and colonialism in Lebanon. Then the scene shifts to Qana, which may or may not be the Biblical Cana, where Jesus is said to have turned water into wine. Finally, I muse upon transitoriness in Tyre.