Author
Laurence Mitchell
Writer and photographer based in Norwich, UKMarch 2021 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 -
Recent Posts
Tag Archives: architecture
Digbeth
Passing through Birmingham recently I had a little time on my hands and so decided to visit the Digbeth area, a shortish walk from New Street Station. Head south from the futuristic silver button bulwark that is the Selfridges building … Continue reading
Posted in Cities, History
Tagged architecture, Birmingham, Custard Factory, Digbeth, edgelands, graffiti, inner city
9 Comments
Palmyra 2000
The news is always bad from Syria these days. The newsworthiness of the conflict seems to fluctuate as we in the West become increasingly inured to a lexicon that includes words like barrel bombs, Isis, chlorine gas, jihadi, caliphates and … Continue reading
Serbia 4
The new edition of my Serbia guide is published today. It’s fully updated, of course, with revised text and lots of new listings, especially for Belgrade, a city that despite considerable setbacks seems to drive itself forever onwards and upwards. … Continue reading
Posted in Balkans, Eastern Europe, Travel
Tagged architecture, Belgrade, Bradt, Kalemegdan, Serbia, underground railways, Zaha Hadid
13 Comments
Yugoslav Hotels
They are a dying breed, Yugoslav hotels. And I use the word ‘Yugoslav’ advisedly as, although the buildings shown here are in what is now Serbia, all were erected during the period when that country was still part of Yugoslavia. … Continue reading
Posted in Balkans, Eastern Europe, Travel
Tagged architecture, Novi Pazar, Serbia, strange hotels, Uzice, Yugoslavia
6 Comments
Savamala, Belgrade
I have just returned from Belgrade, the Serbian capital, where I have been doing research for the fourth edition of my Bradt Serbia guide that will be published next summer sometime. Belgrade never was the white city that its name (Beo = white, grad … Continue reading
Posted in Balkans, History, Travel
Tagged architecture, Belgrade, Geozavod, Savamala, Serbia
11 Comments
High Line
New York City isn’t the sort of place that immediately springs to mind when one thinks of walking but the city is a treasurehouse for urban exploration. Walking – with a little bit of assistance from the city’s comprehensive bus and subway system – is by far … Continue reading
East of Everett – Riding the Empire Builder
Arriving in Seattle, having spent the last two weeks on a small boat, it was time to make use of other forms of transport to get home. Flying all the way Seattle-New York-London would have been straightforward enough but after a fortnight at … Continue reading
Posted in History, Travel
Tagged Amtrak, architecture, Chicago, music, rail travel, Seattle, USA
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Tomsk Waits
In contrast to the northwest Scotland of previous posts, the central Siberian city of Tomsk is indisputably East of Elveden – both figuratively and geographically. It is, after all, almost one quarter of the way around the world heading east from where … Continue reading
Posted in History, Literature, music, Travel
Tagged architecture, food, railways, Russia, Siberia, Tomsk, Trans-Siberian
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Architecture without Architects
It all started more than 25 years ago when I bought a book called Architecture without Architects in a second-hand bookshop. The book, pithily subtitled A Short Introduction to Non-Pedigreed Architecture, and authored by Bernard Rudolfsky, came as a revelation, … Continue reading
Posted in History, Travel
Tagged architecture, Bradt, Caucasus, Georgia, Svaneti, towers, Ushguli
3 Comments