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Cross Bones Graveyard, Southwark, London

Southwark is a diverse area, with the upmarket foodie destination of Borough Market, the historic grandeur of Southwark Cathedral, the towering wealth of The Shard, and the memorial garden for the Outcast Dead, Cross Bones.

Crossbones garden London Photo by JFPenn — Crossbones Garden within sight of The Shard, London. Photo by JFPenn

In medieval times, the Bishops of Winchester licensed sex work in Southwark, known then as The Liberty of the Clink. The women were known as Winchester Geese, and even though the church took funds from the sex trade, they didn’t allow the women and their illegitimate children to be buried in consecrated ground.

Instead, they were buried in Cross Bones Graveyard.

Curiosity, Wonder, And Serendipity. Hidden Travel with Steve Brock

Inner Travel, Podcast

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Sometimes it’s not the most iconic travel destinations that resonate most with us. Sometimes it’s the hidden places and the unexpected moments that echo in our memories many years later.

In this episode, Steve Brock talks about how we can cultivate curiosity and blend serendipity with planning to make the most of our travels, as well as finding hidden places closer to home, and how we can use the different senses of time to make more of our travel experiences.

Stephen W. Brock is the author of Hidden Travel: The Secret To Extraordinary Trips. He’s also a photographer and his website, Explore Your Worlds, focuses on the intersection of travel and creativity.

Show notes

Finding hidden places close to home
Planning trips while leaving room for serendipity and new discovery
Why curiosity is a practice we need to develop to make the most of travel
How the memorable moments of travel might be the ones you don’t plan for
Different experiences of time — kairos vs chronos
Recommended travel books

You can find Stephen Brock at ExploreYourWorlds.com

Cathedrals, Dark History, And Coffee Culture. Vienna With Katharina Bordet

Podcast

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Vienna brings to mind images of grand architecture, the sounds of classical music, and the smell of coffee and sacher torte.

In this interview with Katarina Bordet, we explore the Gothic and Baroque churches, the museums, and the iconic coffee shops, as well as the darker places to visit — the asylum, the catacombs, and the echoes of psychiatry and fascism. The city is dense with history and culture, and we can only brush the surface today, but I hope you enjoy the interview.

Katharina Bordet is an Austrian fantasy and nonfiction author as well as a lawyer, podcaster, and photographer.

Show notes

Cathedrals, churches, and grand architecture
Catacombs, the asylum, churchyard, and darker places to visit
Vienna’s coffee culture, cafe recommendations, and the importance of cake
Music and opera in Vienna including outdoor venues
Local crafts and food at the Christmas Markets
The Viennese personality
Recommended books set in Vienna

You can find Katharina Bordet at bruadarach.at

Complicated Histories, Sichuan, and Tibet. The Other Shangri-La With Shivaji Das

Podcast

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In this episode, we escape to the mountains of the Tibetan Highlands, which lie at the intersection of the Sichuan and Yunan provinces in China, in search of Shangri-La.

Shivaji Das talks about the stunning natural beauty in this remote place, and we also discuss the cultural clashes in the region and the people he met along the way. We talk about complicated histories, and how our view of a place is shaped by who we are and our perspective on the world — and also how others see us.

Shivaji Das is an award-winning Indian writer, traveler, international speaker, and photographer, now based in Singapore.
His books include Angels by the Murky River: Travels off the Beaten Path; Journeys with the Caterpillar: Traveling through the islands of Flores and Sumba, Indonesia; and today we’re talking about The Other Shangri-La: Journeys through the Sino-Tibetan Frontier in Sichuan.

Show notes

The attraction of remote and unusual places
The origins of Shangri-La
Some of the historical, religious, and cultural issues that make the Tibetan plains a complicated area
The architecture, people, and food of the area
The value of traveling as a multi-cultural partnership
Recommended travel books

You can find Shivaji Das at ShivajiDas.com

History, Faith, And Beauty. The Complete American Pilgrim With Howard Kramer

Podcast

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What does it mean to be a secular pilgrim — when you’re not a Christian, but you love churches, history, beauty, and religious symbolism?

In this episode, Howard Kramer talks about some of the most beautiful places to visit in terms of architecture, as well as natural locations, and how sometimes, the most emotionally resonant places, those that inspire awe and wonder, are not the most famous, but those that touch us at a deeper level.

Howard Kramer is the author of The Complete American Pilgrim, The Complete Christian Pilgrim, and The Complete American Military Pilgrim. His extensive site, TheCompletePilgrim.com, contains articles and pictures of some of the world’s greatest sites of religious interest.

Show notes

Pilgrimage as a journey of meaning, regardless of religious belief
The four stages of pilgrimage
Interesting churches in the USA, chosen for natural beauty, architecture, history, and meaning
Other places of religious interest
Recommended travel books

You can find Howard Kramer at TheCompletePilgrim.com

Not Quite Lost. Travels Without A Sense Of Direction With Roz Morris

Podcast

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How can you see your own country with the eyes of an outsider? How can you follow your curiosity and discover new things about a place you already know?

In this interview, Roz Morris talks about finding fragments and tiny miracles while exploring England and how we can experience our own land from a new perspective, increasingly important while we can’t travel in the way we used to.

Roz Morris is the author of Not Quite Lost: Travels Without A Sense of Direction, literary novels, My Memories of a Future Life, and Lifeform Three, as well as books for writers.

Show notes

The joys of discovery when traveling without direction
Seeing your own country with new eyes and following your curiosity
Finding unusual and interesting places to stay
Visiting sites out of season
How writing fiction can be inspired by travel
On using a specific notebook for travel and why that matters
Personal connections to a place

You can find Roz Morris at RozMorris.org

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