Tehran’s Desert Ghost Towers look like a Zombie Movie Waiting to Happen

They look as if they’ve risen out of the desert itself in some strange, dystopian world. There are no trees, no cars, no bus stops, no parks, no playgrounds, no people. Just the towers. In a barren landscape 50km outside of Iran’s capital city, the Mehra Mer project in Pardis has been “under construction” for many years…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCCLV)

1. Backstage at the Folies-Bergères Found on Pinterest. 2. Marital Duels In medieval Germany, married couples could legally settle their disputes by fighting a Marital Duel. To even the field, the man had to fight from inside a hole with one arm tied behind his back. The woman was free to move and was armed…

A Mini Guide to Summer in New York City

Just in case you’re in the city before your copy of Don’t Be a Tourist in New York reaches your arms – we’ve hand-picked some of our favourite summery spots out of the book to bring you a mini-guide of al fresco restaurants & bars, secret sunbathing spots and summer adventures for those who just…

The Sheer Excess of the Green Vault: Europe’s Overlooked Jewel Box

They call it the Green Vault, said to be the world’s first public museum (disputed by the Vatican), holding a veritable treasure chest of toys and amusements for Saxon royalty since the 18th century. Some 3,000 chef d’ouvres are exhibited in nine spectacular rooms inside Dresden’s Royal Palace, including bedazzled goblets fashioned from gilded ostrich eggs, the…

Summer Camp at Chernobyl

For as far back as Google’s records go, the search word “Chernobyl” has never trended higher. In the past month, the data graph has spiked like a reading on a level 5 earthquake. Of course, it’s all down to HBO’s Chernobyl, which after only one month on air, has become the highest-rated television series of all…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCCLIV)

1. Frederick the Great, hailed as “the most handsome horse in the world” The Friesian stallion has his own Facebook page here. 2. Marcel Duchamp with chess master Larry Evans Also pictured, avant garde painter, Hans Richter. Found on Cocosse Journal 3. Banksy crashed Venice Biennale (to address the city’s cruise ship problem) Banksy’s website is…

And what if they’d built New York like this?

You might have noticed that for the cover of our second book, Don’t be a Tourist in New York, I chose to feature uptown’s Little Red Lighthouse. It’s the only one left on the island of Manhattan, but serves as a reminder that New York was first a port before anything else. “A city of…

The Book NYC has been Missing: Don’t be a Tourist in New York

I remember the moment I knew we had to write this book. I was fumbling around in the dark for a light switch in the attic of a salvage depot in Harlem. I was completely alone up there when those lights flickered on to reveal a room full of cobwebbed forgotten treasures, and in that…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCCLIII)

1. A dandelion wish-making facility in L.A. “The anonymous art collective simply known as the Art Department transformed a decommissioned building into “a secret wish-processing facility.” Find the article on HyperAllergic 2. Object, 1936 This Surrealist object was inspired by a conversation between Oppenheim and artists Pablo Picasso and Dora Maar at a Paris cafe.…

The Lost Romance of the Transylvanian Spa Town

We walked with ghosts through a crumbling spa town in the valley of the Cerna river, where Empresses and Kings of Bohemia once came to “take the waters”. An early morning mist rose from the sulphurs of the riverbed, crawling through the empty streets. Whistling through shattered windows and vast corridors, the wind seemed to…