The Devil On God’s Doorstep was, for a long time, a millstone about my neck. I ran away to Italy when I was 19 having almost finished the first draft. I wanted to see and experience Rome first-hand, to add the finishing touches to the manuscript that I thought would lend it a more authentic feel. As described in the blog post below, I packed in my day job in October 2002 and flew to Italy, having been told that I was “making a big mistake”. When I look back on it now, that trip was the making of me: making the decision to do something for myself, against the advice and wishes of others. It was my first solo trip out into the world, and the very first time that I introduced myself to people as a writer.
Solo travel changes a person. When you only have yourself to motivate you, when you only have your wits and your own resources to rely on, when you have to do things for yourself because you choose to, and not because someone else tells you to – it changes you. You are you, and only you – not a parent, a child, an employee or any label that we give to ourselves or is given to us. You are just you when you travel alone, and once the initial rush of adrenaline and excitement fades you have to deal with yourself, and only yourself.
A lot of people can’t do that – a lot of people can’t deal with it, and they fold. I folded, that first time out on my own in the world. I think that I lasted a month. I returned to Wales, was offered my old job back, and turned it down. Thar wasn’t my life any more. I had discovered something new: I had discovered me.
I did what most writers do when they start out. I researched online how to get published. I bought a copy of The Writer’s and Artist’s Yearbook and began to approach literary agents. Back then you were ‘supposed’ to approach agencies one at a time, by mail, sending a manuscript sample hard copy in the post, with return postage so that your work was returned. An agency would on average take six to eight weeks to respond, and as ‘agents to to one another’ it was considered ‘bad form’ to approach more than one agent at a time.
Every eight weeks I would face the heartbreaking rejection of seeing my own handwriting as the thick brown return envelope came through the letterbox. Again, and again, and again, agencies rejected my work. The most common reason was that they ‘didn’t know how to place it in the market’. A religious thriller was apparently ‘a difficult sell’. After Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code was published I thought that The Devil On God’s Doorstep would certainly find a place in the market, but the rejection slips changed to say that ‘the market is over-saturated with titles like this’. So my novel had gone from not being able to find a place, to finding itself in a place that was overcrowded.
What this process taught me was that, when I receive a rejection, it’s not that my work isn’t right – it’s just that it’s not right for the individual that read it. In his book Adventures In The Screen Trade (a title inspired by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’ Adventures In The Skin Trade) the screenwriter William Goldman infamously said of the film industry: “nobody knows anything”. It’s true – in any part of the creative industries the rules can be written and rewritten at any point by the innovators and the disruptors. Those who step outside the comfort zone, who challenge the status quo – the change-makers – are the ones who succeed.
The Devil On God’s Doorstep may not have been right for the market at the time – it may not have conformed to industry norms or agents’ expectations – but it was right for me. It would take 21 years and 6 drafts of the novel to complete the story and tell it the way I that I wanted to tell it. It’s entirely possible that a literary agent in 2022 would take a different view of the final draft that one of the earlier versions – I know that I do. When I revisited the novel at the end of 2021 I was determined to rescue it from years of doubt that had destroyed the story. I had read so many books about writing, read blogs, listened to podcasts about ‘how it should be done’ and I had lost my way over the years. Life…uh, got in the way.
Last year, I began piecing the story back together so that I could self-publish it via Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. Advances in the culture and technology of the publishing industry have enabled me to streamline the process from writing to publication. It took months of uneasy editing – knowing that I had to remove large swathes of writing from the manuscript. I wanted the book to reflect the writer that I am today, rather than solely being a testament to the writer I was as a teenager. The story also had to be changed to include contemporary advances in genetic science and reflect the way that Vatican politics has changed since the Papacy of Jean Paul II.
The final result is now an Amazon exclusive title until the end of 2022, in hardback, paperback and eBook format, available in multiple countries worldwide. When I started this journey all those years ago, I didn’t know it would take this long. I didn’t know that it would involve this much work. Now it’s done, I feel a sense of relief and release, but also an astonishing achievement. I published my book my way; a way that suits me. It wasn’t by any means an easy or ideal process, but I made the journey step by step, and I took The Devil On God’s Doorstep from concept to publication.
The Wales Millennium Centre perches on the edge of Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff Bay as both a monument to the city’s cultured history, and a home for its contemporary creative output. The building’s exterior is fashioned of four different colours of Welsh slate arranged in a technique similar to the traditional dry stone walling seen in the Welsh countryside, with a roof crafted of textured steel that recalls the importance of the steel industry in Wales in the last century.
Wales Millennium Centre: Photo By Author
First-time visitors to the building are often awestruck by the inscription in both English and Welsh, cast in glass letters over two metres high that graces the front of the building: “In These Stones Horizons Sing” and “Creu Gwir Fel Gwydr O Ffwrnais Awen”, the words of Wales’ first poet laureate, Gwyneth Lewis, that were set to music by the Welsh composer Karl Jenkins for the Centre’s inauguration in 2004. What many don’t realise, however, is that the two lives aren’t a translation of one another. Translated into English, the words “Creu Gwir Fel Gwydr O Ffwrnais Awen” actually mean “Creating Truth Like Glass From The Furnace Of Inspiration”.
As you approach the Wales Millennium Centre through Butetown, along James Street, the word directly in front of you almost dead centre above the doors is the word that began it all: Awen. In every culture that has developed around the world there is an origin for the creative process. Ancient Greece had the nine Muses: daughters of Zeus who were the goddesses of creative inspiration. The Hindu Vedic tradition has Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, music, art and speech. In Meso-America the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl was worshipped as a god of arts, crafts, and knowledge. Each of these has been created to make sense of the source of creative inspiration. In Wales, we have The Awen.
Deriving from an Indo-European linguistic root meaning ‘to blow’, “Awen” is the Welsh word for “inspiration”. In terms of its origin, it’s very similar to the Greek: “inspire” comes from the moment that the goddess Athena breathed life into the first human beings created by Prometheus for Zeus. To be inspired is to receive the breath of the gods, which creates life. It is fitting, therefore, that “Awen” has a similar divine origin.
The Awen was the name given to the cauldron belonging to the witch Ceridwen, who tradition records lived in North Wales in the 6th Century CE. Depending on which version of the story that you follow, Ceridwen was either a witch or goddess, and so her origin most likely predates the time in which she was supposed to have lived. The Ceridwen of the 6th Century is possibly a figure created to retro-fit an ancient pagan deity as a villain in a more Christianised narrative. The Awen was a her Cauldron of Transfiguration – a source of poetry and inspiration in the Welsh Celtic tradition. She is believed to have lived on the shores of Lake Bala in North Wales with her family, and a servant boy known only as Gwion Bach.
Tradition records, rather cruelly, that Ceridwen’s son Morfran was ‘ugly and stupid’, and so the witch spent much of her time concocting elixirs and potions to try and relieve Morfran of his ‘ailments’. Gwion Bach was tasked with stirring the cauldron, and on the day that Ceridwen finally mixed the perfect potion she warned her servant boy not to taste it: the first three drops from the Awen would hold all of its magic, and the rest of the potion would be poisonous. Whether it was nervous fear at the task in hand, or whether he was just a bored child not paying attention, Gwion Bach felt the cauldron spit three droplets of the hot liquid on to his thumb. He instantly sucked his thumb to relieve the pain, and received the gifts of the Awen. In an instant, he became good-looking, intelligent, and was able to change his physical form at will.
Afraid of what he had done, Gwion ran away by turning himself into a rabbit. When Ceridwen discovered what had happened to her potion, she was enraged, and tradition records that she turned herself into a dog to chase after the servant boy. There follows a chase where both of them change shape many times – something reminiscent of the sequence in the 1963 Walt Disney movie The Sword In The Stone where the wizard Merlin and the witch Madam Mim compete in a ‘Wizard’s Duel’ for the young King Arthur’s life, which includes a shape-shifting challenge.
The chase ends with Gwion turning himself into a grain of corn only to be eaten by Ceridwen in the form of a hen. Ceridwen became pregnant, and planned to kill the child, which she knew would be Gwion Bach. When her baby was born, the boy was so beautiful that she didn’t have the heart to kill it herself, so she tied it up in a bag and threw it into the River Dyfi to let nature take care of it for her. The bag was found by fishermen who were catching the famed Dyfi Salmon (apparently one of the best types of salmon in the world) who brought it to the court of the Prince Elffin.
The baby was named Taliesin, meaning “radiant brow”, because of his good looks. After Prince Elffin placed the infant Taliesin on his saddle, the baby apparently began to recite poetry and make predictions about the future. Taliesin would grow up to earn the title bard ben beirdd (“bard of bards”). He was the most favoured bard at the Court of King Arthur, chief of the Celtic bards, and alongside the bards Aneirin, Talhearn, Blwchfardd and Cian, is one of the Five British Poets of Renown mentioned in the Historia Brittonium which dates to the 9th Century CE.
Whether the Tale of Taliesin is an accurate biographical account, or one retro-fitted to merge Celtic bardic tradition with the imported Christian stories, the seed of the surviving story is that childhood defiance, represented in the act of sucking a thumb when told not to by a parental figure, is the source of Celtic storytelling inspiration. As the Celts originally didn’t write their stories down, our stories changed subtly with each subsequent generation in the telling of oral tradition. This mirrors the way in which each generation of children in some way defies the generation above it. Children defy their parents, and do things differently, bringing up their own children in a slightly different way, and so society changes. If we didn’t do that, we wouldn’t evolve.
Gwion Press Logo
When I moved to Cardiff Bay in 2021, during a year of intense and prolonged personal change, I would often see the word Awen inscribed at the front of the Wales Millennium Centre, and it would always make me think of Gwion Bach and the three drops from the Awen on his thumb. When I decided to self-publish my novel after 21 years of writing, I chose the name Gwion Press for the publishing company that I formed. The logo for Gwion Press is a hand with the thumb sticking up. On the thumb are three droplets, representing the three drops of potion from the Cauldron of Awen. They are arranged in a similar configuration to the three rays of The Awen – the symbol of modern druidism that has been adopted by Neodruids following the creation of the modern age Gorsedd Cymru by the poet and master forget Iolo Morganwg in the 18th Century CE.
The first book to bear the Gwion Press logo is my debut novel The Devil On God’s Doorstep which I released as an Amazon exclusive in June 2022. All subsequent releases will carry a variation of this logo, and so in some small way, the tradition continues. It’s also fitting that the first library in the world to stock a copy of the book was Maesteg Library in South Wales, which is one of the libraries in the area where I grew up, now owned by the Awen Cultural Trust.
The Devil On God’s Doorstep at Awen Library Maesteg. Photo By Julie Golden.
The Gravesite at Blackfriars in Bute Park (Photo by Author)
As the media and music scenes converge on the Somerset Levels this month for the Glastonbury Music Festival, bringing with them legions of revellers that leave a trail of discarded wellies and broken tents in their wake, attention inevitably returns to the town’s connections with Arthurian Legend, and the quest for the Holy Grail. Whilst there is something undeniably legendary about the way that the town has cultivated its mystical and spiritual statusfor centuries, what is less than certain is whether it has any basis in fact. What is more interesting is that a Twelfth Century Welsh historian may have conspired to create the Glastonbury myth, possibly to conceal the truth that St Joseph of Arimathea, who allegedly brought the Cup of Christ to the British Isles, may in fact have found his final resting place in Wales rather than England.
An early convert to the Jesus movement, Joseph of Arimathea is sometimes claimed to be Jesus’ uncle. A rich merchant from the Judean Hills bordering Samaria, it was in his tomb that Jesus of Nazareth was interred following the Crucifixion. It was Joseph of Arimathea who was said to have held the cup that collected the blood of Christ on the cross, a vessel also identified as the cup used during the Last Supper as recorded in the New Testament. The conventional narrative then has Joseph visiting Britain in the years after the Resurrection, tasked by Philip the Apostle with spreading the Gospel in the Northern provinces of the Roman Empire. Joseph is believed to have settled in the vicinity of Glastonbury, planted his staff on nearby Wearyall Hill, where it took root as the Holy Thorn that remains in the town to this day. He is also believed to have founded the first Christianity community in the town, which grew to become Glastonbury Abbey.
The renowned scribe Gerald of Wales (the subject of a cartoon film narrated by Max Boyce, which itself achieved legendary status among Welsh schoolchildren of the late Eighties and early Nineties) wrote at the end of the Twelfth Century that he personally witnessed the discovery and exhumation of the remains of the legendary King Arthur and Queen Guinevere at Glastonbury Abbey. Much has been said about the convenience of the discovery following a fire at the Abbey that required expensive repairs. That announcement identified Glastonbury with the mythical Island of Avalon, named for the Welsh word afal (apple) and the area instantly became associated with the Arthurian quest for the Holy Grail, birthing a tourist tradition that has become a micro-industry all of its own.
The notoriety that the Abbey enjoyed following the Arthurian discovery was indeed lucrative, but even today there is much doubt as to whether Gerald of Wales was actually an eyewitness or whether his account is hearsay. Fast forward a few centuries to the year 1538,and the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII following his schism with the Church in Rome, and the relics of Arthur and Guinevere had mysteriously disappeared. Glastonbury Abbey was unable to provide physical evidence to substantiate its Arthurian claim, and yet the legend endures to this day.
Even today, Glastonbury is world-renowned for its aura of mysticism, its convergence of ley lines, and yes, its lucrative arts and music festival at Worthy Farm. The town enjoys a healthy reputation for welcoming the pagan community and those with new age interests, despite the fact that its foundation is primarily Christian. The tradition is so strong and enduring that even in today’s sceptical times, it is still a draw for grail questers, fans of Arthurian legend, neo-pagans, Celtic enthusiasts, contemporary druids and the like.
Some thirty-two miles North-West of Glastonbury as the crow flies, nestled in the ruins of Blackfriars Priory in Cardiff’s Bute Park is a gravesite that tells a rather different story. Tucked away in the South-Western corner of the Priory’s Chapel of St. Mary lies a rectangular unmarked tomb, hemmed in by coloured tiles and topped with cracked concrete. It lies, quite unnoticed, in the shade of the nearby trees, more often than not in a drift of fallen leaves. People walk, run, and jog past, unaware of its existence. Children play on the recently-installed musical chimes nearby, lending the site an ecclesiastical atmosphere that eerily recalls the days of the Priory in its prime. Very few people who pass by realise that here, in this unassuming plot, hiding in plain sight in the centre of Cardiff, may rest the mortal remains of Joseph of Arimathea, the keeper of the Cup of Christ.
Order a copy of Maelgwn of Llandaff using this Amazon link
In his book, Maelgwn of Llandaff and Joseph of Arimathea, author Michael A. Clark draws on the works of M. A. Kelly to present the case for Joseph of Arimathea having been buried in South Wales. Prince Maelgwn of Llandaff, a village all but absorbed into the Northern suburbs of today’s Cardiff spoke of “Joseph of Arimathea the noble decurion, received his ever lasting rest with his eleven companions in the Isles of Avalon”, identifying the grave as lying “in the Southern angle of the bifurcated line of the Cratorium of the adorable virgin.” The Chapel in the ruins of Blackfriars Priory in Cardiff’s Bute Park was dedicated to St Mary the Virgin Mother, and indeed contains a tomb in the location described.
Maelgwn died around the year AD 547, yet although popular myth claims the monastic community at Glastonbury was founded by Joseph of Arimathea some time in the 1st Century AD, history actually records the Abbey as being founded in AD 712, over two centuries following Maelgwn’s death. It is therefore highly unlikely that Maelgwn was referring to Glastonbury as the “Isles of Avalon” where Joseph of Arimathea is buried. Given that Maelgwn lived less than a mile from the pre-existing religious community at the Blackfriars site, this is a more logical location.
There has been much debate on the identification of Avalon as an island. The purported Glastonbury theory rests on the suggestion that, prior to the monastery’s work in draining the land in the Middle Ages, much of the surrounding area was seasonally submerged, and so Glastonbury Tor and its immediate surroundings could be classed as an ‘island’ in the Somerset Levels during the winter months. The proposal for the site to have actually been in the centre of Cardiff rests on the fact that the River Taff which flows through the city actually breaks off at Blackweir, North of Bute Park, with the smaller river flowing East of the park to the walls of Cardiff Castle where it disappears beneath the city.
Over time the urban growth of Cardiff has altered the course of the river, but maps from both the 1600s and 1800s clearly show the smaller river rejoining the Taff South of the Castle, thereby making the land in Bute Park a literal island in the river. Today, the smaller river forms part of the Dock Feeder Canal, which disappears beneath the city streets North of nearby Greyfriars Road, and reappears South of the city centre. The City of Cardiff has announced plans to excavate and ‘reinstate’ much of the Dock Feeder Canal as a “Canal Quarter” with waterside cafes and restaurants which would boost the tourist trade.
Cardiff may enjoy a similar boost to tourism from the identification of the Blackfriars site with Avalon. An excavation of the tomb in 1879 discovered multiple skeletons: all but one were female. The male skeleton appears to have been the earliest burial, as it was found the furthest into the ground. If it were indeed the body of Joseph of Arimathea, the use of the grave to inter multiple women at a later date supports the romanticised tradition of Avalon being a community of Celtic/Brythonic priestesses following the Roman withdrawal from Britain during the centuries following Joseph’s relocation from the Holy Land. If the theory were publicised, Cardiff might benefit from the kind of Grail Quest tourism that is enjoyed by the likes of Glastonbury, and Rennes-le-Chateau in France.
Of course, in order to publicise the theory and use it to promote tourism, it would have to be tried and tested. The remains at the gravesite in Bute Park would have to be exhumed once again, and most likely tested for any traces of DNA or other elements that might help to narrow down a location for the birth and life of the man buried there. If the remains are remotely connected to the Holy Land, it would help to corroborate the theory; if they were connected to Britain or somewhere nearby in Europe, then we could safely assume that the bones to not in fact belong to Joseph of Arimathea. Exhuming skeletal remains to test them for tourism purposes creates a moral and ethical dilemma, so for now the site creates a paradox of near-Schrödinger proportions: until proven one way or the other, the theory is both true, and untrue.
What interests me more, is whether Gerald of Wales was aware of the purported burial of Joseph of Arimathea in Cardiff. As the son of an Anglo-Norman lord and the grandson of Rhys ap Tewdwr, the last King of South Wales, Gerald would undoubtedly have had some knowledge of the history of his country. He was a royal clerk and chaplain to King Henry II, and travelled as far as Rome where he met the Pope, and was a member of the Benedictine Order, which preserved Greco-Roman culture after the fall of the Roman Empire. This background would have provided him with access to regal and religious records dating back to the earliest days of Christian culture, and its spread through the Roman Empire.
Model of Blackfriars in Bute Park (Photo by Author)
Blackfriars in Bute Park was established some thirty years after Gerald’s death, but the ruins that remain today may have been built over a pre-existing site. The Dominican Order which inhabited the site was newly-formed during Gerald’s era, and was branching out across Christendom, establishing new sites as it spread. Whatever the site was prior to the Dominicans building there, Gerald would have likely been aware of it. If he was aware of the site and its importance, why did Gerald of Wales identify Glastonbury as the site of Avalon? I find myself wondering if he fictionalised his account of the ‘discovery’ of the remains of Arthur and Guinevere to create the Glastonbury myth as a distraction from the true site in Cardiff.
If that is the case, then by all means visit the site in Bute Park in Cardiff, but don’t tell everyone. If Joseph of Arimathea is indeed buried there, he has lain in relative peace for almost two thousand years, whilst Glastonbury became a thriving centre of neopaganism, neodruidism and modern Celtic mysticism. If Bute Park is indeed the Arthurian Isle of Apples, then let’s keep that to ourselves, so that the grave site at Blackfriars remains undisturbed.
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An introduction to the Cannes Film Festival for first timers
With the 72nd Festival de Cannes coming to a close on the French Riviera at the moment, I thought I’d write a guide to the event for those who are thinking of taking part for the first time at some point in the future. Complete with photos from my own trips to the Festival and some helpful tips, this should serve as a handy guide to what can be an overwhelming week or two in the sunshine (with the occasional rain cloud thrown in for good measure!)
First of all, the event itself is something of a hybrid of the Festival de Cannes and Le Marche du Film, arguably the film world’s largest trade fair. Within both sides of the event, there are sub-strands, and in recent years a number of fringe events have appeared outside of the event proper. There are a number of showcases and festivals taking place on the Riviera at the same time as the Festival de Cannes, which is worth bearing in mind when submitting a film to events at Cannes-there are festivals at Cannes and then there is the Festival de Cannes.
Looking at the Festival itself, there are those films appearing In Competition (Official Selection) and Out of Competition, the same as you would get at many major film festivals-films competing for awards (the big one, in this case, being the Palme d’Or) and those showing just for the prestige of being a part of the Festival. Films selected by the Festival will more than likely have their world premieres at the Palais des Festivals et des Congres on the Croisette-a large convention centre on the city’s seafront.
Outside of the main Festival Competition, some titles will compete in the strand Un Certain Regard and Quinzaine des Realisateurs (Director’s Fortnight) for awards. There is also an Official Short Film Competition (not to be confused with the Cannes Court Metrage-The Short Film Corner at the Marche du Film) and the Cannes Cinefondation dedicated to up-and-coming filmmakers, both of which take place as part of the Festival. Screenings take place at the Palais and various cinema locations in the city.
Pro-tips for navigating the Festival and Marche
Book your meetings in advance. This year, the Marche du Film launched a “match and meet” networking app for all those with a Marche pass. Together with membership of Cinando.com, the international film market database, you have the tools available to you to set up meetings with the people you need to see before you hit the ground at Cannes. Try approaching people a month or two before the Marche. This will save you time running around like a headless chicken during your trip to the Festival looking for people to meet.
Arrive early, and leave late. I’ve said this before when I’ve posted to other networks: you’re there to work. The parties and premieres are great, but if you don’t leave the Festival with new contacts and potential new deals, then it’s just been an expensive holiday. The first week of the Marche is usually given over to people with existing deals-buyers and sales agents meeting their current clients. For new meetings and new deals, look for time during the second week. Spend as much time there as you can possibly afford without breaking the bank!
Read the trades every day. Free trade magazines are given out at the Marche du Film and are often delivered to the main hotels in Cannes. You don’t have to read every one, and you certainly don’t have to keep them, but keeping abreast of the news is priceless. They will tell you what sort of films are being sold, who has the money, and what events are taking place during the Festival. On my very first trip to Cannes, I kept EVERY magazine I could get my hands on, resulting in my case being overweight on the flight back-an expensive mistake! Nowadays a lot of the info is online-The Hollywood Reporter, for example, publishes their Cannes supplement as a daily pdf.
Try not to overspend. Cannes can be expensive to get to and expensive to stay in. I’ve always stayed in the city itself, as close to the Croisette as possible, but I’ve known people to travel in from the outskirts of the city, from Antibes and even Nice every day. Whilst this is undoubtedly cheaper, it can be exhausting, and you have to consider your travel arrangements at the beginning and end of each day… For peace of mind and less stress, it’s easier to stay in town if you can afford it! Make use of the networking breakfasts and happy hours to get as much free/cheap food and drink as you can so that you don’t overspend in the cafes and restaurants.
Dress smart. Again, you’re there for business (or I hope you are!) not just a good time. If you are lucky enough to get a ticket for a premiere in the Lumiere Theatre, make sure you observe the dress code. For men, this means you have to wear black tie. You could get away with a suit, but tuxedos are a better option. Don’t bank on getting in anywhere if you’re in shorts and a vest! It is the French Riviera after all.
Vist Le Petit Majestique at least one evening. On Rue Tony Allard in the centre of town, this small bar has become an unofficial networking spot during the Festival, and the crowds often spill out into the streets of an evening. In recent years Le Petit Majestique has been home to some of the fringe festival events, so you may catch a screening of short films or a matchmaking event there.
On a final note, I often tell people that Cannes is very much about the “haves” and the “have-nots.” It is a highly exclusive event, and being a part of it is something special. You will find people trying to gatecrash events, and begging for premiere tickets outside the Palais. It’s not one of those festivals where anyone can rock up and buy a pass-the passes are expensive and exclusively for those working in the film industry. If you think you’ll be able to just turn up and rub shoulders with some film stars, think again!
If you’ve found any of this useful or enlightening, please don’t be afraid to tip me at the bottom of the article-it keeps me going, and I have a trip to next year’s Festival to plan for!! 🙂
Rome is notorious for being expensive to visit – there’s so much to cram into your trip that the costs can add up quickly without you noticing. I’ve been three times now, both as a solo traveler and as part of a group, and each time I go I discover things new and interesting. Below is my top five list of things you can see for free whilst vacationing in the Eternal City.
Piazza Navona
Situated smack-bang in the middle of the Centro Storico, built over the ruins of the ancient Stadium of Domitian (some of which can still be seen from the street), Piazza Navona is an open space, amid a maze of narrow streets, that is popular with tourists and locals alike. The square is lined with restaurants, gelateria, museums and shops, and contains three ornate fountains. The central fountain, Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, holds an obelisk brought to Rome from Egypt. The Chiesa de Sant’ Agnese in Agone marks the spot where the Christian Saint Agnes was martyred in the Stadium of Domitian.
Pro tip: Visit at night when the fountains and palazzi are illuminated to get the best view of the architecture.
The Spanish Steps
Located northeast of the Centro Storico, a little further out than the main sights, at the convergence of the main designer shopping streets, Piazza di Spagna is named after the Spanish Embassy to the Vatican nearby, and contains a baroque fountain shaped like a boat at the base of the stone staircase that leads up to the Chiesa de Trinita dei Monti. The small square is busy with tourists and shoppers, and home to designer boutique stores. To one side of the steps is the Keats-Shelley Museum, where the Romantic poets John Keats and Percy Shelley stayed in the city, and to the other side is Babington’s English tea room.
Pro tip: Visit between late April and early May to see the Steps decorated with flowering azaleas commemorating the foundation of the city of Rome.
The Trevi Fountain
In the Trevi District, immediately to the East of the Centro Storico, you will find the Trevi Fountain-the terminus of the ancient Aqua Virgo aqueduct. Built in Travertine stone on one side of the Palazzo Poli, this is arguably one of the world’s most famous fountains. The small Piazza de Fontana dei Trevi is crowded both day and night, when the fountain is illuminated.
Pro tip: Don’t forget to throw a coin over your left shoulder into the water to guarantee you’ll return to Rome one day!
The Pantheon
A short walk between Piazza Navona and the Trevi Fountain in the Centro Storico will find you in Piazza della Rotonda, home of the Pantheon. An ancient temple dedicated to all the gods, the Pantheon has survived from antiquity by being consecrated as a Christian church, Santa Maria Rotonda. Free to enter, the Pantheon has a concrete domed roof with a hole in the centre that lets in a shaft of light. It is a popular venue for weddings, tourists, and music recitals.
Pro tip: Come when it’s raining (or snowing if you’re lucky!) to get that all-important shot of the water coming through the Occulus in the ceiling.
St. Peter’s Basilica
Dominating St Peter’s Square, with colonnades reaching out like arms to the faithful and tourists alike, St Peter’s Basilica sits directly over the spot of the martyrdom and burial of St Peter. The reliquary of St Peter can be seen on a trip through the ancient catacombs beneath the Basilica for a fee, but there’s plenty to take in here without having to pay for anything. The rich decoration has to be seen to be believed, and includes Michelangelo’s Pieta carved from a single piece of marble, and the elaborate bronze Baldacchino by Bernini.
Pro tip: Arrive early to avoid the queues, and visit on a Sunday to see the Pope give the Angelus Address at midday in St Peter’s Square.
This is by no means an exhaustive list-as I said above, every time I visit I discover something new. Most of the major sites in the centre of Rome are within walking distance of each other, so you needn’t fork out for transport and can enjoy a bit of exercise if the weather is fine!
I have fond memories of my first trip to LA-landing at LAX with my best friend, climbing into the hire car, and jumping on the 405 in rush hour traffic to head off in search of some Hollywood magic. For some reason, we took the freeway north up to Sherman Oaks and took the 101 going east to get to Hollywood (in retrospect, we’d have gotten there quicker by taking the 105 east and the 110 north until we got to Downtown and join the 101 going up to Hollywood).
We were staying at Oakwood Toluca Hills in Burbank (now revamped and run by Avalon) which was by no means our most economical option but had two pools, hot tubs, gyms, a shop, and more within its gated community to give us everything we needed at our fingertips. I’d recommend staying there if you have the money, but it’s a certain type of Hollywood experience, and not necessarily the most authentic. Then again, how much of Hollywood that can be said to be “authentic” is questionable!
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of places to hang-out if you’re venturing to the area for the first time, with a few tips thrown in for good measure:
Hollywood & Highland
Still quite new to the area the first time that I visited, the Hollywood & Highland shopping and entertainment centre sits opposite the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard and incorporates the Loews Hollywood Hotel, TCL Chinese Theatres (including the world renowned Grauman’s Chinese Theatre) a bowling alley, shops, and restaurants. Here you can also jump on the LA Metro red line at Hollywood/Highland station and go north to Universal City and the Valley or south-east to Downtown LA. The Centre is also home to the Dolby Theatre, where the Academy Awards are held each year.
Hollywood Boulevard
Right outside the Hollywood & Highland Centre is Hollywood Boulevard, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which runs for fifteen city blocks from Gower Street in the east, to La Brea Avenue in the west. The Walk of Fame currently comprises over 2,600 terrazzo marble and brass stars dedicated to famous people from the world of entertainment, with more being added each year.
On the Boulevard you’ll find famous movie theatres such as Grauman’s Chinese and Egyptian Theatres, and the El Capitan, as well as museums such as the Hollywood Wax Museum and Ripley’s Believe it or Not Odditorium, as well as numerous shops, restaurants, and the starting points for numerous Hollywood tours, including famous tours of the stars’ homes.
Universal CityWalk & Universal Studios Hollywood
Hop on the Metro red line at Hollywood/Highland and travel north for one stop, climb the hill (or better yet, take the shuttle bus!) and you’ll find yourselves at Universal CityWalk and Universal Studios Hollywood. CityWalk serves as a preamble for the Studios and theme park-a collection of shops, restaurants, a cinema and entertainment complex that sits between the parking lots, the Hilton Universal City and the Studios proper.
First opened to the public for tours in 1915, Universal Studios Hollywood is a combined working film studio and theme park attraction. Divided into an Upper Lot, featuring The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, The Simpsons Ride and Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem, and a Lower Lot featuring the Jurassic World, The Mummy, and Transformers rides, as well as the Studio Tour itself, the park is billed as “The Entertainment Capital of LA”.
Sunset Strip
Arguably as famous as the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the infamous Sunset Strip, on Sunset Boulevard between Crescent Heights Boulevard and Sierra Drive in West Hollywood, is home to famous watering holes like The Viper Room, The Roxy Theatre, and Whisky A Go Go. The area has seen a lot of changes in recent years with new developments of hotels and office blocks threatening the old haunts.
I hope that this provides a nice little intro for anyone looking to travel to La La Land for the first time! If you’ve found this useful, don’t be afraid to leave a tip-the more reads and tips I get, the more I know which kind of content to write!
I was lucky to visit Egypt on a day trip during a family holiday to Cyprus in 2002. It was a formative experience for me, despite it being a whistle-stop tour of Cairo. We squeezed in time at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, and a visit to the Giza Plateau to see the Sphinx and the Pyramids, as well as the obligatory shopping spree. I didn’t know it until I was there, but it was a life-aim to stand inside one of the Pyramids (we visited Khafre’s pyramid), and staring into the eyes of Tutankhamun’s death mask changed me forever. As you’ll see in the brief picture above, those eyes have a haunting, lasting gaze. It was shortly after this trip that I decided to pack in my job and do some traveling, to see a bit of the world. I was nineteen.
I’m now thirty-six and the world has changed a lot since then. Even though my visit was post-9/11, and Al Qaeda was the global threat du jour, Egypt was still a tourist hot-spot, the same as it had been for a century or more. Since my visit, the world has seen the death of Osama bin Laden, and the replacement of Al Qaeda with Daesh as Terrorist Threat Number One. Egypt took part in the “Arab Spring” revolutions and deposed two presidents in quick succession, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood rose and fell, and the tourists decided to stay away.
Despite all this, there is a strong allure to Egypt. Its rich history, and the plentiful stories of treasures yet to be found beneath the sand still draw in the archaeologists, and even Hollywood has had a hand in filming a number of movies there, boosting the country’s international profile. There is a plan to draw the tourists back to Egypt, and Cairo specifically, in their millions through the new Sphinx International Airport in the West of the city, and theopening of the world’s largest Archaeology Museum, the Grand Egyptian Museum on the edge of the Giza Plateau in 2020.
When it opens, the GEM will see the complete treasures of Tutankhamun (some of which are in the midst of a global tour) united for the first time on display. Some five thousand pieces from the Boy King’s tomb will be the star attraction, with many never-before-seen pieces. In total, the GEM will boast some fifty thousand pieces, the greatest Egyptology collection the world has ever seen, in the rightful hands of its home country.
But is it worth it? And will it be enough to bring the tourists back in their millions? There is, of course, more to Egypt than just Cairo, and more to the country than its history. As the Arab Republic looks towards its future, people are questioning whether to go back. Egypt remains popular for its snorkeling and water sports on the Red Sea coast, and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina at Alexandria on the country’s Mediterranean shore has shelf space for some eight million books, with collections donated from all over the world.
For me, however, the allure of Egypt will forever be its history. I’ve barely scratched the surface of the archaeological sites in Egypt, and I fully intend to go back one day to see the temples at Luxor and Abu Simbel, the Valley of the Kings and the Siwa Oasis, and of course the Grand Egyptian Museum and the Pyramids at Giza. I’m also curious to see what happens with the old Cairo Museum. I already have a pin in my mental map there, and look forward to exploring more.
I would say that, for the sensible, safety-conscious traveller, Egypt is worth it. If you can get yourself on an organised tour, and there are plenty, or if you have your wits about you, and aren’t afraid of solo travel, go for it. Respect local customs, as you would anywhere in the world, and take heed of governmental travel warnings before you leave for the country. Take plenty of photographs, and leave nothing but footprints, and you’ll have yourself a worthwhile trip.
I first went to Kefalonia on a family holiday almost 20 years ago. I had read Louis de Bernieres’ Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (a book I highly recommend) a year earlier, and like many fans of the book, sought out the island where the story was set. This was a year or so after the Universal Pictures film adaptation was filmed on the island, so a lot of the infrastructure had been upgraded, and businesses we’re getting ready for the inevitable influx of film-related tourism.
We stayed in a small hilltop village called Lakithra, famed for housing Lord Byron during his time on the island. The village still has a monument to him — “Byron’s Rock” — which bears a plaque with the Byronic quote “The poet that I am, I owe to the air of Greece”. Apparently Lord Byron used to sit on the rock to write poetry, taking inspiration from his surroundings. This was unknown to me at the time — like I say above, I discovered Kefalonia through de Bernieres, rather than Byron.
That both men were inspired by the island of Kefalonia us no surprise to those who have visited. Kefalonia, the largest of the Ionian Islands in Greece has much to offer those looking for inspiration. From high mountain peaks to stunning azure waters edged by bright white cliffs, to picturesque towns and villages boasting typical Greek architecture and flora, Kefalonia is a perfect gateway to discovering Greek islands, and the country and culture as a whole. It has been variously under Byzantine, Sicilian, Ottoman, Venetian, French and British rule before joining the unified Greece in 1864 — this chequered history is reflected in the archaeology and architecture of places on the island.
One thing that I recall vividly is the undulating coastline — high cliffs around Myrtos Beach, and the sweeping coastal road from Sami Bay to Antisamos (pictured above). The sea was crystal clear far out from the shallow beaches, most of which were pebbled as opposed to sandy. I also remember the evening wind that used to blow across from West to East just as the sun is setting. We’d sit in a taverna on the coast and the wind would pick up as soon as the sun set over the Lixouri peninsula.
I visited before the various Captain Corelli tours that sprang up after the film’s release. Now, a quick Google search will net you a variety of tours associated with the book and/or the film, but when I visited it was a case of hiring a car and making up your own itinerary, which is almost always the best way of seeing somewhere new. I ended up briefly able to read Greek letters phonetically from navigating roadsigns and reading from a phrasebook! I’m sure that if and when I return, a lot of the signage will also be in Romanised letters.
From the pinks and purples of flowery Fiskardo to the blue-green waters of cave-bound Lake Melissani, and the katavothres sink-holes near Argostoli, there are plenty of natural wonders to inspire the errant traveller. For those interested in history and religion, Kefalonia offers an archaeological museum at Argostoli, nautical museum at Fiskardo, and over half a dozen monasteries, including that of the island’s patron saint — Saint Gerasimos.
I still haven’t seen all that the island has to offer, and I look forward to being able to return one day. If it’s one thing that the Covid lockdowns of 2020 have reinforced, it’s my desire to travel. Being unable to travel has made me want to explore the world more. It’s a reaction to being told “no”, I think! Kefalonia is definitely on my list of places to revisit, and I recommend that anyone with an interest in Greece or the Mediterranean in general visit the island when they can…
I’ve traveled solo twice to date, three times, if I include flying solo to stay with friends in the States. The first time I went away on my own I was nineteen, and like a lot of solo travelers, I was running away from my life. Until then I had always traveled with my family, mostly in Europe, so I assumed I’d be good at it. My first solo trip proved me wrong, but it was a great learning experience.
I learned after the fact that each time I traveled I would change — literally broadening my horizons with every trip. Those effects were magnified ten-fold by traveling alone. Here are a few things I learned during solo travel:
It’s not easy being on your own. I’ve always been quite comfortable being alone, that is until a few hiccups on my first solo trip brought me crashing down to reality. When things go wrong, there’s no-one to share the burden with, no-one to pick you up off the floor. You ultimately become a stronger person for it, because you have to rely on your own wits, but it’s a hard lesson to learn.
Not everyone thinks the same way you do. When I first ventured out into the world alone it was just over a year after the 9/11 attacks in New York, and I was surprised to see a lot of anti-American, pro-Taliban graffiti in Europe. I haven’t noticed it on subsequent trips but it came as something of a culture shock. There are a variety of different opinions on world events out there, yours is just one.
Be open to meeting new people and having new experiences. As a solo traveler, I tended to keep myself to myself at first, probably as a form of self-preservation, but as I’ve grown older I’ve learned to reach out to people. Shared experiences are better experiences, and if you’re traveling alone that means seeking out new travel companions, taking advice, sharing stories.
There’s safety in numbers. This is a bit of a no-brainer. Don’t isolate yourself to the point of it becoming dangerous. It can be a thrill wandering a strange city at night not knowing where you are (more than once I got myself lost on purpose) but be sensible and keep your wits about you. Try to stick to populated places at night or at least well-lit ones!
Pictures and mementos are priceless. As brilliant as they are, memories fade with time, so it helps to have reminders of where you have been and what you have done. I have a number of memory boxes at home containing everything from plane tickets to champagne corks. I don’t go through them regularly, but when the wanderlust kicks in, the boxes come out!
You are your own best friend, and if you’re anything like me, your own worst enemy. Possibly tying in with my first point on this list. If you’re traveling alone you have to rely on your own wits…and so you need to have your wits about you in the first place. You have to be comfortable in your own company and have to be ready to face any challenges by yourself.
Never underestimate the power of a call home. Today the world is a smaller place than it was when I first ventured out into it. Video calling didn’t exist back then so it was a case of finding a cyber cafe for emails, or a phone box to hear a friendly voice from home. Calling home is beneficial both for you and the people you’ve left behind. They need to hear from you as much as you want to hear from them.
Experiencing different cultures changes you and the way you understand the world — travel continues to change me in ways I still have yet to understand. I think the general theme uniting the above points is not to be frightened. Try the food, take the tour, do something new, different, and exciting. Be brave enough to leave your familiar surroundings behind — not everybody does, and most importantly, have a good time doing it!
I first arrived in Los Angeles in December 2005 with my business partner for a research and development trip ahead of forming our company. I had been a freelance camera operator since May of that year, had directed a short film that would be released the following year, and wanted to find out how the Americans did it, whatever “it” was.
I had shadowed a production team in South Wales the previous summer, helping to create a behind-the-scenes documentary following the creation of a series of short films as part of the annual “It’s My Shout” scheme. I had noticed that, contrary to my belief, it was the producer who gave the orders, rather than the director and I suppose it was a cocktail of ego and ambition that made me want to be a producer and own my own production company (I would later learn that even the producer is answerable to someone, and ultimately the person in control is the one with the money!)
Back to Los Angeles, where I jumped onto the 405 freeway during evening rush hour for my first ever experience of driving abroad (on the opposite side of the road, no less!) following the traffic to join the 101 in Sherman Oaks, and then take that all the way down to Hollywood. We were staying at Oakwood Toluca Hills nestled on the back of Mt. Lee between Universal Studios and Warner Bros. in Burbank. Naturally, we missed the turning in the dark and ended up on Mulholland Drive with all the lights of Hollywood and Los Angeles sparkling in the night before us.
My first view of the Hollywood Sign came the next day, again from Mulholland. For the next six weeks, I would pass it pretty much daily, driving through the Cahuenga Pass from Toluca Hills down into Hollywood itself until it almost faded into the background. Visits to both Universal and Warner Bros. indeed showed me how the Americans did “it” and gave me a taste of how the machine worked.
I didn’t like it. I was initially shocked by how the industry worked, how I wasn’t even a tooth on a cog in a wheel of the Great Machine. I was all about the “art” and creation aspect, not the industry. When I returned to the UK in January 2006 and we formed Seraphim Pictures, I felt displaced — changed even. I had the Hollywood Itch — and have had it ever since. That initial six weeks in Hollywood changed me, for better or worse I still haven’t quite figured out.
I found that people who focused on the “art” aspect of film rather than the business end failed to secure any kind of longevity. I had to learn how to become an entrepreneur, run a business, and treat the film as a business, not an art. Yes, it’s about content creation, but there’s an industry that I am a part of, and twelve years on I’m a cog in the wheel, albeit a (very) small one.
I still have the Hollywood itch, and I scratch it almost daily. In the coming months, years, and hopefully decades, I’ll blog more about it. I’ve written, produced, and directed. I’ve been a roving reporter for the BBC, I’ve had work screened at the Cannes Short Film Corner, and had projects screen across Europe to the Middle East and North Africa. I’ve been to Hollywood itself twice, and am now planning my third trip.
Travel changes a person, and Los Angeles changed me in a way I wasn’t expecting. It left me with the itch that motivates me and moves me forward. It helped me form part of my identity, and I look forward to seeing how it has changed in the years that I have been away.
Something On My Mind: A Blog By Daniel Lyddon 