The title of this post is the theme that in the recent theme poll of the previous post (and DT Newsletter) was the winner, leaving the theme DT & Beds in second place. But I may turn the latter into a post at some point too.
So, for now let’s kick off with DT & Books:
And let’s get the most obvious book to feature here out of the way right at the start. It’s possibly the historically darkest book ever,
6 January, Book Feature
How time flies – today it is already a whole year since the 6 January 2021 attacks on the Capitol building in Washington D.C. by an angry mob. Not only did this defile the holiest of holies of American democracy, its key icon even, several people also lost their lives as a result of these events. It was certainly a very dark day.
A year ago, I uploaded a post featuring the photo reused above (originally taken in 2010 from the Newseum). It was accompanied by the very shortest text ever on this blog, though I later added a comment that included a reaction by ex-president George W Bush.
Because of the first anniversary, the media here have already been awash with this topic over the past couple of days … and some of it made for very painful watching. And I’m expecting more tonight. But that’s all I’d like to say about this today …
The other reason I’m uploading a second post today (after this one, just posted) is to alert readers to a rather big feature about my book Atlas of Dark Destinations in the Mail online, the digital counterpart of the Daily Mail newspaper in the UK. This tabloid may have had its shortcomings over the years, to put it mildly, but when it comes to the topic of dark tourism, it’s actually featured comparatively balanced and decent articles. So it’s not all that surprising that this would be the first and so far only big paper to cover my book.
The online-only feature is basically a selection of quotes from the book, so it is mostly in my own words, plus a selection of 24 destinations and photos, many of which are also my own (copyright is duly marked).
I had a look at some of the comments too (I know, usually, that’s a very bad idea), and noted that many added further destinations or claimed they should have been covered too. Apparently they didn’t pay attention to the clearly stated “300 destinations in 90 countries”, making it clear that the few picked out for the feature are not the exhaustive list but just a small selection!
Two others claimed that Le Redoutable is not the only nuclear submarine open to the public. As far as nuclear-powered subs are concerned that’s correct (the USS Nautilus, the very first nuclear sub, is also visitable, as is HMS Courageous), but the point was that Le Redoutable was carrying nuclear missiles (the other two submarines did not), and in that sense of “nuclear”, Le Redoutable is indeed unique as a tourist site. That perhaps did not come across through the quotes selected by the Mail.
My most favourite comment, however, is this one: “Got to love alternative travel guides, I think I’ve found my bucket list”. Nice to read that!
This feature in a mass-media outlet is certainly great publicity; now I hope it will have a positive effect on sales numbers too.
sign up to the newsletter!
Dark Tourism & Beds
This is the theme that in the latest theme poll came second in the vote, and, as indicated in the winning theme’s post, I’ll now bring you the runner-up without a new poll.
Here’s a photo of one of the most gruesome places involving beds, namely a bed frame in a torture room of the infamous Tuol Sleng (aka S-21) prison in Phnom Penh in Cambodia. It was on beds like this that the decaying and ghastly mutilated bodies of the final victims of the Khmer Rouge were found by the liberators (the
Back from Portugal
On Tuesday I returned from my 11-day trip back to Portugal. It had been 12 years since I was last in Lisbon, and I had never before ventured beyond that city. This time I did also travel to other places, but Lisbon was still my first destination. I then moved on to the country’s second city, Porto, before visiting some smaller places – and managed to fill a few significant gaps in terms of dark tourism!
As already indicated I first travelled back to lovely Lisbon – and it was a happy reunion. What a great city it is indeed …
Dark Tourism & Books
The title of this post is the theme that in the recent theme poll of the previous post (and DT Newsletter) was the winner, leaving the theme DT & Beds in second place. But I may turn the latter into a post at some point too.
So, for now let’s kick off with DT & Books:
And let’s get the most obvious book to feature here out of the way right at the start. It’s possibly the historically darkest book ever,