The East Banqueting House at Old Campden House and St. James Church (a Wool Church), Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds, UK by Saffron Blaze

Covering 790 square miles of stunning countryside over 6 counties, the Cotswolds wears its badge with pride. Home to Bath, one of the UK’s most picturesque cities and Britain’s only world heritage site, the Cotswolds is also home to various villages and towns that have made their mark on British history. The most famous example of this is Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace and now resting place of a certain British playwright know as William Shakespeare. You may have heard of him. The RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) Theatre in Stratford has been home to some of the best known adaptations of his work, with some of the UK’s best acting talent performing the likes of King Lear, Hamlet and Macbeth, from Patrick Stewart, Simon Callow and many others. When not watching his plays, tourists flood to the local Church. This is where Shakespeare’s grave is situated, and it is now one of the biggest tourist attractions in the UK, with tourists coming from all over the world to pay their respects to the Bard.

Author Bio: Daley works with Cotswold Journeys and has a great love for the countryside and the tourism of the UK. He loves to get out and enjoy the great outdoors, and then write about it.

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Photo licensed under the Creative Commons, created by gerry.scappaticci

One thing we are fairly certain about is that the Bard never left England. Yet it didn’t stop him mentioning foreign lands in his plays. Most of his foreign-set plays are in either Italy (Verona, Venice, Rome) or Greece, as they were the era’s cultural superpowers. France also garners a few mentions, though usually of the bloody war and deathly enemy variety.

But where else did Shakespeare dream about while penning his student-troubling plays? If this summer’s Olympics-EURO 2012-Wimbledon sports-a-thon has you reaching for the nearest book with which to cover your head and weep, then a Shakespeare inspired holiday is the perfect antidote. And don’t worry if you’re the only one that hasn’t been infected by the sports bug, solo holidays are becoming so popular that the already-annoying term ‘soliday’ has been coined. As the man himself would say, ‘To thine own self be true’.

Denmark

Hamlet is Shakespeare’s blockbuster play. The darkly atmospheric tale of murder, suicide and madness interrupted by occasional outbreaks of sanity is the most produced of his works, while the role of the stroppy, angsty Prince is the most coveted amongst actors. The setting for Hamlet is Kronborg Castle in Denmark’s Helsingør. The castle was known to Shakespeare as Elsinore and is a paragon of Renaissance architecture. It is thought that a few actor friends of Shakespeare’s were travelling around Europe and told him about it upon their return.

Summer 2012 Highlights

Every August, a theatre festival is held in the grounds of Kronborg Castle, which normally features some of Shakespeare’s plays.

Photo licensed under the Creative Commons, created by Poom!

Vienna

Measure for Measure is a dark comedy set in a grimy and morally corrupt Vienna. A holier-than-thou annoyance called Angelo decides the city must be cleansed of debauchery and sentences our hero, Claudio, to death. Claudio’s crime is that he is pretty much married but technically not. See? No? Most don’t, Measure for Measure is often derided as a perplexing and unsatisfactory failure. Shakespeare’s Vienna is leagues away from the cultural paradise of today, filled with genteel coffee houses, castles, and er, Mozart memorabilia.

Summer 2012 Highlights

The Vienna Jazz festival runs from June 29 to July 9 whilst July 6 sees The Fete Imperial, a summer ball in the Spanish Riding School.

Illyria

Expect some funny looks if you say you’re sailing off to Illyria. The setting for Shakespeare’s fantastical rom-com Twelfth Night was known at the time as a real region in the Adriatic Sea, in what is modern day Albania. In Shakespeare’s day, this location was a byword for a wild and exotic land where romance and impulsivity weren’t curtailed by the British stiff upper lip. Apparently, it was also a land where people can’t distinguish between male and female twins and marrying someone of mistaken identity is a comic caper rather than a disaster. For someone who’d never been there, Shakespeare’s description was remarkably accurate; it remains largely unspoiled, with over 450km of pristine beaches and the ruggedly wild Albanian Alps.

Summer 2012 Highlights

Albania’s largest festival, the Korçë Beer Festival, runs from 15 to 18 August. Film lovers should check out the Durres International Film Festival, also in August.

Tarsus

Shakespeare revealed his understandably casual relationship with geography in Pericles, Prince of Tyre. The prince in question sails from Tyre (Lebanon), to get to Pentapolis (Libya), inexplicably stopping off in Tarsus (Turkey) along the way. He falls in love and marries Thaisa, but chucks her overboard on the way back, mistakenly thinking she died. He leaves his just-born baby daughter in Tarsus, where she later gets kidnapped by pirates. Just an average Shakespearean adventure then! The prince’s sailing route marks out an ideal yachting holiday itinerary, pinging around the south-easternmost enclave of the Mediterranean Sea whilst hopefully avoiding pirates.

Summer Highlights 2012

The Marmaris Yacht Charter Show takes place in the Turkish harbour of Marmaris in May, while those straying further west can watch the dozens of yachting races that take place all summer around Greece and Italy.

Navarre

The confusingly punctuated Love’s Labour’s Lost is set in Navarre, a region in the Pyrenees close to the France-Spain border. Basically, The King of Navarre and three of his lords vow to avoid women for three years, then promptly fall in love and change their minds. The ladies in question play what must have passed for an amusing trick at the time and depart. Love’s Labour’s Lost is thought to be the first play penned under Shakespeare’s name and proof that practice makes perfect. It’s boring. Unlike Navarre, which Shakespeare says, ‘shall be the wonder of the world’, the Pyrenees is ideal for activity holidays, with endless walking, hiking and water-sports possibilities, as well as a slew of medieval castles and monasteries.

Summer 2012 Highlights

The Festival of San Fermin runs from 6-14 July in Navarre’s capital Pamplona, with its famous running of the bulls. On June 16, the Day of the Witch festival in Zugarramurdi promises all manner of spooky events.

Biog: Laura dreaded Shakespeare at school but thinks that solo holidays to the places in his plays would have made them much more enjoyable.

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Famagusta was founded in 300 BC and its original name was Ammochostos – “burned down in the sand.” Large expansion of the city occurred in the late 13th century, when the first refugees settled here from the Holy Land. In this period, the first churches and mosques were built here in Famagusta.

Another boom came with Genoese and Venetians, and with their commercial potential. In 1571, Cyprus was controlled by the Ottomans. Today, the area of Famagusta is full of history and ancient architecture, but it also offers tourist services, beautiful beaches and romance. For sport lovers it is important to remind that Famagusta has quite a strong football team.

The city and surrounding worth a visit. Famagusta offers sights like the city walls with the most beautiful place of the Citadel, which offers a stunning view of the city.

You can also visit a mosque, Lala Mustafa Pasa Cami – former Cathedral of St. Nicholas from the late 13th century. As the whole Cyprus, also Famagusta boasts archaeological site – site of Salamis, where you can access gymnasium, baths, theaters, porticoes and the Basilica from 4th century.

Very interesting is also the district Varosha with Greek Cypriots that live here. During the occupation in 1974 lots of people leaved, and many people are still unhappy to see the abandoned houses.

To the north of Famagusta you can visit the church of the Apostle Varnavas. The church serves as the Museum of icons and the Archaeological Museum. Close to the church there is a small fishing village Bogazi located about 24 km north of Famagusta.

Akrotiri and Dhekelia are two British military bases on the island of Cyprus. Great Britain kept those two areas after the declaration of independence of Cyprus in 1960. Akrotiri is located on the southern island of Cyprus, near Limassol, Dhekelia is in the southeast of the island between the towns of Larnaca and Famagusta. Akrotiri has an area of ​​123 km². Dhekelia has an area of ​​130 km². In both areas there live more than fifteen thousand people.

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The Kronborg castle has been one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe. The castle was originally used to collect duties, and was later rebuilt to Renaissance castle. However it is important to note, that Renaissance means something else in Italy and something else in Scandinavia. Later the castle was used as barracks for two centuries.

You can save a tour of the interior. After the fire, there is not much remained to be seen inside. It is best to walk along the sea and the view from the ship.

Kronborg Castle has been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites list in 2000.

History of Kronborg Castle

• In 1420s the fortress, Krogen, was built by the Danish king, Eric of Pomerania.
• In 1585 was rebuilt by Frederick II into a magnificent Renaissance castle and renamed to Kronborg.
• In 1629 the castle was totally burned due to some mistake of two workers.
• In 1639 the castle was restored by Christian IV, but the interior never fully regained its former glory.
• From 1688-1690, an advanced line of defence and ramparts were built around it, which made Kronborg Castle the strongest fortress in Europe.
• From 1739 until the 1900s, Kronborg was used as a prison.

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