Tour Manager Notes: Alps

The French Alps are renowned for majestic snow-capped peaks, fresh water cascades and torrents, rugged bare-faced rock, pine trees, vast green meadows and valleys, and...

Tour Manager Notes: Carcassonne

Overview Carcassonne is like something out of a picture book. It is the largest fortress in Europe and one of the very few remaining examples...

Tour Manager Notes: The German Reformation

Overview The Reformation in Germany was shaped by a unique combination of political fragmentation, local independence, humanist scholarship, emerging print technology, and the personal crisis...

Tour Manager Notes: Normandy and Brittany

Normandy comprises five départements: Eure and Seine Maritime (Upper Normandy), Calvados, Manche and Orne (Lower Normandy). The name comes from North-men, referring to the Vikings...

Tour Manager Notes: Seville

Overview “Hercules built me, Caesar surrounded me with walls” — so says the legend of Seville’s foundation, though neither claim is true. The first city...

Tour Manager Notes: Warwick

Overview The castle of Warwick, situated right in the Heart of England is one of the great strategic defensive sites in Britain. Its importance as...

Tour Manager Notes: Amsterdam

Key Figures Population of Greater Amsterdam: 1.3 million. Population of Amsterdam centre: 731,000. Run by city council, divided into 16 districts. 30% of the population...

Tour Manager Notes: Catholic Kings

Overview The term “Catholic Kings” — Los Reyes Católicos — refers to the joint sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabel, whose determined policies united Spain, completed the...

Tour Manager Notes: Germany

Overview As you drive through Germany, sooner or later you will have a long bus ride on the Autobahn. The excitement of fast-car spotting normally...

Tour Manager Notes: Oxford

In about 700 AD, Frideswide, daughter of King Didian was being pursued by an importunate though royal lover. In fear for her chastity she took...