'Anything the mind of man can believe it can achiev'’ - a wonderful homily that has led man to conquer the most amazing summits in this wonderful life of ours. But perhaps one of the most significant was the ultimate desire to fly to the moon. Songs were written about this and ever since humankind was aware of the 'man in the moon' he must have wondered what it was like up there.

This must have been one of the catalysts that spurred on Leonardo Da Vinci to design his first flying machine in 1487. At first his designs were based on the way birds flew. Later, he realised this was impractical and produced drawings of machines with fixed wings. He also experimented with what later became known as gliders.

The history of flights in all sorts of craft is littered with the most inspirational events. Francesco de Lana is credited as being the first person to design a lighter-than-air craft based on definite scientific principles. In 1670 he used this information to design a flying boat. The machine was propelled by a sail and lifted by 4 copper spheres from which all the air had been pumped. He speculated that the climbing speed of his airship could be regulated by using small sacks of sand for ballast. Imagine how the first flight of this machine ended! (more...)

The origin of many ancient sports can be difficult to pinpoint or even estimate. When did the sport become the one we know today? The truth is that most sports change with the times and as a technology improves it often has a noticeable effect on sports. In this article we are going to discuss the history of skiing, a sport that we fortunately know a bit about.

Though skiing is easily the most popular winter sport with over forty million new participants each year, it wasn’t an instant success. In fact, it took thousands of years. That’s right. Historians believe that skiing began in Europe over five thousand years ago. We know this because skis from this period were recovered in France and Switzerland.

Of course, skiing was not a sport at the time, but rather a form of transportation. As you might expect, if you lived up in the French Alps and you had to get downhill, then you would use skis to go down the hill and snowshoes to climb back up. Fortunately, they now have ski lifts guests can use on Ski Holidays, France . (more...)

Though the Italian Renaissance began in Florence, it was Rome that quickly became the centre of art in the western world during the early sixteenth century. The reason for this was simple — the most powerful person in the country, maybe even in the world resided in Rome. That person was of course the Pope, and many of the country’s top artists were dependent on papal projects to earn their daily bread.

For example, though he was a Florentine, Michelangelo did some of his most impressive and influential work in Rome. His most famous paintings, including the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, can be found in Rome. He also produced his sculpture la Pieta in 1499, and it is currently on display in Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Eternal City. This area has long been popular with tourists who rent out Rome holiday and vacation rentals .

Rome also became a centre for architecture, as the greatest builders of the period came to the city to erect and rebuild some of the world’s most famous structures. Of course, ancient Rome had given rise to the Collosseum, the Pantheon and the Forum. But during the Renaissance, the leaders of Italy, namely the Pope, decided that many of its greatest and most historically significant structures needed to be refurbished or entirely rebuilt. (more...)

Everyone knows Las Vegas for its opulence, its sheer scale, and of course, the world famous casino industry. But where did this city come from? How and when did it all begin? Read on, for a brief history of Las Vegas !

Although Las Vegas was established in 1905, it was still a dry, barren and dessert town in 1911. People mostly came to the town on account of massive railroad works and Vegas were actually a popular rail road town. However, the town lacked character, appeal and was just a small and dusty town.

All this changed in 1920, when the first casino was founded in Vegas. This paved the way for Vegas to become not only the most populous city in the state of Nevada, but the gambling capital of the entire world. By the 1940s several casinos had sprung up, and this industry owned it success to the American organised crime syndicate, aka, the ‘mob’. Names like Bugsy Siegal and Meyer Lansky spring to mind. (more...)

There is a great deal of lively debate about whether video and PC games are detrimental to the youth of today. Some say that they are killing the imagination of our children and are preventing them from engaging in other tasks such as reading, conversing and studying.

I prefer to look at it another way though. By carefully choosing, together with your child, a historically based game such as Smash the Castle 2, you are actually drawing them into a world of imagination – and often historical fact!

History is considered by many to be a dry subject due to the way that it has been taught in many schools over the years. Largely learned by rote and based on dates and events rather than really trying to understand our ancestors; how they lived, what they did in their real lives, and how they thought. (more...)

While I do not profess to be the type to dedicate my holidays to the pursuit of history and culture, I do find that one of the most interesting parts of any holiday is to help understand better about the historical events that have shaped the country and scenery that I am visiting.

This is especially true in countries where the history is well documented and where there are still places of interest to visit that teach us about certain periods in the country's history. Rome apartments are a perfect example of this as the city is full of Roman sites that are relatively intact, so you can really feel a sense of history as you visit the sites.

There are so many places of interest in Rome such as the Roman forum, where you can wander around and imagine life two thousand years ago, or the Colosseum, that feat of engineering and design, where you can almost picture the crowds and the massive outdoor events. (more...)