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Excess Baggage

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Factual: Travel

Travel magazine, featuring travellers' tales, experiences and anecdotes

Excess Baggage: 05/06/2010

05/06/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Excess Baggage, 05/06/2010

John McCarthy looks at the Parthenon and how geology forms the landscape we love.

John McCarthy asks Mary Beard why the Parthenon has attracted tourists since it was built and Ian Vince and Richard Fortey explain why geology influences our holiday destinations.

Classicist Mary Beard tells John McCarthy that the Parthenon in Athens was built two and a half thousand years ago to attract visitors and has been doing so ever since. It has been a temple, a church and a mosque. It has survived being blown up and ill advised restoration attempts and continues to excite one of the the most controversial debates in modern tourism. 

As we travel to our favourite parts of the British Isles, whether it be the Highlands of Scotland, the Cotswolds or the Devon coast, the real beauty of the landscape is formed by the underlying geology. Paleontologist Richard Fortey and writer Ian Vince tell John how the rocks from which the island is made are at the root of our choice of holiday destination and activity, from lying on sandy beaches to walking in the hills. 

Producer: Harry Parker.

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