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Pre-cruise reading or movie recommendations to prepare for travel to some ports?


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In the past I've seen recommendations in cruise critic boards about pairing novels or movies to specific travel locales. An example would be reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society prior to visiting Guernsey, which is on my to-do list. 

My question to the travelers and locals on this forum:

Are there are any books or movies you would recommend reading or watching to enhance a cruise to the following places: Dublin, Cork, Liverpool,  Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle or LeHavre/Honfleur?  Thank you in advance!

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I'm headed to the UK this summer as well.  Read this for Scottish history:

A History Of Scotland Kindle Edition
by Neil Oliver

Great read.  Slow start but it was pretty riveting once the Vikings stopped raiding all the seacoast villages!  Enough info there to understand and appreciate what was going on without getting too granular.  Would like a recommend for Ireland like that.

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On 5/28/2022 at 10:04 PM, loveapug said:

or LeHavre/Honfleur


If you will be visiting any of the D-Day sites, I strongly recommend that you watch (or re-watch) “The Longest Day.”  The production values may be a little cheesy by modern standards, but the history is spot on. (Not to mention that just about every famous or soon-to-be famous male actor of the ‘60s is in it.)

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On 5/28/2022 at 10:04 PM, loveapug said:

Glasgow, Edinburgh

 

At a minimum, see Rob Roy and Braveheart before visiting Scotland, read some of Robbie Burns' works. However I'd also recommend reading about Mary Queen of Scots, which also connects to Elizabeth I (cousins) and then later, James I (Mary's son, who became King since Elizabeth had no children). 

 

There was a WWII drama My Mother and Other Strangers set in Northern Ireland that I enjoyed, here are a list of others: to consider, some I have seen, others not yet. A lot of other films/tv connected to Northern Ireland tend to be centered around The Troubles, but then if you want to look at film/tv MADE in N.I. as opposed to things about N.I. and the Republic of Ireland, that's a different category. You'd want to look into shows from RTE, Ireland's public broadcasting agency (think BBC, for the U.K.). 

 

A recent PBS show called All Creatures Great and Small is based on a real Scottish veterinarian in the 30s I believe, who moved from Glasgow to Yorkshire to work in a small country practice, it's sweet and such beautiful scenery. 

 

Have recently watched some great crime shows set in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, but might not be the best primers for a journey. There are many great documentaries about the Beatles (from Liverpool), they have a very popular football club (soccer), and port, ship building in Belfast, and very many historical figures and places in Dublin. Here's a good list of what to watch before visiting Ireland. 

 

Agree re: The Longest Day, about preparing to land in Normandy, but also Band of Brothers, which is a series that includes testimony from actual surviving members of Easy Company, Army paratroopers who landed in Normandy and fought throughout the war. Saving Private Ryan is a dramatized account of a soldier that landed on a Normandy Beach, a group of troops is sent to find him because three of his brothers were lost in battle and it's decided he should be found and sent home. 

 

I'll try to think of more soon, but hopefully the community will come up with more suggestions as well. Lots of incredible true history to be discovered in documentaries, films, tv. 🙂 

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13 hours ago, Host Bonjour said:

A recent PBS show called All Creatures Great and Small 

I presume this is the recent remake. The original version, of 90 episodes, was shownhere between 1978 and 1990. FWIW, my partners late uncle, had trained as an actor with the star of the show, Christopher Timothy and continued a friendship.

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14 hours ago, Host Bonjour said:

Agree re: The Longest Day, about preparing to land in Normandy, but also Band of Brothers, which is a series that includes testimony from actual surviving members of Easy Company, Army paratroopers who landed in Normandy and fought throughout the war. Saving Private Ryan is a dramatized account of a soldier that landed on a Normandy Beach, a group of troops is sent to find him because three of his brothers were lost in battle and it's decided he should be found and sent home. 

 

 

Colleen, glad you agree about The Longest Day! 🙂  (Interestingly, some years a go, a small group of us on our Roll Call had a fabulous private excursion out of Le Havre of the D-Day sites with Overlord Tours, and our guide began the day by saying she had hoped we'd seen this film.  She reconfirmed the accuracy of the history in it.)

 

Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan are excellent additions to the list.  I had seen Saving Private Ryan a couple of times before the aforementioned cruise that took us to Normandy, but as chance would have it, they were showing it on the plane on which we flew home.  Having just been there, I decided to watch it again.  Those first 20 minutes, always painful to watch, were even more so on that occasion.)  

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A very recent movie, Belfast, is one I'd recommend for helping to understand more about the period of "the troubles" and should be readily available. It was nominated for a number of awards and tells the story of a Protestant family living in Belfast around 1970 from the perspective of a young boy.

 

A book about Ireland that I really enjoyed is Thomas Cahill's How The Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe.  Even though it's on the scholarly side it's not hard to read and very interesting about the role played by the religious communities in medieval Ireland in preserving many historic books and documents during what was a very dark time for civilization in Western Europe.

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On 5/28/2022 at 8:12 PM, BuckeyeMark said:

I'm headed to the UK this summer as well.  Read this for Scottish history:

A History Of Scotland Kindle Edition
by Neil Oliver

Great read.  Slow start but it was pretty riveting once the Vikings stopped raiding all the seacoast villages!  Enough info there to understand and appreciate what was going on without getting too granular.  Would like a recommend for Ireland like that.


Just picked this book up in Victoria on our recent Alaska cruise to start getting ready for our British Isles cruise later this year. It looks very interesting!

 

And I just watched Belfast on our flight home. What a great movie - really provided insight into some of the turbulent history. 

Edited by karatemom2
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  • 4 weeks later...
On 5/31/2022 at 10:26 PM, cruisemom42 said:

A very recent movie, Belfast, is one I'd recommend for helping to understand more about the period of "the troubles" and should be readily available. It was nominated for a number of awards and tells the story of a Protestant family living in Belfast around 1970 from the perspective of a young boy.

 

A book about Ireland that I really enjoyed is Thomas Cahill's How The Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe.  Even though it's on the scholarly side it's not hard to read and very interesting about the role played by the religious communities in medieval Ireland in preserving many historic books and documents during what was a very dark time for civilization in Western Europe.

The recent movie Belfast is an awesome movie in my opinion.   It wont give you a lot of factual history of the conflict but rather a feel for the environment at the time.   The book "say nothing" is an excellent read about the troubles as well. 

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Are you wanting fiction or non-fiction?  You could do something about Mary, Queen of Scots for Scotland.  Margaret George or Phillipa Gregory have good fiction.  Alison Weir for non-fiction. Margaret George is one of my favorite authors.

 

Anything about the Clans is really interesting, too.   Or, of course, Braveheart...even though it is loosely based on history...I mean, the French Princess (wife of Edward II) he had an affair with was not even living in the UK when he was executed and was still a child so no way he had an affair with her.   

 

"Outlander" is another one...both the series and the books.

 

For Paris, there is sooo much...Sabrina comes to mind.  The original or the 90s version.  Anything on any of the French monarchs, the Templars, etc.  There is so, so much. 

 

I am working on my MSc in History and my main area of interest in late medieval so the Plantagenets, Richard III, Henry VII, the Wars of the Roses, etc. is all very fascinating to me, but they are based out of London and England.  Winchester, the Tower in London, Westminster Abbey, etc. are your best bets there. I am assuming you are sailing from Southampton or Dover.  

 

Oooh...Henry II and Eleanor of Acquitaine would also be good for Paris and France.  The Lion in Winter (old movie) and Alison Weir's book on Eleanor are amazing. Also, anything on Richard I.  The Angevins actually had their castles, etc. in France and not England even though they were the technically Kings of England.  

 

 

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, Eli_6 said:

The Lion in Winter (old movie) and Alison Weir's book on Eleanor are amazing.

 

Imho, "The Lion in Winter" is one of the best movies ever made.  (And stands up to repeat viewings.) 

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  • 2 weeks later...

We did a driving trip in Ireland last month. We listened to Fintan O’Toole’s “We don’t know ourselves” which was great. I also recommend “how the Irish saved civilization” referenced above. In terms of movies I noticed “the quiet Man” is on Netflix and we also looked at “the crying game.”  Rebellion is kind of soapy but good on the Easter Rising. If you like The Great Courses they have one on the troubles and peace process, and another one on Irish history and literature ~ both excellent. 

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On 7/1/2022 at 5:45 PM, Turtles06 said:

The Lion in Winter"

 

Yes! This I watch over and over, Katharine Hepburn is just... well, one of those actors rightly playing a queen. Also watch for a very young Anthony Hopkins in a role revealing signs of great things to come. Unbelievable to watch them bring these characters and story to life. 

 

On 5/31/2022 at 10:26 PM, cruisemom42 said:

, Belfast

 

Not a fan of Branagh so I skipped, though I know it's worth watching (I'll get there!), but plenty of incredible films on the Troubles, including some terrific documentaries though some aren't easy to watch, 66 Days about Bobby Sands' hunger strike, but Michael Fassbender did a film called Hunger, dramatizing the Bobby Sands story, and it was incredible. 

 

On 7/1/2022 at 5:43 PM, Eli_6 said:

Mary, Queen of Scots

 

I read a full on biography when I got home from Edinburgh, I was captivated and had to know more. I think it was Antonia Fraser's, but I'm not sure because I also read a Queen Victoria bio (Her Little Majesty) and Queen Elizabeth I. 

 

Also, if you're visiting Wales too, this goes way back and is in black and white, but How Green Was My Valley is amazing, also there are some great Welsh (Keeping Faith, Hinterland) crime dramas–giving Nordic noir a run for its money. You can also check out the episode of The Crown when Prince Charles goes to Wales to learn Welsh prior to becoming the Prince of Wales when he turned 21. The Crown episode about Aberfan, also in Wales, is brilliant but so sad. 

 

Immersion is one of the best and most fun ways to prepare for travel. It's also a great way to revel in it once you're back home 🙂 

 

Colleen

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  • 1 month later...

If you are just looking filming locations in Belfast and the rest of Northern Ireland.

 

Game of Thrones (Seasons 1 to 8.)

Every county in Northern Ireland has locations. And specialist tours every day will take you on a whistlestop tour.

 

Derry Girls (Seasons 1, 2 & 3.)

 

Line of Duty (Seasons 2 - 6 (season 1 was filmed in Birmingham))

 

The Fall (Seasons 1 to 3)

 

As regards to Movies - 

Good Vibrations

Odd Man Out with James Mason in the 1940's

 

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