The island of Ireland meets the ocean on a frontier of vertiginous cliffs and sandy beaches that stretches out for more than 3000 km, enough to guarantee a good deal of variety. Much of this coastline is pretty rough and rugged: above all in the west, where mighty rocks are forever lashed by the furious…
With its English looks and metropolitan feel, Dublin invites comparisons with London, and while it is friendlier and cozier than its British counterpart, the Irish capital inevitably falls short in some other respects. It is, for one, less international, less multicultural and does not give out the same buzz of nervous excitement. But there are…
Over the past 20 years or so, Dublin has become one of the most visited cities in Europe, surpassing Florence and rivaling Venice. Even more remarkably, it has done so without the obvious attractions of either of these artistic treasure troves or those of a global metropolis. And we have not even mentioned the climate…
Today, we will present you the second half of a great double-bill for a weekend trip in eastern France. From Metz, the place we visited last week, we are today heading off to the regional capital of Nancy. The two cities are only separated by a 30-minute train ride but offer a total contrast in…
When you pick a provincial city in France as your holiday base or destination, you never know in advance what you will be getting. Some of these cities are prosperous, well-kept, lively and colourful – others drab and full of the stench of misery and neglect. I call this the French Tourism Roulette. Not everything…
Germans are an industrious people, and the looks of their country reflect that. Wherever you are traveling, you can see industry in action: roadside and railside, power stations are pumping out steam, factory chimneys spout smoke, and containers are shipped in and out of warehouses. Quite clearly, Germany is a country that still makes stuff….
This week, we will serve you another slice of unknown Italy but with a twist to the recipe. While last week’s destination of Udine is, roughly following the famous Donald Rumsfeld classification of unfamiliar objects, very much an “unknown unknown” (think: obscure medieval poets), the city of Brescia is “known-unknown” in the fashion of Edmund…
No country in the world benefits as much (materially) from tourism as Italy – or suffers as much from its consequences. Other countries may attract more visitors, but these visitors are spread out more thinly over a vast territory (the USA), are more concentrated in a few coastal resorts (Mexico), or both (France). In Italy…
Telgte, a small town in the flat and fertile German province of Westphalia, is visited by 150,000 people every year. This is 15 times the number of people who live there, a ratio of tourists per inhabitant similar to that of Amsterdam and Barcelona. But don’t be surprised if you have never heard of Telgte….
The French Riviera has been copied and imitated a lot over the years. Nowadays, nearly every coastal country in the world appears to have a “Riviera” of its own – including Albania, for crying out loud. But there is one ingredient in the recipe for the French Riviera’s lasting appeal which is particularly difficult to…
