Italy’s Cinque Terre National Park is home to the Mediterranean’s most famous network of hiking paths. So famous in fact that nearly all our acquaintances have, over the years, reacted with stunned disbelief when we told them that we – despite living so close to the Cinque Terre’s home region of Liguria – had never…
Lakeside hiking trails are, in general, good fun. Good fun: it is this lack of more profound ambitions that makes lakeside hiking trails popular but that also limits their appeal. If one were to classify hiking routes according to their level of complexity, trails around small inland lakes would wind up at the very bottom…
This week, the latest edition of the Skulptur Projekte will be opening in the northwestern German city of Münster. This open-air art exhibition is staged once every ten years and scheduled to coincide with that year’s documenta, the world’s foremost showcase of modern art. The Skulptur Projekte is narrower in focus than the documenta (which…
The Beodo palm grove is one of the most stunning sights in the whole of Northern Italy. If you have ever taken the bus from Ventimiglia in the direction of Sanremo and Genoa, you will probably have seen it and may have wondered what transported this piece of tropical landscape to the northern Italian coast….
One of the best things about hiking and about travelling in general is that, every now and then, you are running into something totally unexpected. Something that you did not even know existed when you set out in the morning and that, in the evening, has enriched your understanding of that particular town, region or…
Legendary towns have legendary streets and quarters. I have never lived in New York City, but I know what everybody knows: that Madison Avenue is a by-word for the country’s (and the world’s) advertising industry, that Broadway is the home of live entertainment and that Wall Street is the place from where the gangsters operate…
Of all the combat actions and hostile encounters that together make up the Battle of the Bulge, the struggle for Bastogne in eastern Belgium is the one you are most likely to have heard about. One reason for the fame of Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge is the undoubtedly great psychological importance that…
Remember the Festival des Jardins on the French Riviera and our posts about the ten contestants from Grasse to Menton? If you do, you may also remember our promise to tell you who won as soon as the standings were published. Well, today’s the day. French Riviera Garden Festival 2017 Winners! First of all, our…
The Liberation Route Europe (which follows the movement of the Allied advance through northern Europe in the latter stages of WWII) is complemented by a wide range of shorter memorial trails around towns and villages, which are often laid out as circular walks to commemorate local events. One of the most famous and interesting of…
Over the years, we have introduced you to a large variety of hiking trails: trails in the mountains, trails by the sea, trails through wild forests, trails through parkland and so on. This time, however, we are going to tell you about a trail that is still very much in the making. Liberation and Remembrance…