Hiking in France We headed back to the Mediterranean for some unfinished business. The Sentier Littoral Revisited Last year, my son and I visited the southern French town of to hike along the Sentier Littoral, the footpath that stretches along the entire length of the country’s coastline. When we inquired at the local tourism office for…
Walking in Barcelona Architecture in Barcelona One of the great joys of walking through Barcelona is discovering the great architecture that the city’s grand boulevards have to offer. Whenever you look up on one of the main streets in the city’s grid-like “new town”, you will not need laser eye surgery to be sure to see…
French Riviera Walks How about this… … a short walk through the prettiest town in France, topped off by a visit to one of the world’s most famous gardens, with splendid views over the Mediterranean Sea throughout? Menton, in the extreme southeastern corner of France, combines the best of France – a downtown area of…
Guest Post: Hiking in Asia Go Hiking in Vietnam Although Vietnam’s major cities – Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh – are very much on the up and up, no Vietnam holiday is complete without experiencing this country’s remarkable, iconic countryside. Misty green hills terraced with rice paddies, oxen working the fields, tended by folk in their…
Hiking in Barcelona Atop Montjuic Whereas the sea, all over the world, is made of one piece, mountains are nature’s true individuals. You have to meet them in person to properly know or even get a first meaningful impression of them. Statistical information of whatever sort or content is of no assistance here and can, at…
For once, Mrs. Easy Hiker and I are in total agreement: the most striking change that Barcelona has undergone since we last visited the city a mere twenty years ago is the rise in the number of people with an apparent interest in the works of (the architect) Antoni Gaudí. What is the Weirdest Thing…
Easy hiking trails in Barcelona I have found my perfect easy hike on the Montserrat Rocks! Now, if I were on a spiritual, Leonardo-di-Caprio-inspired quest to find “The Hike”, I could happily retire and lay down my quill (and my computer, too), leaving you in peace to find your own way around the best hiking…
Kurt Vonnegut says that unusual travel suggestions are Dancing Lessons from God So, of course, we could not decline the offer of travelling to Genoa, even if this meant that we had to change our carefully laid out travel plans at the shortest of short notices. The story is this: we had been planning to…
There can be no question about it: Midnight in Madrid – Magnifique! Some cities just are. When spotlights carve out individual buildings out of the darkness, leaving others in a haze of indirect light and shadows, we, the observers, lose some things (context, a certain degree of detail) and win others: mainly scale. Some cities…
Hiking the old German Industrial Heartland Hiking in Germany We continue our exploration of the Ruhrgebiet: The Emscherweg This walk is short, just right for the time of the year when there are so few hours between dawn and dusk. It features a park, a river promenade and a lake. But beware: nothing is quite…