easy hiking trails in Europe
The High Alps are the best the European countryside has to offer. They are one of Europe’s last genuine wildernesses, bearing only the lightest touch of human hands, majestic and of a sublime beauty. But as always with great beauty, there is a catch. The Alps are not just playing hard to get, they actually are. Hikes on…
The past is a foreign country, as even people know who have not read “The Go-Between” (or seen the movie). But whereas the opening statement of L.P. Hartley’s novel refers to past habits and customs (“they do things differently there”), one can just as easily apply the phrase to the looks and the structures of…
In the final instalment of our Sachsen-Anhalt Trilogy, we will tell you what to do and where to go for a scenic and interesting walk in the state capital of Magdeburg. Magdeburg does not sit in the first row of popular German city destinations, not even in the second row, but chances are that most…
For a federal state that few people outside of Germany have ever heard of, Sachsen-Anhalt has more than its fair share of UNESCO World Heritage sites. There are, to begin with, the sites connected with Martin Luther and the history of the Reformation: Eisleben where he was born and, above all, Wittenberg where he lived…
Germany is a country rich in history and natural beauty, but it does not get the number of foreign visitors it deserves. And what is more: the visitors who do come all gather in the same few places. There are days when you seem to hear more English than German voices in Berlin, the Black…
A little over a year ago, we deconstructed the French Riviera’s mainline railway route and gave you a station-by-station guide to tell you a little bit about the towns and the landscapes that lie on the far side of the stations’ concourses. Today, we are going to do the same for Italy: The Italian Riviera…
There is a good chance that Prato is the largest Italian town that you have never heard of. It is the second largest city in Tuscany, larger than Pisa, Livorno and Siena, and also larger than any other city between there and Rome. On top of that, it is no industrial hell-hole (you may not…
The Croix des Gardes in Cannes is that rare thing among green spaces….. …. it is a park with a history that reaches back several hundred years. Not that the Croix des Gardes in Cannes had spent all of these centuries as a park. No public garden is that old. But it has occupied that…
We all need a bit of drama and excitement in our lives – and, since few of us get enough of it from our humdrum daily routines, we want our entertainment to take us on an emotional ride. But there are clearly limits. Even the most dedicated lovers of fruity melodrama would not want to…
Here is a strange thing: some neighbouring cities, although physically very close to each other, have a totally different look and feel. Take Nîmes and Arles, two close neighbours in the south of France. They share, inevitably, some characteristics, but it is the differences that stick out. Arles is the quintessential small town in Provence:…
