easy hiking trails in Europe
In certain – generally rather expensive – restaurants, they offer you what they call a menu de degustation: which means that rather than feeding you properly with meat and two veg, they show you a little of their art, teasing your taste buds with one bite of this and two bites of that and indicating…
Ready for more “Cologne through the prism of its Romanesque architecture”? All right then, here we go. This week, we shall visit six more early medieval churches, now turning our attention to the southern half of Cologne’s Old Town. We will walk through some pretty and picturesque streets with much local atmosphere, making sure that…
Why is Germany such an uncool travel destination? One reason, I suspect, is that most of her major cities come across as rather charmless. Not that they lack historical interest or scenic spots. The problem is that any such attractions have been buried in mundane urban fabric and that you have to look for them…
Untouched nature in the French Riviera coast is rare, but it exists. As Exhibit One, we present today’s post. Untouched nature – where it exists – is also, as a rule, well hidden. To find the lush green valley that provides the scenery for this week’s hike, you must go to the back of the…
One of the main tourist attractions of the Italian Riviera actually lies a few miles further inland: no visit to this stretch of the Mediterranean coast would be complete without a trip to at least one of the Ligurian mountain villages with their narrow lanes and dark cobbled alleyways. Ligurian Mountain Villages Ten or twenty…
This week’s post takes a leaf out of your local supermarket’s sale strategy. If “2 for the price of 1” helps shift chickens, deodorant, toilet paper and what-not, it should also attract the punters to the Easy Hiker blog. Today, we shall give you a taste of two of the outstanding Ligurian trails, the north-to-south…
Bussana Vecchia has a mixed press. For every admirer on TripAdvisor and similar social media sites who calls the small ghost town north of Sanremo “a picturesque artists’ colony”, you can find someone who left unimpressed, calling the place “unbearably twee” or “soulless and commercial”. Whichever way your own opinion may fall, it is undeniable…
It is a truth locally acknowledged – among people who live near the Riviera coast, whether permanently or temporarily – that every trip to the region should include at least some hiking in the mountains. Most of these people are – like us – residents of the coast themselves and would not think of settling…
No matter where your personal preferences may lie, the French Riviera is a great area for hiking. There are short and dramatic trails as well as long and epic ones, trails through lush coastal scenery as well as through lunar landscapes higher up the mountains. There is, however, one type of walk that is nearly…
Guest Post The British are a nation of hikers or as they would say “walkers.” This is testified to in the well-maintained network of public footpaths crisscrossing across the country like a huge spider web. Only in Scotland does the multitude of paths disappear. This is where the right to roam kicks in and the…
