Baha’i Terraces of Haifa: The Most Beautiful Garden in the World

Baha’i Terraces of Haifa: The Most Beautiful Garden in the World

Israel is a small country, smaller than the state of New Jersey and roughly half the size of the Netherlands. Due to its long and narrow shape, however, the distances from one place to another can be surprisingly long. There is, for example, room enough in Israel for a 1-hour domestic flight from Tel Aviv…

Why Are Parks in Southern Europe So (Ahem) Different?
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Why Are Parks in Southern Europe So (Ahem) Different?

Today’s post deals with a question that I have been wrestling with for quite some time. Why is it so hard to find proper parks in Southern Europe? Why are the green spaces there either overcooked or raw, either overloaded with ornamental features or scruffy and neglected – and why are these spaces often so…

The Discreet Charm of the Chateau des Terrasses
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The Discreet Charm of the Chateau des Terrasses

The showcase gardens of the Riviera fall into two categories: for drama and excitement, you can visit gardens like the Giardini Hanbury near Ventimiglia or Menton’s Val Rahmeh, which were conceived for maximum effect on the grandest of theatrical scales. But on the local tourist board’s shortlist of famous Jardins de la Cote d’Azur, you…

The Garden Kingdom of Woerlitz-Dessau – A Rococo Disneyland
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The Garden Kingdom of Woerlitz-Dessau – A Rococo Disneyland

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…

Viewing the 2nd French Riviera Garden Festival
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Viewing the 2nd French Riviera Garden Festival

Two years ago, the French Riviera Garden Festival premiered to considerable national and international acclaim. Over five weeks in the spring, 500,000 visitors attended the 5 exhibition sites, and a press corps of 150 journalists from more than 30 countries generated content (nearly 250 articles and radio / TV programmes) with an “advertising value of…

What to See on the French Riviera’s Inaugural Festival des Jardins
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What to See on the French Riviera’s Inaugural Festival des Jardins

No long-winded openings today: there is no time to lose. Six more contestants in the French Riviera’s inaugural Festival des Jardins are waiting for our visit! (The first four are here!) First, we are going to Antibes, or – to be more precise – to Antibes’s beach resort suburb of Juan-les-Pins, where – at Pinède Plage,…

The First French Riviera Garden Festival
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The First French Riviera Garden Festival

Gardens are a part of the Riviera scenery like yachts, open-top sports cars and deposed government officials from corrupt cleptocracies. Unlike the mountains and the sea, they have not always been there but have become so much part of the cultural landscape that nobody remembers or can even imagine a time when they were not….