After the downfall of the Third Reich, Germany was rebuilt from the ruins of war in a hurry, and, more often than not, it shows. Throughout the 1950s, as Germany was clearing up the WWII rubble and slowly finding its feet again, the priority for politicians and urban planners was to build what was urgently…
Gathering tourism experiences has been the Easy Hikers’ primary occupation for these past 10 or 15 years, so you may trust me when I say that popular destinations generally have more in common than we would ideally wish them to. Seaside walks and beach promenades resemble each other to the point where they seem virtually…
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…
Milan is the economic powerhouse of Italy but also the country’s least charming city. Fortunately for visitors, however, Milan is also surrounded by places which – all within an hour or so by rail – represent the best that Italy can offer. For scenic beauty, few parts of the country can rival Lake Como and…
Another look at the 4th Riviera Garden Festival! After our visit of the three western host cities (Grasse, Cannes and Antibes), we go east today for the Festival’s second half. Our first stop is Monaco for this the 4th Riviera Garden Festival, which gives us the opportunity of pointing out another change to the Festival’s…
It’s springtime on the Riviera! For some, this is the cue to bring out the beach wear and to rummage through the garage in search for the waterskiing equipment. For us, this is the time to get out our walking shoes – and, every other year, to start our tour around the six host cities…
Modern architecture is difficult to love. It is not so much the concept that is the problem here: all of us can easily agree that its principles are fine and noble – simplicity (less is more), an appearance of elegant restraint (ornament is crime), transparency of structure (form follows function). But while this theory has…
One thing that makes Tel Aviv particularly interesting is that it is not like any other city on the Mediterranean coast: it bears no visible traces of Roman or Greek heritage – nor, indeed, of any other kind of heritage from before 1909, the year when the city was born. Still, a great many things…
Visiting Tel Aviv, the economic and financial capital of Israel, is like stepping into a Twilight Zone: whether or not you feel that you have embarked on a “journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of the imagination”, as the intro of the legendary TV series so famously had it, may depend on…
There was one thing we failed to mention in last week’s post about the Riviera palaces of Nice, probably because it is the most obvious bit: the gardens of these mansions provide wonderful oases of calm within the hustle and bustle of the modern city and are perfect places for short walks and long rests….