If Rome is the heart of Italy and Naples the country’s soul, then Turin is its head. The capital of Italian coffee, cars and cocktails (the home of Lavazza, FIAT and Martini) is also the most rational and most transparently structured city in the land, a place so square that it is not only the…
Just as the Alhambra is more than a mere cluster of palaces, Granada is more than the Alhambra. In fact, Granada downright spoils its visitors with a host of attractions: for starters, it has not one but two historic Old Towns, one – called the Albaicin – that was established under Islamic rule … ……
Tourism is the world’s largest industry. It generates an annual turnover of 11 trillion dollars and employs 350 million people (10 per cent of the global workforce) but stands on feet of clay. Tourism does not fulfil an immediate and vital need (unlike, say, agriculture): humans have lived for thousands of years without spending some…
If you have recently found that very special person in your life, you may think that All You Need Is Love to engineer a successful Saint Valentine’s Day weekend – and you may even be right. The more world-weary among us, meanwhile, are aware that special persons may expect more than Words Of Love and…
Monaco is the fastest growing country in the world. Over the past few decades, the size of its surface area has increased by approx. 23 per cent. In order to hit the same growth rate, Russia, a state similarly keen on territorial expansion, would have to annex not only the Ukraine plus the Baltic States…
Today, we will be continuing our exploration of the traboules, Lyon’s hidden passages that connect neighbouring buildings and sometimes entire apartment blocks. We will do so, however, in a different part of town: in a quarter that has more of an airy feel than the occasionally claustrophobic Vieux Lyon … … and in a different…
Over the years, the Easy Hikers have introduced you to subway systems, challenged you to follow in the tracks of the world’s most notorious serial killer, and one of our walks went up with a gradient angle of 90 degrees – inside a church tower. Occasionally, we admit, we have come dangerously close to stating…
There is one drawback about Anglesey: for a tourist destination, the island – not having many large towns – offers only a narrow range of places to stay and places to eat. This is why many visitors opt to stay on the Welsh mainland, which also makes it easier then to tour the sights on…
The world is constantly changing, but some parts of it change more quickly than others. Landscapes, generally, change slowly and gradually if at all: on a return visit to the Alps, you will expect to see the same mountains as many years before and be rarely disappointed. Cities, by contrast, evolve much more quickly, and…
Traffic signs, street lights, bus stop shelters: street furniture is part of our lives, and we rarely ever give it a second thought. The pieces are one-dimensional: they have a specific job to do, and no other consideration – least of all aesthetics – seems to matter. In fact, however, street furniture is a lot…