The city of Potsdam is the number one daytrip destination from Berlin. And for good reasons, too: it is surrounded by parks and forests, contains several picturesque bodies of water and provides paths for hiking and biking. Above all, however, it is full of history: old history – as the former residence of Prussia’s most…
This week, the latest edition of the Skulptur Projekte will be opening in the northwestern German city of Münster. This open-air art exhibition is staged once every ten years and scheduled to coincide with that year’s documenta, the world’s foremost showcase of modern art. The Skulptur Projekte is narrower in focus than the documenta (which…
One of the best things about hiking and about travelling in general is that, every now and then, you are running into something totally unexpected. Something that you did not even know existed when you set out in the morning and that, in the evening, has enriched your understanding of that particular town, region or…
Legendary towns have legendary streets and quarters. I have never lived in New York City, but I know what everybody knows: that Madison Avenue is a by-word for the country’s (and the world’s) advertising industry, that Broadway is the home of live entertainment and that Wall Street is the place from where the gangsters operate…
Of all the combat actions and hostile encounters that together make up the Battle of the Bulge, the struggle for Bastogne in eastern Belgium is the one you are most likely to have heard about. One reason for the fame of Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge is the undoubtedly great psychological importance that…
The Liberation Route Europe (which follows the movement of the Allied advance through northern Europe in the latter stages of WWII) is complemented by a wide range of shorter memorial trails around towns and villages, which are often laid out as circular walks to commemorate local events. One of the most famous and interesting of…
Over the years, we have introduced you to a large variety of hiking trails: trails in the mountains, trails by the sea, trails through wild forests, trails through parkland and so on. This time, however, we are going to tell you about a trail that is still very much in the making. Liberation and Remembrance…
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,…
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….
Minds much greater than my own have wrestled with this question without ever finding a conclusive answer: Where does the Riviera start? It does not take a great mind to see where it ends. Even I can see that it comes to a grinding halt at Cinque Terre, southeast of Genoa. As to its start…