To Dare is To Duesseldorf
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To Dare is To Duesseldorf

Rivalries between cities are always about more than mere topographical proximity, although physical closeness is of course a necessary ingredient. But so are envy and mutual resentment. Rivalries typically develop between cities when one of the two is bigger and the other just big enough to convince itself that it plays in the same league….

Discovering the Romanesque Churches of Cologne
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Discovering the Romanesque Churches of Cologne

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…

If the City You Visit Offers One, Take the Wall Walk
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If the City You Visit Offers One, Take the Wall Walk

By and large, while we may provide you with tips and suggestions, we leave you pretty much free to do whatever you like, dishing out only occasional Iron Rules of Easy Hiking. Here, however, is one: whenever the town you are visiting offers a wall walk, go and take it. Wall walks – carefully landscaped…

Hiking the Voltaire Trail in the Lower Rhine Valley
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Hiking the Voltaire Trail in the Lower Rhine Valley

Last week, we enjoyed the baroque splendour of the landscaped gardens around the Prinz Moritz trail. Today, we stay in the same area and (roughly) the same period of German history, moving only a few kilometres up the Lower Rhine Valley and a few decades down the line to the time of the friendship between…

Lower Rhine Valley Hiking Routes in Germany
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Lower Rhine Valley Hiking Routes in Germany

Germany is Europe’s premier hiking country: nowhere else on the “old continent” will you be able to find a similarly large number and variety of well-designed and diligently maintained trails. Few hikers outside of Germany, however, will be able to name a trail that does not run either through the Black Forest or along the…

A Japanese Garden in Duesseldorf
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A Japanese Garden in Duesseldorf

8000 Japanese citizens live in the German city of Düsseldorf and they built a little colony complete with a Japanese Garden in Duesseldorfproviding middle and upper management people of Japanese companies in the city with their home comforts with Japanese shops and Japanese restaurants. There is probably no other place in Europe where you find such a wide array of excellent Japanese eateries.

A Neanderthal Hike
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A Neanderthal Hike

Following in the footsteps of our distant ancestor – and meeting some of his four-legged friends on this Neanderthal Hike Why Neanderthal Man? Why is he the star in that collection of human ancestors, more famous than Peking man* and Heidelberg man, never mind the even less snappily named Homo Habilis and Australopithecus? There may…