easy hiking trails in Europe
What exactly does “easy hiking” mean? Occasionally, people still ask me that question, particularly if they have just received our calling card. One would think that I, after all these years, had developed a one-sentence standard reply, something along the lines of “adventures for beginners” with a bit more meat on the bones, but one…
When you are looking for a good restaurant in a strange and unfamiliar town, ask the locals: that is the Golden Rule Of How To Eat Well. It is an equally Golden Rule for picking the right hike. If you can, always ask your host: where do you go or take your family for a…
Some of the world’s great streets have made that leap from being famous for what they are to being famous for what they may never have been. Broadway houses many or perhaps even most of New York City’s playhouses, but its name has become synonymous for an entire type of theatre, and the Champs Elysees…
Last week, we went in search of the Holy Grail – the Holy Grail of Riviera Easy Hiking, that is. Did we find it? Well, probably not if you apply the most rigid of standards (angelic voices from above, wounds that suddenly close after festering for decades, 1000-year-old guardians who fall down on their knees…
Borderlands are special places. Even small towns freely mix cultures and languages in a way which you would normally associate with airports or the great cities of the world, and are characterized by an attractively easy familiarity with diversity in its many guises. But borderlands are also no strangers to violent conflicts, and even along…
A practice-oriented post today… … featuring our travel tips for your first French Riviera visit Never forget that most current residents were not born here either so have also been first time visitors at some stage and were, in all probability, as confused as you must be when you take the coastline train, faced with…
If you are familiar with the landscapes of north-western Italy, you will know that many towns along the Riviera coast are “twinned“ with an older village in the mountains. The reason for this is that coastal settlements were deemed unsafe during the long period between antiquity and the restoration of order under effective governments sometime…
This week, we are bringing you more lush Mediterranean Dreams from the French Riviera Garden Festival: having visited the western section of the Festival des Jardins de la Cote d’Azur last week, today we present the remaining six gardens in Nice and Menton as well as all the other news from the festival. Flamboyant theatrical…
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…
Germany’s northwesterly region between Bielefeld and Gütersloh is one of the country’s economic powerhouses. The names of the region’s towns and cities may mean little to you, but you are probably familiar with some of the brands and products that come from here. The kitchens and white goods of Miele, frozen pizzas and baking goods…