easy hiking trails in Europe
From Imperia to Bordighera, there is a stretch of Italian Riviera villages that have become unstuck in time All the small coastal towns between San Lorenzo al Mare and Santo Stefano look as though they had retreated into a time capsule, a little like the New England hamlet in M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Village”, with…
On our last day in Kosice, we did what the locals do when they want to experience a small slice of nature After two urban walks to explore the cultural treasures of Kosice, today we will be heading out of town in search of some greenery in the countryside of Slovakia. There is quite a…
When Kosice became European Capital of Culture in 2013, the municipal authorities took a bold decision: resisting the temptation of putting all the money into their historic town centre, they allocated a significant proportion of the budget to the city’s modern, residential areas. Rather than hiding these quarters away – in terms of surface as…
In today’s world, what is a traditional building? Here is something about Eastern and Central Europe (the countries that used to lie behind the former Iron Curtain) that many of you may not know: most of the locals that you meet in the streets are no more intimate than you with their cities’ fantastic urban…
A walk through the beautiful streets of this city in Eastern Slovakia can teach you a thing or two about Europe and its common culture Many people like to sneer at the whole concept of the “European Capital of Culture”, but there is some good thinking behind it, as there is behind so many of…
Biot is that rare thing of a Riviera hilltop town: as unassuming, authentic and unspoilt as you can expect any town in this part of the world to be The stretch between Antibes and Nice Airport is, without a doubt, the ugliest section of the Cote d’Azur: on the one side of the road and…
A walk through London’s northernmost suburb gives you a chance to reconnect with outer London’s semi-rural past. Starting with Top Borough Enfield Enfield was once a key section of the English home county that no longer exists: Middlesex, now only a memory and the name of a cricket club, was gobbled up some time ago…
Today, we follow in the footsteps of Byron and Churchill – and the skid marks of the world’s first fatal car accident – and sit beneath an Elm in the Churchyard Today’s post is the first in an intermittent series of walks through London’s outer boroughs and suburbs. Those who do not know or understand…
One more reason to hike up to this picturesque hilltop town: a street sculpture exhibition. Street sculpture shows are very much in fashion. Over the last 20 years or so, many towns have hit upon the idea of hosting a festival by inviting artists or museums to exhibit some of their works on public squares…
Picasso spent the last 12 years of his life here, but there are many other reasons to visit this hilltop village north of Cannes. If the French Riviera is not exclusively famous for being a playground of people with more money than sense – from 19th century Russian aristocrats via eccentric East Coast heiresses during…