easy hiking trails in Europe
What to See in Germany The Most Famous Operation Chastise Target What was the greatest military feat of WWII? If you are from North America, you might say: the D-Day landings, while Russians would probably go for the defence of Stalingrad. But I suspect that, if you are English, you will be thinking of a less…
Hiking in Holland The Handelsweg from Oldenzaal to Hengelo The Marskramerpad (or Handelsweg) stage from Oldenzaal to Hengelo was our first ever hike in the Netherlands – we had been to Holland before, but, to be honest, our walks there had been urban promenades rather than “proper” hikes. This time, however, we were fully kitted…
Hiking in Holland Hiking in Holland on the Traders’ Trail The Handelsweg – the “traders’ trail” – leads you across a distance of 230 km from Osnabrück (in Germany) to Deventer (in the Netherlands) through northern Westphalia and the two Dutch provinces of Twente and Salland. It is essentially a combination of two older trails,…
Urban Walks One lap around Monte Carlo on the tracks of F1 Legends First a confession: I am not a great fan, either of the F1 Grand Prix circus or of the Principauté itself. To me, Monaco has always felt like a council estate that won the lottery. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this walk around the…
Where to Go in Germany Altena – Where the Youth Hostel was Born Looking back on our hiking weekend in the Sauerland, I have just one regret: that we had neither the time nor the energy to explore the town of Altena, our last destination. I don’t know whether Altena deserves a daytrip in its…
German Hiking Trails The Drahthandelsweg One of the things that mark out German hiking trails is their attention to detail. German hiking trails are carefully routed, making sure that you take in the best views and everything of interest along the way from pre-historic caves to breeding grounds of rare species. For some trails, however,…
Where to Go in Germany Sauerland – Germany’s Best Kept Secret The Sauerland is one of Germany’s best kept secrets, unknown even to many Germans (at least to those who live outside of the Sauerland’s home state of North Rhine Westphalia), never mind to foreigners. And since it is such a quiet and unspoilt area,…
Easy Hikes in Germany Getting Off at the Hiking Train Station The train station in the West German town of Iserlohn is officially labelled a Wanderbahnhof, a “hiking train station”. When I came across that term for the first time, I was as clueless as you are now. It turns out that once a year,…
Urban Walks in the French Riviera Sunny Menton is to die for When Menton’s old chateau was razed in the late 19th century, the city administration decided to convert the grounds into a municipal cemetery. This turned out to be an excellent business decision, because at the very moment the issue was decided, thousands of…
Themed Walks in Paris Walking in Montmarte by Chansons It seems to be more difficult to say goodbye to Paris than originally thought. This is a postscript to last week’s post. A postscript appears in order because more songs have been written about Montmartre than about any other part of Paris, and rather than leaving out…