Travel

Hong Kong Island – South (part 2) – Places to Eat and Drink

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A Circular Tour Morning This circular tour of Hong Kong Island is perfectly feasible to complete in a day, so long as you don’t start too late. From Central, jump on an Aberdeen-bound bus, alighting close to Aberdeen harbour . Haggle for a sampan harbour tour offered by one of the pushy touts on the … Read more

Rome’s Top 10 : Pizzerias

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Pizzeria da Baffetto The best pizza in Rome, but this pizzeria is open only for dinner and, beyond pizza, only serves bruschetta and other simple appetizers . The thin-crust, wood-oven pizzas come either piccola (small) or grande (large). Via del Governo Vecchio 114 06 686 1617 Pizzeria da Baffetto Pizzeria da Ivo The most famous … Read more

Hong Kong Island – South (part 1)

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Despite the slow creep of floodlit housing estates to the east and west, the south of Hong Kong Island (or “Southside” as everyone calls it) retains more than enough rugged coastline, wooded upland and sequestered beach to startle anyone whose preconception of Hong Kong was wholly urban. Traffic from the city passes through the Aberdeen … Read more

Rome’s Top 10 : Cafés and Gelaterie

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Antico Caffè Greco Rome’s 1760 answer to all the famed literary cafés of Paris. Just off the Spanish Steps on the busiest shopping street in town, it is an elegant holdover from yesteryear, its tiny tables tucked into a series of genteel, cosy rooms plastered with photos, prints and other memorabilia from the 19th-century Grand … Read more

London’s Top 10 : London on Foot

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Thames Path, South Bank Start by the London Eye and walk along the South Bank downstream to London Bridge and the Design Museum beyond Butler’s Wharf. This stretch of the Thames Path has enough to distract you all day. South Bank Thames path, South Bank Regent’s Canal It’s possible to walk along the whole 14-km … Read more

Let the Games Begin London (Part 3)

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Festival events Getting tickets for the arts and culture extravaganza is a breeze compared to getting tickets for the sports, and much is free anyway. London and the rest of the UK will be living its busiest cultural summer ever with artists from all over the world descending on the capital. An incredible 12,000 events … Read more

Madrid – Around Town : Salamanca and Recoletos (part 1)

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One of Madrid’s most affluent neighbourhoods, Salamanca is named after its founder, José de Salamanca y Mayol (1811–83). The Marquis first saw the commercial possibilities of the area bordering the Retiro in the 1860s and transformed it into a model of urban planning, with grid patterned streets and elegant mansions. The new neighbourhood was an … Read more

Terrace Talk

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Where can you find cosmopolitan cities, dramatic mountain peak views, Alpine valleys and breathtaking vineyards? The Lake Geneva Region, that’s where The Lake Geneva Region One of the world’s most famous lakes, Lake Geneva, needs little introduction. Over the years, the glittering Swiss lake has been home to Hollywood royalty including Audrey Hepburn, Charlie Chaplin … Read more

Let the Games Begin London (Part 2) – The Olympics

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The Olympics If you are coming to London to see an Olympic event, the first question is: have you got a ticket? No ticket, no entry. Tickets to sporting events must be purchased in advance online. Tickets will not be avail-able on the day at the gate. In the UK, demand for tickets for popular … Read more

Swiss Quality, Italian Lifestyle

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Enjoy La Dolce Vita in Ticino, where you’ll find the perfect mix of Italian elegance and enthusiasm, combined with Swiss efficiency and quality, ensuring the perfect holiday… La Dolce Vita in Ticino Approximately the same size as Dorset, the diminutive canton of Ticino is, nonetheless, packed with an unparalleled combination of high-Alpine mountains, glacial lakes, … Read more

Let the Games Begin London (Part 1)

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All eyes are on London As the greatest sporting event in the world unfolds this summer. Stephen Guy tells you what to expect—on the field and off it A Summer Like No Other’ promises the slogan. ‘The biggest festival the UK has ever seen’ echoes another. “We want this to be the greatest show on … Read more

St. Moritz – Top of the World

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As one of the world’s most exclusive ski resorts, and with over 320 days of sunshine each year, it’s no wonder that St. Moritz keeps visitors coming back time and time again Tens to thousands of years ago, a dramatic 50-mile long glacial valley was created high in the mountains. The source of the mighty … Read more

Hidden In Plain Sight (Part 4)

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Shyamsundar Tila, our first stop, is renowned for the remains of the excavated base of a massive cruciform Buddhist temple that stood here sometime around the ninth century. Excavated in 1998-99 by the ASI, the site revealed some huge sandstone statues of the Maitreya Buddha and other Bodhisattva images, along with a collection of remarkable … Read more

Beijing – Around Town : North of the Forbidden City (part 1)

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By far the most rewarding area to explore on foot, north of the Forbidden City stretches an almost contiguous run of lakes, either set in parkland or surrounded by swathes of charming historic hutongs. It’s an area rich in temple architecture and dotted with grand old courtyard residences. Its appeal to visitors has resulted in … Read more

Life on the Edge (Part 2)

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The next day I explored the town, beginning with the bewitching assemblage of 20th-century art at the Rosengart Collection. It has some great stuff. Renoirs share wall space with Legers and Kandinskys, and there is a roomful of Chagalls, each one of them suffused with love and sorrow: David Mourning His Son Absalom, Les Amoureux, … Read more

Hidden In Plain Sight (Part 3)

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But then, the Manikya kings who ruled Tripura for nigh on six hundred years until 1949 were of tribal origin themselves. The officially sanctioned Rajmala, a genealogical history of the Tripura kings posited a lunar line for the ruling family, linking it to the Mahabharata. However, the first ruler of this clan who can be … Read more