Travel

City of Gods

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Having sworn off Italy’s Amalfi Coast for being overcrowded, Emily Wright is won over by the glorious old-world charm of the Excelsior Vittoria – and the classical education she gets as she walks the Path of the Gods… At a time when so many hotels are battling to out-cool each other, hiring cutting-edge designers and … Read more

Munich – Around Town : Along the Isar River (part 1)

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Four distinct neighbourhoods flank the east bank of the Isar: Bogenhausen, Haidhausen, Au, and Giesing. Bogenhausen is an exclusive district studded with villas and inhabited by many prominent citizens; lively Haidhausen has the best and most extensive bar scene; parts of Au and Giesing, on the other hand, still have a special working-class charm. All … Read more

Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo

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After a recent trip into the Congo, Mike McCartney could not help but writing to share the details Founded in 1925, the beautiful Virunga is Africa’s oldest national park. One of the most bio-diverse protected areas on the continent, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, it is reputed to have more endemic species … Read more

Beach Volleyball In Devon

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Online editor Helen Russell hones her ball skills on a weekend in the West Country Being blessed with neither the stature nor the hand-eye coordination of a natural sportswoman, I’m nervous about learning beach volleyball. Will I be any good? Will it hurt? And how do I get the Baywatch theme tune out of my … Read more

The Poseidon Adventure

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“Greece – Let’s join the adventure and discover mysteries of ancient times” Samothrace Samothrace is a fairy island located in the northern Aegean Sea Samothrace is a fairy island located in the northern Aegean Sea, where the sea is contiguous to the sky. The name of this place may impress many, because it was where … Read more

Essential Africa … Swaziland (Part 1)

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Play word association with ‘Swaziland’ and the first two words that spring to mind are probably `tiny’ and `king’. That’s if anything springs to mind at all, given how little we tend to hear about this southern African nation. Mike Unwin, author of the forthcoming Bradt guide to Swaziland, sorts through the cliches to reveal … Read more

Seattle – Around Town – Ballard (part 1)

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In the late 19th century, Scandinavian loggers and fishermen established a working waterfront which is still functioning a full century later. Seattle annexed Ballard in 1907, taking advantage of the huge econom­ic growth the mill town fostered; by then Ballard was the state’s third largest city. Seattle’s commercial fishing fleet resides at Fishermen’s Terminal just … Read more

Passage Of Time

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Most of the Korean history was under the dominance of empires. The isolation of Korea in 19th century brings it a name called “Hermit Kingdom”, and in those sad periods, Korea was still dependent on external forces. The Japanese Army invaded Korea in 1910 and behaved very badly towards this country. After that, after World … Read more

Essential Africa … Swaziland (Part 2)

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Lobamba: the cultural heart Lobamba is Swaziland’s traditional seat of power and located opposite the royal kraal at Ludzidzini. It is home to today’s parliament, the National Museum and the King Sobhuza Memorial Park – a tribute to the late, revered monarch. Swaziland’s two most impressive cultural spectacles also take place in the surrounding fields: … Read more

Essential Africa … Swaziland (Part 3)

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Mkhaya Game Reserve This private, upmarket reserve offers Swaziland’s most exclusive safari experience. Among the big game reintroduced to their former habitat here are elephant, buffalo, giraffe, hippo, white rhino and rare black rhino. Guided game drives offer close-up viewing, and this is one of Africa’s best locations for tracking rhino – including black rhino … Read more

Barcelona – Around Town – Montjuïc (part 1)

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Named the “Jewish Mountain”, after an important Jewish cemetery that existed here in the Middle Ages, this sizeable and mountainous park rises 213 m (700 ft) above the port. The park itself was first landscaped for the 1929 International Exhibition, when the elegant Palau Nacional and the strikingly modern Mies van der Rohe Pavilion were … Read more

Rome – Around Town : Around the Pantheon (part 1)

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During the Roman Empire the Tiber Bend area was a public training ground for soldiers called the Campo Marzio. With Rome’s fall, the city turned its back on this riverside neighbourhood and, aside from a few foreign settlements, it wasn’t until the 15th century that anything other than a few churches was built here. The … Read more

San Francisco – Around Town : Central Neighborhoods (part 1)

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As with every quadrant of San Francisco, diversity is the keynote here. This area encompasses the oldest money and the highest society of the city’s founding families, as well as some of the poorest of citizens. It takes in the staunchest pillars of the politically savvy – though true conservatives are a rarity in this … Read more