In the 70s and 80s Beirut was a city of war, religious violence and death. As a child I watched grainy TV news film of snipers firing indiscriminately at distant targets, of buildings being blasted by missiles, of peoples’ lives being destroyed. Talk was of the murderous green line that separated east Beirut from west,…
Author: Stephen
Lebanon and the shadows of Rome
“You can’t drill a hole in Lebanon without finding Roman remains,” our guide explained as we waited to explore the extraordinary temples at Baalbek. He may have been exaggerating for the benefit of his assembled band of tourists but there’s no denying that the country is rich in the remains of empire. From the rooftop…
The towers of San Gimignano
God knows what it’s like living in a village like San Gimignano. Every day residents have to cope with a tidal wave of tourists flocking in from Tuscany’s big cities and ports to visit its trademark towers. Yes, they bring business to the shops and cafes and keep people in work but the daily influx…
Cardiff’s castle and shopping arcades
Cardiff lacks tourist attractions. At the top of the minimal list is the much-restored castle, just a few minutes’ walk from our hotel. But it was raining, and raining heavily, so whatever we were going to do on such a drab day was going to involve umbrellas and getting wet. No wonder the streets were…
From Cardiff to Caerphilly, and back again
My family went to Wales for a summer holiday many years ago and a photo from the time shows them clad in waterproofs, enveloped by mist, looking frozen and damp. So is it any wonder it took me years to visit the principality? We made it in 2018, spending a bank holiday weekend in Cardiff….
Pisa: A one-trick pony?
Some cities are easy to define. Bilbao is the Guggenheim Museum, Jerez is sherry and Pisa is the leaning tower. Ask Mr or Mrs Average to name another reason for visiting any one of them and they’d struggle. That doesn’t mean they don’t have other attractions but while Pisa throbs with tourists, most of them…
The trick fountains of Schloss Hellbrunn in Austria
The Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg were a wealthy bunch. They ruled over their dinky city state, part of the Holy Roman Empire, for centuries before it was absorbed into Austria. And they built grand palaces and fortresses to prove to everyone just how important they were. Schloss Hellbrunn became their summer playground, a yellow jewel in…
Zell am See: Lake and mountains
Zell am See has masses of appeal. It’s a typical Alpine town with cuckoo clock chalets, a magical lake and glorious mountains. In winter the slopes are the preserve of skiers and boarders, in summer they’re the playground of hikers and bikers. We arrived in town for five days after a sunny July weekend in…
Heat and cold: Salzburg in summer
The irony about a city that celebrates Mozart with such uncontained commercial hysteria is that the young composer hated Salzburg. He couldn’t wait to escape the clutches of its Prince-Archbishop and find fame and freedom elsewhere. Wherever you look in Salzburg, Mozart’s ghost lurks. We landed at Mozart airport in our BA A319, we could…
Brussels and its bonkers Atomium
We could see the Atomium from our hotel room, far out to the north in the Brussels suburbs. Its stainless steel globes sparkled in the May sunshine, much as they have done since this bizarre symbol of the 1958 World’s Fair first opened. My late grandparents owned a souvenir model of one of Belgium’s more…
Brussels, beer and beautiful buildings
The Belgians have a reputation for being just a little bit boring, but I saw precious little proof of it during our city break in Brussels. A jazz festival was in full swing throughout the city and the squares were crowded with music fans, dancers and drinkers. In Place Sainte Catherine we joined them, beer…
Oktoberfest’s little sister and other Munich treats
So who knew that Oktoberfest had a junior sibling? Not me, that’s for sure. But with great good fortune we discovered its existence coincided with our May weekend break in Munich. However, with the beer cruelly not being served until 4pm we needed to find something to do to keep us occupied on what was…
Munich: Sausages, beer and history
Munich is proud of its native white sausage, the weisswurst – a staple of breakfasts across the city. But I don’t get it. It looks flabby and anaemic and tastes little better. The beer, on the other hand, is a triumph. No wonder tourists in their tens of thousands are drawn to the city, particularly…
A walk through Thessaloniki and its history
Thessaloniki looks impressive from the old city walls in the hills of Ano Poli. Beyond, the bay shimmers in the sunshine and the distant mountains are capped with snow. But the city is not quite as neat and tidy close up. Our walk from the centre to the upper town revealed evidence of decay, economic…
Thessaloniki: The second city of Greece
Thessaloniki was a surprise. I hadn’t expected it to have such a vibrant nightlife, so many stylish and busy bars and so much atmosphere. Perhaps, as a waitress told us over cold beers on a warm and sunny April afternoon, it’s because Thessaloniki is a city of students. There are tens of thousands of them in…