Travel | Europe & Asia Pacific | Smithsonian.com

Welcome to Seoul, the City of the Future

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 06:30:00 GMT

I’m being chauffeured through a parking garage above Seoul’s main train station with Minsuk Cho, who heads one of the city’s most innovative architectural practices, Mass Studies. We got into a car on the first floor, supposedly to whisk us away to a party, but as we wind up and around the spiral ramp of the dimly lit structure, we become more and more confused about exactly where the driver is taking us. Atop the garage, which didn’t seem glamorous inside or out, we are met by the blinding explosions of dozens of paparazzi flashes. The photographers aren’t stalking us, of course, but the Korean pop starlets who stride down the red carpet at the entrance to th

The Mooncake: A Treat, a Bribe or a Tradition Whose Time Has Passed?

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 03:10:14 GMT

Sienna Parulis-Cook had been living in China for nine months when, in the summer of 2007, she found herself in the belly of the country’s $1.42 billion mooncake industry. A Chinese bakery chain had hired the 22-year-old American to market their contemporary take on the traditional palm-sized pastry that’s widely popular in China. Soon Parulis-Cook was hawking mooncakes door-to-door at Beijing restaurants, and advertising them to multinational corporations that were keen to delight their Chinese employees. “It opened up a whole new world of mooncakes,” said Parulis-Cook from Beijing. Growing up in Vermont, Parulis-Cook had read tales of mooncake that made the palm

PHOTOS: The Best and Weirdest Roadside Dinosaurs

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 06:14:37 GMT

The concrete and plastic dinosaurs beside America's highways can be strange and beautiful. Tell us which one you think is the best

Nudity, Art, Sex and Death – Tasmania Awaits You

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 05:02:43 GMT

Even by Australian standards, Tasmania feels strange and remote. Lost at the continent’s southeastern tip—quite literally, down under—the island is a hauntingly beautiful expanse of gnarled forests and rugged mountains, where exotic flora and fauna have thrived in windswept isolation. Its colonial history verges on the gothic. As if the Australian penal colonies weren’t harsh enough, the British settled Tasmania in 1803 as a holding pen for its worst criminals—a gulag within the Antipodean gulag, whose convict work camps were renowned for their cruelty. By the 1820s, settlers were embarking on a brutal frontier war with the Tasmanian Aborigines, whose last mem

The Top 10 Places to See in Tasmania

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 05:03:02 GMT

With Tasmania's 3.4-million acres of protected wilderness, this alluring isle feels close to heaven—Tasmanian devils included

When Casanova Met Mozart

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 06:00:00 GMT

One of the vital epicenters of European culture, Prague has survived the wars of the last two centuries almost entirely intact. Today, the most atmospheric part of the city’s historic Old Town is the Malá Strana, or “Little Quarter” on the west bank of the river Vlatava: its quiet back alleys, which wind up past mansions and churches to Prague Castle, still have the haunted, Brothers Grimm appearance they had in the late 18th century. Here, it’s easy for visitors to still picture the likes of Giacamo Casanova, albeit in his twilight years, navigating Prague’s cobbled paths in his breeches and powdered wig, on one of his visits from nearby Castle Duchcov

The Forest Of The Future

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Singapore—known worldwide as the “Garden City” because it has more than 300 parks—is poised to become the “City in a Garden.” An ambitious project is converting 250 acres of waterfront property into a horticultural recreation area. The first section, Bay South, will open in June, boasting a forest of 18 “supertrees.” Ranging in height from 80 to 160 feet, the concrete and steel tree trunks are being covered with vertical planters that will hold more than 162,000 plants (some 200 species), while vast canopies made from metal rods will cool the area by providing shade. Seven of the supertrees are fitted with solar panels, which will collect el

Who Was Casanova?

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Purchased in 2010 for $9.6 million, a new record for a manuscript sale, the original version of Casanova’s erotic memoir has achieved the status of a French sacred relic. At least, gaining access to its famously risqué pages is now a solemn process, heavy with Old World pomp. After a lengthy correspondence to prove my credentials, I made my way on a drizzly afternoon to the oldest wing of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, a grandiose Baroque edifice on rue de Richelieu near the Louvre. Within those hallowed halls, built around a pair of ancien régime aristocratic mansions, I waited by marble statues of the greats of French literature, Rousseau, Moli&

Would You Like Some Salt and Pepper? How About 80,000 Shakers' Worth?

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:33:26 GMT

The next time you knock over a salt shaker and throw a pinch of the spilled grains over your left shoulder to ward off bad luck, bear in mind that at one time they would have formed part of someone’s wages. It’s amazing the things you learn when you least expect it. I’m getting an in-depth lecture about the world of salt, salt and pepper shakers, and salt cellars from Andrea Ludden, her son, Alex, and her daughter, Andrea, at their Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. And jolly interesting it is. Far from being just a wacky obsession by a Belgian lady with a fetish for salt shakers, Andrea Ludden’s collection of over 40,000 pairs (half in th

Evolution World Tour: Mendel's Garden, Czech Republic

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:57:26 GMT

For seven centuries, the skyline of Brno—the second-largest city in the Czech Republic—has been dominated by Spilberk Castle. Built on the summit of the highest hill in the city, it was one of Europe’s most notorious prisons, and a conspicuous warning to those who would oppose the rule of the Hapsburg dynasty. Yet, for many, the most impressive site in Brno is a four- acre patch of land near the base of the hill. This is where Gregor Mendel, a friar at the Augustinian Abbey of St. Thomas, spent eight growing seasons (1856-63) cultivating and breeding as many as 10,000 pea plants (Pisum sativum), and meticulously counting some 40,000 blossoms and 300,000 peas. His experim

Evolution World Tour: Jurassic Coast, England

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:56:51 GMT

Just down the shore from where children build sand castles and parents relax beneath brightly colored umbrellas, fossil hunters chip away, hoping to uncover a piece of England’s prehistoric past. They come to this section of the southern coast not only in summer, but also in winter, when heavy rains beat against the cliffs, washing away clay and revealing bones dating back hundreds of millions of years. “It’s incredibly easy to walk along the coast and find something no one has ever seen before,” says Paul Barrett, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London. The Jurassic Coast, as this region is known, stretches for almost 100 miles and en

Evolution World Tour: Kangaroo Island, Australia

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:53:03 GMT

Think about the tremendous diversity of mammals in the world: giraffes gamboling across the African savanna, wide-eyed lemurs climbing trees in Madagascar, narwhals poking their unicorn horns through the Arctic ice. They may seem to have little in common, but evolutionarily speaking, their differences are trivial. There are really only three ways to be a mammal, an animal characterized by hair, milk, a fused lower jaw and three bones in the middle ear. What distinguishes one mammal from another is how it bears its young. Giraffes, lemurs, narwhals and humans are all placental mammals, gestating fetuses internally. Marsupials, such as kangaroos, give birth to underdeveloped offspring that

Evolution World Tour: Foraminifera Sculpture Park, China

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:00:00 GMT

Bilal Haq, a marine geologist at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia, was visiting a lab in Qingdao, China, where fellow scientist Zheng Shouyi had completed a set of detailed, palm-size models of foraminifera—microscopic marine organisms with ornate shells. “When I saw those,” says Haq, “I said, ‘My God, those would make excellent sculptures.’” Being a “woman of action,” as Haq describes her, Zheng persuaded the Institute of Oceanology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the city government of Zhongshan (Zheng’s ancestral home) to establish a sculpture park devoted to foraminifera, or forams. Local artisans a

The Great Battles of History, in Miniature

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:50:41 GMT

Tucked away on a shelf in a salon of a 17th-century palacio in Valencia, Spain, is a diorama of a room in the house of a 15th-century nobleman. In it a group of tiny figures, each no more than two inches tall, stand beside a wooden table on which rests a golden crucifix and a leather case with metal studs. The figure of a lady in a blue dress and crown is conversing with someone across the table, an elegantly dressed man in a maroon jacket, green trousers and leather gaiters, with a sheathed dagger hanging from his belt. The scene depicts the moment Queen Isabella of Spain surrendered her jewels to a banker to provide funds for the building and equipping of the Niña, the Pinta and

Shanghai Gets Supersized

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 06:00:00 GMT

When building projects grew scarce in the United States a few years ago, the California architect Robert Steinberg opened an office in Shanghai. He says he didn’t understand the city until the night he dined with some prospective clients. “I was trying to make polite conversation and started discussing some political controversy that seemed important at the time,” he recalls. “One of the businessmen leaned over and said, ‘We’re from Shanghai. We care only about money. You want to talk politics, go to Beijing.’ ” When I visited Steinberg’s Shanghai office, he led me past cubicles packed with employees working late into the evening. &ldq

The Pilgrims Before Plymouth

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 06:00:00 GMT

A tour of the Dutch city of Leiden yields new insights into a chapter of the Thanksgiving story not taught in schools

Climate Change Tourism in Greenland

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 06:00:00 GMT

“When you’re flying into Greenland, you almost feel like you’re going into outer space,” says Molly Schriber, a 22-year-old Houston native and Elon University graduate, who visited the island last year on a weeklong study tour. “You look at the ice sheet, and it’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before.” More and more people are seeking that experience. Some 30,000 people reached Greenland on cruise ships in 2010— twice the number in 2004—with an estimated 30,000 more coming by air. What’s prompting many of these visits is global climate change; in 2010, according to the World Meteorological Organization, the temperature in G

Marvels of the Mughals

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 06:00:00 GMT

You have traveled all the way to see the Taj Mahal—now what? Fortunately, the city of Agra is dotted with spellbinding architecture

Ski the Vasaloppet in Sweden

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 03:58:03 GMT

One Swedish mile is equivalent to about 6.2 miles, and if that conversion is not enough to convince you that Swedes are known for endurance, then perhaps the Vasaloppet will. Every first Sunday in March, competitors from Sweden and around the world ski 56 miles (nine Swedish miles) along a narrow trail once described by Sports Illustrated as being “peeled like a thin strip of apple skin from the black forest pines.” The first Vasaloppet was held in 1922, at the urging of a Swedish newspaperman wanting to retrace the steps of Gustav Vasa, a former king who had made the trek from Salen to Mora in central Sweden 400 years earlier, before leading the fight for Sweden’s indep

Ride a Stage of the Tour de France

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 07:12:18 GMT

“Going up is fun, and it’s tortuous and you’re testing yourself, but going down is also fun, and dangerous and you’re torturing yourself,” says Brent Garrigus, an amateur cyclist from Encinitas, California, who rode a stage of the Tour de France. Every July, millions of spectators cheer on top professional cyclists over the 21-day race. The pros make a grand circuit of mountains and countryside covering more than 2,000 miles. When the route is clear before or after the race, cycling-mad fans can ride a stage themselves, either independently or in a group. For some, like Garrigus, the experience fulfills a lifetime dream. As a young BMX racer, he used to wake

Archaeology and Relaxation in Santorini

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:13:35 GMT

Some time ago, I gazed out from a balcony, peering over potted geraniums to the azure Aegean; it seemed, from my aerie, that I was perched at the edge of the world. And so I was, on edenic Santorini, the southernmost isle of the Cyclades. Its dramatic geography is unique, even in this corner of the classical world, where landscapes of rugged beauty rise up for travelers at every turn. Santorini’s villages cling to red-and-black cliffs, looking out on a nearly enclosed 400-foot-deep lagoon; this deep harbor was formed when a catastrophic volcanic eruption occurred some 3,600 years, creating a massive crater. Lawrence Durrell, the 20th-century expatriate British novelist who spent his

Antoni Gaudi’s Barcelona

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:48:56 GMT

During the late 19th century, Barcelona was Spain’s industrial center, a rapidly growing city whose municipal leaders sought to shape it into a modern, metropolitan capital. Architectural advancements, such as the development of reinforced concrete and the increasing availability of water, electricity and gas in individual homes, gave rise to a building boom that highlighted the region’s cultural revitalization. This era of prosperity and artistic flowering is embodied by the inimitable architecture of Antoni Gaudi. Between 1883 and 1926 Gaudi designed private residences, apartment buildings, public parks and worship spaces with fantastical, organic lines and lavish Art Nouvea

Iceland’s Volcanoes

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:03:37 GMT

Iceland is a geologic paradise. This almost (but not quite) Arctic island is only the size of Kentucky, but it hosts almost every kind of spectacular natural feature the planet can provide. Glaciers, geysers, colorful cliffs, fjords, faults, waterfalls, hot springs and oh, the volcanoes—shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes, table mountains, calderas, volcanic fissures. The earth is splitting apart in the middle of Iceland. Actually, it’s splitting apart along a ridge that runs north to south through the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The European continental plate is creeping eastward and the North American creeping westward, and new crust is bursting out of the cleft between the

The Serenity of the Outer Hebrides

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 04:04:41 GMT

The English author Samuel Johnson and his Scottish friend and biographer James Boswell set out for the Hebrides in 1773 “to find simplicity and wilderness” among the mist-covered islands off the northwest coast of Scotland. Rugged and remote, the Inner and Outer Hebrides boast a fierce natural beauty that continues to lure travelers, but it is the Outer Hebrides, known also as the Western Isles, that makes for a particularly compelling far-flung destination. Stretching some 130 miles, from the Isle of Lewis in the north to the terra firma specks of Mingulay and Berneray in the south, the archipelago comprises 119 islands roughly 30 miles west of the mainland. The Outer Hebride

The Ancient Architecture of Fatehpur Sikri

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:34:07 GMT

Akbar was the greatest of the Mughal emperors—a conqueror of cities, a good-governance reformer, a patron of the arts, a Muslim who tried to engage and accommodate the Hindus and Christians in his midst. He ruled for 51 years, from 1556 to 1605, extending his domain over most of northern and central India. And he left behind Fatehpur Sikri. This monumental complex embraces a palace, courtyards, gardens, gazebos, ceremonial gates, an artificial lake and the Jama Masjid, a mosque big enough for 10,000 worshipers. The buildings are made of the local red sandstone, and they reflect Akbar’s expansive worldview, incorporating Persian, Hindu and Muslim elements in their design and de

Berlin, Alive Again

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:29:07 GMT

A barometer of 20th century European history, Berlin is a city that is constantly reinventing itself. In the 1930s, sociologist Siegfried Kracauer observed: “Only in Berlin are the transformations of the past so radically stripped from memory.” It’s an ethos the city has maintained. In 2001, former French culture minister Jack Lang quipped, “Paris is always Paris, but Berlin is never Berlin.” Beginning as a trading outpost along the River Spree sometime in the 13th century, Berlin incorporated surrounding municipalities in 1920, creating its unique landscape, which ranges from bustling metropolitan areas to bucolic stretches of forests and parklands. An urban

How Charles Dickens Saw London

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 09:30:59 GMT

Seven Dials, in central London, is a good place to people-watch. Outside the Crown pub, ruddy men laugh loudly, sloshing their pints; shoppers’ heels click on cobblestones; and tourists spill bewildered out of a musical at the Cambridge Theatre. A column marks the seven-street intersection, and its steps make a sunny perch for gazing on the parade. Charles Dickens soaked up the scene here too, but saw something utterly different. Passing through in 1835, he observed “streets and courts [that] dart in all directions, until they are lost in the unwholesome vapour which hangs over the house-tops and renders the dirty perspective uncertain and confined.” There were drunken w

The Offbeat Museums of Europe

Tue, 17 May 2011 06:00:00 GMT

Despite the proliferation of eccentric little museum in this country in recent decades, the United States has no monopoly on them. Europe has a venerable tradition of odd private collections that can be traced back to the Renaissance, when gentlemen and scholars would create their own cabinets of curiosity, each one a miscellany of ancient relics, natural history “wonders” and offbeat artworks, to amaze and impress their friends. Some of these, like the collection of 17th- century scholar Elias Ashmole in Oxford, became so large that they expanded into museums that were ultimately opened to the public. (Ashmole’s oddities were the basis of the current Ashmolean Museum, fo

The Picturesque Torquay, England

Tue, 17 May 2011 06:00:00 GMT

“This was almost the last of Agatha Miller,” tour guide John Risdon tells me, looking toward a curving strip of beach and referring to the time that the future Agatha Christie nearly drowned. The young author-to-be spent countless summer weekends at Beacon Cove, at the northern edge of Torquay, a resort town in the county of Devon, in southwest England, and she was 13 when her attempt to rescue her young nephew, Jack Watts, almost did her in. (Jack reached a raft; Agatha was scooped up by an irascible codger manning an offshore boat, the Sea Horse, kept for such emergencies.) Risdon leads me along the Agatha Christie Mile in Torquay, where the author was born. The coastal town

Where Agatha Christie Dreamed Up Murder

Tue, 17 May 2011 06:00:00 GMT

On a crisp winter morning in Devon, England, sunlight streams through the floor-to-ceiling French windows of the manor house called Greenway, the secluded estate where Agatha Christie spent nearly every summer from 1938 until her death in 1976—and which opened to the public in February 2009. Gazing beyond a verdant lawn through bare branches of magnolia and sweet-chestnut trees, I glimpse the River Dart, glinting silver as it courses past forested hills. Robyn Brown, the house’s manager, leads me into the library. Christie’s reading chair sits by the window; a butler’s tray holds bottles of spirits; and a frieze depicting World War II battle scenes—incongruous

What to Do in Capri

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:58:55 GMT

Capri can be a bewildering place for first-time visitors. In summer, throngs of day-trippers arrive by ferry at the Marina Grande and flood Capri town, getting lost in the maze of crooked lanes that were once designed to confound marauding pirates. The most famous lookouts over the Fariglioni, the trio of giant rock spires jutting out of the Mediterranean, can feel as crowded as Shanghai train station. If at all possible, stay overnight on the island. Even better, remain several days. The extra time allows you to explore the remoter recesses of the island, revealing why Capri has bewitched writers throughout history, from the ancient Roman poet Statius to the Chilean Pablo Neruda. THE CE

The Lure of Capri

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 06:00:00 GMT

In most of the world, scheduling a concert for 6 a.m. would be eccentric, to say the least. Add that the venue is a cliff-side grotto reachable only by a half-hour hike, and it sounds almost perverse. Not so on Capri, the idyllic island in Italy’s Gulf of Naples whose natural beauty has drawn gatherings since Roman times. As tuxedoed waiters closed down the last cafés at 5:30 a.m., I accompanied an elderly Italian couple dressed as if for the opera through dark, empty plazas in the island’s town center, also called Capri. We came to a cobbled footpath that led to the grotto, turned on our flashlights and made our way past moonlit lemon groves and gated villas. It was a v

Touring Myanmar

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 09:17:03 GMT

Rangoon Rangoon, also known as Yangon, has changed dramatically from its circa-1980 days as an isolated socialist backwater. Today it is a modern if run-down city, with sushi bars, traffic jams, Internet cafes, and a thriving art-and-music scene. Hip-hop concerts occur throughout the year in both outdoor venues and night clubs, and at the city’s avant-garde galleries –the New Zero Art Studio on BoYar Nyunt Street in Dagon Township, the Lokanat Gallery and Inya Gallery - painters and video artists regularly test the junta’s censorship laws. Rangoon also abounds with timeless pleasures, most of all Shwedagon Pagoda, a thirty-story gilded temple built more than a thousand

A Taste of Sticky Rice, Laos’ National Dish

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:57:39 GMT

Luck was losing patience, and his stomach was grumbling like the diesel engine of the bus transporting him to northern Laos. He needed to eat sticky rice, he said, so badly! He checked his cellphone: No service. Slumping into his seat, he looked out the windows — but it was mid-November in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and in field after field, Laotian farmers were harvesting sticky rice and burning the discarded husks for fertilizer. Luck sighed. The smoky air carried a sweet, ricey aroma. It was the first day of a six-day, northbound journey from Vientiane, the tranquil capital, to a remote village near the Laos-China border. Luck — short for Vilayluck Onphanm

Warsaw on the Rise

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 07:00:00 GMT

It was as a student in Paris looking for a cheap travel adventure during Christmas break that I got my first glimpse of Warsaw. I had signed up with a couple of friends for a trip into Poland’s Tatra Mountains, and our second-class compartment on the night train was oppressively overheated until, shortly after midnight, cars holding Red Army officers were added in East Berlin, and the heat ceased entirely for the rest of us. Shivering and miserable, I disembarked before dawn at a bleak platform swept by fine needles of icy snow, backlit by large military-style floodlights on lofty stanchions. It was 1961. The air smelled of low-octane gasoline, the signature scent of urban Eastern E

Russ Juskalian on “Catching the Bamboo Train”

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 08:47:45 GMT

New York City-based freelancer Russ Juskalian has traveled extensively in Southeast Asia. In his first Smithsonian feature story, he writes about the norry, a makeshift bamboo platform rigged with a motor that is widely used on abandoned train tracks in Cambodia. This past June, Juskalian made a 170-mile trip by norry from Battambang to Phnom Penh. What did you learn about rural life in Cambodia? It was fascinating to me how this rail line that had been basically abandoned seemed like a corridor of activity. People would ride from one town to the next and set up a little market right by the side of the rail, which the villages seemed to be built around in certain places. I guess I kind o

A Walk Through Taxila

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 04:39:37 GMT

The ancient remains in Pakistan represent a glimpse into the history of two of India’s major religions

The Great Georgian Fruit Hunt

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 08:52:09 GMT

In the basins of the Mediterranean, the Black and the Caspian seas, they line the roadsides and populate the villages with the roguish persistence of weeds. They grow from Spanish castle walls, the bellies of Roman bridges, and the cobblestones of Muslim mosques. They grow in neatly arranged orchards, while volunteer seedlings sprout from cracks in the walls and splits in the sidewalks. Few people look twice at a fig tree in western Asia, where the trees are as common as people themselves. Late each summer, the branches sag with the weight of the crop, and on the sidewalks below, fallen figs accumulate in carpets of jammy, sticky paste. Locals eat what they can, both fresh and dried. Other

A Walk Through Old Japan

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 06:00:00 GMT

“It is so quiet on the Kiso that it gives you a strange feeling,” Bill read, translating from a roadside sign in Japanese. Just then a truck roared past. My friend Bill Wilson and I were standing at the northern end of the old Kiso Road, which here has been replaced by modern Route 19. It was a sunny fall morning, and we had taken the train from Shiojiri, passing schoolgirls wearing blue uniforms and carrying black satchels, to Hideshio, a kind of way station between plains and mountains. With backpacks buckled, we had headed off into the hills. Now we were walking south along the highway, separated by a guardrail from the speeding traffic. For centuries, the 51-mile Kiso Roa

Jeu de Paume: Holding Court in Paris

Wed, 19 May 2010 09:23:54 GMT

In late April, small trucks filled with orange-red clay lined up near Roland Garros, a large tennis complex in the western outskirts of Paris. Throughout the grounds, workers were moving from court to court, meticulously laying down the clay, a mixture of crushed tile and brick, and chalking lines. They were preparing the signature look for this month’s French Open. At nearly 120 years old, the Open is a venerable institution with rich history, but its longevity pales in comparison with the game of tennis that’s being played in the city’s 16th arrondissement, about three miles northeast. At 74 rue Lauriston, a staid Haussmannian building like others in the quarter, a si

In Kyoto, Feeling Forever Foreign

Thu, 20 May 2010 06:00:00 GMT

It was a little more than 25 years ago that I first walked the streets of Gion, the centuries-old geisha district of Kyoto. I was jet-lagged—just off the plane from California on my way to India—and everything seemed alien: the signs were in four separate alphabets, people read books from right to left (and back to front) and most, I heard, took baths at night. Yet something got through to me as I walked the streets under the shadow of the ancient capital’s eastern hills, saw pairs of slippers neatly lined up at restaurant entrances and heard, through an upstairs window, the bare, plaintive sound of a plucked koto. So much in this historic Japanese

St. Mark’s Square Walking Tour

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

St. Mark’s Basilica dominates the square with its Byzantine-style onion domes and glowing mosaics. Mark Twain said it looked like “a vast warty bug taking a meditative walk.” To the right of the basilica is its 300-foot-tall Campanile. Between the basilica and the Campanile, you can catch a glimpse of the pale-pink Doge’s Palace. Lining the square are the former government offices (procuratie) that administered the Venetian empire’s vast network of trading outposts, which stretched all the way to Turkey. The square is big, but it feels intimate with its cafés and dueling orchestras. By day, it’s great for people-watching and pigeon—chasing.

Crawling Through Venice’s Cicchetti Pubs

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

Venice, while once a European superpower, today, is just a small town of about 60,000 people. Yet it entertains more than 10 million visitors a year. On my last trip, a Venetian friend confided in me that there are no truly “un-touristy restaurants” left in Venice. He said to stay in business these days every restaurant must cater to tourists. Then, with a twinkle in his eye, he added, “But there are still the cicchetti bars.” Venice has a wonderful tradition of cicchetti (pronounced chi-KET-tee) — the local appetizers that line the counters of little pubs all over town at the end of each workday. When in town, my favorite meal is what I call “The Stand

Getting Around Venice by Vaporetto

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

The Venice public-transit system is a fleet of motorized bus-boats called vaporetti. They work like city buses except that they never get a flat, the stops are docks, and if you get off between stops, you might drown. For most travelers, only two vaporetti lines matter: Line #1 and line #2. These lines go up and down the Grand Canal, between the “mouth of the fish” at one end and San Marco at the other. Line #1 is the slow boat, taking 45 minutes and making every stop along the way. Line #2 is the fast boat that zips down the Grand Canal in 25 minutes, stopping only at Tronchetto (parking lot), Piazzale Roma (bus station), Ferrovia (train station), San Marcuola, Rialto Bridge,

Seeing Venice Via Gondola

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

Two hundred years ago, there were 10,000 gondolas in Venice. Although the aristocracy preferred horses to boats through the early Middle Ages, beginning in the 14th century, when horses were outlawed from the streets of Venice, the noble class embraced gondolas as a respectable form of transportation. The boats became the way to get around the lagoon’s islands. To navigate over the countless shifting sandbars, the boats were flat (no keel or rudder) and the captains stood up to see. Today, there are just 500 gondolas, used only by tourists. The boats are prettier, but they work the same way they always have. Single oars are used both to propel and to steer the boats, which are buil

A Walking Tour of Tallinn

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

This walk explores the “two towns” of Tallinn. The city once consisted of two feuding medieval towns separated by a wall. The upper town—on the hill, called Toompea—was the seat of government ruling Estonia. The lower town was an autonomous Hanseatic trading center filled with German, Danish, and Swedish merchants who hired Estonians to do their menial labor. Two steep, narrow streets—the “Long Leg” and the “Short Leg”—connect Toompea and the lower town. This walk winds through both towns, going up the short leg and down the long leg. If you’re coming from the ferry terminal, you’ll enter the town at #1 (see map). If

Estonia’s Singing Revolution

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

When just a million people lived in this humble county lodged between Russia and Germany (and dealt with tyrants such as Stalin and Hitler), it was a challenge to simply survive as a nation. Estonia was free from 1920 to 1939. Then they had a 50-year German/Russian nightmare. While forced to be part of the Soviet Union, Estonian culture was besieged. Moscow wouldn’t allow locals to wave their flag or sing their patriotic songs. Russians were moved in and Estonians were shipped out in an attempt to “Russify” the country. But as cracks began to appear in the USSR, the Estonians mobilized by singing. In 1988, 300,000 Estonians gathered at the Song Festival Grounds outside o

Sailing to Estonia

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

Sailing from Stockholm to Tallinn Tallink’s ships leave Stockholm at 19:00 every evening and arrive in Tallinn at 10:00 the next morning. Return trips leave Tallinn at 18:00 and arrive in Stockholm at 10:00. All times are local (Tallinn is an hour ahead of Stockholm). Fares vary by the day and season—highest on Friday nights and from July 1 to August 15; lowest on Sunday through Wednesday nights the rest of the year. I’ve given high/low prices here in Swedish currency (7 kr = about $1). A one-way berth in a four-person cabin with a private bath costs 500/300 kr on the Regina Baltica, 600/400 kr on the Victoria. Round-trip prices cost only a little more: 600/400 kr on th

Navigating the Paris Metro

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

Paris’ Métro is one of Europe’s great bargains. Hopping from railed strand to railed strand, you pass musicians pulling Brahms out of plugged-in cellos and beggars with greasy hair pasted to their faces. Hoping for step-across-the-track transfers, you end up on 500 yards of moving sidewalk sliding past a parade of meaningless ads repeated and repeated and repeated. And budget travelers — the kind who eat too much at a buffet — delight in the thought that you could go around and around forever on just one ticket! Waiting for my train, I peer down the tunnel. In the distance is another subterranean bubble, a hamlet of light with more people waiting for the sam

Circling in on Paris’ Arc d’Triomphe

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

I have a ritual when in Paris. I ask my taxi-driver to take me around the Arc de Triomphe two times. My cabbie plunges into the grand traffic circle where a dozen boulevards converge on this mightiest of triumphal arches. Like referees at gladiator camp, traffic cops are stationed at each entrance to this traffic circus, letting in bursts of eager cars. Each time, being immersed in the crazy traffic with my cabbie so in control makes me laugh out loud. In the mid-19th century, Baron Haussmann set out to make Paris the grandest city in Europe. The 12 arterials that radiate from the Arc de Triomphe were part of his master plan: the creation of a series of major boulevards, intersecting at d

Ostia Antica: Rome’s Ancient Port

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

Sitting on the top row of the ancient arena, I scan the ruins of Ostia, letting my imagination take me back 2,000 years to the days when this was ancient Rome’s seaport, a thriving commercial center of 60,00 people. I marvel also at how few visitors make the simple commuter train trip from downtown Rome to what I consider the most underappreciated sight in all of Italy. Ostia Antica, just 30 minutes from the Colosseum, offers ancient thrills to rival Pompeii (which is 4 hours south of Rome). Wandering around the ruins today, you’ll see the remains of the docks, warehouses, apartment flats, mansions, shopping arcades, and baths—all giving a peek at Roman lifestyles. Osti

Naples: Italy in the Extreme

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

Naples, just two hours south of Rome, has long been a symbol of chaos, stress, and culture shock for European travelers. I remember my first visit as a wide-eyed 18-year-old to this quintessential southern Italian city. My travel buddy and I stepped off the train into the same vast Piazza Garibaldi that 35 years later still strikes visitors as a big paved hellhole. On that first trip, a man in a white surgeons’ gown approached me and said, “Please, we need blood for a dying baby.” We immediately did a U-turn, stepped back into the station, and made a beeline for Greece. Today, even with its new affluence and stress on law and order, Naples remains uniquely thrilling. Wit

Salzburg’s Hohensalzburg Fortress

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

Built on a rock (called Festungsberg) 400 feet above the Salzach River, this fortress was never really used. That’s the idea. It was a good investment--so foreboding, nobody attacked the town for a thousand years. The city was never taken by force, but when Napoleon stopped by, Salzburg wisely surrendered. After a stint as a military barracks, the fortress was opened to the public in the 1860s by Emperor Franz Josef. Today, it remains one of Europe’s mightiest castles, dominating Salzburg’s skyline and offering incredible views. Cost: Your daytime funicular ticket includes admission to the fortress grounds and all the museums inside--whether you want to see them or not (

Kalmar Castle: Sweden’s Royal Hub

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

This moated castle is one of Europe’s great medieval experiences. The imposing exterior, anchored by stout watchtowers and cuddled by a lush park, houses a fine Renaissance palace interior. Built in the 12th century, the castle was enlarged and further fortified by the great King Gustav Vasa (r. 1523–1560), and lived in by two of his sons, Erik XIV and Johan III. In the 1570s, Johan III redecorated the castle in the trendy Renaissance style, giving it its present shape. Kalmar Castle remained a royal hub until 1658, when the Swedish frontier shifted south and the castle lost its strategic importance. Kalmar Castle was neglected, being used as a prison, distillery, and granary.

Château de Chambord: 440 Rooms of Royal Opulence

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

With its huge scale and prickly silhouette, Château de Chambord is the granddaddy of all châteaux in the Loire. It’s surrounded by Europe’s largest enclosed forest park, a game preserve defined by a 20-mile-long wall and teeming with wild deer and boar. Chambord (shahn-bor) began as a simple hunting lodge for bored Blois counts and became a monument to the royal sport and duty of hunting. (Apparently, hunting was considered important to keep the animal population under control and the vital forests healthy.) The château, six times the size of most, has 440 rooms, and a fireplace for every day of the year. It consists of a keep in the shape of a Greek cross, w

Castle Architecture

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

A castle is a fortified residence for a medieval noble. Castles come in all shapes and sizes, but knowing a few general terms will help you understand them. The Keep (or Donjon): A high, strong stone tower in the center of the castle complex that was the lord's home and refuge of last resort. Great Hall: The largest room in the castle, serving as throne room, conference center, and dining hall. The Yard (or Bailey or Ward): An open courtyard inside the castle walls. Loopholes: Narrow slits in the walls (also called embrasures, arrow slits, or arrow loops) through which soldiers could shoot arrows at the enemy. Towers: Tall structures serving as lookouts, chapels, living quarters, or t

Trebon: Yellow Lampposts and Czech Fly Paper

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

A strip of honey-colored fly paper spirals down from a thumbtack, anchored in midair by its now- empty canister. Speckled with lifeless flies, it swings each time the violin bow pokes it. It’s very tight quarters as the string quartet plays everything from Bach and Smetana to Czech folk favorites and 1930s anti-fascism blues. The string bass player grooves like a white Satchmo--his bow sliding in and out between diners. My sweater is just in the way. I’m eating pork and potatoes in a small-town pub in Trebon, south of Prague and a world away. It could be just about any small town in Eastern Europe...but definitely not Western Europe. What we think of as Eastern Europe (more c

Stinky Cheese in Olomouc

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

In the hearty town pub, egged on by the locals around me, I order the "Guttery Breath of the Knight of Lostice"--Olomouc's infamous stinky cheese. It comes with a lid, mints, and the offer of a toothbrush. (The fun-loving menu notes they only have one toothbrush, so please leave it.) Olomouc (pronounced OH-la-mootz), the capital of Moravia in the east of the Czech Republic, is known for its cheese. Non-Moravian Czechs figure there are two types of people in the world: Olomouc cheese-lovers and sane people. The syrečky cheese--which is aged under hunks of meat--is so much part of this region's identity that when the European Union tried to forbid the product, the Czech government

Czech Beer

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

Czechs are among the world’s most enthusiastic beer (pivo) drinkers--adults drink an average of 80 gallons a year. The pub is a place to have fun, complain, discuss art and politics, talk hockey, and chat with locals and visitors alike. The pivo that was drunk in the country before the Industrial Revolution was much thicker, providing the main source of nourishment for the peasant folk. Even today, it doesn’t matter whether you’re in a restaurace (restaurant), a hostinec (pub), or a hospoda (bar)--a beer will land on your table upon the slightest hint to the waiter, and a new pint will automatically appear when the old glass is almost empty. (You must tell the waiter not

Getting Your Buzz with Turkish Coffee

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

If you're a coffee drinker, you're in for a treat...or a shock...when you travel to Turkey. The phrase "Turkish coffee" refers not to a type of coffee, but to the way the coffee is prepared: The coffee grounds float freely in the brew, leaving behind a layer of "mud" at the bottom of the cup. But there's more to it than just coffee grounds and water. Traditionally, coffee is added to cold water in a copper pot. (Some use hot or lukewarm water, to speed up the process, but you can taste the difference—Turks called this speedy version "dishwater.") The coffee-and-water mixture is stirred and slowly heated over medium heat. Just before the water boils, the

Buying a Carpet in Istanbul

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

If you want to buy a Turkish carpet, it’s worth knowing a bit about what you’re looking for--if only to avoid advertising your inexperience. For example, folding a carpet to check the knots will not only give you away as a novice, but can actually ruin the carpet if it’s silk. Rubbing a carpet with a piece of wet tissue to test its colorfastness is akin to licking a shirt before you buy it. And beware of shopkeepers who stress “authenticity” over quality. Authenticity is an important consideration when shopping for traditional wool-on-wool carpets. But for wool-on-cotton or silk-on-silk, it can actually be better to get a piece made with newer techniques, whic

Montenegro’s Bay of Kotor

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

An hour’s drive south of Dubrovnik, I cross into the tiny and new country of Montenegro. Driving along the fjord-like Bay of Kotor, the humble town of Perast catches my attention. In front of the church, young hunks clad in swim trunks jockey to take tourists out on dinghies to the island in the middle of the bay. According to legend, fishermen saw Mary in the reef and began a ritual of dropping a stone on the spot every time they sailed by. Eventually the island we see today was created, and upon that island was built a fine little “Our Lady of the Rocks” Church. I hired a Montenegrin dinghy captain, cruised out, and was met by an English-speaking young woman. (The lang

Rick Steves' Europe: Venice, Italy

Tue, 04 May 2010 09:40:51 GMT

Piazza San Marco—the storied square punctuated by its 11th century basilica, looming bell tower and flocks of pigeons—endures as an awe-inspiring portal to the city’s many splendors

Rick Steves’ Europe: Rue Cler, Paris, France

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:48 GMT

The “best little street in Paris” offers tasty cheese, delectable pastries, vegetable stalls and old-fashioned merchants as an irresistible slice of authentic neighborhood life

Rick Steves' Europe: Rome, Italy

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:47 GMT

An after-dark walk takes in the Eternal City’s most famous fountains, grand palaces, a soaring temple, candlelit outdoor cafes and street musicians

Rick Steves' Europe: Prague, Czech Republic

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:47 GMT

The city's historic core is an exquisitely preserved showcase of Czech culture, including Art Nouveau architecture and some of the best beer in Europe

Rick Steves' Europe: Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:47 GMT

A decade and a half after an ethnic war, Bosnia and Herzegovina's most inviting city is re-emerging as a tourist destination

Rick Steves' Europe: Medieval Castles

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:47 GMT

Ancient fortresses offer glimpses of medieval brutality and 19th-century Romanticism

Rick Steves' Europe: Istanbul, Turkey

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:47 GMT

A bustling modern metropolis, the Turkish city also reminds travelers that the charm of traditional cultures is still something to value

The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly on the... Sierra Nevadas?

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:00:02 GMT

The sun was setting and the cow was gone. On all sides, Spain's snow-capped Sierra Nevadas reminded us that the day’s spring warmth would turn cold at nightfall. We were lost. “Not lost,” insisted my friend Danielle. After all, we knew how we’d gotten here—we’d been forced to stray from the official high road when it ended in a precipice, the result of a landslide that had washed away the trail. We had descended to an alternate route, where we found the rocky remnants of the slide and no sign of an expected bridge over the riverbed’s raging current. A brief cow sighting had given us hope that we could make it up the opposite slope slightly fart

Rick Steves' Europe: Aero, Denmark

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:48 GMT

On this small island on the south edge of Denmark, visitors wander down picturesque streets of thatched cottages and savor the coastal views

Rick Steves' Europe: Algarve, Portugal

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:47 GMT

On Portugal's south coast, The Algarve is home to both sun-seeking tourists and working fishermen with their colorful boats

Rick Steves' Europe: Baden-Baden, Germany

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:47 GMT

The park-like city of Baden-Baden, nestled in the Black Forest, is renowned for its restorative spas and elegant casino

Rick Steves' Europe: Blackpool, England

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:47 GMT

Home to a giant amusement park, a vintage trolley and an old-time variety show, Blackpool is northwest England's glittering beach city

Rick Steves' Europe: Bruges, Belgium

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:47 GMT

Belgium's exquisitely preserved medieval city is home to picturesque canals, gilded architecture, great beer and handcrafted chocolate

Rick Steves' Europe: Cinque Terre, Italy

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:48 GMT

Italy's answer to the French Riviera offers swimming, hiking, romance and relaxation along the Mediterranean

Rick Steves' Europe: Cotswold Villages, England

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:47 GMT

The storybook countryside of hedgerows, grazing sheep, thatched-roof cottages and stately homes harks back to the days of the medieval wool trade

Rick Steves' Europe: Dingle, Ireland

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:48 GMT

On western Ireland's remote and rugged peninsula, traditional Irish culture thrives in a land where musicians converge on pubs and a whiff of peat scents the air

Rick Steves' Europe: Florence, Italy

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:48 GMT

In Florence, Michelangelo's masterpiece epitomizes the heroic power and surpassing artistry of the Renaissance

Rick Steves' Europe: Gimmelwald, Switzerland

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:48 GMT

On a mountainside above the Lauterbrunnen Valley, it's still possible to find Swiss traditions in a 700-year-old hamlet populated by contented cows and hospitable villagers

Rick Steves' Europe: Hallstatt, Austria

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:47 GMT

When Austrians want to enjoy the great outdoors, they head for a region of forested slopes, beckoning trails—and great fishing

Rick Steves' Europe: Hydra, Greece

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:47 GMT

For those willing to follow the uphill lanes, this Greek island offers tradition, magnificent views of the harbor and a relaxing vacation spot

Rick Steves' Europe: Tallinn, Estonia

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:50:48 GMT

Dominated by the Soviets for 50 years, the Estonian capital boasts medieval architecture and signature chic that attracts travelers drawn by Old World character

Affording Copenhagen

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

While my B&B hostess explained at breakfast that I should pour the granola over the thick yogurt, she decorated another traveler’s crispy flatbread with a pickled herring. The hostess, who rents rooms in her Copenhagen flat, then told us that she puts the foil on the breakfast table so her guests wouldn't feel guilty about sneaking away with a sandwich for lunch. The Danes creatively share ways for travelers to sample their culture without going broke. Staying in a B&B lets me travel better because of--not in spite of--my tight budget. While the cheapest Danish hotels cost much more, I enjoy double the cultural intimacy and just as much comfort for about half the price (arou

Aero Island Bike Ride (or Car Tour)

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

This 18-mile trip shows you the best of this windmill-covered island’s charms. The highest point on the island is only 180 feet above sea level, but the wind can be strong and the hills seem long. This ride is good exercise. Rent a bike in town. While my map and instructions work, a local cycle map is helpful (free loaner maps if you rent from Pilebaekkens Cykler or buy one at the TI). Or it could be fun and easy--though pricier--to rent an electric car from the tourist information office. • Leave Aeroskobing to the west on the road to Vra (Vravejen, signed Bike Route #90). Leaving Aeroskobing: You’ll see the first of many U-shaped farms, typical of Denmark. The three si

Portugal: One Foot in the Past and One in the Future

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

With its membership in the European Union, many things are changing in Portugal. Day after day the roads here were messing up my itinerary--I’d arrive in town hours before I thought I would. I remember a time when there were absolutely no freeways in Portugal. Now, the country has plenty. They build them so fast, even my Michelin map is missing new ones. There are other signs that Portugal is well into its EU upgrade. In the past, open fish stalls lined the streets; now they’ve been moved into “more hygienic” covered shops. Widows no longer wear black. Rather than crusty old locals doing the hard work, you see lots of immigrant laborers. Yet, in spite of the EU, P

Cape Sagres

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

In the days before Columbus, when the world was presumed to be flat, this rugged southwestern tip of Portugal was the spot closest to the edge of the Earth. Prince Henry the Navigator, determined to broaden Europe’s horizons and spread Catholicism, founded his navigators’ school here, and sent sailors ever further into the unknown. Shipwrecked and frustrated explorers were carefully debriefed as they washed ashore. Portugal’s “end of the road” is two distinct capes. Windy Cape St. Vincent is actually the most southwestern tip. It has a desolate lighthouse (currently closed for restoration) that marks what was referred to even in prehistoric times as “th

Rothenburg: The Best of Medieval Germany

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

Twenty-five years ago, I fell in love with a Rothenburg (ROE-ten-burg) in the rough. At that time, the town still fed a few farm animals within its medieval walls. Today its barns are hotels, its livestock are tourists, and Rothenburg is well on its way to becoming a medieval theme park. But Rothenburg is still Germany's best-preserved walled town. Countless travelers have searched for the elusive "untouristy Rothenburg." There are many contenders (such as Michelstadt, Miltenberg, Bamberg, Bad Windsheim, and Dinkelsbühl), but none holds a candle to the king of medieval German cuteness. Even with crowds, overpriced souvenirs, a Japanese-speaking night watchman, and, yes, eve

Frankfurt—No Longer Bankfurt

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

Cosmopolitan Frankfurt, while low on Old World charm, offers a good look at today’s no-nonsense, modern Germany. If you’re a budget traveler, you’ll likely fly into or out of this major hub for discount airlines. With its forest of skyscrapers perched on the banks of the Main River, Frankfurt has been dubbed Germany’s “Mainhattan.” Its banking district includes the twin towers of Deutsche Bank, the Euro Tower (home of the European Central Bank), and the headquarters of Commerzbank, designed by Norman Foster (of Berlin Reichstag fame). This 985-foot skyscraper has nine winter gardens spiraling up its core and windows that actually open. It’s consid

A Guide to Mysterious Britain

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

Stonehenge, Holy Grail, Avalon, Loch Ness...there’s a mysterious side of Britain steeped in lies, legends, and at least a little truth. Haunted ghost walks and Nessie the Monster stories are profitable tourist gimmicks. But the cultural soil that gives us Beowulf, Shakespeare, and “God Save the Queen” is fertilized with a murky story that goes back to 3000 B.C., predating Egypt’s first pyramids. As today’s sightseers zip from castle to pub, they pass countless stone circles, forgotten tombs, man-made hills, and figures carved into hillsides whose stories will never be fully understood. Certain traveling druids skip the beefeater tours and zero right in on thi

Brighton: Fun, Sun, and Candy Floss

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

I’m fond of simple-and-simply-fun coastal resort towns in England. My favorite is Blackpool, but if you’re not heading that far north, consider Brighton, near London. Brighton is South England’s fun city and the destination for students, bohemians, and blue-collar Londoners looking to go “on holiday.” In 1840, a train connected the city to London, making the beach accessible to the masses for the first time. Since then, Brighton has become “London by the Sea.” Whether wind, rain, or shine, it’s where people come for a good time—and a fine toffee apple. And though the town has grown a little shabby, Brighton still knows how to crank out

Brussels: One of Europe’s Great Travel Secrets

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

Six hundred years ago, Brussels was just a nice place to stop and buy a waffle on the way to France. Today, it’s a city of 1.8 million, the capital of Belgium, the headquarters of NATO, and the political center of the European Union. It may be easy to skip as you zip from Amsterdam to Paris by train, but its rich brew of food and culture pleasantly surprise those who stop. Its magnificent grand square, rightly named La Grand Place, alone makes a visit worthwhile. The city is still buzzing over its new Magritte Museum. With more than 250 paintings, it has the world’s largest collection of works by surrealist René Magritte, who famously painted a picture of a pipe and wrot

The Love Story Behind the Via dell’Amore

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

The Cinque Terre towns were extremely isolated until the last century. Villagers rarely married anyone from outside their town. After the blasting of the second train line in the 1920s, a trail was made between the first two towns: Riomaggiore and Manarola. A gunpowder warehouse was built along the way, safely away from the townspeople. (That building is today’s Bar dell’Amore.) Happy with the trail, the villagers asked that it be improved as a permanent connection between neighbors. But persistent landslides kept the trail closed more often than it was open. After World War II, the trail was reopened, and became established as a lovers’ meeting point for boys and girls

A Guided Walking Tour of Vernazza

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

This tour includes Vernazza’s characteristic town squares, and ends on its scenic breakwater. From the train station, walk uphill until you hit the parking lot, with a bank, a post office, and a barrier that keeps out all but service vehicles. Vernazza’s shuttle buses run from here to the parking lot and into the hills. Walk to the tidy, modern square called... Fontana Vecchia: Named after a long-gone fountain, this is where older locals remember the river filled with townswomen doing their washing. Now they enjoy checking on the baby ducks. The trail leads up to the cemetery. Imagine the entire village sadly trudging up here during funerals. (The cemetery is peaceful and evoc

Austria Delights Music Lovers

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

Music lovers find special delights in Austria. In Salzburg at my favorite hotel, I lay in bed a hundred meters from Mozart’s Dad. He’s just outside my window in the graveyard of the St. Sebastian church. When in town, I like sleeping within easy earshot of its bells. The bells of Salzburg ring with a joyful exuberance. They wouldn’t if its citizens didn’t like it that way. And by scheduling a Sunday in Salzburg, I enjoy a music-filled Mass in the first great Baroque church north of the Alps. And this is not just any church music. The 10 a.m. Mass often comes with both a choir and an orchestra. They pack the loft turning the church’s back wall into a wall of s

Hall: In the Shadow of Innsbruck

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

It’s a brisk mountain morning in the Tirolean town of Hall. Merchants in aprons hustle, and roses, peppers, and pears fill their tidy street-side stalls, competing for my photograph. There’s not a tourist in sight. They’re all five miles up the river, in Innsbruck. Just as Hallstatt is the small-town escape from Salzburg, Hall is the place to go if you want the natural surroundings of Innsbruck without the big city. Vagabuddies, who enjoy the cheap accommodations in Innsbruck, do Hall as a day trip. Hall was a rich salt-mining center when Innsbruck was just a humble bridge (Brücke) town on the Inn River. Sprawling Innsbruck’s tourist industry crowds into its

Wining and Dining in Vienna

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

If any European capital knows how to enjoy the good life, it’s Vienna. Compared to most modern urban centers, the pace of life here is slow. Locals linger over pastry and coffee at cafés. Concerts and classical music abound. And chatting with friends at a wine garden is not a special event but a way of life. For many Viennese, the living room is down the street at the neighborhood coffeehouse, which offers light lunches, fresh pastries, a wide selection of newspapers, and “take all the time you want” charm (just beware of the famously grumpy waiters). Each coffeehouse comes with its own individual character. Café Sperl dates from 1880, and is still furnishe

The "Cow Culture" of Switzerland's Berner Oberland

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

Walking high above Gimmelwald, my favorite Swiss village, with Olle, who teaches in the village school, I always feel like a wide-eyed student. We meet a massive cow loitering atop a fairytale ridge, and I can’t help but wonder where he keeps his camera. Olle tells me that even cows become victims of the mountains, occasionally wandering off cliffs. He says, “Alpine farmers expect to lose some of their cows in ‘hiking accidents.’ These days cows are double the weight of cows a hundred years ago...and no less stupid. If one wanders off a cliff in search of greener grass, the others follow. One time at the high Alp above our village, 40 cows performed this stunt. The

Chipping Campden Walk

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

This 500-yard walk through “Campden” (as locals call their town) takes you from the tourist information office (TI) to the church in about 30 minutes. If it’s open, begin at the Magistrate’s Court (can be closed for meetings, events, and even weddings). This meeting room is in the old police station, located above the TI (free, same hours as TI, ask at TI to go up). Under the open-beamed courtroom, you’ll find a humble little exhibit on the town’s history. Campden’s most famous monument, the Market Hall, stands in front of the TI, marking the town center. It was built in 1627 by the 17th-century Lord of the Manor, Sir Baptist Hicks. (Look for the

Fun Sights in the Cotswolds

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

When you’re out and about in the Cotswolds, here are some delightful places to visit. Keith Harding’s World of Mechanical Music—In 1962, Keith Harding, tired of giving ad-lib “living room tours,” opened this delightful little one-room place. It offers a unique opportunity to listen to 300 years of amazing self-playing musical instruments. It’s run by people who are passionate about the restoration work they do on these musical marvels. The curators delight in demonstrating about 20 of the museum’s machines with each hour-long tour. You’ll hear Victorian music boxes and the earliest polyphones (record players) playing cylinders and then discs

Go Left, Young Man: Driving in Great Britain and Ireland

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

While most first-time visitors to Europe choose to travel by train, consider the convenience of driving. Behind the wheel you’re totally free, going where you want, when you want. Driving in the British Isles is wonderful—once you remember to stay on the left and after you’ve mastered the roundabouts. But be warned: Every year I get some emails from traveling readers advising me that, for them, trying to drive in Great Britain and Ireland was a nerve-wracking and regrettable mistake. Here’s a tip: If you want to get a little slack on the roads, drop by a gas station or auto shop and buy a green “P” (probationary driver with license) sign to put in your

Ireland's Blasket Islands

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

If you’re touring the Dingle Peninsula, visit the Blasket Islands if you have time and an interest in Irish heritage. Start by visiting the Great Blasket Centre, then take a boat to the islands. Great Blasket Centre This center, on the mainland facing the islands, is an essential stop before visiting the islands—or a good place to learn about them without making the crossing. This state-of-the-art Blascaod and Gaelic heritage center gives visitors the best look possible at the language, literature, and way of life of Blasket Islanders. The building’s award-winning design mixes interpretation and the surrounding countryside. Its spine, a sloping village lane, leads to a

Pubs: Ireland's Watering Holes

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

Pubs are a basic part of the Irish social scene, and, whether you're a teetotaler or a beer-guzzler, they should be a part of your travel here. "Pub" is short for "public house." It's an extended living room where, if you don't mind the stickiness, you can feel the pulse of Ireland. Smart travelers use the pubs to eat, drink, get out of the rain, watch the latest sporting event, and make new friends. Unfortunately, many city pubs have been afflicted with an excess of brass, ferns, and video games. The most traditional atmospheric pubs are in the countryside and smaller towns. Pub grub gets better every year—it's Ireland's best eating value. For around $15–

Dingle Peninsula Loop Trip

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

The Dingle Peninsula loop trip is about 30 miles (47 km) long and must be driven in a clockwise direction. It’s easy by car, or it’s a demanding four hours by bike—if you don’t stop. Cyclists should plan on an early start (preferably by 9:00) to allow for enough sightseeing and lunch/rest time. While you can take a basic guided tour of the peninsula, my self-guided tour makes it unnecessary. A fancy map is also not necessary with my instructions. I’ve provided distances to help locate points of interest. Just like Ireland’s speed-limit signs, Ireland’s car speedometers and odometers have gone metric in recent years. I’ve given distances belo

Tuning In to Tasty Italy

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

Recently when I was in Tuscany, a region fiercely proud of its beef, I sunk my teeth into a carnivore's dream come true. In a stony cellar, under one long, tough vault, I joined a local crowd for dinner. The scene was powered by an open fire in the far back of the vault. Flickering in front of the flames was a gurney, upon which lay a huge hunk of beef. Like a blacksmith in hell, Giulio—a lanky man in a T-shirt—hacked at the beef with a cleaver, lopping off a steak every few minutes. In a kind of mouth-watering tango, he pranced past the boisterous tables of customers, holding a raw slab of beef on butcher's paper like a tray of drinks. Giulio presented the slabs to each table

Siena and its Crazy Horse Race

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

Siena, Florence’s next-door neighbor, seems to be every Italy connoisseur’s pet town. More than a sum of places to see, Siena itself is the sight. Grab a gelato, join in the evening stroll, and end up at the town’s glorious red-brick main square, Il Campo. Lean up against a pillar as the setting sun plays games with the colors of the stone and the sky. At twilight, first time poets savor that magic moment when the sky turns into a rich blue dome no brighter than the medieval tower that holds it high. Seven hundred years ago, Siena was a major military power in a class with Florence, Venice, and Genoa. With a population of 60,000, it was even bigger than Paris. To say th

Hydra's History

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:25 GMT

While it seems tiny and low-key, overachieving Hydra holds a privileged place in Greek history. The fate of Hydriots has always been tied to the sea, which locals have harnessed to their advantage time after time. Many Hydriot merchants became wealthy running the British blockade of French ports during the Napoleonic Wars. Hydra enjoyed its glory days in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when the island was famous for its shipbuilders. Hydra’s prosperity earned it the nickname “Little England.” As rebellion swept Greece, the island flourished as a safe haven for those fleeing Ottoman oppression. When the Greeks launched their War of Independence in 1821, Hydra eme

A New Look for an Old City

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

A century and a half ago, Athens was a humble, forgotten city of about 8,000 people. Today one out of every three Greeks packs into this city of about four million. The city has been infamous for its sprawl, noise, and pollution. My advice has long been to see the big sights, then get out. But visiting it recently to research my guidebook, I saw a dramatic change. The city has made a concerted effort to clean up and pedestrianize the streets, spiff up the museums, build a new airport, and invest in one of Europe’s better public-transit systems. Athens has a long history. You’ll walk in the footsteps of the great minds who created democracy, philosophy, theater, and more...eve

The Peloponnese: The Ancient Olympics Meet the Wild West

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:51:24 GMT

If you want to get away from it all when traveling in Greece, head for the Peloponnesian Peninsula. Studded with antiquities, this land of ancient Olympia, Corinth, and Sparta offers plenty of fun in the eternal Greek sun, with pleasant fishing villages, sandy beaches, bathtub-warm water, and none of the tourist crowds that plague the much-scrambled-after Greek Isles. When I visited ancient Olympia recently for a TV show and guidebook, it was worth the four-hour drive from Athens. This sight should be a required pilgrimage for modern tourists. Olympia’s once-majestic temple columns—toppled like a tower of checkers by an earthquake—are as impressive (with the help of the

Return to Indonesia

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

As reports of riots in Indonesia flashed across the world’s news wires, in May 1998, my wife telephoned the hotel in Jakarta where I was staying to make sure I was OK. “What do you see out your window?” she asked. Flames from burning department stores and Chinese shops and businesses owned by the family of President Suharto spread across the horizon like a magnificent sunset. Army tanks and soldiers with dogs filled the square below. “I see a city burning,” I said, “a city dying.” At the time it seemed no exaggeration. Indonesia’s economy and its currency, the rupiah, had collapsed in a financial crisis that gripped all of Southeast Asia. In

Day 4: Touring By Helicopter

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:25:19 GMT

You won’t find many roads in Antarctica and those you do find don’t go far. If you need to get someplace on land, you’ll be going by air and if where you’re going doesn’t have a runway, you’ll need a helicopter. McMurdo Station keeps a fleet of helicopters operating almost full time during the summer months. They are particularly useful here because scientists are the kind of folks who want to go places that are hard to get to and where hardly anyone else would want to go, such as the Dry Valleys of Antarctica or far out on the ice. The scientists typically set up a camp at remote sites consisting of a few tents and sometimes a lab module—a small p

Searching for Hanoi's Ultimate Pho

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:00:00 GMT

The New York Philharmonic orchestra opened its historic first concert in Hanoi this past October with a lilting rendition of the Vietnamese national anthem, Quoc ca Viet Nam (“Armies of Vietnam, Forward”), followed by the more spirited strains of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Standing at attention for both in an atmosphere that can only be described as electric, the audience of fashionably dressed Vietnamese and a few Americans could hardly fail to sense both irony and respect as the once-bitter adversaries came together in the grandiose Hanoi Opera House built by the French in 1911. Alan Gilbert, the Philharmonic’s new music director, was later asked what he h

Day 3: A Day at the South Pole

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:16:57 GMT

Rising early at around 5 a.m., I get moving and go outside to walk off the sleep. Before me lies a different and beautiful world. It is crisp, the air tingles on the skin and the sun, which is not rising because it did not set, is low on the horizon, emanating a rose-tinted light that falls gently on a white landscape. Across McMurdo Sound the mountains rise mute and serene. Mount Erebus looms behind me with its white cloak of snow and ice disguising the seething magmatic heat that lies within. In this seemingly quiet and motionless setting, it is hard to believe that the earth and its covering of ice are on the move. Slowly and almost imperceptibly, the sea ice moves in different dire

Day 1: A Stopover in New Zealand

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:07:08 GMT

Jan. 15- Jan. 18, 2010, Christchurch, New Zealand It is not often in life you get a second chance. We’ve all turned down opportunities at some time in our lives, only to find that they are never offered again. One of my own regrets has been once missing out on a chance to take a trip to the Antarctic because of other commitments. So last fall, when I was offered a second chance to go to the Antarctic with a small group of scientists and engineers, I jumped at the opportunity! And this time I have even more justification because of the Smithsonian’s long and distinguished history of involvement with the science of the Antarctic. Getting to this majestic continent today is a lo

Day 2: Arriving at the Spectacular Antarctic

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:07:55 GMT

Jan.19, 2010, McMurdo Station, Antarctica At 8:30 a.m. we board a large Air Force C-17 cargo plane with about 60 other people bound for the Antarctic and find ourselves in a cavernous aircraft designed for utility rather than creature comfort. Much of the space in the plane is given over to a mountain of equipment and gear with the passengers fitting around it. We take off promptly at 9 a.m. for the five-hour flight and we are hopeful of landing at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. There’s always a chance of a “boomerang” flight, where we are forced to return to New Zealand because of poor visibility at McMurdo, but for now we are optimistic. The Smithsonian and the Antarc

Trekking Hadrian's Wall

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:00:00 GMT

In A.D. 122, a few years after taking control of the Roman Empire, which reached its greatest expanse by the time of his rule, Caesar Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus trekked to the edge of the known world. It was a bold journey, one that few of his contemporaries cared to make. "I would not like to be Caesar, to walk through Britain," a waggish poet wrote at the time. There's no way to be sure how long he stayed in Britain or what he did there, but Hadrian apparently left orders to construct one of the most formidable building projects the world had ever seen: a wall 15 feet high and up to 10 feet thick, stretching from sea to sea. Hadrian's Wall has long attracted h

The Sights and Smells of Torun

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:00:00 GMT

My husband, Ed, and I arrive at the super-modern Hotel Bulwar on the Vistula River in Torun after dark. White marble, white leather, white lights dazzle us; we could be awakening in limbo. Our compact, efficient room is neat and tight. We go straight to dinner, rumpled as we are, and the restaurant’s stark black and white décor deserves more glamorous people. “At least we’re in black,” I observe. “When you’re in black you can go anywhere.” We dine very happily on roasted duck and polish off a bottle of wine. In the narrow bed, I dream that I am swimming in the Vistula River. If I had, I probably would have come ashore here quicker than by ca

The Holy City of Varanasi

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:00:00 GMT

At six in the morning, the alleys of old Varanasi gleam with last night's rain. One path just wide enough for two men to walk abreast leads past shops down to the holy river Ganges. It's barely sunrise, but the alleys are already in chaos. Men jostle women, women jostle fat bullocks, bullocks narrowly avoid stepping on children. Everything is for sale – small bottles of holy Ganges water, larger bottles of branded mineral water, tiny figurines of the Lord Shiva, whose town this is. Tourists, almost invariably wearing colorful harem pants, brush shoulders with locals. The storeowners watch the activity with lax interest, slurping tooth-rottingly sweet chai out of thimble-sized cups.

Finding Serenity on Japan's San-in Coast

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:00:00 GMT

At the Buddhist temple of Gesshoji, on the western coast of Japan, the glossy, enormous crows are louder—much louder—than any birds I have ever heard. Crows are famously territorial, but these in the small city of Matsue seem almost demonically possessed by the need to assert their domain and keep track of our progress past the rows of stone lanterns aligned like vigilant, lichen-spotted sentinels guarding the burial grounds of nine generations of the Matsudaira clan. The strident cawing somehow makes the gorgeous, all-but-deserted garden seem even further from the world of the living and more thickly populated by the spirits of the dead. Something about the temple grounds&mdas

Saving Punjab

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:00:00 GMT

My wife says I suffer from an "India problem." She's right. I lived in New Delhi as a teenager during the 1950s, came home to college at 18 and managed to stay away from India for a quarter of a century. But over the past 26 years I've been back more than 20 times, sometimes with a legitimate excuse—an assignment from one magazine or another—but mostly because I now can't imagine life without a regular dose of the sights and sounds and smells I first knew as a boy, can't bear not seeing the friends I've made there. When the editors of Smithsonian asked me to pick a place I'd always wanted to see, it took about ten minutes to settle on Punjab, the north Indian state t

A Whirlwind Tour Around Poland

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:00:00 GMT

In 1990, when my husband, Ed, and I bought an abandoned villa in Tuscany, we hired three Polish workers to help us restore a major terrace wall. They were new immigrants, there for the money, and not happy to be out of their homeland. At lunchtime, we saw them opening cans of sausages, sauerkraut and other delectables they could not live without. On holidays they drove north in a battered car of some unrecognizable make to Wrocław, a 26-hour trip, where they had left children and wives. They returned with big gray cans of food so they did not have to eat the dreaded Italian pasta. They were gallant. With neat bows, they kissed my hand. The Poles were over-the-top, full-out workers. They h

Daniel Politi on “Hola, Buenos Aires"

Tue, 19 May 2009 07:38:49 GMT

Daniel Politi writes the Today’s Papers column for Slate. “Hola, Buenos Aires,” about the cultural revival of Buenos Aires, is his first story for Smithsonian. How long have you lived in Buenos Aires? What brought you there? I have a lot of family in Argentina so I had already visited Buenos Aires more than a dozen times. But it wasn't until early 2005 that I decided to leave Washington, D.C. and move here. I got a master's degree in journalism my first year, and haven't left since. What change have you personally witnessed in your time there? The changes this city—and the country—have experienced in the short time I've lived here have been nothing short o

A Tour of France’s Cave Homes

Tue, 19 May 2009 06:00:00 GMT

I tip the torchlight and examine a wall in my hotel room. From a distance, the wall looks like vanilla frosting roughly applied. Up close, I see nuggets of caramel-colored stone, faint brown streaks…and an oyster shell. The wall before me is 100 million years old, the raw edge of a cave scraped into a cliff above the Loire River. The oyster was a much earlier guest here, a fossil left from the sea that once covered this part of France and left behind a thick bed of white stone called tuffeau. Many buildings in the Loire Valley are constructed from this stone. On a trip to France four years ago, I stayed in an elegantly restored farmhouse near Tours, its walls made of tuffeau blocks

Endangered Site: Fenestrelle Fortress, Italy

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Victor Amadeus II was a heavyweight duke, leader of the longest-surviving royal line in Europe, the House of Savoy (established 1003). But in his day—the late 17th and early 18th centuries—the Continent was aflame with wars of nation-building, and it was his fate to rule a duchy caught in the crossfire between Louis XIV's France and the forces of England, Austria and other countries in a coalition of convenience known as the Grand Alliance. In both the Nine Years' War (1688-97) and the War of Spanish Succession (1701-14), Amadeus was very nearly dispossessed. Yet the duke had a gift for self-preservation. In both wars he saved his seat by betraying his nominal allies (the Alli

Ireland’s Endangered Cultural Site

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:00:00 GMT

"The harp that once through Tara's halls The soul of music shed Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls As if that soul were fled." The words of 19th-century Irish poet Thomas Moore still ring true, and the only music you're likely to hear around Tara nowadays is the clang of construction equipment. Several hundred acres of gentle green fields, marked by some lumps and bumps, cover this patch of County Meath in northeast Ireland. A nice place to lie down and watch the clouds scud by, perhaps, but is it any more remarkable than the rest of Ireland's lovely landscape? Cinnte, to use an Irish expression of certitude. The archaeologically rich complex on and around the Hill of Tara is se

Endangered Site: Xumishan Grottoes, China

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Throughout history, human settlement has been driven by three basic tenets: location, location, location. And the Xumishan grottoes—a collection of ancient Buddhist cave temples constructed between the fifth and tenth centuries A.D.—owe their existence to this axiom. Located in China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Xumishan (pronounced "SHU-me-shan") capitalized on its proximity to the Silk Road, the crucial trade artery between East and West that was a thoroughfare not only for goods but also for culture and religious beliefs. Along this route the teachings of Buddha traveled from India to China, and with those teachings came the cave temple tradition. Hewed out of

Dampier Rock Art Complex, Australia

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:00:00 GMT

The Dampier Islands weren't always islands. When people first occupied this part of western Australia some 30,000 years ago, they were the tops of volcanic mountains 60 miles inland. It must have been an impressive mountain range back then—offering tree-shaded areas and pools of water that probably drew Aborigine visitors from the surrounding plains. No one knows when people first started scraping and carving designs into the black rocks here, but archaeologists estimate that some of the symbols were etched 20,000 years ago. As far as the scientists can tell, the site has been visited and ornamented ever since, even as sea levels rose and turned the mountains into a 42-island archip

Endangered Site: Visoki Decani Monastery, Kosovo

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Time stands still within the Visoki Decani Monastery, nestled among chestnut groves at the foot of the Prokletije Mountains in western Kosovo. Declared a World Heritage Site in 2004, Unesco cited the 14th-century abbey as an irreplaceable treasure, a place where "traditions of Romanesque architecture meet artistic patterns of the Byzantine world." The Serbian Orthodox monastery represents, according to art historian Bratislav Pantelic, author of a book on Decani's architecture, "the largest and best-preserved medieval church in the entire Balkans." Construction of Decani, dedicated to Christ the Pantocrator, or ruler of the universe, commenced in 1327 under King Stefan

Endangered Site: Jaisalmer Fort, India

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Jaisalmer Fort maintains a silent vigil in the far northwestern corner of Rajasthan, India's desert state. Although the local airport is closed to commercial traffic, nearly half a million visitors somehow make their way to the fortress each year, even though it sits uncomfortably close to a contested border with India's longtime adversary Pakistan. The pilgrims follow a 400-mile-long road from Jaipur. They drive through fierce desert winds that blow all the way to Delhi. In summer, they endure 105-degree heat. They come to an area where, for the past 2,000 years, water has been in short supply. They come because there is no other place on earth like Jaisalmer. Built in 1156 by the Indi

A Monumental Struggle to Preserve Hagia Sophia

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Zeynep Ahunbay led me through the massive cathedral's cavernous nave and shadowy arcades, pointing out its fading splendors. Under the great dome, filtered amber light revealed vaulted arches, galleries and semi-domes, refracted from exquisite mosaics depicting the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus as well as long-vanished patriarchs, emperors and saints. Yet the overall impression was one of dingy neglect and piecemeal repair. I gazed up at patches of moisture and peeling paint; bricked-up windows; marble panels, their incised surfaces obscured under layers of grime; and walls covered in mustard-colored paint applied by restorers after golden mosaics had fallen away. The depressing effect was

Munich at 850

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:00:00 GMT

The Hofbräukeller beer garden in the Munich borough of Haidhausen was filled to capacity. Perhaps a thousand people, most in their 20s and 30s, sat shoulder to shoulder at long tables, quaffing liters of beer, munching on fat pretzels and maintaining a steady roar of bonhomie. It was a poster-perfect moment in a city that has long advertised itself as a citadel of good fellowship fueled by unending quantities of the world's best beer. But it was also a scene that would not have looked precisely like this just a few years ago. Almost to a person, the beer drinkers were wearing their national colors—red, yellow and black—in support of the German soccer team's chances against

Charles Michener on "Munich at 850"

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Charles Michener began his journalistic career in Seattle, where he was editor-in-chief of Seattle magazine in the 1960s. Eventually, he became chief cultural writer and senior editor for cultural affairs at Newsweek and later a senior editor at The New Yorker, where he worked on a wide variety of subjects, including science, medicine, China and the Middle East, music and art, as well as supervised the magazine's "Goings on About Town" section. For many years he has written a column about classical music for the New York Observer, and as a freelance writer, he has had profiles and articles on food and travel appear in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Time, T

Macau Hits the Jackpot

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:00:00 GMT

It's Saturday night and jet foils are pulling into Macau's ferry terminal every 15 minutes, bearing crowds from Hong Kong and the Chinese city of Shenzhen, each about 40 miles distant. A mile to the north, arrivals by land elbow their way toward customs checkpoints in a hall longer than two football fields. By 9 o'clock, visitors will arrive at the rate of some 16,000 an hour. They carry pockets full of cash and very little luggage. Most will stay one day or less. They will spend almost every minute in one of Macau's 29 casinos. On their way to the hospitality buses that provide round-the-clock transit to the casinos, few of the land travelers will give more than a glance to a modest ston

A World on Rails

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:00:00 GMT

In the two days between buying a ticket at a remote Russian Railways office in Moscow's Belorusskaya station and boarding the 7-day/6-night train to Beijing this winter, I received troubling advice. A Russian acquaintance, who said he thought the trip sounded fine when I asked him months before, nearly dropped his cup of tea when I mentioned I had my ticket. "You're actually going?" he said. "You are crazy!" A friend of a friend said she had thought it was a bad idea from the beginning. I must ally myself with the train attendants, grandmotherly types who understand what it means to be a woman traveling alone, she said. Also, I should sleep on my boots: somebody's

Silken Treasure

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:00:00 GMT

"The silkworm is a snob," says Moritz Mantero. "He'll eat anything, but he produces silk only if he eats mulberry!" Mantero is the third-generation owner of Mantero Seta SpA, one of the largest silk manufacturers in Como, Italy. Situated three miles from the Swiss border in northern Italy's lake country, Como supplies silken goods to the fashion houses of New York City, Paris and nearby Milan. Although the backbreaking labor of cultivating the voracious and picky silkworms left Italy after World War II—returning to China, whence it had come centuries earlier—the finishing end of silk production stayed here and expanded. Today in Como and its surrounding foot

Snapshot: The Champagne Region

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Origin: It took millions of years and a unique combination of climate, soil, and brilliant agricultural minds to create the right conditions for raising the variety and quality of grapes needed to make champagne. About seventy million years ago, oceans that once covered this region receded, leaving behind chalky subsoil deposits; sixty million years later, earthquakes pushed marine sediments to the surface. The unique soil created by these geological events is one of several factors that make champagne supreme among the world's sparkling wines, with a reputation for unsurpassed excellence. The appeal: The Route Touristique du Champagne is a 375-mile system of eight separate "trails&

Snapshot: Hong Kong, China

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:52:24 GMT

In a place where Cantonese and English are the official languages, Hong Kong's seven million inhabitants thrive in this center for international finance and trade. Hong Kong is a vibrant city with an infectious rhythm. On the surface it's a huge metropolis like any other, with mobile phone-carrying workers hurrying to meetings in a forest of steely skyscrapers, but look a little bit closer and you find an ancient land full of traditions and culture. Here East truly meets West. Origins: The area now known as Hong Kong has been inhabited since the Paleolithic Era. The region officially became part of Imperial China during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.) and later served as a trading post and

The Changing Face of Bhutan

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:39:54 GMT

On rural highways in Bhutan, trucks hauling huge pine logs rush past women bowed beneath bundles of firewood strapped to their backs. In the capital of Thimphu, teenagers in jeans and hooded sweat shirts hang out smoking cigarettes in a downtown square, while less than a mile away, other adolescents perform a sacred Buddhist act of devotion. Archery, the national sport, remains a fervent pursuit, but American fiberglass bows have increasingly replaced those made of traditional bamboo. While it seems that every fast-flowing stream has been harnessed to turn a prayer drum inside a shrine, on large rivers, hydroelectric projects generate electricity for sale to India, accounting for almost ha

Highlights and Hotspots

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:04:27 GMT

Bhutan October 9-11 Dzongs (temple-fortress compounds) in the capital of Thimphu come to life with music and dance during the tshechu festival. Monks wearing masks perform dances venerating Buddhist saints. Cambodia November 10-16 Two million people will flock to the Tonle Sap River in Phnom Penh for the Bon Om Tuk water festival. Some 450 dragon boats race in honor of an unusual event: the river's current changing direction. China August 8-24 The world's top athletes will gather in Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The city's new National Stadium, the "bird's nest", was built for the Games. November More than 200 galleries from around the world will showcase 10,000 works

Forbidden No More

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:08:14 GMT

I had expected to feel awe as I approached the Meridian Gate guarding what most Chinese call the Great Within—Beijing's Forbidden City—but I'm surprised to feel apprehension, too. After all, it's been a while since the emperors who ruled from behind these formidable walls casually snuffed out lesser lives by the thousands. From 1421 to 1912, this was the world's most magnificent command center—a reputed 9,999 rooms filled with nearly a million art treasures spread over 178 walled and moated acres. Had I accompanied the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci, the first Westerner to visit the Forbidden City, in 1601, I would have seen these pavilions, courtyards and alleyways bustlin

Springs Eternal

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:15:09 GMT

It's said that a culture is reflected in its vocabulary. The Japanese onsen tradition is a case in point: the word means "hot springs" but involves a whole range of experiences. There are indoor baths (notenburo), outdoor baths (rotenburo), men-only baths (otoko-yu), women-only baths (onna-yu) and mixed-gender baths (konyoku). It turns out there is even a Japanese expression for the power of hot springs to melt the barriers between people: hadaka no tsukiai, or "naked companionship." When I arrived in Tokyo for the first time last May, my vocabulary was limited to hai, or "yes." I had come to visit friends, but after five days of humidity, packed subway cars

Revolutionary Road

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:15:31 GMT

The old Ho Chi Minh trail passes right by Bui Thi Duyen's doorstep in the hamlet of Doi. The hamlet, quiet and isolated, is of no consequence today, but during what the Vietnamese call the "American War," many thousands of northern soldiers knew Doi, 50 miles south of Hanoi, as an overnight stop on their perilous journey to the southern battlefields. The camouflaged network of footpaths and roads they traveled was the world's most dangerous route. One North Vietnamese soldier counted 24 ways you could die on it: malaria and dysentery could ravage you; U.S. aerial bombardments could disintegrate you; tigers could eat you; snakes could poison you; floods and landslides could wash y

Rebel with a Cause

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:02:29 GMT

Ho Chi Minh was little known to most Vietnamese in 1911 when he boarded a French passenger ship in Saigon as an assistant cook to discover the world. He spent 30 years abroad, working as a pastry chef in Boston, studying in Paris and moving to Moscow, where he became a Communist agent. He traveled through China, Hong Kong and Thailand before returning covertly to Vietnam and setting up headquarters in mountain caves. Ho—his full name translates as He Who Enlightens—hoped for reunification of Vietnam, which had fought China on and off for a thousand years, spent nearly a century under French rule and had been occupied by Japan in World War II. Ho died at age 79 in 1969, his dre

Snapshot: Athens Central Market

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:58:59 GMT

Not far from the entrance to the Ancient Agora, once a center of commercial life and a gathering place for such notables as Socrates and Aristotle, stands the Dimotiki Agora. This modern-day Athenian market is filled with a smorgasbord of fruits, vegetables, seafood, cuts of meat, and, like its ancient counterpart, tens of thousands of locals and tourists everyday. Read about this vibrant Greek market below then click on the main picture to view a photo gallery. Origins: For hundreds of years, vendors scattered their makeshift stalls in the foothills of Acropolis Hill around the edges of the Ancient Agora (Ancient Market), home to such Greek ruins as the Statue of Hadrian. In 1875, Panag

Among the Spires

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:02:30 GMT

The premier bell of Oxford is Great Tom. Since 1684 it has hung in the tower of Christ Church, the most monumental constituent college within the University of Oxford, and every evening at five minutes past nine precisely it strikes 101 times, providing the city with a figurative tocsin. Why 101? Because in 1546, when the college was founded, there were 100 members of the Christ Church foundation. Yes, but why 101? Oh, because in 1663 an additional student was co-opted. Why is it rung? Because in 1684, when the bell went up, the gates of the college were closed at 9 p.m. Well then, why five past nine? Because in those days, Oxford being located 1 degree 15 minutes of longitude west of the

Marseille's Ethnic Bouillabaisse

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 03:02:43 GMT

One morning in early November 2005, Kader Tighilt turned on the radio as he drove to work. The news reported that 14 cars had burned overnight in Marseille's northern suburbs. "They've done it," Tighilt said out loud. "The bastards!" It seemed his worst fears had been confirmed: riots, which had first broken out in the suburbs of Paris on October 27, had now spread to the port city and one of the largest immigrant communities in France. For the previous two weeks, Tighilt, his fellow social workers and community volunteers had been working feverishly to prevent this very thing from happening, fanning out across the city to places where young people gathered to spread the word that violence

Snapshot: Amalfi Coast

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:00:00 GMT

Read about southern Italy's Amalfi Coast below, then click on the main image to begin a slideshow about the region. Origin: Inhabited since the earliest times, in A.D. 840 Amalfi became the first of four maritime republics on the Italian peninsula and the first to codify maritime law. In its heyday, the 11th century, Amalfi traders were known throughout the Mediterranean, bringing great riches back to the coast. The republic went into decline in the beginning of the 13th century as it lost its eminence in trade and fell prey to pirate raids (defensive watchtowers still pepper the coast), and in 1643 lost a third of its residents to the plague. The appeal: The Amalfi Coast is a unique com

Helsinki Warming

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 05:00:00 GMT

When the long northern winter finally ends, the Finnish capital of Helsinki returns slowly to life. Deathly pale residents, who look as if they have just emerged from confinement in a cellar, roost on the gray stone steps of Senate Square; students from the University of Helsinki sprawl in the greening grass to soak up the sun; crowds linger by the Baltic Sea harbor, where fishing boats, painted bold red and blue, sell the day's fresh catch, watched closely by gulls wheeling in the salt air. The whole city is bathed in golden light, which brushes the pastel neo-Classical buildings, shimmers on the blue sea and shines on the capital for 20 hours a day, all the more welcome after the months

Singapore Swing

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 04:00:00 GMT

It was 3 a.m. and I was fresh off a Singapore Airlines flight from Newark—at 18 hours, the longest regularly scheduled, nonstop commercial flight in the world. Jet lag was playing havoc with my system. So I left the hotel and headed over to Boat Quay, not expecting to find much except fresh air and solitude. This, after all, was Singapore, long ridiculed as a prissy, soulless place, with no DNA for fun, culture or the arts. Singapore? Isn't that where chewing gum is illegal and Cosmopolitan magazine is banned as too racy? Where bars close before anyone starts having a good time, and everyone is so obsessed with work that the government launched a smile campaign to get people to light

Snapshot: Adelaide, South Australia

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:27:48 GMT

Origins: For thousands of years, the Kaurna Aborigines inhabitants of what is now Adelaide, capital of the state of South Australia, called it Tandanya, meaning "the place of the red kangaroo." The Europeans who founded the colony in 1836, named it after Britain's Queen Adelaide, consort of King William IV. Unlike Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Adelaide was not established as an outpost for criminals but instead was settled by British citizens seeking religious freedom from the Church of England. German Lutherans and other waves of immigrants followed. After the Second World War, favorable immigration policies aimed at curbing labor shortages lured even more foreigners to South

Snapshot: Yangtze River

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 04:00:00 GMT

Read about the Yangtze River below, then click on the main image to begin a slideshow about the region. Origin: Starting in the Kunlun Mountains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China's Yangtze River meanders more than 3,900 miles to Shanghai, where it empties into the East China Sea. The mighty river is the origin of more than 700 tributaries and traverses such a large area of China that it goes by at least five different names in the many regions it crosses. Although the West recognizes it as the Yangtze, which is derived from the ancient fiefdom of Yang, the river also goes by Chang Jiang (Long River), Tongtian He (River to Heaven) and Jinsha Jiang (Golden Sand River). The appeal: The Ya

Snapshot: Paris Underground

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 04:01:57 GMT

An extensive network of abandoned quarries, sewers and subway lines twists beneath modern Paris. Read about this netherworld below then click on the main picture to view a photo gallery. Origins: About 45 million years ago, Paris was part of a vast shallow sea whose shifting waters left sediment layers that over time compressed into massive stores of limestone and gypsum. The Parisii, the area's early tribal inhabitants, made little use of the resource. When the stone-loving Romans arrived in the first century B.C., they began a legacy of quarrying. By 1813, the year digging beneath Paris was banned to prevent further destabilization of the ground, some 170 miles of labyrinthine tunnels h