Madrid, the capital of Spain and the country’s largest city, is one of my favourite European capitals. With its grand architecture, majestic palaces, stunning museums and broad tree-lined avenues, it ranks right up amongst Europe’s great capitals like Paris and Vienna, at least in my book. What distinguishes Madrid from the other European capitals is [...]

Where a million paths cross
New York City! Who could ever forget their very first time in this great city? I remember strolling down the streets in complete awe of the buildings and the incredible energy gushing through the city. On my first visit in 1992, I was determined to see all the famous landmarks that I’d gotten to know [...]

The castle of dreams
As a child, Albert Diks spent many summers camping with his family in Catalonia. Each time they went on a drive around the Catalan countryside, Albert would stare out the window, his eyes glued to every castle they passed. “At night, in my little tent on the camping, I dreamed of having my own castle.” [...]

The colours of Lunenburg
The town of Lunenburg is a gorgeous fishing town on Nova Scotia’s eastern seaboard, southwest of Halifax. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Lunenburg is one of the best surviving examples of planned British colonial settlements in North America, with immigrants from Germany, Switzerland and France making the settlement their home in the 18th [...]

Lesser known museums in Madrid
A guest post by Beth Davidson. Outside the Golden Triangle – Madrid’s Lesser Known Museums The Golden Triangle. The central art hub of Madrid. The Prado, the Reina Sofia, the Thyssen. These three museums contain a considerable amount of Madrid’s culture and, displaying works by the likes of Picasso, Goya, Miro, and Van Gogh, is [...]

The spires of the Duomo
Milan is famous as one of the world’s most dynamic fashion and design capitals but there’s one monument whose design will never run out of fashion: the Duomo. The Duomo is the largest cathedral in Italy and one of the largest in the world. Work on the current structure began in the 14th century and [...]

Being Salvador Dalí
At the Dalí Theatre Museum in Figueres, nothing is what it seems at first sight. The works of the great master, Salvador Dalí, first grab your attention with their intriguing appearance, then tease you with their cunning metaphors and finally tempt you to imagine a surreal world, where no boundaries exist and where everything is [...]

Windmills of London
Think of London, and you think of… windmills? Perhaps not! You’re more likely to associate them with Amsterdam. But once you get out of the centre, London contains a surprising number of rather fine windmills. It had many more until comparatively recently. For instance there were mills in Shoreditch, Clerkenwell and even Holborn in the [...]

Enchanting spots: Calci Charterhouse, Tuscany
The Calci Charterhouse is a magnificent Carthusian monastery located in Calci, at the foothills of the Monti Pisani (Pisan Mountains) about ten kilometers from Pisa. The Charterhouse traces its roots back to 1366 when it was founded by a group of Carthusians. However, its current baroque façade stems from the 18th century. Thanks to [...]









