Travel

The 20th century was unkind to Vienna. The capital of the Habsburg empire until 1918, it was, by early 1989, a bleak and battered outpost within touching distance of the iron curtain. Now that the city has undeniably recaptured its glory of old (symbolically, its population grew to two million …

Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born in Málaga and spent most of his life in France, but it was arguably in Barcelona that his evolution as the most celebrated artist of the 20th century began. The family moved to Barcelona in 1895 when Picasso was 13 and he lived and studied …

The UK is blessed with countless ancient sites, many of which are easily accessible to the public, and often free to enjoy. Some are still being excavated and can offer us valuable new insights into what life would have been like for our distant ancestors. Whether it’s an iron age …

It’s a controversial opinion, but Rome’s major sites are overrated. Crowded, costly and utterly devoid of charm, the city’s most visited landmarks have been cheapened in the age of mass tourism into little more than a box-ticking – or selfie-taking – exercise. Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t go. Everyone …

Château les Oliviers de Salettes, Drôme This turreted mansion used to be part of a larger château surrounded by vineyards. Today its grounds are given over to parkland and lavender fields. The 13 double rooms and nine suites all have glorious rural views over one of France’s most unsung regions. …

Joy is the city that surprises you – that was my verdict as I wrapped up a recent long weekend in Paris. More than a decade had passed since I’d first visited the French capital, and I can recall very little from that two-day sojourn, just scattered memories of intimidatingly …

Inside a mirrored ark, Rotterdam A museum store – but not as you know it… The minute you spot the enormous mirrored ark that is Rotterdam’s Depot, you know you’re in for something extraordinary. Open to the public, its Escher-like staircases are designed to encourage visitors to get lost; to …

On a chilly winter’s day, exactly 100 years ago, four smartly dressed men boarded a train in Edinburgh. Willie Jackson and his son Laurence were both farmers, dapper Thomas Murray bred sheep and cattle, and portly Robin Welsh was a member of Edinburgh city council. At 54, he was a …

“She really believed that if she brewed a lake of beer, it would solve the problems of the world …” When publican and brewer Judith Boyle, whose family has been in pubs and beer for five generations, utters these words in her namesake bar in the commuter town of Kildare …

It’s hard to imagine a time when life was generally lived at 3mph – walking pace and the average speed of a horse-drawn boat. When the railways were being built, some critics warned that that the human body was incapable of withstanding speeds of 30mph. Fast forward – literally – …