Get drenched in the stunning beauty of the Calanques cliffs

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An unmissable experience off the coast of Marseille

600 BC. Greek settlers from Phocaea step onto newly discovered shores, founding France’s oldest city and centuries of maritime activity. ‘Massalia’ goes on to attract a whopping 18,000 merchant ships each year.

Cut to today. A stunning U-shaped promenade, a pretty marina with yachts, sailboats, speedboats, fishing boats, and a terminal for tourist boat excursions. A nautical vision in blue and white surrounded by elegant, lemon and sand-colored mansions and rows of cafes. To the left, a gentle hill, crowned by a magnificent basilica and up ahead, two sprawling forts at the gaping mouth of the bay, which opens up into the vast sea. Massalia morphs into Marseille. Have you added the most unique city of Southern France to your itinerary?

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Warning! These two villages will make you go Dutch! 

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Find your slice of quintessential Holland

Dreaming Dutch? Enterprising merchants, labouring engineers, seafaring sailors and slogging farmers in wooden clogs? Fine ships sailing the high seas? Black-and-white bovines grazing on lush grasses in a windmill-studded countryside? Make the dream a reality,  just 20 minutes away from bustling, cosmopolitan Amsterdam. Impressionist master Claude Monet’s Blue House masterpiece derived inspiration right here. Dare you to miss the opportunity!

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Five perfectly crafted sweet delights and how to savour them

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Rediscover sweet street treats from across Europe

Ever considered how food habits, like humans, have traversed boundaries, influenced, transformed and evolved in unthinkable ways? But from honey-candied fruits and nuts of the ancients to the culinary molecular gastronomy of today’s Michellins, sweet-toothed foodies have always been one community…united across time and space by a divine love for sugar. Yes?

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Are you fired up for lively, lovable and laid-back Lisbon?

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Feel the vivacious vibe of Portugal’s capital…

If you’re arriving in Lisbon from South Portugal by coach like us, you will probably be riding the cable-stayed 17 km long Vasco Da Gama bridge straddling the Tagus River. While you make a mental note of the fact that you’re on the longest bridge in Europe, are you unconsciously cooking up an image of Portugal’s capital? Don’t do it…let it reveal itself in all its glory!

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You need to risk a dangerous road for this ethereal vision. Game?

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One of India’s highest glacial lakes…

From your tiny window on the plane, peer out far in the distance; till your vision hits that wall of white…the mighty Himalayas clad in snow…across the entire horizon as far as you can see. Somewhere in this 2400 km long ‘Abode of Snow’ is the Kanchenjunga, the world’s third highest peak…try spotting it. 

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That adorable, offbeat Tuscan town of Lucca you need to see

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Lucca has one wall, 100 churches and countless brick homes…

A short 30-minutes train ride from touristy Pisa lies a lesser-known, surprising little Tuscan town. An important Latin settlement since 180 BC. Remarkably well-preserved. Dripping with atmosphere. Quietly redefining picturesque. Entirely car-free. And just 90,000 locals. Love Lucca. There’s no way not to!

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Soak in the most stunning Austrian countryside ever

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And also relive your ‘Sound of Music’ memories…

Your inspiration for visiting Salzburg may not be ‘Sound of Music’ (one of the world’s best-loved movies shot in and around here). But you can’t resist total recall, because all over this picturesque Austrian town, there are posters of ‘Sound of Music’ excursions that will appeal to the ‘classic movie’ lover in you. All this hype is more than justified…after all, the blockbuster grossed more money than any musical in history and even bagged five Oscars! Not only is it a fun opportunity to relive scenes and locations of the song-and-dance sequences starring Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer and seven chirpy children…but a fabulous way to soak in the stunning Austrian countryside. So, are you in?

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Which is the most charming promenade in Europe?

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Riva in Split is my all-time favourite…

If you’ve taken the bus from Zagreb to Split, you will literally descend upon the city from high above the curving mountainous road basking in the birds eye view. Habitat springs up as if out of nowhere. An average looking semi-modern city, no spectacle so far. But hold on. You haven’t reached old Split yet. Nearer the shore, older mansions and stone buildings take over…and then, like a curtain rising to reveal the stage, the road gives way to a vast vision of the the sparkling blue Adriatic waters, hugging a busy port filled with dozens of Jadrolinija cruise ships and boats. Buses moving in and out, cars inching along, travellers alighting from and board all forms of land and sea transport…widespread, yet organised chaos! Don’t get disheartened just yet.

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10 tragic Berlin landmarks that will melt your heart

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One walk you must take…

Berlin has come a long way from the time Slovenians discovered a marshy, swampy fishing village (ber-lin), way back in the 1500s. Cut to a few centuries later…post WWII and communist era, not only did the city survive, spirit intact, but reinvented itself yet again. There are at least 4000 live construction sites all over the city today…talk about work in progress!

The best way to immerse into the essence of Berlin by taking an escorted walking tour of its historic sights. A fascinating half-day is all it takes to relive the entire gloomy ’40s. And when you’ve walked down this stark, dark memory lane of dictators, war and oppression, you’ll be recommending Berlin to everyone you know too. Here are the unforgettable landmarks from the walk:

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This was once the greatest city in the world!

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Cordoba is Andalusia’s most precious gem… 

An hour and a half or 140 km from Seville will take you at Córdoba, the erstwhile capital of al-Andalus (Islamic Spain), where you can witness intriguing remnants of its glory years that lasted from 756 to 1031. Along the road, large yellow faces of thousands of sunflowers bend joyfully towards the sun, welcoming you cheerfully, as if saying, “choose happiness”. Feel the comers of your mouth tilting up unconsciously in a broad smile as you are reminded that they crave warmth too.

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