Tag: Day trip

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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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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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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The most amazing Roman monuments hidden in France

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Nimes and Pont du Gard will stun you…

Did you know that picture-perfect romantic French Provence, whose sunflower and lavender fields inspired legendary impressionists like Van Gogh is also home to two of the most jaw-dropping, magnificent Roman structures in the world? And one day is all you need to gawp at their architectural splendour.

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Marvel at the unspoilt magic of Montenegro

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A day in Kotor, Montenegro’s prettiest town…

Honest confession. To start off, I was first drawn to Montenegro by the clever deception created by James Bond’s Casino Royale. In reality, not a single scene was shot there. Revelation. It is a thousand times more enchanting than the fantasy its name evokes. 

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One perfect day in the beating heart of Lyon

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Finding the soul of the city…

France’s second city drips with so much charm that you will gush about it to everyone you meet, specially those who are infatuated by Paris. The two cities have much in common…grand opera, chic shops, river cruises, world-class museums. But Lyon offers you more: ancient Roman ruins, exemplary cuisine and quality of life, all cloaked in a gracious air of modesty. Tempted to read on?

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Surrender your hopeless heart to the Romantic Road

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Fall in love with Germany’s countryside…

The first time I heard of the Romantic Road was from an elderly neighbour, whose dreamy expression convinced me that if the road had that name, it couldn’t be anything but extraordinary. A year later, we were cruising along 500km of mind-numbing greenness from Würzburg on the northern end down to Füssen and Schwangau, towards its chimerical climax, Neuschwanstein Castle, at the southern end, at the foot of the Alps, to check it out for ourselves. On this medieval trade route of the yesteryears, now one of the most spectacular drives in the world…we were neck-deep in all possible earthly glory. The Romantic Road was weaving us through miles of the most stunning Bavarian countryside, where delightful towns and picturesque villages dotting the surreal landscape, and we were just staring. Speechless. 

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The fascinating mystery of the seven skirts

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Witnessing an old Portuguese tradition that lives on…

We stared across the waist-high parapet, dumbstruck by the glorious view of Nazaré and the Atlantic Ocean below. From the large Sitio Square at a mountain ridge over 100 meters above sea level, the softly curved sandy shores, the curling white waves on the beach and the tranquil blue-green shaded waters seemed unreal, untouched, perfect.

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Make sturdy clogs to woo her? No diamond?

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Marken boys proposed to girls with shoes, not rings!

If you’re looking for quaint cultural experience of a different kind, venture just half an hour from Amsterdam to Volendam. Then, if you can tear your eyes away from the picturesque waterfront, board a ferry across the lake to Marken, an island surrounded by a dyke, where a tiny population of 2000 lives on reclaimed land.

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