Tom Royce 
Along the Jerzual to the Rance in Dinan The steep cobbled lane called Rue du Jerzual drops from Dinan’s upper town straight down to the little port on the Rance. Most visitors photograph the half-timbered houses and move on, but if you linger you notice how the slope changes with the light. Morning brings cool … Read more
Rapallo does not try to be Portofino. It is bigger, a little louder, and more useful. Trains stop here without much fuss. People buy shoes on Thursday. The gulf opens wide enough that you can stand on the lungomare and see three towns at once without feeling you paid for a postcard. What keeps me … Read more
Most people treat Bingen am Rhein as a train change before Rüdesheim, or a riverboat stop long enough for one Mäuseturm photo and a cold glass. That works if the town is only a gateway stamp for the Upper Middle Rhine. It works less well if you like watching the Nahe slide into the bigger … Read more
Saturdays at Marché des Lices in Rennes The alarm on my phone never quite matches the real rhythm of a Saturday in Rennes. By the time I step out of my hotel near the old town, the sky is still that pale Breton gray, but Place des Lices is already humming. Stalls are unfolding … Read more
Melfi does not open with a beach or a cave city. It opens with a dark castle on a hill and an extinct volcano off to the side. Monte Vulture softens the skyline into a long green shoulder. The town sits on its lower slope in northern Basilicata, roughly between Naples and Bari if you … Read more
Eisenach sits where the Hörsel valley meets the northern edge of the Thüringer Wald. Wartburg sits on the ridge. Bach and Luther still pull people into the old streets. What most day-trippers skip is the southern slope of Jugendstil villas. The castle fills the coach parks. Better first days start on Frauenplan before the museum … Read more