Along Kietz to the Frauentog in Koepenick Most people who bother with southeast Berlin stop at the Müggelsee for a swim or check Schloss Köpenick off a list and ride the S3 back toward the center. I get off earlier, cross toward the old town island, and walk Kietz until the street opens onto the … Read more
Most first visits to Nottingham start with the same short list: Castle Rock, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, a Robin Hood silhouette, Old Market Square under the Council House dome. Fine for an hour. What gets skipped is the short walk east of Hockley, where the Lace Market’s warehouse cliff gives way to a grid … Read more
Escalators climbing toward Via Pretoria in Potenza Potenza does not open with a postcard square. It opens with height. Basilicata’s regional capital sits on a narrow ridge more than eight hundred meters up, windy enough that you want a coat even when the valley looks warm. Modern blocks drop into the Basento slopes below. Above, … Read more
Most people treat Cherbourg as a hinge. Ferry in, coach out, Cotentin coast tomorrow. Fair enough if you are chasing dunes or the Cap. I stayed for the hinge itself: the working water in the middle of town, and the iron swing bridge that opens the Bassin du Commerce when a mast needs the cut. … Read more
Cross the river from Marienplatz, and the noise drops a notch. Trams slow. The façades lose a story and pick up window boxes. You are in Haidhausen, on the east bank of the Isar, and the square that still behaves like a village green is Wiener Platz — maypole in the middle, chestnut shade, and … Read more
Spello climbs the lower shoulder of Monte Subasio in pink limestone that turns warmer as the afternoon leans west. The streets do not pretend to be flat. You enter under a Roman gate, and the grade starts arguing with your calves before you have decided where lunch is. I came a week after Corpus Domini, … Read more