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As we reflect on two decades of researching and writing about unsung communities across Europe, we realize that we had a lot to learn about how to travel. It took courage in the early days of hidden europe to escape the tyranny of too much planning. Over time, we slowed down and came to value journeys in their own right. This year ETC marks the 75th anniversary of its founding in With the unreliability of the very first cars, motoring was a stop-go process. Bibendum, the remarkable tyre man from Michelin, was always on hand to give advice in the event of breakdown or an enforced overnight stay. With two Havila ships already in use, and two more making their debut on the coastal voyage in , Havila Voyages is upping its challenge to the incumbent operator. Once upon a time the timetables of ferries and trains were well coordinated, and quayside transfers from train to ship were the norm. No longer. Rail-sea journeys across Europe are often not so easy as once they were. Few linger, but we decided to stay and see what Storlien has to offer. A fortnight of sun, sea and sand beckons! Two weeks of freedom. But is that holiday really a chance to escape the political and moral dilemmas which occupy our minds for the other fifty weeks of the years? We consider some of the ethical issues around European travel. The extractive industries have led to the development of some of Europe's most distinctive cultural landscapes. But the recent addition of a gold mining site in Romania to the list sparks tensions between conservation and economic interests. The last of the Soviet Union's great ocean liners outlived the Soviet Union. For over half a century, this classic ship was a regular visit to Tilbury. Would you sleep in a former abattoir that had been converted into a hotel? Or a prison? Or an asylum? We look at how hotels cope with history, drawing mainly on a lovely example of a Dutch monastery which has been transformed into a striking hotel. Never has the chance for just wandering come with so low a price tag. The Jadrolinija shipping routes of yesterday saw sailings from Venice to Piraeus with half a dozen stops along the way. It was possible to sail direct from Opatija to Corfu or from Venice to Rijeka. We take a look at inshore shipping down the eastern shores of the Adriatic. It takes in terrain that has helped shape Icelandic culture, memory and identity. Or does it make sense to lay on special services for seasonal visitors? We look at examples from Switzerland and Britain. Can you name Europe's three capitals of culture for ? All three are the second-largest cities in their respective countries. International visitors to the latter two will surely find it immensely frustrating that there are no cross-border train services to Kaunas and Novi Sad. Allow yourself to be curious! Take time to wander. March marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of Interrail. In hidden europe 66 we explore the Drin Valley in Albania, the Vipava Valley in Slovenia, reflect on sustainable tourism and check out the boats in Port Grimaud. We also celebrate a special anniversary with a an article on fifty years of Interrail. Here in the hills of Iceland, the seasonal transients arrive in June, helping prepare the simple accommodation to welcome summer hikers. Katie Featherstome describes a season at Hrafntinnusker, a remote mountain hut on the hiking trail known as the Laugavegur. Counting heads on beds is too crude a metric to support a shift to more sustainable tourism. Paul Scraton explores how the landscapes of the heath reflect land management practices developed over many centuries. Many travel companies these days are keen to promote their green credentials. How much of it is mere tokenism and how far is the travel industry genuinely committed to tackling the climate crisis by promoting behavioural change? We explore the gentle art of greenwashing. Five or six decades ago, Romania had a sense of building the future and many citizens were eager to dance the night away in Venus or just lie on the beach at Saturn. We recall the voucher tourism of yesteryear - an era when sun, sea and socialism made natural partners. Sofia Bezverhaya says she is always glad to cater to those who want to see a more traditional picture of the region. We have a mobile shop, but it only comes once a month. The slopes of the Rigi climb up above Lake Lucerne, though the mountain itself claims no great height. Its summit is at less than 2, metres. But the railway to the top of the Rigi claims special status as Switzerland's first mountain railway. This spring, the Rigi Railway celebrates the th anniversary of its opening in May We suspect that slow travel may just be about to have its moment in the sun. Laurence Mitchell takes us the Bulgarian—Turkish borderlands to discover the tombs of Thracian kings and upstart beach resorts which wait in vain for guests. First stop is Malko Tarnovo, a former mining town tucked away in the forests just north of the border. The Baedeker series of guidebooks showed a remarkable consistency in presentation over many decades from the midth century. But many guides were updated every couple of years, so how far did the content change? The extraordinary sandstone pillars of north-east Bohemia create a mystical landscape; the appeal lies in both its grandeur and its intimacy. When it was founded in , the Finnish commune of Penedo in Brazil was full of idealism and hope. But with tough financial times in the late s and thereafter, this one-time utopian experiment had to make compromises. Today, Penedo is a commercial hub that attracts tourists eager to catch a dose of Finland. Expect fake snow and Santa Claus. We thought that the concept of the air corridor had been relegated to history until it popped up again this past spring, with the plucky English reviving the idea and giving it a new twist. Should we not all sit down and review the cumulative depth of our own carbon footprint? And should travel writers perhaps be taking the lead by showing that most of the leisure flights we all take are simply unnecessary? As winter slipped slowly into spring in , Lenin passed through Berlin on his journey back to Russia from Switzerland. His onward route from Berlin took him by train to Sassnitz, then on by ferry to Trelleborg in Sweden. These days it's still possible to follow the route taken by Lenin, using the occasional direct trains from Berlin to Sweden. For much of its length, the Curonian Spit is about two to three kilometres wide; at points it narrows to just a few hundred metres. The sea is never far away. There is a real sense of being on the very edge of Europe. Yet, for all its remoteness, the landscape is deeply influenced by human intervention. In Victorian Scotland, the public took great interest in technology, and so the detonations at the quarry of Crarae on the west shore of Loch Fyne became something of an attraction. The regular steamer from the Clyde to Inveraray would pause at Crarae so that passengers could witness the spectacle of the hillside crumbling. We had assumed that the practice of diligently recording and publishing the name of visitors had long since died out until last summer we visited Samnaun. This really is one of Europe's most oddball communities. It is tucked away in the hills on the north side of the Inn Valley in Switzerland's Lower Engadine region. This evening, as the prosecco glasses clink and the water salutes cascade, anyone might be forgiven for thinking that Air Berlin had just notched up some great commercial success. What is in fact being marked is the demise of an airline with flight AB from Munich to Berlin being Air Berlin's very last scheduled flight. James' View is stunning. You'd barely credit that the building was once no more than a simple Hebridean dwelling. It has been transformed by owners Marion and Will into a very welcoming holiday home on Barra. It makes a perfect base for exploring the island. There is more to Zermatt than the Matterhorn. If you've eaten too much over the holidays and fancy some exercise, why not join us on a walk around Lake Geneva. Let's focus on the Montreux Riviera, which sweeps softly around the north-east part of the lake. It is densely settled with communities like Vevey, Clarens and Montreux all nudging up against one another. Would you ever consider buying an entire island? This autumn has seen a couple of Scottish islands on the market. Today's Letter from Europe reviews the contents of hidden europe Publication of this new issue of the travel magazine is 15 March Copies are already available for purchase. Dive into the streets of Valletta and you'll discover one side of the Maltese capital. Climb up to the city ramparts for a very different view of Valletta. But Victor Paul Borg believes that the only way to understand the military history of Valletta is to venture underground. Join Victor as he explores a subterranean warren under the fortress capital of Malta. Welsh settlers landed on the Patagonian coast in to create Y Wladfa literally 'the colony' in the Chubut Valley. Within little more than a generation, most of the Welsh migrants had moved inland or left South America altogether. But a veneer of faux-Welshness is still evident in the Chubut Valley town of Gaiman and perhaps a touch of genuine Welshness too. Playing the Welsh card, we discover, can be a commercial asset in Patagonia. They all style themselves as 'book towns'. Across Europe and beyond, small towns are discovering the appeal of 'the Hay model' as they jump on the bandwagon set rolling by Richard Booth in Hay-on-Wye. Tucked away in the hill country of southern Belgium is the town of Redu. On the face of it, Redu is much the same as other towns in the Ardennes region. Except that, in Redu, the printed word is especially cherished and valued. Paul Scraton invites us to join him as he explores Belgium's premier 'book town'. Among the areas covered in the pilot guide is the island of Cabrera, off the south coast of Mallorca. It's hard to say no to pastis. Especially on the island of Bendor, off the south coast of France, where pastis is the preferred drink at almost any time of day. Both communities are celebrated stops on the European spa circuit. They both flourished in Habsburg days and both are nowadays still well known by their erstwhile German names, respectively Karlsbad and Marienbad. Think of writers who are intimately associated with a particular city: Kafka and Prague, Joyce and Dublin, Svevo and Trieste Pessoa did for Lisbon something which few other leading writers have done for their home city. He wrote a guide for tourists visiting the city. With Pessoa to hand, Iain Bamforth sets out to explore the Portuguese capital. The town, which hosts one of the leading Marian shrines in Europe, lies in glorious countryside just north of the Alps. This week marks the 90th anniversary of the opening of the Artek children's camp in the Crimea. Throughout post-Soviet Europe there are thousands of older people who look back with great affection to the summer holidays they enjoyed as children at Artek. The Hurtigruten vessels which ply the Norwegian coast provide essential links to ports along the way. The pure simplicity of the timetable allows travellers to create their own itineraries, confident in the knowledge that another Hurtigruten ship will be along in 24 hours. Readers of hidden europe often ask us about details of the Norwegian coastal voyage. On this page we have gathered together two dozen such questions with our answers. A lot of general information on Hurtigruten is available in brochures. Our focus here is more on the details of life on board. The Macedonian town of Kratovo is by-passed by most travellers exploring the southern Balkans. But guest contributor Chris Deliso took time to discover the town which was once an important mining centre. Join us as we walk over the bridges of Kratovo and find a community which is trying to reinvent itself. Russia's love affair with the French Riviera and the adjacent Ligurian coastal littoral to the east has been one of Europe's defining cultural interactions of the last years. We take at look at how Russian visitors have helped shape Riviera life. The book is populated by small-town characters of various religious persuasions — Orthodox, Catholics, Muslims and Jews. In the wake of the terrible conflicts of the s, Visegrad is now mainly a Serb town and thus Orthodox. Guest contributor Laurence Mitchell introduces us to Visegrad, the small town on the Drina in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The agency that promotes tourism to the German capital is called Visit Berlin. During Visit Berlin is promoting the idea that 9 November is the night when you just must be in Berlin. Just as Notting Hill Festival and Edinburgh Hogmanay have staked their place in the global party circuit, Berlin is using the 25th anniversary of the 'fall of the Wall' to advance its case for inclusion. The Ukrainian railway administration may still be advertising trains to Crimea, but not a lot of Ukrainians will be heading to the region for their summer holidays. Hoteliers in Crimea are having a lean season, but Moscow has plans to ensure that Crimean resorts are not completely empty in Yet this beautiful island is a good place to understand Danish history. Can a town have too much history? That certainly seems the case with the small city of Weimar in the German State of Thuringia. The town packs a few surprises and there is even a little counterculture to offset Schiller and Goethe. We unpack the details that you don't find in the tourist brochures in this special feature on a town that is still very much 'east' Germany - and all the better for that. The decision last year by Thomas Cook to scrap the title was a bitter blow. But, thanks to a new company set up by the team that compiled the timetable in Thomas Cook days, the ERT is back. Snow falls over all the city, covering the cobbles and the pathways. In the gentle stretch of parkland that lines the valley of the Ilm, snow drapes the follies and the ruins. In the middle of Weimar, statues of stern men are laced with light snow. A tricorne for Goethe, an icicle for Schiller. The monastery on the Isola di San Francesco del Deserto is a place apart, an island retreat in the shallow recesses of the northern lagoon well away from the hustle and bustle of Venice. It is an island where blessed solitude is punctuated by the Liturgy of the Hours. Franciscan monks have prayed on San Francesco del Deserto for eight centuries, their chants shaping a soundscape that otherwise is dominated by bird song, the breeze running through avenues of cypresses and the ripple of water. Laurence Mitchell describes the pulse of everyday life in Alhama, a place that still has its fair share of Moorish ghosts. In , Jemima Morrell participated in the first ever escorted tour of the Alps organised by Cook. Her diary of that journey is a remarkable piece of writing - one that slices through Victorian formality. The story of what happened to that diary is as intriguing as the journey described within its pages. There is no better way to do this than by taking the weekly sailing from Palma di Mallorca to Menorca, along the way passing the island where Hannibal was born and another island where prisoners of war were held captive. Cast back years, and Bastille Day came and went without the average Parisian taking much notice. It was not till that 14 July acquired the status of a national holiday. Jemima and her party of fellow travellers from England dutifully followed the Parisian itinerary that had been prepared for them by Mr Thomas Cook. The time is coming when residents of Rome escape the Eternal City. Rome is not a place to stay in summer. Many from Rome head north into the hills of Lazio, where Etruscan, Roman and Renaissance threads intertwine in history and culture. The lakes pull the crowds. There are three in particular, all marking the site of old volcano craters: Bolsena with its two pretty islands , Bracciano and the much smaller Lago di Vico. The latter is just about three kilometres across, and the entire lake is quite hemmed in by the hills. There is a prevailing view in Salzburg that Vienna is halfway to Asia. And that is certainly the perspective with which 19th-century travellers from western Europe approached Vienna. We retrace the itinerary followed by Thomas Cook's clients in as they headed east to Vienna to attend the World Fair hosted that year in the Austrian capital. An image is worth a thousand words. France is represented as a land of soft-focus vineyards while Norway is captured in a fjord. Slovenia is distilled in one island in the middle of a lake, while Scotland is evidently populated by men wearing kilts. We look at how national brands have evolved over two hundred years. By the end of February , Thomas Cook had encircled most of the northern hemisphere. Cook and his party of circumnavigators had sailed from Liverpool in September The travellers discovered iced water, Pullman cars and Sioux warriors in the United States. They found the crossing of the Pacific happily pacific and enjoyed 'a perfect bewilderment' of landscape in Japan. So we travelled west, just as we promised. We saw white horses and chalk downland, slipping through geology to reach a land of gorgeous place names. Brunel's mighty bridge escorted us to another land. We take a look at how visa regimes undermine human mobility. Given our interests, you might have thought that we'd have pounced on The Smell of the Continent the moment it was published in The book is a witty and well-researched account of how the English discovered continental Europe in a decades following the Napoleonic Wars. The story of Lake Sevan reveals the tensions between economic development and environmental security in modern Armenia. Jamie Maddison travels around the shores of Lake Sevan to discover how the politics of water management play havoc with the lives of those who live and work in the region. Will Verity do the same for Ilfracombe? But Verity's stay in the north Devon port is limited to just twenty years. And who then might take her place by the side of Ilfracombe harbour? Napoleon Bonaparte, perhaps? Would you believe that a major guide book publisher really suggests that the Rhine runs from north to south through Germany? With tight budgets, some publishers are cutting corners and skimping on detail. For the Rough Guide to Germany, that means focusing in on mainstream destinations, removing from new editions those sections of the book which reflect on smaller communities across Germany. Yet it is the latter that capture much that is so appealing in Germany. Not quite Europe and not quite Asia, the Princes' Isles in the Sea of Marmara south of Istanbul have long been a place of sanctuary for exiles and minorities. Laurence Mitchell escorts us to the islands where Leon Trotsky lived for some years and wrote his 'History of the Russian Revolution'. Just over five years ago, on a sunny day in mid-April , Victor Yushchenko paid a courtesy visit to the European Commission. Ukraine was in political turmoil and the key protagonists were busy courting the wider European policy community and international public opinion - each hoping to secure some support for their side in the embittered constitutional crisis that then divided their country. It is tempting to scatter superlatives when it comes to Poznan. Put simply, Poznan has a superb showpiece square. In its town hall, which dominates that central square, the city has one of the most magnificent Renaissance buildings in Europe. Poznan is a place we like a lot and one we know well - indeed we spent a long weekend there just last month. Yet, like many central European cities, Poznan struggles with its Jewish past. The stretch of coast north from Boulogne in the direction of Calais is a good place to reflect on England. We took a local bus along the coastal road last month, and it made for a fine ride on a perfectly clear, crisp winter day. Beach communities like Wimereux and Wissant were once popular holiday spots, much favoured by English visitors. The port city of Boulogne has always attracted visitors from across the Channel. Tobias Smolett came and so did Charles Dickens who called the town his 'favourite French watering hole', declaring it to be 'every bit as good as Naples'. Today, the town's ferry terminal is abandoned, but Boulogne remains a popular spot for visitors from Britain and offers a few exotic surprises. Across Europe, former Anglican church buildings have been redeployed to all manner of extraordinary uses: from galleries via museums to night clubs. We trace the spread of Anglican churches throughout the continent. International Women's Day IWD , which is celebrated today in many countries across the world, has been a feature of the European social landscape for more than a century. From the outset, IWD gave focus to a range of initiatives across Europe that pre-dated the designation of a special day. For example, Emmeline Pankhurst's suffragettes had already been very effectively promoting women's rights in England, while Clara Zetkin and her followers had been pursuing a similar agenda in Germany. The Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the modern Potsdamer Platz development are Berlin icons, all enduringly popular with those who trade in visual images. And our Berlin wander, weaving around film crews and tripods, set us thinking about the way in which the imperative to capture the scene, coupled with the demands of commerce, intrude on public spaces. Over the recent holidays, a friend and fellow-traveller popped the 'church question'. Is it okay to slip into Mass or Evensong to enjoy the splendours of Venice's Basilica di San Marco or York's magnificent Minster when the principal intent is not worship but a wish to see the buildings' interiors? Or should the visitor more properly attend at times designated for tourists, queue as necessary and pay an admission fee if requested? Well, that was certainly an interesting week for travellers around Europe. Lots of angst for stranded souls. Rich fodder for the British tabloids as brave holidaymakers returned to English ports recounting tales of journeys from hell. Heavens, we never knew that France was really that bad. Celebrity tourism is nothing new. In , Queen Victoria had journeyed to the Hebrides from the Clyde, using the Crinan Canal to avoid the long sea journey around the Kintyre peninsula. In so doing she encouraged thousands of other travellers to follow in her wake - the so-called Royal Route to Oban via the Crinan Canal was suddenly in vogue. The festivalisation of culture penetrates all areas of the arts. No longer is it possible to offer a string of Mozart concerts. Nowadays it has to be a Mozart festival. Slow travel is about making conscious choices, and not letting the anticipation of arrival undermine the pleasure of the journey. By choosing to travel slowly, we reshape our relationship with place and with the communities through which we pass on our journeys. In we launched our 'Manifesto for slow travel'. You can read the full text here. The Slow Food movement is well established, and there are now slow cities. But what about slow travel? Robert Louis Stevenson and Freya Stark both travelled with donkeys. They were attentive to every turn of the road on their journeys through France and Arabia respectively. But us? We pack ourselves like sardines into fragile aluminium tubes and speed through the sky at hundreds of miles per hour. Come now! That is not real travel. Despite a biting north wind and some squally showers of sleet and hail, Helgolanders did what they always do on the evening of Easter Saturday: gather just before dusk for the traditional Osterfeuer Easter fire. Helgoland often still referred to by its erstwhile English name Heligoland is an extraordinary place, an impressive lump of deep red sandstone that juts out of the North Sea. The English poet Coleridge was not at all keen on Malta. And Byron is alleged to have described the Maltese capital, Valletta, as memorable mainly for its 'yells, bells and smells'. Yet in our book the Maltese islands have more going for them than the Romantic poets ever recognised. Forget the concrete jungle of the modern tourist resorts. The experience of driving through the world's longest road tunnel is one to remember. Many of Berlin's prime attractions evoke the darker side of the city's past. The new monument to the murdered Jews of Europe just south of the Brandenburg Gate is the latest addition to Berlin's dark tourism repertoire. Just a short walk away is the Topography of Terror exhibition. For visitors who venture out of Berlin's city centre, the former Nazi concentration camp at Sachsenhausen is a major destination. Back Up Top. Articles tagged: Tourism. Home tourism. Letter from Europe: 12 July Blog post. Magazine article. Mixed mode. Hidden histories. Magazine article Full text online. Capital moments. Letter from Europe: 29 August Letter from Europe: 12 October Letter from Europe: 8 September It's hard to imagine these days that any guidebook might ever sell , copies each month. But years ago, in the second half of , Michelin was managing just that. We explore how guidebooks fared in the years after the end of the First World War. As Baedeker fell into disfavour among English readers, other companies were quick to fill the gap. Rail Europe Inc sold the first passes in North America in We look at how Eurail helped shape perceptions of Europe for overseas visitors and see how the Eurail scheme helped catalyse Europe's Interrail scheme. From Slovenia to Chile, from Malta to Turkey, bee-related tourism is suddenly in vogue. Honeyed travel opportunities aplenty as tourist boards and travellers realise that bees mean business. It was hugely popular with American visitors, becoming a sort of showcase for a mock-mediaeval Germany. Bratwurst and beer aplenty, but not a mention of Germany's Nazi past. We scan the departure boards for a few exotica. Train fares are getting cheaper. As retailer Loco2 launches split tickets in the British market, travellers on longer journeys across the continent are discovering that judicious use of an Interrail pass can undercut the cost of a regular return ticket. Interrail may make sense even for just one round trip. In Sweden and France too, seaside resorts are enduringly popular. But whatever happened in England? We look at the rise and fall of the seaside. But empires fade, and that canal and railway now cross important frontiers. We look at how the canal and railway have fared. The Anglesey Arms by the quayside has long since closed. But this erstwhile port just down the coast from Dublin still has something of the elegance and grace that it had in the heyday of the packet steamers. Join us to discover the Polish village of Wojnowo which was created from nothing almost years ago. A community of devout Russians arrived on foot and settled on the reedy banks of the River Krutynia. Message in a bottle. Late afternoon, the day trippers are leaving Isola dei Pescatori. Come sunset, the island in Lake Maggiore becomes a quieter, gentler place as the hum of motorised vessels on the lake is hushed for the day. Join us on a trip to the Borromean Islands. Letter from Europe: 26 September Those innocuous codes on airline baggage tags are the key to the geography of air travel and some have a dash of history too. The city of Lviv, located in the western reaches of Ukraine, is in many respects a classic central European city, a place which has more in common with Wien, Trieste and Budapest than with other cities in the former Soviet Union — of which Lviv was of course a part. We report from a city which has a complex and layered history, something which makes Lviv all the more interesting. Falconry has invariably been associated with a measure of privilege and wealth. So it's no surprise that the French Revolution led to a downturn in falconry. Wider access to modern weapons guns in particular also helped sideline the art of falconry. But, somewhat against the odds perhaps, the ancient traditions of falconry have survived in many European countries. Rudolf Abraham explores a sport with mediaeval origins. From the Bodensee in the north to Lago Maggiore in the south, Swiss lakes are blessed with a wide range of scheduled boat services. We take a look at services which ply the waters of Lake Geneva, serving over two dozen ports across the lake. Letter from Europe: 29 April The Peaks of the Balkans trail is a long-distance hiking route, in the shape of a figure-of-eight, which takes in some of the finest mountain terrain in northern Albania and adjacent parts of Kosovo and Montenegro. Rudolf Abraham describes how the trail opens up international frontiers in a region where crossing borders was until recently rarely easy. To walk in solitude in the company of stars is indeed something special. It's a chance to attend to the beauty of the heavens. Letter from Europe: 12 January The blue skies of Anatolia merge with the still waters of Lake Egirdir, on the shores of which Said Nursi wrote his landmark commentary on the Koran. Chris Deliso discovers good food and good music in a community in Turkey. The democratisation of travel has made it possible for millions of people to explore Europe at modest cost. But in some premier league tourist destinations, local residents are beginning to see that hosting too many visitors has a downside. Letter from Europe: 27 October Letter from Europe: 23 July Welcome to hidden europe Much travel writing fuels a shallow approach to travel. Fear of missing out FEMO makes travellers roam the globe in haste. There is, we think, a better way of engaging with places and cultures. We prefer to take things mor. The first product from the new Swiss publisher Imaginary Wanderings sets a dauntingly high standard in terms of its look, feel and production values. And the content is equally fine. Guest contributor Paul Scraton heads out from Ljubljana to explore issues of place and memory in landscapes with a troubled history. Echoes from the past still shape the present in the Slovenian hills. Guest contributor Emma Levine, a first-time contributor to hidden europe magazine, invites us to join her in Prizren, Kosovo, where she discovers that the delicate art of filigree crafting still thrives. We take a look at the architectural tradition often known by its German name Backsteingotik. The reprinting of old, out-of copyright train timetables has become quite a craze - and a money-spinner for publishers keen to exploit the nostalgia market. We look at a reprinted timetable and find that the advertisements are a good deal more interesting than the railway schedules. Letter from Europe: 31 December Letter from Europe: 5 December People Places. Letter from Europe: 1 December It is unlikely that great streams of tourists will be arriving in the mountains of northern Albania anytime soon. But this part of the southern Balkans now benefits from better access roads. Guest contributor Laurence Mitchell reports from two valleys in the hills often known as the Albanian Alps. Some things in Oxford never change. But hidden europe looks beyond the dreaming spires to discover another side of the town. The ruins of the holiday resort of Kupari near Dubrovnik on the Croatian coast are a sobering reminder of an all-too-recent war in Europe. The Erzgebirge Ore Mountains offer excellent possibilities for hiking, cycling and cross-country skiing. But even less energetic visitors can reach remote communities in the region by local bus and train services. A chance to visit Belarus without a visa, and a tweak to the visa regulations in the Russian port of Murmansk are just two of the latest changes to visa regimes in Europe. Catch the flavour of this new edition with our train journey from Rome to Sicily, specially adapted from the book for this issue of the magazine. Special spaces. It is one of Europe's most intensive areas of fruit cultivation. Apples, raspberries, cherries and plums aplenty in a region which owes much to early Dutch settlers. Europe beyond Europe. But the South African town took its name from the eponymous Swiss community. Letter from Europe: 13 March Letter from Europe: 1 March Letter from Europe: 18 January Letter from Europe: 2 August Letter from Europe: 9 June Letter from Europe: 30 January Letter from Europe: 21 January Letter from Europe: 14 July Letter from Europe: 28 June Performing Europe. Letter from Europe: 28 February Letter from Europe: 12 November Letter from Europe: 3 June Letter from Europe: 22 May Letter from Europe: 16 March Letter from Europe: 8 March Letter from Europe: 19 February Letter from Europe: 9 January Letter from Europe: 22 April Letter from Europe: 19 October Letter from Europe: 14 March Letter from Europe: 24 March Letter from Europe: 28 January Letter from Europe: 6 November Letter from Europe: 13 August

A float in the gravel ocean of northern Sweden

Storlien buying blow

I had been in Norway for nearly two whole months at this point… but I still had another week of cycling in front of me before my Scandinavian bike tour would be over. I had spent a week cycling across Sweden and southern Norway with Pablo and Ana and their dog Hippie. I had spent 10 days on a self-guided bike tour with Active-Norway. But now the time had come for me to leave the comfort and stability of my remote island home and climb back onto my Co-Motion touring bicycle for one final push across Norway and into central Sweden, where my trip would ultimately come to an end. I needed to be in Umea, Sweden by September 10, … and I had just ten days to get there more than 1, kilometers away. In the video above you see a few quick shots of the incredible island home I had the pleasure of staying in for two-and-a-half full weeks. It was an incredible experience! Upon leaving the island, however, I caught an early morning ferry boat that took me for an hour or two up the coast of Norway to the tiny town of Selje. From there I cycled east along the coastline and then up and over a small hill before arriving at a second ferry crossing taking me from Koparnes to Arvik. With the sun about to set and my energy levels low, I cycled a few kilometers further and then pushed my bicycle just a short distance off the road before setting up my tent in a small flat area located between some pine trees and two small and vacant summer lake houses. I dived inside my tent and called it a night. I was exhausted! My first day on the road had been warn and sunny an oddity, it seemed, for cycling in Norway. Little did I know, the rain would last for days and days. But I pushed on. As soon as the rain stopped, I packed up my tent and hit the road, cycling across a large island, catching the ferry boat from Hareid to Sulesund and then cycling along the coastline for a while before climbing a long, wet ascent into a forested mountain. One moment the sun would be out and the next moment it would be raining. And despite a slow start to the day, I managed to cycle over kilometers and find an ideal spot to camp for the night, high in the mountains near a local ski resort. Day three of my Norway to Sweden bicycle touring adventure was possibly the worst day of weather I encountered in all of The rain lasted almost all day long and drenched me to my core. After taking another ferry boat from Vestnes to Molde, I cycled along the coastline for a while and then climbed up a steep hill leading to the town on the other side. The rain during this part of my day was extreme, and the downhill descent was windy and cold. By the time I reached the town of Batnfjordsora, I was ready to call it a day. I managed to cycle a bit further, however, and after finding a graveyard in which I could refill my water bottles, I pushed my bike up the hill behind the town of Hogset and pitched my tent in the trees behind some summer homes. I was so happy when I woke the following morning to a sky that was only half filled with clouds… because the other half was filled with sunlight! And after two days of near non-stop rain, that sunshine sure did feel good. Now well behind schedule, I needed to press on and continue aiming to ride about kilometers per day if I planned to be in Umea, Sweden in time for my flight back to the United States. This was a fun day of cycling for me because I got to cycle across a number of small islands, crossing first on bridges and then taking my final Norwegian ferry boat from Kanestraum to Halsa. Now back on mainland Norway and with Sweden just a couple hundred kilometers away, my spirits lifted — while at the same time making me realize that my bike tour was nearly over. After spending the night camped out in the forest, I packed up my touring bicycle and hit the road. It was another cold and wet day on the bicycle. My toes were freezing, but the scenery was spectacular. Stjordal, I learned, was a little east of Trondheim, which suited me just fine, so I jumped inside the bus and was grateful to be warm for even a few minutes. Once in Stjordal, I jumped off the bus and cycled to the nearby city of Hell and arrived there with just minutes to spare before the train pulled into the station and I jumped on — traveling the final stretch across Norway to the town of Storlien, Sweden — and arriving just before dark. I pedaled a couple kilometers east of the train station and pitched my tent on the edge of what I thought appeared to be a nature reserve. After a cold night of camping in Storlien, Sweden, I jumped on a train to the city of Sundsvall. Once there, I hopped on another train to the north and was kicked off a short while later in the city of Harnosand. Watch the video below to learn why I was kicked off the train. Then I rode a bus for an hour or two to the city of Ornskoldsvik, where I set off a security alarm at the bus station and then spent the night camping in the woods near the local golf course. Again, I recommend you watch the video below for a full, blow-by-blow account of exactly what went down on this particular day. It was my worst day of travel in all of ! Finally, during my last full day of cycling in Sweden, I woke up in the forest about 35 kilometers west of Umea, packed up my bicycle and cycled into town. I spent a couple hours in the city — buying food and just looking around. Then I spent one last night camping in the woods on the northern side of town. I spent four full nights in that apartment and used my last few days in Umea to explore the city, pack up my bicycle and all my belongings, and prepare for my flight back to the United States. My bike tour was officially over! My goal as the 'Bicycle Touring Pro' is to give you the confidence and inspiration you need to travel by bicycle anywhere in the world. I'm here to help you plan, prepare for, and execute your first bike tour and remove all the guesswork, wasted time and frustration that plagues so many first-time bicycle travelers. Thanks for posting. I still use a special backpack for a cyclist! Moreover, it is very convenient to drink water! Anyway, your idea is certainly excellent! Remember me Log in. Lost your password? Darren Alff My goal as the 'Bicycle Touring Pro' is to give you the confidence and inspiration you need to travel by bicycle anywhere in the world. Sarah Berkner says: Thanks for posting. March 15, at am. Aron says: I still use a special backpack for a cyclist! March 28, at am. Search for:. Send this to a friend. Send Cancel.

Storlien buying blow