Paris does something to me that no other city quite manages. The city moves me every time I arrive (and I have been here 30 times). The smells, the tower, the croissants, the hot chocolate, the coffee, the Seine, the packed brasseries, the art galleries, the markets, the parks. The transport. All beautiful. That’s the thing about the best cities. Paris has been perfecting itself for centuries. 1 The Architecture: Those magnificent, organised avenues: the tree-lined boulevards that glow at night. Throw in the consistent height limits that keep the city human, and the hidden…
Place Reviews (Thursday)
Category Archives for Place Reviews (Thursday).
Cities I Love
A series for travellers, dreamers, and anyone who has ever fallen for a place. It’s a crazy time right now, isn’t it? In the midst of everything, I’ve been reminiscing about how lucky I’ve been to spend time in some of the most extraordinary cities on earth. Not just passing through but really being in them. Walking their streets at odd hours, eating where the locals eat, getting lost on purpose, and coming back again and again until a place starts to feel like a second home. I have been doing some more reminiscing. This…
Explore Asia’s best city with me!
If you’ve never been, let me tell you why Taipei should be next on your list. This city offers so much to love. The food is extraordinary, the transport is amazing, the streets are safe, and the people are genuinely kind. There is enough history, culture, and night market chaos to keep one busy for weeks. It is also, for a city of its size and quality, remarkably affordable. “Taipei” literally means “North Taiwan,” indicating its location on the island. The city sits in a low-lying basin where three rivers meet. It’s dense urban neighbourhoods…
Sendai: The City of Trees
A 90-minute hop from Tokyo on Japan’s fastest train, the Hayabusa Shinkansen, brings you to Sendai, the city of trees! My critique of many Japanese cities is that they have a lot of concrete and asphalt, and not much green space. In the 19th century, Sendai’s local ruler encouraged tree planting, and in the 1950s, the city doubled down on this. So Sendai appears to have more greenery than places like Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto or Tokyo. Introducing Sendai Sendai was founded in 1600 by the ruthless one-eyed warlord Date Masamune, the “One-Eyed Dragon”, as a…
The Garden Route: Africa’s Edge
In high school, I attended a talk by a South African exchange student. Two things stayed with me: his description of apartheid in its final years, and his description of the Garden Route. I knew I had to visit. This route traces the edge of Africa, where the continent ends and the Indian Ocean takes over. In this post, I start in Cape Town. I detail the roughly 800 km between that city and Port Elizabeth, the next major city. The Journey Rolled out of Cape Town just after dawn, Table Mountain at our backs.…
Pretoria (Tshwane): The Capital That Surprised Me
I arrived in Pretoria with low expectations. South Africa had been a mixed bag. The delights of the Garden Route, a superb Johannesburg, falling in love with Cape Town and almost getting mugged there, wonderful stops in Hermanus and Durban. And then the disappointments: Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) and Mossel Bay both left me cold. My South African friends, the same ones who had warned me off Port Elizabeth, had mixed things to say about the country’s administrative capital. I gave it a day and a half. It gave me considerably more than I expected. Pretoria…
Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth): A City That Feels Lost.
I had just had an amazing week on the Garden Route, exploring wineries, seeing whales, and enjoying hikes, coffee, food, and South African hospitality. Enjoy some of the photos! When my Baz Bus minibus (great service by the way) reached Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth, we arrived in a very different world. A power failure had struck. Streets were dark, traffic lights blank or flashing. The driver found a pothole as big as a car. Motorbikes zipped around it, but the bus and trailer couldn’t. On a darkened street, he reversed and turned around, taking the long…
Riga: The Baltic Capital That Punches Above Its Weight
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Riga. I’d heard it described as “small,” which completely undersells it. This city punches above its weight. Great architecture everywhere, working markets, good food, more affordable than much of Europe, and centeuetsi if history you can still see and feel on every street. Not a blockbuster destination, but genuinely enjoyable. I visited in winter, which surprised everybody; I was glad I did. Riga’s Complicated HistoryFounded in 1201 by German crusaders on the Daugava River, it became a wealthy medieval trading port linking Russia and Western Europe. The Old…
Terrific Turku, Finland’s Historical Capital. All You Need to Know
Turku is a low-key river city known for its university life and as a gateway to medieval Finland and the beautiful Turku Archipelago. Turku has tens of thousands of students across multiple universities and this creates a fun, youthful atmosphere. Quality‑of‑life index scores Turku slightly higher than Helsinki overall (Turku 215 vs Helsinki 206), with better scores for healthcare, safety, and housing affordability Nice range of museums. I visited in the depths of January winter, but plan to return in summer! Eight Hundred Years Old Turku is Finland’s oldest city, with its origins usually…
Rovvaniemei: Timber, Fire, and Reinvention
Welcome to the ArcticMy second time on the Arctic Circle! Rovaniemi, in Northern Finland, sells hard on Santa and the northern lights. I came for the Northern Lights, the Ice Hotel, to ride one of the most northerly train routes, cross the Arctic Circle again and Santa Claus (in that order), and discovered that beneath the Christmas branding, there is a real Lapland hub for winter and summer activities, warm people, and experiences I’d never had before. But no lights. Backstory: Timber, Fire, and ReinventionPeople have lived around present‑day Rovaniemi since the Stone Age, but…
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