Resting in a valley close to where the Ardennes massif meets the Hautes Fagnes plateau is the world’s original spa resort. Spa grew up around a natural source long praised for its supposed healing properties. Charles II of England and Peter the Great came to take the waters at Spa, but these springs had been …
In 1331 the Count of Luxembourg John of Bohemia granted city privileges to this little settlement on a meander in the Ourthe River. That’s quite a comical idea today, as Durbuy is no bigger than an average village. In fact this may actually be the smallest city in the world. One thing for sure is …
This understated rural city is on the western flank of the Clermont Chain of Lakes. In fact, a big portion of Mascotte’s area is made up of water, and there’s even more to the north and east. Aside from lakes, the landscapes here are pasture interwoven with treed swamps and a growing number of residential …
A southern suburb of Jacksonville, Orange Park is a half-hour commute to downtown Jax. The town sits next to a wide stretch of the St. Johns River, and it’s well worth pulling off US 17 to take a real look. Here on River Road, things feel a lot like Old Florida, with majestic live oaks, …
In my idea of a dream location, Gulf Breeze is a city at the end of a long peninsula in Pensacola Bay. I’ll try and be concise here, but it’s not easy when talking about everything you can do on this part of the Gulf Coast. First off there’s the waters of Pensacola Bay and …
Close to Belgium’s very northeast, Bree is a city in the Kempen, an idyllic region of heaths, wetlands and farmland. For hundreds of years agriculture has been the backbone of Bree’s economy, and one of the largest markets in the region coils around the city centre every Friday. Bree’s walkable old core has kept hold …
On the northern edge of the lake of the same name, Okeechobee is a city with a lot to love. I’ll start with one of America’s largest freshwater water bodies. Lake Okeechobee is renowned as a haven for trophy bass, and there’s a ton of charter companies in the area to help you catch them. …
A half-hour west of Tallahassee, Quincy is a 200-year-old city with a lot of unique stories to reveal. One compelling one is that dozens of mostly humble local residents struck rich in the Coca-Cola boom of the 1920s. As late as the 1980s that wealth was still sluicing through the city, when the Leaf Theater …
On the Kempen Basin, the city of Beringen went through a mining boom that burned bright for a time after the Second World War before quickly fading. In Koersel, Beringen has been left with the largest industrial heritage site in Belgium, spread across 100,000 square metres. Of all the former mines in Belgian Limburg, this …
On the fertile southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee, Pahokee is a small community dating back to the Florida land boom of the 1920s. In fact, booms and busts, and devastating hurricanes have defined the history of this city. For visitors, “Florida’s Inland Sea” is the star attraction. This vast water body spreads out beyond the …