Packed onto the narrow barrier island east of the Intracoastal Waterway, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea is a quaint and lovable beachfront town. If I had to pick one outstanding thing about LBTS it would be the coral reef awaiting offshore. South of Anglin’s Pier you can wade out and snorkel in the reef’s shallow, wildlife-rich waters. There’s also …
In Santa Rosa County by Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Milton is a lovely old city at the lower reaches of the Blackwater River. The historic downtown area backs onto the riverfront, with a long view upstream. Milton is renowned as a center for paddlesports. This reputation comes from beautiful stretches of the Blackwater River …
This small city is by the intersection of two of the Miami area’s most famous roads. Along the north side of West Miami is the Tamiami Trail, which crossed the Everglades in the 1920s. Running down the east side is Red Road, which became the western boundary with Coral Gables in that same decade. Indeed, …
The oldest settlement in Polk County, dates back to the tentative peace of the mid-19th century following the Second Seminole War. Fort Meade is set just west of the Peace River. This spellbinding watercourse is a major attraction, flowing southwards through mysterious cypress swamp and past archeological sites. At Fort Meade you can embark on …
On a string of islands in the Middle Keys, the city of Marathon is a tropical paradise with some of the world’s best diving and snorkeling. The name comes from the tireless labor of the workers who built Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway at the start of the 20th century. In that vein, some …
An industrial city in Belgian Limburg, Genk experienced a surge of mining activity in the middle of the 20th century as it sits right on the Kempen coal basin. Those collieries were out of action by the 1990s, but their imposing architecture lives on at the C-Mine cultural centre and creative hub, and the Thor …
This medium-sized city, capital of Belgium’s Waasland region, has plenty going for it. One plus point is the largest market square in the country, dating back more than 750 years and so big that hot air balloons take off from this space during a festival in September. The 16th-century cartographer Gerardus Mercator was born just …
In Taylor County, where the panhandle meets the peninsula, Perry is a small town in a remote part of Florida. Since the 19th century this area has relied on its immense crop of longleaf pines for income, both as lumber and a source of turpentine. Since the 1960s the city has been the home of …
Not far from the geographic center of Florida, Brooksville is an old city that goes back to a merger of two towns in the 1850s. Many cities with such a long past carry a lot of baggage, and Brooksville is no different. I had a rewarding time delving into some of this history at the May-Stringer …
This industrial city in West Flanders came through a revival in the 19th century with the completion of the Roeselare-Leie Canal. In the decades that followed, Roeselare would be described as the Manchester of Belgium, and has a port on the canal still bustling with activity. In 1875 a young Albrecht Rodenbach, who later became …