Serbia’s second city is on the Danube, upriver from Belgrade and downriver from Budapest, which exerted a historical influence on this place. By Serbian standards Novi Sad is rather young, and took off in the 18th century as a trading hub opposite the mammoth Petrovaradin Fortress, an Austro-Hungarian outpost. In the 1700s and 1800s the …
Germany’s first naval port is tucked into the western lip of the Jade Bight, a natural harbour on the North Sea. Wilhelmshaven was founded by Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1869 and still claim’s the title of the nation’s largest navy base. German military history will always hold a certain fascination, and you could pay a …
On Düsseldorf’s northeast shoulder, Ratingen is a well-off city where many international computer brands and high-tech manufacturers have their HQs. Ratingen’s innovative flair goes back at least as far as the 18th century when the city had mainland Europe’s first cotton spinning mill. Today the Textilfabrik Cromford is a riveting museum attached to a Baroque …
Washington is arguably the most beautiful state in the entire USA, what with its mountain ranges, deep fjords, temperate rainforests and Pacific coastline. The entire Cascade Range runs through the state, dissecting it to the east and west, with the east being dryer and flatter and the west being home to mountains, volcanoes and forests. …
One of the last mining cities in Germany, Marl is at the very north of the Ruhrgebiet in North Rhine-Westphalia. As Marl is in a conurbation you have quick connections to big industrial cities like Gelsenkirchen and Bochum, but a brief drive north and you’ll be in the bucolic farmland and forest of the Münster …
At the start of the 18th century Duke Eberhard Louis of Württemberg built an “Ideal City” up the Neckar River from Stuttgart to cement his absolute power. A Baroque urban plan was put into action, with a grid system of streets around a monumental market square. By the time Eberhard Louis passed away in 1733 …
West Virginia is noted for its beautiful landscape of mountains and rolling hills. In fact, it sits in the Appalachian region of the USA and is one of the world’s most densely karstic areas. Its terrain makes it a highly visited state, especially considering its plethora of recreational activities. In addition to hills, mountains and …
Bulwarked by low mountains this Thuringian City is the home of one of Germany’s ten oldest universities. So it follows that many eminent literary figures, thinkers and scientists have lived or spent time here over the last 560 years. We’re talking about cultural and scientific giants like Goethe, Schiller, Nietzsche, Ernst Haeckel, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz …
The city of Hanau in Hesse has the moniker, “Brüder-Grimm-Stadt” (Brothers Grimm City). Literature’s favourite sibling collaboration was born in Hanau in 1785 and 1786, and there’s a national memorial to the brothers at the Neustädter Markt (new town market). This monument is at the centre of a grid of streets from the beginning of …
At the innermost pocket of Schleswig-Holstein’s Flensburg Fjord in, is a Baltic Sea port soaked in maritime culture and with 800 years of stories to tell. The quay on the west side of the fjord is a nautical journey of discovery with quaint taverns and a historic shipyard on one side and historic sailboats creaking …