Europe
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Make haste slowly
It measures 38m long, has an unusual loop that runs right in the middle and best of all, is designed by three students. Go take a walk on the Festine Lente in Sarajevo. View of Festine Lente bridge I was looking for the Latin Bridge. The same bridge that brought Sarajevo into the limelight and had the whole world at war with itself in 1914. Not like it is hard to find. On a good day, expect to see curious tourists milling around the bridge and the building wall close by. Surprisingly, it was this other pedestrian bridge that caught my fancy. The Festine Lente, or looping bridge. It translates…
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For Fatherland and Freedom
It’s been a landmark in Riga for close to a century. She’s a symbol of Latvia’s freedom and independence. And she’s affectionately known as Milda. View of the Freedom Monument as you walk from the Old Town While the Old Town is what many tourists come to explore and experience, a short walk outside and you can see a bit of Latvian history, literally towering over you. And if you time it well, watch a change of guard done with such precision, it’s an attraction all by itself. Guard of Honour The Freedom Monument It towers over the city, sitting between Old Town and Central Riga. It was built in…
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The Three Graces
When in London City next, make sure to catch two installations around Piccadilly. While one is obvious, the other one is something you will need to crane your neck up to and is a lot more interesting – The Three Graces. Statue of Eros outside Piccadilly Circus station On every visit to the city, having passed through Piccadilly Circus so often, I have barely ever noticed my surroundings, absorbed as I am with the throngs of people that come here and other worldly distractions. Until one summer day, on my last visit. Taking a break from all the window shopping, I stepped out of one of many stores and decided…
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The Haas Haus
How do you seamlessly unite the past with the present? Or the historical with the modern? And still not rub purists the wrong way. For that, you don’t need to look further than Haas Haas in Vienna. The mirror facade on Haas Haus I’m sure that would have crossed Hans Hollien’s mind, when he went about designing this masterpiece in 1987. Walking through the historical part of Stephansplatz, you can’t help but notice Haas Haus building, or Haas House. It’s in stark contrast to the other buildings in its surroundings, including Vienna’s oldest architectural masterpieces – St Stephen’s cathedral, which is bang opposite this building. St Stephen’s cathedral Its history…
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Art above and below
When I head to a large city anywhere in the world, the first thing I try and figure out is how to move using local transport – buses, trams or the metro. Bucharest didn’t disappoint. Advertising billboard inside Izvor metro station Moving around like a local Whether it is buses, trams or the metro, over years of travelling, it’s finally sunk into my head that it is the quickest, cheapest and most effective way to move around the city. The afternoon after checking into my hotel, I collected a map of Bucharest, and made sure the receptionist explained anything and everything there was to be explained. This included making sure…
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Vienna’s friendliest bartender is at Centimetre VII
The next time you are in Vienna Austria, why not take time off your sightseeing and make a trip to Centimetre VII. Once there, find yourself a comfortable table with a view, or sit at the bar, order your favourite pint and get down to feeling right at home. A customer sits by himself enjoying his lunch at Centimetre VII Vienna That’s what we did when we were in Vienna. On our first full day in the city, we found ourselves outside Alser Strasse Station. As we tried to figure out how to reach our first destination for the day, figuring whether we go north, south, east or west, something…
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The historic Tram # 7N
While I am sure there are lots of cities around the world where you can see vintage trams, and perhaps travel in them, Stockholm offered me the opportunity to experience it firsthand. Grand Hôtel Stockholm The Djurgårdslinjen Line service between Norrmalmstorg and Waldemarsudde, also called Tram # 7N, is a well-maintained piece of history that plies this historic route. Some of these trams go back as far as the 1910s, right up to the 1960s, with most of them from Stockholm. However, a few of them are also from Gothenburg and even as far as Oslo. The Djurgården Line service Like the rest of the tram routes in Stockholm and…
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Sivukirjasto in Kallio is cool
A good indication of how expensive a city Helsinki can be on your wallet is to order a pint of beer, for starters. Helsinki Central Station Having just crossed the Baltic sea, from, well, the Baltic States, I noticed a gradual rise in the price of beer – from Vilnius (cheapest), through Riga (cheaper) and into Tallinn (cheap). However, once we were across the sea and had finally set foot in Helsinki, I thought 7-8 euros was daylight robbery. A tram line in Helsinki While the first few days went discovering all that the city had to offer, and spending those hard-earned euros, it was only a few days later…
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A bird’s eye view
When travelling to several cities, and if you have a limited number of days devoted to each of them, then there is nothing like visiting small cities that are close to each other. That’s how we found ourselves in Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, a UNESCO World Heritage city. Town Hall Square Tallinn While most of Europe is fantastic for that, the Baltic States is what comes mind immediately. Getting from city to city take about four to five hours by bus. Each of these capital cities is also accessible in a day or two, leaving you with ample time to chill and take it easy, or simply soak in the atmosphere…
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Bremen Town Musicians
What do perestroika, the Brothers Grimm and this statue in Riga, Latvia have in common? Depends on your understanding of history, especially during the early 1990s, when Europe was going through winds of change. View of St Peter’s Church in Riga On one of those wet afternoons while in Riga, my travel buddy and I managed to find ourselves in front of St Peter’s Church. Originally built more than 800 years ago, turns out it is one of the city’s most important monuments. And while only a few walls and pillars are what remain of the original construction, it still has some of the most amazing Gothic architecture. The highlight,…
