The coastal city of Mahabalipuram, 60km (40 miles) south of Chennai, is a popular spot with backpackers and culture lovers touring southern India. Locals know this place as Mamallapuram and it’s a place that I’ve grown fond of, visiting several times in recent years.
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It’s a breezy, overcast day in Amsterdam. I’ve just walked through a tunnel beneath the railway platforms of Centraal Station and I’m standing by the waterfront. My goal - the sleek, angular, Eye building - lies over the choppy river Ij.
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“I have had several unforgettable moments. In 1976 an elk jumped onto the car and smashed the window and door. Nothing happened to the animal, but car was not very nice looking afterwards. Happily nothing happened to us but we were shocked,” says Anne Kurepalu, my guide in Estonia's Lahemaa National Park.
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Many attractions and museums claim to have no match; not this one though. Tomar’s Museu dos Fosforos Aquiles da Mota Lima (‘The Aquiles da Mota Lima Museum of Matches’) is home to Europe’s biggest collection of matchboxes, many of which still hold their original contents.
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Few museums can claim to be housed in such a magnificent setting as Portugal’s National Museum of Archaeology.
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The most commonly applied translation of "Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe" renders the name of this centrally located Hamburg institution as the “Museum of Art and Industry”.
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The modern world may well be characterised by global connectivity and 24/7 availability but, increasingly, people are realising that unwinding and de-stressing are important elements of staying physically healthy and mentally sharp.
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I’m convinced that Durham, in north-east England, has much to offer for a weekend break. As a local, though, you might think I’m biased?
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In the Greek town of Ouranopolis I’m drawn to the window of an attractive, smartly designed shop selling soaps, natural products and religious icons. Even to my unschooled eye these icons look to be of far better quality than those that I saw minutes ago, on sale near the jetty.
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The Monument to the Discoveries is today as just as much a part of the Belem landscape as the nearby Hieronymites Monastery (the ‘Mosteiro dos Jerónimos’ as it is known in Portuguese), the ornate Manueline structure which is today classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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