When you only have one day to explore a city, being ‘small enough to be easily understood’ is a real plus point. And one day was all we had, on this occasion at least. But we really took to Helsinki, so maybe in the future we’ll come back for a more in-depth look.
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It’s a sombre thought that even the most modern and stable of structures may one day become a ruin. Did the builders of the Inca cities, of the Egyptian pyramids or of the temples of Angkor stop to consider that they may not stand for ever?
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Back in the ninth century AD King Alfred the Great made Winchester the capital of England. The city remained influential through the medieval period, thanks to its cathedral and royal connections, before eventually being eclipsed by London. Even today it remains a beautiful and historic city. It also holds a special place in the hearts of many lovers of English literature, mine included, as the final resting place of Jane Austen.
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Mdina, the former capital of Malta, carries the weight of its long history. Protected by its ancient walls the centre has remained largely untouched by modernity. Winding streets are lined with a mix of baroque and medieval architecture. There are churches and grand palaces interspersed with more modest homes, all of them beautiful.
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Malta’s capital is small but beautiful! Its historic heart sits on a peninsula between two harbours and is protected by a series of fortifications. Inside, the grandeur of many of its buildings reflects the wealth of the Order of Saint John whose Grand Master, Jean de Valette, founded the city to strengthen the Order's position in Malta and bind the Knights to the island.
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The Romans built the city of Netum on the slopes of Mount Alveria in south-east Sicily. Legend tells that Daedalus stayed in this city after his flight over the Ionian Sea, as did Hercules after his seventh task. Over the following centuries it flourished, until in 1693 disaster struck, in the form of an earthquake. Most of the buildings were razed to the ground and over half the population perished.
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This beautiful hilltop town on the east coast of Sicily is understandably a magnet for tourists. Sitting high above the coast in the shadow of (very) active Mount Etna, it has everything you might hope for in such a town. Vistas of both sea and mountains; ancient ochre-coloured buildings glowing in the Sicilian sun; great restaurants and quality shopping; narrow lanes and bustling squares lined with cafés for people-watching; a small but beautiful cathedral; and to top it all an ancient Greek theatre still in use today.
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In planning any trip most of us will have a list of must-sees, the sights that drove us to want to visit in the first place. For us, in the case of the Philippines, those sights included the rice terraces, hanging coffins and the tarsiers of Bohol. Our trip was built around these, but that left plenty of room to see much more.
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Today London is a huge metropolis, but it wasn’t always so, of course. It started as a small Roman settlement on the north bank of the River Thames, Londinium. In 200 AD a wall was built, surrounding and protecting the city. Over the centuries it grew and grew, but that Roman town remained at its heart, the original City of London.
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The colonial city of Vigan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for good reason. It is one of the few Spanish colonial towns in the Philippines to remain relatively intact. Its unique architecture fuses native Filipino and Oriental building styles with more typical colonial Spanish features.
