Tourism

20/12/2013

Rio-de-Janeiro

17/12/2013

Skikda, Algeria

17/12/2013

Machu Picchu in Peru.

08/02/2013

As heart of the Prussian kingdom, cultural centre of the Weimar Republic, headquarters of Hitler's Third Reich and a key frontline flashpoint in the Cold War, Berlin has long been a weather vane of European – and world – history. World War II may have left the city devastated to such an extent that there was serious debate about leaving it in ruins, but in the following years the city did a remarkable job rebuilding. Reconstructions of its sixteenth-century core exist in the Nikolaiviertel, while nearby stand many rebuilt nineteenth-century buildings from the time when the city prospered as capital of the Second Reich. Little from the Third Reich has survived, and no one has cared to rebuild it, with the notable exception of the 1936 Olympic Stadium. The rest of Berlin is the product of post-war rebuilding, when the city was divided – ideologically and physically – by the Berlin Wall. West Berlin became a capitalist showcase of subsidized experimental architecture – the Philharmonie and the Neue Nationalgalerie for example – while in the east vast projects such as the Karl-Marx-Allee apartment blocks and radical TV tower were hymns to socialism. On both sides the era also produced vast housing estates, soulless prefabricated dwellings that remain reality for thousands of Berliners. During the Cold War, West Berlin's unorthodox character made it a magnet for bohemians who flocked here attracted by a military service loophole and huge West German subsidies that funded a cutting-edge arts scene. Non-Germans came too, lured to Germany by promises of work, and to Berlin by its tolerance. Turks, Greeks and Italians arrived in the 1960s making Berlin Germany's most cosmopolitan city – reflected in the excellent variety of cuisines on offer.

06/02/2013

05/02/2013

The city is huge, surreal and exciting. After a few weeks here, the bizarre becomes normal and you realize that life is – as Russians say – bespredel (without limits). Traditionally a place for strangers to throw themselves into debauchery, leaving poorer and wiser, Moscow's puritan stance in Soviet times was seldom heartfelt, and with the fall of Communism it has reverted to the l***y, violent ways that foreigners have noted with amazement over the centuries, and Gilyarovsky chronicled in his book, Moscow and the Muscovites. No excess is too much for Moscow's new rich, or novye bogaty – the butt of countless "New Russian" jokes. As the nation's largest city, with some twelve million inhabitants (one in fifteen Russians lives there), Moscow exemplifies the best and worst of Russia. Its beauty and ugliness are inseparable, its sentimentality the obverse of a brutality rooted in centuries of despotism and fear of anarchy. Private and cultural life is as passionate as business and politics are cynical. The irony and resilience honed by decades of propaganda and shortages now help Muscovites to cope with "wild" capitalism. Yet, for all its assertiveness, Moscow's essence is moody and elusive, and uncovering it is like opening an endless series of Matryoshka dolls, or peeling an onion down to its core. Both images are apposite, for Moscow's concentric geography mirrors its historical development. At its heart is the Kremlin, whose foundation by Prince Dolgoruky in 1147 marked the birth of the city. Surrounding this are rings corresponding to the feudal settlements of medieval times.

04/02/2013

Barcelona's old town, or Ciutat Vella, is the heart of the city. It's made up of many small neighborhoods, full of old-world character, linked by narrow, winding streets. Students, foreigners and artists thrive in this area, attracted by its sense of history and cosmopolitan feel along with its trendy bars, concert halls and good restaurants. Start your tour from Plaça Catalunya and take Les Rambles (or Las Ramblas in Spanish) towards the sea. On the right, you'll find the Raval district with its museums, art galleries and notorious red-light area, Barri Xines. On your left, the medieval Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter) is home to the cathedral, peaceful Plaça del Pi , art galleries and lots of cafes serving delicious hot chocolate. If you go even further left, across busy Via Laietana , you'll come to Born market, in La Ribera district. This trendy neighborhood is also home to the graceful Santa Maria del Mar Church and the impressive Museu Picasso .

10/10/2012

This place may not seem huge but it is. Venice is made of different boroughs. The most famous is the area comprising the 118 islands in the main districts that are called "Sestieri" and they are: Cannaregio, Castello, Dorsoduro, San Polo, Santa Croce and San Marco, where the main monuments and sights are located. Other main districts are Isola Della Giudecca and Lido di Venezia. Other important islands include Murano, Torcello, San Francesco del Deserto and Burano, but there are several

10/10/2012

Once just a village that settled on the "Ile de la Cite" (City Island) on the confluence of the Seine's two branches, Paris has vastly expanded over the centuries, taking the surrounding villages under its wing and making them its own. Nowadays the City of Light—a name Paris earned during the age of the Enlightenment—is made up of several arrondissements or districts, numbered from 1 to 20 and logically ordered with the 1st in the center and the others following in a clockwise spiral. The differences are vast and varied between the districts, both in terms of the populations and attractions, which together make up the multifaceted city we know and love.

10/10/2012

MILAN is an Italian city like no other. It's foggy in winter, muggy and mosquito-ridden in summer, and is closer in outlook, as well as distance, to London than to Palermo. This is no city of peeling palazzi, cobbled piazzas and la dolce vita, but one where consumerism and the work ethic rule the lives of its well-dressed citizens. Many visitors pass straight through, and if it's summer and you're keen for sun and sea this might well be the best thing you can do; the weather, in July and August especially, can be off-puttingly humid. But at any other time of year it's well worth giving Milan more of a chance. It's a historic city, with a spectacular cathedral and enough ancient churches and galleries to keep you busy for a week, but there are also bars and cafés to relax in, and the contemporary aspects of the place represent the leading edge of Italy's fashion and design industry.