As the cruise ship sailed south across the Eastern Mediterranean, I never felt as though I were approaching foreign shores. There is something deeply familiar about these waters, where echoes of the Greek world…
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As I moved deeper into Burgundy, I found myself drawn into the wider history of the Old Duchy itself. Under the Valois Dukes of Burgundy, the region became one of the most powerful and culturally radiant courts…
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Ιstanbul, with its majestic Ottoman palaces, magnificent mosques and legendary skyline, offers one of the most captivating visions of the East. Few cities possess such grandeur or evoke such powerful emotions…
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Τhe Berbers, or Imazighen —"the free people"— belong to one of humanity’s oldest civilisations, having lived in North Africa since at least 10,000 BC. When the Romans first encountered them...
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Mesmerised, I gazed around me as modern architectural marvels rose from the sands of Abu Dhabi. What stood before me was not just a city, but a symbol of transformation…
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Seville, a city where history whispers from every street corner and the sun gilds its ornate façades, had long called to me. With eager anticipation, I was ready to immerse myself in a place…
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Ι am standing on a terrace above Piazza Venezia, and the view before me resembles a postcard. In the distance rises the Colosseum; in the middle ground stretches the Roman Forum…
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I believe there are beautiful landscapes, more beautiful landscapes, and a third category – those that are incomparably unique. That’s where I placed the location we were looking at now…
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Sicily had always existed in my imagination as a place shaped by cinema: harsh, sun-scorched landscapes, stern faces, and an atmosphere of austerity. Such images largely crafted by Hollywood rather than by Italians…
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Ιt remains one of the most captivating places I visited in Chianti during my recent journey through Tuscany. In my book A Year in Tuscany, I wrote about the extraordinary beauty of the Tuscan…
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When I turned, and Dubrovnik came into my field of vision, it was like looking at a perfect postcard; I put down my camera and gazed at the medieval city, totally captivated. It was time for me to get closer…
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When we had sailed past the island, leaving the Adriatic behind us, the tempest subsided, the cruise ship reduced its speed, and it felt like we were sailing on a lake, a natural labyrinth of bays and capes, surrounded by the spectacular mountains…
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I started to put together a trip in my mind while watching the seagulls calmly fly by, not having a care in the world. The closest island to Amorgos with an airport was Astypalea…
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I went back to the Mykonos of my childhood, and I saw it was a thousand times more fascinating than it had been then. The Mykonians made a miracle during all this time…
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I went back down to the Old Town and found myself in a labyrinth of dwellings, alleys, arched passages, squares shaded by plane trees, churches...
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Autumn in New York City is, to my mind, the most beautiful season of the year. Early in the morning I walk through Central Park without haste, savouring each step as the foliage glows beneath…
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Berlin asserts its Prussian style with undeniable authority. The eye is struck by its grandeur and by the uncompromising order that seems to govern the entire urban landscape…
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Yet in Moscow I was nevertheless astonished by the golden domes shining beneath the blue winter sky, and by the vivid colours — red, blue and green — set against the intense white…
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In front of us was the Hawa Mahal, the famous Palace of the Winds, whose rosy façade is the emblem of Jaipur. It has over nine hundred small windows, through which the women of the palace could gaze at the traffic of the market road…
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When I first visited the Grand Palace, its glazed tiles shimmering in green and red, I was struck above all by the gleaming gold that seemed to suffuse every surface. Yet instead of reflecting…
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