Things to do in Europe
-
FEATURED
Rome To Paris
21 days (Rome)
by Intrepid
Visit iconic cultural attractions in Rome, Travel across the undulating Tuscan countryside, See the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Mingle with locals in Lucca, one of…Not LP reviewed
- All things to do
-
Rental Bike Venice
The scenic plains of the Brenta Riviera make an easy, enjoyable bicycle ride, and you can speed past those tour boats along 150km of cycling routes. Rental Bike Venice is a friendly bike-rental spot accessible by bus from Venice, Mestre or Padua offering city bikes with baskets, mountain bikes and handy foldable bikes to take on buses, plus free parking, roadside assistance and advice in English on itineraries, local restaurants and shops.
reviewed
-
A
Jennifer's Hamam
Owned by Canadian Jennifer Gaudet, the two Arasta Bazaar branches of this shop stock top-quality hamam items including towels, robes and peştemals (bath wraps) produced on old-style hand-shuttled looms. It also sells natural soaps and keses (coarse cloth mittens used for exfoliation).
reviewed
-
B
Eiffel Tower
No one could imagine Paris today without its signature spire. But Gustave Eiffel only constructed this graceful tower – the world’s tallest, at 320m, until it was eclipsed by Manhattan’s Chrysler Building some four decades later – as a temporary exhibit for the 1889 Exposition Universelle (World Fair). Luckily, the tower’s popularity assured its survival beyond the fair, and its elegant art nouveau webbed-metal design has become the defining fixture of the city’s skyline.
Lifts/elevators yo-yo up and down the north, west and east pillars to the tower’s three platforms (57m, 115m and 276m); change lifts on the 2nd level for the final ascent to the top, from…
reviewed
-
C
Blue Note
This jazzy pub-cum-dance-bar has a great summer beer garden and usually no cover charge.
reviewed
-
D
Park Güell
North of Gràcia and about 4km from Plaça de Catalunya, Park Güell is where Gaudí turned his hand to landscape gardening. It’s a strange, enchanting place where his passion for natural forms really took flight – to the point where the artificial almost seems more natural than the natural.
Park Güell originated in 1900, when Count Eusebi Güell bought a tree-covered hillside (then outside Barcelona) and hired Gaudí to create a miniature city of houses for the wealthy in landscaped grounds. The project was a commercial flop and was abandoned in 1914 – but not before Gaudí had created 3km of roads and walks, steps, a plaza and two gatehouses in his inimitable manner.…
reviewed
-
E
Colosseum
A monument to raw, merciless power, the Colosseum (Colosseo) is the most thrilling of Rome's ancient sights. It's not just the amazing completeness of the place, or its size, but the sense of violent history that resonates: it was here that gladiators met in mortal combat and condemned prisoners fought off wild beasts in front of baying, bloodthirsty crowds. Two thousand years later it's Italy's top tourist attraction, pulling in between 16,000 and 19,000 people on an average day.
Built by the emperor Vespasian (r AD 69–79) in the grounds of Nero's palatial Domus Aurea, the Colosseum was inaugurated in AD 80. To mark the occasion, Vespasian's son and successor Titus (r…
reviewed
-
F
Musée du Louvre
The vast Palais du Louvre was constructed as a fortress by Philippe-Auguste in the early 12th century and rebuilt in the mid-16th century as a royal residence. The Revolutionary Convention turned it into a national museum in 1793.
The paintings, sculptures and artefacts on display in the Louvre Museum have been amassed by subsequent French governments. Among them are works of art and artisanship from all over Europe and collections of Assyrian, Etruscan, Greek, Coptic and Islamic art and antiquities. The Louvre’s raison d’être is essentially to present Western art from the Middle Ages to about 1848 (at which point the Musée d’Orsay takes over), as well as works from…
reviewed
-
Falls Road Republican Murals
The first republican murals appeared in 1981, when the hunger strike at the Maze prison saw the emergence of dozens of murals supporting the hunger strikers. In later years republican muralists broadened their scope to cover wider political issues, Irish legends and historical events. After the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, the murals came to demand police reform and the protection of nationalists from sectarian attacks.
Common images seen in republican murals include the phoenix rising from the flames (symbolising Ireland reborn from the flames of the 1916 Easter Rising), the face of hunger striker Bobby Sands, and scenes and figures from Irish mythology. Common…
reviewed
-
Free Sofia Tour
This free walking tour led by a local tourism volunteer NGO sets off twice daily from in front of the Palace of Justice (diagonally across the road from McDonalds). Led by friendly, English-speaking volunteers, the two-hour brings you by the city’s main sites, with lots of interesting background presented in a fun and engaging way. The tour is a hit with travellers from backpackers to businesspeople, serves as a great introduction to Sofia and often makes new friends among other travellers and locals in the process.
reviewed
-
G
Indian Mango
Indian Mango specialises in Goan food, serving beef, duck, fish and some vegie mains. Its chef – poached from a five-star restaurant – makes up light, spicy, delicious dishes. Its bestselling (seasonal) creation is an Icelandic-Indian hybrid completely unique to this restaurant – svartfugl (guillemot) marinaded in Indian spices.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
H
Cook’n With Class
Morning/evening/pastry classes available for €160/160/100.
reviewed
-
I
Charles Bridge
Strolling across Charles Bridge is everybody’s favourite Prague activity. However, by 9am it’s a 500m-long fairground, with an army of tourists squeezing through a gauntlet of hawkers and buskers beneath the impassive gaze of the baroque statues that line the parapets. If you want to experience the bridge at its most atmospheric try to visit it at dawn.
In 1357 Charles IV commissioned Peter Parler (the architect of St Vitus Cathedral) to replace the 12th-century Judith Bridge, which had been washed away by floods in 1342. (You can see the only surviving arch of the Judith Bridge by taking a boat trip with Prague Venice)
The new bridge was completed in 1390, and took…
reviewed
-
J
Musée d'Orsay
Fresh from renovations that incorporate richly coloured walls, a re-energised layout and increased exhibition space, the home of France’s national collection from the impressionist, postimpressionist and art nouveau movements spanning the 1840s and 1914 is the glorious former Gare d’Orsay railway station – itself an art nouveau showpiece – where a roll-call of masters and their world-famous works are on display.
Top of every visitor’s must-see list is the museum’s painting collections, centred on the world’s largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art. Just some of its highlights are Manet’s On The Beach and Woman With Fans; Monet’s…
reviewed
-
Aşşk Kahve
The city's glamour set loves this garden cafe to bits, and its weekend brunches are an institution. Go early to snaffle a table by the water and don't forget to have a Botox shot before you go – that way you'll fit in nicely. It's accessed via the stairs behind the Macrocenter.
reviewed
-
K
La Sagrada Família
If you have time for only one sightseeing outing, this should be it. La Sagrada Família inspires awe by its sheer verticality, and in the manner of the medieval cathedrals it emulates, it’s still under construction after more than 100 years. When completed, the highest tower will be more than half as high again as those that stand today.
Unfinished it may be, but it attracts around 2.8 million visitors a year and is the most visited monument in Spain. The most important recent tourist was Pope Benedict XVI, who consecrated the church in a huge ceremony in November 2010.
The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family) was Antoni Gaudí’s…
reviewed
-
L
Aya Sofya
Sophia in Latin, Haghia Sofia in Greek and the Church of the Divine Wisdom in English, this extraordinary building is İstanbul's most famous monument.
Emperor Justinian had the Aya Sofya built as part of his effort to restore the greatness of the Roman Empire. It was completed in 537 and reigned as the greatest church in Christendom until the Conquest in 1453. Mehmet the Conqueror had it converted into a mosque and so it remained until 1935, when Atatürk proclaimed it a museum.
On entering his great creation for the first time almost 1500 years ago, Justinian exclaimed, 'Glory to God that I have been judged worthy of such a work. Oh Solomon! I have outdone you!' Entering…
reviewed
-
M
Pantheon
Along with the Colosseum, the Pantheon is one of Rome's iconic sights. A striking 2000-year-old temple (now a church), it is the city's best-preserved ancient monument and one of the most influential buildings in the Western world. The greying, pock-marked exterior might look its age, but inside it's a different story and it's an exhilarating experience to pass through its towering bronze doors and have your vision directed upwards to the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.
Its current form dates from around AD 120, when Emperor Hadrian built over Marcus Agrippa's original temple (27 BC) – you can still see Agrippa's name inscribed on the pediment. Hadrian's temple…
reviewed
-
N
Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Home to Picasso’s Guernica, arguably Spain’s single most famous artwork, and a host of other important Spanish artworks, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is Madrid’s premier collection of contemporary art. In addition to plenty of paintings by Picasso, other major drawcards are works by Salvador Dalí (1904-89) and Joan Miró (1893-1983).
The collection principally spans the 20th century up to the 1980s (for more recent works, visit the Museo Municipal de Arte Contemporáneo). The occasional non-Spaniard artist makes an appearance (including Francis Bacon’s 1966 Lying Figure), but most of the collection is strictly peninsular.
The permanent collection is displayed…
reviewed
-
O
Trevi Fountain
This fountain almost fills an entire piazza, and is Rome's most famous fountain, its iconic status sealed when Anita Ekberg splashed here in La Dolce Vita. The flamboyant baroque ensemble was designed by Nicola Salvi in 1732 and depicts Neptune's chariot being led by Tritons with sea horses – one wild, one docile – representing the moods of the sea. The water comes from the aqua virgo, a 1st-century-BC underground aqueduct, and the name Trevi refers to the tre vie (three roads) that converge at the fountain. It's traditional to throw a coin into the fountain to ensure your return to the Eternal City. It's usually very busy around the fountain during the day, so it's…
reviewed
-
P
Guinness Storehouse
; St James's) The most popular visit in town is the beer-lover's Disneyland, a multimedia bells-and-whistles homage to the country's most famous export and the city's most enduring symbol. The old grain storehouse, the only part of the massive, 26-hectare St James's Gate Brewery open to the public, is a suitable cathedral in which to worship the black gold; shaped like a giant pint of Guinness, it rises seven impressive storeys high around a stunning central atrium. At the top is the head, represented by the Gravity Bar, with a panoramic view of Dublin.
From the time Arthur Guinness (1725–1803) founded the brewery in 1759, the operation has expanded down to the Liffey and…
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Q
Menza
This stylish Hungarian restaurant on Budapest’s most lively square takes its name from the Hungarian for a drab school canteen – something it is anything but. Book a table if you can; it’s always packed with diners who come for its simply but perfectly cooked Hungarian classics with a modern twist and chilled atmosphere. Weekday two-course set lunches are a mere 890Ft.
reviewed
-
R
Gamaya
A breath of fresh laid-back Ibiza air runs through this new ladies’ wear store tucked away on a street that has gone from near abandonment in the 1990s to become a delightful shopping lane today. The lady who runs this shop designs the breezy summer dresses, pants-and-tops combinations and prints herself.
reviewed
-
S
Topkapı Palace
This opulent palace complex is the subject of more colourful stories than most of the world's royal residences put together. It was home to Selim the Sot, who drowned after drinking too much champagne; İbrahim the Mad, who lost his reason after being imprisoned for 22 years by his brother MuratIV; and the malevolent Roxelana, a former concubine who became the powerful consort of Süleyman the Magnificent. And they're just three among a long progression of mad, sad and downright bad Ottomans who lived here between 1453 and 1839.
Mehmet the Conqueror started work on the palace shortly after the Conquest in 1453 and lived here until his death in 1481. Subsequent sultans…
reviewed
-
T
Grand Place
For one of Europe's finest urban views, head straight to Brussels' magnificent central square, Grand Place. It boasts the country's best baroque guildhalls, the beautiful Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall), museums, pavement cafés, chocolate shops and intimate cellar restaurants - a combination that lures visitors in droves. Hidden at the very core of the old town, it's revealed as you enter from one of six narrow side alleys (Rue des Harengs is the best) - a discreet positioning that adds charm.
The square dates from the 12th century and rose on a site that was once marshland. By the early 15th century, Brussels was booming through the cloth trade and the patronage of the…
reviewed
-
Dubrovnik City Walls
No visit to Dubrovnik would be complete without a leisurely walk around the city walls. Built between the 13th and 16th centuries and still intact today, these powerful walls are the finest in the world and Dubrovnik's main claim to fame.
The first set of walls to enclose the city were built in the 13th century. In the middle of the 14th century the 1.5m-thick walls were fortified with 15 square forts. The threat of attacks from the Turks in the 15th century prompted the city to strengthen the existing forts and add new ones so that the entire Old Town is now contained within a curtain of stone over 2km long and up to 25m high. The walls are thicker on the land side - up…
reviewed