Carhire 4 Airports

This blog has moved

2010-04-30T01:03:00.001-07:00

This blog is now located at http://carhireforairports.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://carhireforairports.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Historic Churches in Rome Italy

2010-02-09T08:26:00.000-08:00

Three churches are the highlights of this walk, two of them major basilicas with roots in the ear ly centuries of Christianity. Not farfrom Piazza Venezia and the Roman Forum off Via Cavour is G the church of San Pietro in Vincoli. Look for Via San Francesco da Paola, a street staircase that passes under the old Borgia palace and leads to the square in front of the church.

Inside are St. Peter's chains (under the altar) and Michel¬angelo's Moses, a powerful statue almost as famed as his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. The Moses was destined for the tomb of Julius II, but Michelangelo was driven to distraction by the interference of Pope Julius and his successors, and the tomb was never finished.

The statue, in¬tended as part of the tomb, is a remarkable sculpture and a big tourist attraction, but crass commercialism has ruined the starkly majestic effect of this memorial. The church is usually jammed with tour groups, and the monument it¬self is a front for a large and ugly souvenir shop.

G Continue along Via Cavour to Santa Maria Maggiore, one of Rome's oldest and most beauti¬ful churches. Built on the spot where a 3rdcen¬tury pope witnessed a miraculous midsummer snowfall, it is resplendent with gleaming mosaics those on the arch in front of the main altar date from the 5th century; the apse mosaic dates from the 13th century and an opulent carved wood ceiling supposed to have been gilded with the first gold brought from the New World.

Via Merulana runs straight from Santa Maria Maggiore to the immense cathedral of Rome, San Giovanni in Laterano, where the early popes once lived and where the present pope still officiates in his capacity as Rome's bishop. The towering facade and Borromini's cool Ba¬roque interior emphasize the majesty of its pro¬portions.

The adjoining Lateran Palace, once the popes' official residence and still technically part of the Vatican, now houses the offices of the Rome Dio¬cese and the Vatican Historical Museum Restoration of the frescoes in the Bene¬diction Loggia, damaged by a 1993 terrorist bomb, continues.

Across the street, opposite the Lateran Palace, a small building houses the Scala Santa (Holy Stairs), claimed to be the staircase from Pilate's palace in Jerusalem. Cir¬cle the palace to see the 6thcentury octagonal Baptistery of San Giovanni, forerunner of many similar buildings throughout Italy, and Rome's oldest and tallest obelisk, brought from Thebes and dating from the 15th century Be. One more church awaits you just down Via Carlo Felice. Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, with a pretty Rococo facade and Baroque interior, shelters what are believed to be relics of the True Cross found by St. Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine and a tireless collector of holy objects.

The Quirinale and Piazza delia Repubblica

Although this tour takes you from ancient Ro¬man sculptures to early Christian churches, it's mainly an excursion into the 16th and 17th cen¬turies, when Baroque art and Bernini tri¬umphed in Rome. The Quirinale is the highest of Rome's seven original hills (the others are the Capitoline, Palatine, Esquiline, Viminal, Celian, and Aventine) and the one where an¬cient Romans and later the popes built their res¬idences in order to escape the deadly miasmas and the malaria of the lowlying area around the G Forum. Palazzo del Quirinale, the largest on the square, belonged first to the popes, then to Italy's kings, and is now the official residence of the nation's president. The fountain in the square boasts ancient statues of Castor and Pol¬lux reining in their unruly steeds and a basin salvaged from the Roman Forum.

Along Via del Quirinale (which becomes Via XX Settembre) are two interesting little churches, each an architectural gem. The first you'll come upon is Sant'Andrea, a small but imposing Ba-roque church designed and decorated by Berni¬ni, who considered it one of his finest works and liked to come here occasionally just to sit and enjoy it.

The second is the church of San Carlo aile Quattro Fontane (Four Fountains) at the in¬tersection. It was designed by Bernini's rival, Borromini, who created a building that is an intricate exercise in geometric perfection, aU curves and movement. Turn left down Via delle Quattro Fontane to a G splendid 17thcentury palace, Palazzo Barber¬ini. Inside, the Galleria Nazionale offers fine works by Raphael (the Fornarina) and Cara¬vaggio and a salon with gorgeous ceiling fres¬coes by Pietro da Cortona. Upstairs, don't miss the charming suite of rooms decorated in 18th¬century fashion.

Via delle Quattro Fontane

Down the hill, Piazza Barberini has Bernini's graceful Tritone Fountain, designed in 1637 for the sculptor's munificent patron, Pope Urban VIII, whose Barberini coat of arms, featuring bees, is at the base of the large shell. Time Out Located on Via Barberini, next to a movie house, Italy Italy offers the Italian version of fast food, tasty and inexpensive (Via Barberini 19. Closed Sun.)

Via Veneto winds its way upward from Piazza e Barberini past Santa Maria della Concezione, a Capuchin church famous for its crypt, where the skeletons and assorted bones of 4,000 dead monks are artistically arranged in four macabre chapels. Via Veneto The avenue curves past the American Embassy and Consulate; the luxurious Excelsior Hotel; and Doney's and the Cafe de Paris, famous from the days of la dolce vita in the 1950s. At the U.S. Embassy, take Via Bissolati to Piazza San Bernardo.

The church of Santa Maria delia Vittoria, on the corner, is known for Bernini's sumptuous Baroque decoration of the Cornaro Chapel, an exceptional fusion of architecture, painting, and sculpture, in which the Ecstasy of St. Theresa is the focal point. The statue repre¬sents a mystical experience in what some regard as very earthly terms. This could be a good point at which to rest.

An interesting side trip from Piazza San Bernardo takes you to the Early Christian churches of Sant'Agnese and Santa Costanza, about a mile beyond the old city walls. Take bus No. 36, 37, 60, or 136 along Via Nomentana to get there. Santa Costanza, a church ¬the round, has vaults decorated with bright 4thcentury mosaics. The custodian of the cata¬comb of Sant'Agnese accompanies you up the hill to see it.

Art buffs should make this side trip; others may find it unrewarding. Via di Sant'Agnese Admission to Sant'Agnese catacombs: From Piazza San Bernardo, it's not far to Piazza delia Repubblica, where the pretty Fountain of the Naiads, a turn of the century addition, fea¬tures voluptuous bronze ladies wrestling happi¬ly with marine monsters.

On one side of the square is an ancient Roman brick facade, which marks the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, adapted by Michelangelo from the vast central chamber of the colossal Baths of Diocletian, built in the 4th century AD. The baths were on such a grandiose scale that the church and its former monastery, around the corner to the right, account for only part of the area they oc¬cupied. Inside the church, take a good look at the eight enormous columns of red granite; these are the original columns of the baths' cen¬tral chamber and are 45 feet high and more than 5 feet in diameter.

The collections of ancient Roman art of the Museo Nazionale Romano are now divided among the old museum in the former monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli (entrance behind the church); a new museum in the Palazzo Massimo (the peach colored building across the square from the old museum); and the small Planetario annex (next to the church in a build¬ing that was part of the ancient baths but served more recently as a movie theater). Another an¬nex, Piazza Navona, will open this year. In addi¬tion to the statues in the Planetario, most of the museum's sculpture, including the Ludovisi Throne, the Lancellotti Discus Thrower, and the Castelporziano Discus Thrower, is destined for Palazzo Massimo.

A delightful fresco from Empress Livia's villa outside Rome, depicting a garden in bloom, is being restored and is not on view. Museo Nazionale Romano: Monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Viale E. De Nicola 79, The Villa Borghese to the Ara Pads.

A half mile walk northwest from Piazza delia Repubblica up Via Orlando and Via Vittorio Ve neto leads to Porta Pinciana (Pincian Gate), one of the historic city gates in the Aurelian Walls surrounding Rome. The Porta itself was built in the 6th century AD, about three centuries after the walls were built to keep out the barbarians. These days it is one of the entrances to the Villa Borghese, Rome's large 17thcentury park, built as the pleasure gardens of the powerful Borghe¬se family.

Once inside the park, turn right up Viale del Museo Borghese and make for the Galleria Borghese, which holds the family art collection. At press time, the gallery was undergoing ex-tensive renovations, so parts of it may be closed. There is a sculpture collection on the first floor, where you can see Canova's famous statue of Pauline Borghese, wife of Camillo Borghese and sister of Napoleon. Officially known as Venus Vincitrix, it is really a depiction of a haughty (and very seductive) Pauline, lying provocative¬ly on a Roman sofa. The next two rooms hold two important Baroque sculptures by Bernini:

David and Apollo and Daphne. In each you can see the vibrant attention to movement that marked the first departure from the Renais¬sance preoccupation with the idealized human form. Daphne is being transformed into a laurel tree while fleeing from a lecherous Apollo:
Twigs sprout from her fingertips while her pur¬suer recoils in amazement. The gallery's impor¬tant picture collection has been moved to the large San Michele a Ripa complex in Trastevere, where the paintings are now hung in a former church; it will probably be there through 1995. San Michele a Ripa complex: Via di San Mi¬chele.

Viale delle Belle Arti , tel Close by is the Museo di Villa Giulia, housing one of the world's great Etruscan collections. The villa is a former papal summer palace set in lovely gardens. This is the place to study the strange, half understood Etruscan civilization for here are magnificent terracotta statues' figurines, jewelry, household implements, sar: cophagla whole way of life on display.

Among the most precious gems are the Apollo of Veio and the Sarcophagus of the Sposi. When you have had your fill of these treasures, step out into the nymphaeum (the architectural term for this place of cool recesses and fern softened fountains) and take a close look at the full-scale reconstruction of an Etruscan temple in the gar¬den. Piazza di Villa Giuiia , The Pincio is an extension of Villa Borghese, with gardens on a terrace overlooking much of Rome. It was laid out by the early 19thcentury architect Valadier as part of his overall plan for Piazza del Popolo. The Pincio offers a superb view, absolutely spectacular when there is a fine sunset, and it's also a vantage point from which you can study Valadier's arrangement of Piazza del Popolo.

This is one of Rome's largest squares and a tra¬ditional place for mass meetings and rallies. At the center, four dignified stone lions guard an obelisk relating the life and times of Ramses II the Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere 61 in the 13th century BC. Next to the 400yearold Porta del Popolo, Rome's northern city gate, stop in at the church of Santa Maria del Popolo to see a pair of Caravaggios and some Bernini sculptures in a rich Baroque setting.

From here, it's a short walk down Via Ripetta to the large Augusteum, the mausoleum Augustus built for himself and his family. Next to it is an unattractive modern edifice that shelters the Ara Pacis (Altar of Augustan Peace), erected in 13 BC to celebrate the era of peace ushered in by Augustus's military victories. The reliefs on the marble enclosure are magnificent.

The Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere For the authentic atmosphere of Old Rome, ex¬plore the old Jewish ghetto and the narrow streets of Trastevere, two tightly knit communi¬ties whose inhabitants proudly claim descent ¬whether real or imagined from the ancient Ro¬mans. Then climb the Janiculum, a hill with views over the whole city, a vantage point be¬loved of all Romans.

The shadowy area bounded by Piazza Campitelli and Lungotevere Cenci constituted Rome's old Jewish ghetto. Within this cramped quarter, until 1870, all Rome's Jews (and they were many, tracing their presence in the city to an¬cient Roman times) were confined under a rigid all night curfew. At the little church opposite Quattro Capi bridge, they were forced to attend sermons that aimed to convert them to Catholi¬cism, and to pay for the privilege.

Many Jews have remained here, close to the G bronze roofed synagogue on Lungotevere Cenci and to the roots of their community. Among the most interesting sights in the ghetto are the pretty Fontana delle Tartarnghe (Turtle Foun¬tain) on Piazza Mattei; the old houses on Via Portico d'Ottavia, where medieval inscriptions and ancient friezes testify to the venerable age of these buildings; and the Teatro di Marcello, hardly recognizable as a theater now, but built at the end of the 1st century BC by Julius Caesar to hold 20,000 spectators.

Time Out Stop to indulge in American and Austrian baked goods at Dolceroma Cross the Tiber over the ancient Ponte Fabricio to the Tiberina Island, where a city hospital stands on a site that has been dedicated to heal¬ing ever since a temple to Aesculapius was erected here in 291 BC. If you have time, and if the river's not too high, go down the stairs for a different perspective on the island and the Tiber, which has begun to undermine the island in recent years, threatening its structures.

Then continue across Ponte Cestio into Trastevere, a maze of narrow streets that, de¬spite creeping gentrification, is still one of the city's most authentically Roman neighborhoods (for another, explore the jumble of streets be¬tween the Roman Forum, Santa Maria Maggio¬re, and the Colosseum). Among self-consciously picturesque trattorias and trendy tearooms, you'll also find old shops in alleys festooned with washing hung out to dry and dusty artisans' workshops.

Trastevere's population has become increasingly diverse, and it has acquired a repu¬tation for purse snatching and petty thievery, so keep purses and cameras out of sight as you stroll these byways. Be sure to see Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, the heart of the quarter, with one of Rome's oldest churches, decorated inside and out with 12th and 13thcentury mo¬saics.

Follow Via della Scala to Via della Lungara, where Raphael decorated the garden loggia of Villa Farnesina for extravagant host Agostino Chigi, who delighted in impressing guests by having his servants clear the table by casting precious gold and silver dinnerware into the Tiber. Naturally, the guests did not know he had nets stretched under the water to catch everything. Via delta Lungara 230, From Porta Settimiana you can follow Via Gari¬baldi as it curves up to the Janiculum, past the church of San Pietro in Montorio, known for its views and for the Tempietto, Bramante's little temple in the cloister. Beyond the impressive Acqua Paola Fountain, you'll come upon the Ja¬niculum Park, which offers splendid views of Rome.
The Catacombs and the Appian Way this tour offers a respite from museums, though it's no easier on the feet.

Do it on a sunny day and take along a picnic or have lunch at one of the pleasant restaurants near the catacombs. The Rome EPT office offers a free, informative pamphlet on this itinerary. Take Bus 18 from San Giovanni in Laterano to the VIa Appla Antica (the Queen of Roads), completed in 312 BC by Appius Claudius, who also built Rome's first aqueduct. (Stay on the bus until you reach the catacombs; the most interesting walk along the ancient road lies beyond them.) You pass Porta San Sebastiano, which gives you a good idea of what the city's 5thcentury fortifications looked like and farther along you'll see the little church of Domine Quo Vadis, where tradition says that Christ appeared to St. Peter, inspir¬ing him to return to Rome to face martyrdom.

There are two important catacombs on the Via Appia Antica. The first you come upon is that of San Callisto, one of the best preserved of these underground cemeteries. A friar will guide you through its crypts and galleries.

The 4thcentury catacomb of San Sebastiano, a little farther on, which was named for the saint who was buried here, burrows underground on four levels. The only one of the catacombs to re-main accessible during the Middle Ages, it is the origin ofthe term catacomb, for it was located in a spot where the road dips into a hollow, a place the Romans called catacumbas (near the hollow). Eventually, the Christian cemetery that had existed here since the 2nd century came to be known by the same name, which was applied to all underground cemeteries discovered in Rome in later centuries.

Via Appia Antica On the other side of Via Appia Antica are the ruins of the Circus of Maxentius, where the obe¬lisk now in Piazza Navona once stood. Farther along is the circular Tomb of Cecilia Metella, mausoleum of a Roman noblewoman who lived at the time of Julius Caesar. It was transformed into a fortress in the 14th century.

Time Out There are several trattorias along the Via Appia Antica, most of them moderately priced . For a sandwich or a snack, the bar on the corner of Via Appia Antica and Via Cecilia Metella, just beyond the tomb, can provide sustenance and a relaxing pause in the adjoining garden. The Tomb of Cecilia Metella marks the begin¬ning of the most interesting and evocative stretch of the Via Appia Antica, lined with tombs and fragments of statuary. Cypresses and umbrella pines stand guard over the ruined sepulchers, and the occasional tracts of ancient paving stones are the same ones trod by trium¬phant Roman legions.

Most of Rome's sights are either inexpensive or, more commonly, free of charge. You could con-struct several memorable itineraries devoted exclusively to architecture and religious art taking in dozens of piazzas, churches, streets, and fountains and not part with a single lira. Museums and galleries, of course, usually do charge admission, but it's rarely steep, and there are some surprising exceptions, such as the following: The ColosseumLower Level (Ancient Rome). The Tombs ofthe Popes (The Vatican). The Vatican Museums on the Last Sunday of the Month (The Vatican Museums). The Pantheon (Old Rome). Villa Farnesina (The Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere).

The Vatican

2010-02-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

While the ancient Roman emperors presided over the decline of their empire, a vibrant new force emerged. Christianity came to Rome, the seat of the popes was established over the tomb of St. Peter, and the Vatican became the spiritu¬al focus of the Roman Catholic Church. There are two principal reasons for seeing the Vatican.

One is to visit St. Peter's, the largest church in the world and the most overwhelming architec¬tural achievement of the Renaissance. The other is to visit the Vatican Museums, which contain collections of staggering richness and diversity, including, of course, the Sistine Chapel. There's little point in trying to take it all in on just one visit. See St. Peter's first, and come back later to see the Vatican Museums.

Start at Castel Sant'Angelo, which guarded the Vatican for hundreds of years. One of Rome's most beautiful bridges, Ponte Sant' Angelo, spans the Tiber in front of the fortress and is studded with copies of the graceful angels de¬signed by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini The distinctive silhouette of Castel Sant' Angelo is a throwback to its original func¬tion; it was built as a mausoleum, or tomb, for the Emperor Hadrian in AD 135. By the 6th cen¬tury, it had been transformed into a fortress, and it remained the military stronghold of Rome and a refuge for the popes for almost 1,000 years.

According to legend, the castle got its name dur¬ing the plague of 590, when Pope Gregory the Great, passing by in a religious procession, had a vision of an angel sheathing its sword atop the stone ramparts. He interpreted this as a sign that the plague would end immediately, and, af¬ter it did, he had a chapel built on the highest level of the fortress, where he had seen the an¬gel. Visit the lower levels, the base of Hadrian's mausoleum, and then climb ancient ramps and narrow staircases to explore the castle's court¬yards and frescoed halls; the collection of an¬tique arms and armor; and the open loggia, where there's a cafe.

Climb to the upper ter¬races for views of the city's rooftops and the low¬er bastions of the castle, as well as of the Passetto, the fortified corridor connecting Cas¬tel Sant' Angelo with the Vatican. Lungotevere Castello 50.From Castel Sant' Angelo, turn right onto Via della Conciliazione, a broad, rather soulless ave¬nue conceived by Mussolini in the 1930s to cele¬brate the conciliation between the Vatican and the Italian government under the Lateran Pact of 1929. The pact ended 60 years of papal protest against the Italian state, which the Vatican had never recognized. Indeed, after Italian troops wrested control of Rome from the pope in 1870 to make it the capital of a newly united Italy, the popes refused to leave the Vatican.

The Via delIa Conciliazione approach to St. Pe¬ter's gives your eye time to adjust to the enor¬mous dimensions of the square and the church, although the intent of Baroque artist Bernini, who designed the square, was to surprise the visitor emerging suddenly from shadowy alleys into the square's immense space and full light.

Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter's Square) is one of Bernini's masterpieces, completed after 11 years' works relatively short time in those days, considering the vastness of the job. The square can hold as many as 400,000 people and is surrounded by a pair of quadruple colonnades, which are topped by a balustrade and 140 stat¬ues of saints. Look for the two stone disks set into the pavement on each side of the obelisk, between the obelisk and the fountains. If you stand on one disk, the colonnades seem to con¬sist of a single row of columns.

The history of St. Peter's goes back to the year AD 319, when the emperor Constantine built a basilica here over the site of the tomb of St. Peter. The original church stood for more than 1,000 years, undergoing a number of restora¬tions, until it threatened to collapse. Recon¬struction began in 1452 but was soon abandoned due to a lack of funds. In 1506 Pope Julius II in¬structed the architect Donato Bramante to raze the existing structure and build a new and greater basilica, but it wasn't until 1626 that the new church was completed and dedi¬cated. Five of Italy's greatest Renaissance art¬ists died while working on it Bramante, Raphael, Peruzzi, Antonio Sangallo the Young¬er, and Michelangelo. Bramante outlined a basic plan for the church and built the massive pillars that were to support the dome.

After his death in 1514, his successors made little progress with the work and altered his master plan. In 1546 Pope Paul III more or less forced the aging Mi¬chelangelo to take on the job of completing the building. Michelangelo returned to Bramante's ground plan and designed the dome to cover the crossing, but his plans, too, were modified after his death. Still the result is breathtaking.

As you approach the church, look at the people go¬ing in and out of the portico, and note the con-trast between their size and the immense scale of the building. Now climb the broad steps and enter the portico. Notice Filarete's 15thcentu¬ry bronze doors, salvaged from the old basilica.
Persons wearing shorts, miniskirts, sleeveless T-shirts, or other revealing clothing (it's advisa¬ble for women to carry a scarf to cover bare up¬per arms) will not be allowed into St. Peter's. If you pass inspection, pause a moment, once in¬side, to consider the size of this immense tem¬ple.

Look at the massive pillars, the holy water stoups borne by colossal cherubs, the distance to the main altar. Look for the brass inscriptions in the central marble pavement, indicating the approximate length of the world's principal Christian churches, all of which fall far short of St.
Peter's. The chapel immediately to your right holds Michelangelo's Pieta, one of the world's most famous statues. It is now behind shatterproof glass, after a serious incident of vandalism (and a masterful restoration in the Vatican workshops). This is the only sculpture Michelangelo ever signed, although the signa tureon the sash across the Virgin's chest is too high up behind the glass to be seen.

Four massive piers support the dome at the crossing, where the mighty Bernini baldacchi¬no (canopy), made of bronze stripped from the Pantheon by order of the Barberini Pope Urban VIII, rises high above the papal altar. The pope celebrates mass here, over the grottoes holding the tombs of many of his predecessors and over what is believed to be the tomb of St. Peter, deep in the excavations under the foundations of the original basilica.

A very old bronze statue of the saint stands at the last pillar on the right be¬fore the crossing, its foot worn and burnished by the kisses of the faithful over the centuries. Beautiful bronze vigil lights flicker around the ceremonial entrance to the crypt in front of the papal altar.
In the niche below is an antique cas¬ket containing the pallia (bands of white wool conferred by the pope on archbishops as a sign of authority). The splendid gilt bronze throne above the altar in the apse was designed by Ber¬nini and contains a wooden and ivory chair that St. Peter was supposed to have used, though in fact it dates back no further than the Middle Ages.

A copy of the chair is in the Treasury. Stop in to see the small collection of Vatican treasures in the little museum in the sacristy, among them priceless antique chalices and the massive 15thcentury bronze tomb of Pope Six¬tus V by Antonio Save the visit to the Vatican Grottoes, to see the tombs of the popes, for last. The only exit from the grottoes leads outside St. Peter's, near the entrance to the roof and dome.

Entrance at St. Longinus Pier but alternatively at one of the other piers
Take the elevator or climb the stairs to the roof of the church, an interesting landscape of domes and towers. From here, climb a short interior staircase to the base of the dome for a dove'seye view of the interior of the church. And from here, it's a taxing climb to the lantern the architectural term for the delicate structure crowning the dome; the stairs are steep and nar¬row and one-way only, so there's no turning back. We emphasize that it's a strenuous, claus¬trophobic climb. Those who make it are re¬warded with views embracing the Vatican gardens and all Rome.

Entrance to roof and dome in courtyard on left as you leave the church
For many, a papal audience is a highlight of a trip to Rome. The pope holds mass audiences on Wednesday mornings at 11, in a modern audi¬ence hall. Rarely, on special occasions during the summer, a second audience may be held in St. Peter's Square. You must apply for tickets in advance, and it may be easier to arrange for them through a travel agency. Of course, you can avoid the formalities by seeing the pope when he makes his weekly appearance at the window of the Vatican Palace, every Sunday at noon when he is in Rome, to address the crowd and give a blessing. On summer Sundays he may give the blessing at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo.

For audience tickets, apply in writing well in advance to the Prefettura della Casa Pontificia, Vatican City, indicating the date you prefer, the language you speak, and the hotel where you will be staying; or go to the prefecture yourself through the bronze door in the right-hand colonnadeThe Vatican Museums.

The Vatican Palace, the residence of the popes on and off since 1377, is made up of several inter-locking buildings containing 1,400 rooms, chap¬els, and galleries. The pope and his household occupy only a small part of the palace, most of which is given over to the Vatican Library and Museums. The main entrance to the museums, on Viale Vaticano, is a long walk from Piazza San Pietro, but there is bus service between the square and a secondary museum entrance. It goes through the Vatican gardens and costs 2,000 lire, and although it deposits you at a side entrance, it saves a lot of walking and allows a glimpse of some of Vatican City that would be off-limits otherwise.

A two-hour jaunt through the pope's backyard, half by bus and half on foot, is possible by taking the Vatican gardens tour
Time Out Borgo Pio, a street near St. Peter's Square, has several trattorias offering economical tourist menus. For about 20,000 lire you can have a sim¬ple meal at II Pozzetto (Borgo Pio 167. Closed Mon.). 4& The collections of the Vatican Museums are im¬mense, covering about 4% miles of displays. Special posters at the entrance and throughout the museum plot a choice of four color coded itineraries, the shortest taking approximately 90 minutes and the longest five hours.

You can rent taped English commentary explaining the Sistine Chapel and the Raphael Rooms.You're free to photograph what you like, although if you want to use a flash, tripod, or other special equipment, you have to get permission. The main entrance is on Viale Vaticano and can be reached by the No. 49 bus from Piazza Cavour, which stops right in front; on foot from the No. 81 bus or No. 19 tram, which stop at Piazza Ri¬sorgimento; or from the Ottaviano stop on the Metro Line A. Pick up a leaflet at the main en¬trance to the museums in order to see the overall layout.

The Sistine Chapel, the main attraction for most visitors, is at the far end of the com¬plex, and the leaflet charts two abbreviated itin¬eraries through other collections to reach it. Don't miss the collections en route to the Sistine Chapel; below we give some of the highlights. Viale Vaticano, Among Vatican City's many riches, probably the single most important is the Sistine Chapel. However, unless you're following of the two abbreviated itineraries, you'll begin your Visit at the Egyptian Museum and go on to the Chiaramonti and Pio Clemen¬tino Museums, which are given over to classical sculptures (among them some of the best-known statues in the world the Laoco On, the Belve¬dere Torso, and the Apollo Belvedere works that with their vibrant humanism, had a tre¬mendous impact on Renaissance art). Next come the Etruscan Museum and three other sec-tions of limited interest.

All itineraries merge in the Candelabra Gallery and proceed through the Tapestry Gallery, which is hung with magnifi¬cent tapestries executed from Raphael's de¬signs.The Gallery of Maps is intriguing; the Apart¬ment of Pius V, a little less so. After them you'll enter the Raphael Rooms, second only to the Sistine Chapel in artistic interest. In 1508, Pope Julius II employed Raphael Sanzio, on the rec¬ommendation of Bramante, to decorate the rooms with biblical scenes. Of the four rooms, the second and third were decorated mainly by Raphael; the others, by Giulio Romano ad oth¬er assistants of Raphael. The lovely LoggIa (cov¬ered balcony) was designed and frescoed by the master himself.

Next you pass through the Chiaroscuro Room to the tiny Chapel of Nicholas V, aglow with frescoes by Fra Angelico the Florentine monk whose sensitive paintings were guiding lights for the Renaissance. If your itinerary takes you to the BorgIa Apartments, you'll see their elaborately painted ceilings, designed and partially executed by Pinturicchio The BorgJa Apart¬ments have been given over to the Vatican's large, but not particularly interesting, collection of modern religious art, which continues at a lower level.

Once you've seen the Borgia Rooms, you can skip the rest in good conscience and get on to the Sistine Chapel. In 1508, while Raphael was put to work on his series of rooms, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to fresco the more than 10,000 square feet of the Sistine Chapel ceiling single-handedly. The task took four years of mental and physical anguish. It's said that for years af-terward Michelangelo couldn't read anything without holding it up over his head. The result, however, was the masterpiece that you can now see, its colors cool and brilliant after recent res-toration. Bring a pair of binoculars to get a bet¬ter look at this incredible work, and if you want to study it, try to beat the tour groups by get¬ting there early in the day.

Some 20 years after completing the ceiling, Michelangelo was com¬missioned to paint the Last Judgment on the wall over the altar. The aged and embittered artist painted his own face on the wrinkled hu¬man skin in the hand of St. Bartholomew, below and to the right of the figure of Christ, which he clearly modeled on the Apollo Belvedere. Like the ceiling, the Last Judgment has been cleaned surprising viewers with its clarity and color al ter restorers unveiled their work in April 1994.

After this experience, which can be marred by the cr0'Ys .of tourists, you pass through some of the exhibition halls of the Vatican Library. Look m on Room X, Room of the Aldobrandini Mar-riage, to see its beautiful Roman frescoes of a nuptial rite. You can see more classical statues in the new wing and then, perhaps after taking a break at the cafeteria, go on to the Pinacoteca (Pctre Gallery). It .displays mainly religious paintings by such artists as Giotto, Fra Angeli¬co, and Filippo Lippi. The Raphael Room holds his exceptional Transfiguration Coronation and Foligno Madonna. ' , In the Pagan Antiquities Museum, modern dis¬play techniques enhance another collection of Greek and Roman sculptures.

The Christian An¬tiquities Museum has Early Christian and medi¬eval art, while the Ethnological Museum shows art and artifacts from exotic places throughout the world. The complete itinerary ends with the Historical Museum's collection of carriages, uni¬forms, and arms, which may still be temporarily closed in 1995.

In all, the Vatican Museums offer a staggering excursion into the realms of art and history. It's foolhardy to try to see all the collections in one day, and it's doubtful that anyone could be inter-ested in everything on display. Simply aim for an overall impression of the collections' artistic and cultural riches.

Time Out Neighborhood trattorias that are far better and far less touristy than those opposite the Vatican Museum entrance include Hostaria Dino e Toni (Via Leone IV 60. Closed Sun.), where you can dine on typical Roman fare at reasonable prices, and La Caravella, which serves Roman special¬ties and has pizza on the lunch menu (Via degli Scipioni 32, corner Via Vespasiano, off Via Leone IV. Old Rome A district of narrow streets with curious names, airy Baroque piazzas, and picturesque court-yards, Old Rome (Vecchia Roma) occupies the horn of land that pushes the Tiber westward to-ward the Vatican.

It has been an integral part of the city since ancient times, and its position be-tween the Vatican and the Lateran palaces, both seats of papal rule, put it in the mainstream of Rome's development from the middle Ages on¬ward. Today it's full of old artisans' workshops, trendy cafes and eating places, and offbeat bou¬tiques. On weekends and summer evenings Old Rome is a magnet for crowds of young people.

Start at Piazza Venezia and take Via del 41 Plebiscito to the huge Baroque II Gesii, compa¬rable only to St. Peter's for sheer grandeur. In¬side it's encrusted with gold and precious marbles and topped by a fantastically painted ceiling that flows down over the pillars to be¬come three-dimensional, merging with painted stucco figures in a swirling composition glorify¬ing the Jesuit order. Then head for nearby Piazza della Minerva to see Santa Maria Sopra Mi¬nerva, a Gothic church with some beautiful fres¬coes, in a side chapel, by Filippo Lippi the monk who taught Botticelli. The tomb of another great artist monk, Fra Angelico stands to the left of the altar.

Bernini's charming elephant bearing an obelisk stands in the center of the piazza. The huge brick building opposite is the Pan¬theon, one of the most harmonious and best-preserved monuments of antiquity. It was first elected in 27 bc by Augustus's general Agrippa and completely redesigned and rebuilt by Ha¬drian, who deserves the credit for this fantastic feat of construction.

At its apex, the dome is ex¬actly as tall as the walls, so that you could imag¬ine it as the upper half of a sphere resting on the floor; this balance gives the building a serene majesty. The bronze doors are the original ones; most of the other decorations of gilt bronze and marble that covered the dome and walls were plundered by later Roman emperors and by the popes. The Pantheon gets light and air from the apex of the dome another impressive feature of this remarkable edifice. Piazza delta Rotonda Time Out The area is ice-cream heaven, with some of Rome's best gelaterie (ice-cream parlors) within a few steps of one another.

Romans consider nearby Giolitti superlative and take the counter by storm. Remember to pay the cashier first and hand the stub to the man at the counter when you order your cone. Giolitti has a good snack counter, too From Piazza della Rotonda in front of the Pan¬theon, take Via Giustiniani onto Via della Dogana Vecchia to the church of San Luigi dei Francesi. In the last chapel on the left are three stunning works by Caravaggio the master of the heightened approach to light and dark. A light machine provides illumination to view the paintings.

In the church of Sant' Agostino, close by (Piazza di Sant'Agostino), there is another Caravaggio over the first altar on the left. Just beyond these 4& churches is Piazza Navona, a beautiful Baroque piazza that traces the oval of Emperor Domi¬tian's stadium. It still has the carefree air of the days when it was the scene of Roman circus games, medieval jousts, and 17thcentury carni-vals. Bernini's splashing Fountain of the Four Rivers, with an enormous rock squared off by statues representing the four corners of the world, and makes a fitting centerpiece.

Behind it stands the church of Sant' Agnese in Agone. Its Baroque facade is by Francesco Borromini , a contemporary and sometime ri¬val of Bernini. One story has it that the Bernini statue nearest the church is hiding its head be¬cause it can't bear to look upon the inferior Bor-romini facade; in fact, the facade was built after the fountain, and the statue hides its head be-cause it represents the Nile River, whose source was unknown until relatively recently.

Time Out The sidewalk tables of the Tre Scalini cafe offer a grandstand view of the piazza. This place in¬vented the tartufo, a luscious chocolate ice-cream specialty (Piazza Navona 30. Closed Wed.).Leaving Piazza Navona by way of the Corsia Agonalis, the street opposite Tre Scalini, you'll see the 17thcentury Palazzo Madama, now the Senate, on Corso Rinascimento. To the right, at the end of the street, the huge church of G Sant'Andrea della Valle looms mightily over a busy intersection. Puccini set the first act of his opera Tasca here.

Now make your way through side streets to G Campo dei Fiori. Once the scene of public execu-tions (including that of philosopher monk Giordano Bruno, whose statue broods in the center), it now holds one of Rome's busiest, most colorful morning food markets.

Continue on to Piazza Farnese, where Michelan G gelo had a hand in building Palazzo Farnese, now the French Embassy and perhaps the most beautiful of the Renaissance palaces in Rome. (Puccini set the second act of Tasca here.) The twin fountains in the piazza are made with ba¬sins of Egyptian granite from the Baths of Cara¬calla. Behind Palazzo Farnese, turn onto Via Giulia, where you'll see some elegant palaces (step inside the portals to take a look at the courtyards), old churches, and a number of an¬tiques shops.

The Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain

The walk up Via del Corso from Piazza Venezia takes you to Rome's classiest shopping streets and to two visual extravaganzas: the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. e Start at the Vittorio Emanuele Monument in Pi¬azza Venezia. Rome's most flamboyant land¬mark, it was erected in the late 19th century to honor Italy's first king, Vittorio Emanuele II, and the unification of Italy. This vast marble monument, said to resemble a wedding cake or a Victorian typewriter, houses the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, with its eternal flame. Al¬though the monument has been closed to the public for many years, plans are in the works to reopen it; the views from the top of the steps are among Rome's best.

On the left, as you look up the Corso, is Palazzo Venezia, a blend of medieval solidity and Renais¬sance grace. It contains a good collection of paintings, sculptures, and objects d'art in hand¬some salons, some of which Mussolini used as his offices. Notice the balcony over the main portal, from which II Duce addressed huge crowds in the square below. Via Del Plebiscito

Along the Corso are some fine old palaces and a church or two. Detour to the left to the church of G Sant'Ignazio, where what seems to be the dome is really an illusionist canvas. Put some coins in the light machine to illuminate the dazzling fres¬coes on the vault of the nave. Next you'll come to e Piazza Colonna, named for the ancient Column of Marcus Aurelius, with its extraordinarily de¬tailed reliefs spiraling up to the top.

Time Out Alfio, on the corner of Via Bergamaschi, is popu¬lar for a standup lunch of sandwiches at the counter or a more relaxing meal in the upstairs dining room (From Largo Goldoni, on Via del Corso, you get a head-on view of the Spanish Steps and the church of Trinita dei Monti as you start up Via Condotti, an elegant and expensive shopping street. Look for the historic Caffe Greco on the left. More than 200 years old, it was the haunt of Goethe, Byron, and Liszt; now it's a hangout for well dressed ladies carrying Gucci bags.

G Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps get their names from the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See (the Vatican), opposite the American Ex¬press office, though they were built with French funds. This was once the core of Rome's bohemi¬an quarter, especially favored by American and British artists and writers in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the center of the square is Bernini's Fountain of the Barcaccia (Old Boat) and just to the right of the steps is the house where Keats and Shelley lived. Sloping upward in broad curves, the Spanish Steps are perfect for socializing, and they draw huge crowds on weekend and holiday afternoons. From mid¬ April to early May, the steps are blanketed with azaleas in bloom.

From the narrow end of the piazza, take Via Propaganda Fide to Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, swerving left on Via del Nazareno, then cross¬ing busy Via del Tritone to Via delia Stamperia.This street leads to the Trevi Fountain, one of Rome's most spectacular fountains when it's gushing. It was featured in the 1954 film Three Coins in the Fountain. And legend has it that you can ensure your return to Rome by tossing a coin in the fountain. Unfortunately, legend doesn't tell you how to cope with the souvenir vendors and aggressive beggars who are looking for a share of your change.

Ancient Rome

2010-02-09T07:27:00.000-08:00

Rome was built on seven hills. Its legendary founders, the twins Romulus and Remus, were abandoned as infants but were suckled by a she wolf on the banks of the Tiber and adopted by a shepherd. Encouraged by the gods to build a city, the twins chose a site in 735 be, fortifying it with a wall that has been identified by archae¬ologists digging on the Palatine, the first hill of Rome to be inhabited. During the building of the city, the brothers quarreled, and in a fit of anger Romulus killed Remus.

Excavations on the Palatine and in the Forum area have re¬vealed hard evidence of at least some aspects of the city's legendary beginnings. The ruins on the two most historic hills the Capitoline and the Palatine mark the center of ancient Rome, capital of the classical world and center of a vast empire. The former hill held the seat of government, the Capitol, whose name is commemorated in every capital city in the world, as well as in government buildings, such as the Capitol in Washington, DC.

If you stand on the Capitoline and gaze out over the ruins of the Forum to the Palatine, with the Colosseum looming in the background, you can picture how Rome looked when it was the center of the known world. Imagine the Forum filled with immense, brightly painted temples.

Pic¬ture the faint glow from the temple of Vesta, where the vestal virgins tended their sacred fire, and the glistening marble palace complex on the Palatine, its roof studded with statues, where the emperors and their retinues lived in incredible luxury. Then think of how the area looked in the Dark Ages, when Rome had sunk into malaria ridden squalor.

The Capitoline hill is a good place to begin when exploring the city. Rome's first and most sacred temples stood here. The city's archives were kept in the Tabularium (hall of records), the tall, gray stone structure that forms the foundations of today's city hall, the Palazzo Senatorio. By the Middle Ages, the Campidoglio, as the hill was then known, had fallen into ruin. In 1537, Pope Paul III called on Michelangelo to restore it to grandeur, and the artist designed the ramp, the buildings on three sides of the Campidoglio Square, the slightly convex pave¬ment and its decoration, and the pedestal for the bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius.

A work of the 2nd century AD, the statue stood here from the 16th century to just recently, when it was removed for restoration and rein¬stallation in a more friendly environment inside the Palazzo dei Conservatori Even¬tually, a copy of the statue will occupy the origi¬nal pedestal outdoors.

The palaces flanking the Palazzo Senatorio con¬tain two museums, the Museo Capitolino and the Palazzo dei Conservatori, whose collections were assembled in the 15th century by Pope Six¬tus V, one of the earliest of the great papal pa¬trons of the arts. Those with a taste for Roman and Greek sculpture will appreciate both muse¬ums; others may find the collections dull but the setting impressive. Many of the statues were re¬stored by over conscientious 18th and 19thcen¬tury collectors who added heads and limbs with considerable abandon.

Originally, almost all these works were brilliantly colored and gilded. Many of the works here and in Rome's other mu¬seums are copies of Greek originals. For hun¬dreds of years, craftsmen of ancient Rome prospered by producing copies of Greek statues on order; they used a process called pointing, by which exact copies could be made.

Portraiture, however, was one area in which the Romans outstripped the Greeks. The hundreds of Roman portrait busts in the Museo Capitolino are the highlight of a visit here. In the court¬yard, the reclining river god is one of the talks Ancient Rome ing statues to which ancient Romans affixed anonymous political protests and satirical barbs.

The most interesting pieces, on display upstairs, include the poignant Dying Gaul and the delicate Marble Faun, which inspired novel¬ist Nathaniel Hawthorne's tale of the same name. Then you'll come upon the rows of por¬trait busts, a kind of ancient Who's Who, though rather haphazardly labeled. Look for cruel Car¬acalla, vicious Nero, and haughty Marcus Aure¬lius.

Across the square is the Palazzo dei Conserva¬tori, which contains similar treasures. The huge head and hand in the courtyard are fragments of a colossal statue of the emperor Constantine; these immense effigies were much in vogue in the later days of the Roman Empire. The re-splendent Salone dei Orazi e Curiazi upstairs is a ceremonial hall with a magnificent gilt ceiling, carved wooden doors, and 16thcentury fres¬coes.

The Capitoline's church of Aracoeli was one of the first in the city built by the emerging Chris-tians. It's known for Pinturicchio's 16thcentury frescoes in the first chapel on the right and for a much revered wooden figure of the Christ Child, kept in a small chapel in the sacristy.

The Campidoglio gardens offer the best view of the sprawling ruins of ancient Rome. Caesar's Forum lies below the garden, to the left of Palazzo Senatorio. It is the oldest of the Imperial Fora, those built by the emperors, as opposed to those built during the earlier, Republican peri¬od (6th1st centuries BC), as part of the original Roman Forum. Across Via dei Fori Imperiali, the broad avenue created by Premier Benito Mussolini for his triumphal parades, are, from the left, Trajan's Column in the base of which the emperor Tra¬jan's ashes were buried, Trajan's Forum, with its huge semicircular market building, and the ruins of the Forum of Augustus.

Now turn your attention to the Roman Forum, in what was once a marshy valley between the Capitoline and Palatine hills. The shortest way down is Via San Pietro in Carcere actually a flight of stairs descending to the church that e stands over the Mamertine Prison, a series of gloomy, subterranean cells where Rome's van¬quished enemies were finished off. Legend has it that St. Peter was held prisoner here and that he miraculously brought forth a spring of water in order to baptize his jailers. Donation re¬quested.

From the main entrance on Via dei Fori Imperiali, descend into the extraordinary archaeological complex that is the Roman Forum. This was the civic heart of Republican Rome, the austere Rome that preceded the hedonistic society that grew up under the emperors in the 1st to the 4th century AD. Today it seems no more than a baffling series of ruins, marble fragments, isolated columns, a few, worn arches, and occasional paving stones. Yet It once was filled with stately and extravagant buildings temples, palaces, shop sand people from .all corners of the world.

What you see are the rums of almost 900 years, from about 500 be to AD 400. As the original buildings became too small or old-fashioned, they were pulled down and re¬placed by more lavish structures. Making sense of these scarred stones is not easy; you may want just to wander along, letting your imagina¬tion dwell on Julius Caesar, Cicero, and Mark Antony who delivered the funeral address in Caesar' honor from the rostrum just left of te Arch of Septimius Severus. Entrance on Vta dei Fori Imperiali, Piazza Santa Marta Nova, and Via di San Gregorio,
Leave the Forum by the exit at Arco di Tito (Arch of Titus), which is at the end of the Forum away from the Capitoline. From here, the Cli¬vus Palatinus, an ancient path, leads up the Pal¬atine hill, where the emperors built their palaces.

From the belvedere you can see the Circus Maximus, where more than 300,000 specta¬tors could watch chariot and horse races while the emperors looked on from this very spot. The Italian garden on the Palatine was laid out dur¬ing the Renaissance. Leaving the Palatine by way of the Via di San Gregorio exit, you'll come upon the imposing Arch of Constantine, erected in AD 315 to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius.

Just beyond is the Colosseum, the most famous monument of ancient Rome. Begun by the Flavian emperor Vespasian in AD 72, it was inau¬gurated by Titus eight years later with a 100¬day program of games and shows. On the open¬ing day alone, 5,000 wild beasts perished in the arena.

More than 50,000 spectators could crowd into the 573yard circumference, which was faced with marble and boasted an ingenious sys¬tem of awnings to shade them from the sun. Originally known as the Flavian Amphitheater, in later centuries it came to be called the Colos¬seum, after a colossal gilded bronze statue of Nero that stood nearby.

It served as a fortress during the 13th century and then as a quarry from which materials were filched to build sumptuous Renaissance churches and palaces. Finally it was declared sacred by the popes, in memory of the many Christians believed mar¬tyred there. You must pay admission to the up¬per levels.

Exploring Rome by car hire

2010-02-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

From ancient times, Romans have been piling the present on top of the past, blithely building, layering, and overlapping their more than 2,500 years of history to create the haphazard fabric of modern Rome. The result is a city where antiq¬uity is taken for granted, where you can have coffee in a square designed by Bernini and go home to a Renaissance palace. Normal life in Rome is carried on in an extraordinary setting. Don't be self conscious in your wanderings about the city. Poke and pry under the surface of things.

Walk boldly through gates that are just ajar to peek into the hidden world of Roman courtyards. But do it with a smile, to show the people you meet that you're truly interested in them. Warm and straightforward, the Romans are pleased to show you the nooks and crannies of their hometown.

The good-humored Romans have their prob¬lems, of course. The city is noisy, polluted, af¬flicted with hellish traffic, and exasperatingly inefficient. But at least the traffic problem is be¬ing tackled. Sizable areas of the city center have been designated for pedestrians only. The pol¬lution problem is less easy to cure, and far too many of the monuments you will want to see are shielded in fine green netting, while work pro¬ceeds on cleaning and repairing them.

Keep your sightseeing flexible. You'll have to plan your day to take into account the wide di-versity of opening times which will mean mix¬ing classical sites with Baroque, museums with parks, the center with the environs. However you do it, be sure to take plenty of time off for simply sitting and observing the passing pag¬eant of the city's teeming streets.
Inevitably, the environs of Rome are overshad¬owed by the five star attractions of the Eternal City.

However, the surrounding region, known as Lazio (Latium), has plenty to offer in its own right ancient art and archaeology, medieval hill towns and abbeys, Renaissance pleasure gardens, lake and mountain scenery, and an easygoing pace, not to mention great local wines and homemade pasta. Intersperse city sightseeing with jaunts into the countryside. A breath of country air and a change of scenery can enhance your enjoyment of Rome and give you a new perspective on its many delights.

Our exploration of Rome is divided into 10 tours. where Rome itself began, amid the ancient rums, and follow with a look at the Vatican and its museums two separate tours. The next six tours explore various places of interest in central Rome, while Tour 10 takes you on a short trip outside the city walls. With the exception of Tours 2 and 3, which concentrate on the Vatican Tour?, which explore the Villa Borghese, which crosses the Tiber to the Trastevere dis¬trict, and Tour 10, out the Appian Way to the Catacombs, these Rome tours begin in or around Piazza Venezia.

The Museidon Card, valid for two, four, or seven days and costing from 13,000 lire to 48 000 lire provides entrance to city museums and some monuments. It's sold at participating museums, APT offices, and some hotels and tobacconists but think twice before buying it because not many of the major museums are city run. At the end of the chapter are three excursions into the surrounding countryside.

Although all the places we suggest visiting could be seen on a day's trip from Rome, some itineraries combine several destinations and could be broken by an overnight stop somewhere along the way, to maintain an easy pace. If you're driving, you'll find good roads, but you may run into pockets of local traffic in the suburbs. Try not to schedule your excursions for Sundays, when the Romans make their weekly exodus and create traffic jams on their return.

A word of caution: Gypsy children, present around sites popular with tourists throughout Europe, are rife in Rome and are adept pickpockets. One modus operandi is to approach a tourist and proffer a piece of cardboard with writing on it. While the unsuspecting victim at¬tempts to read the message on it, the gypsy children’s hands are busy under it making like piranhas with the contents of a purse.

If you see such a group (recognizable by their unkempt appearance, often with cigarettes hanging from prepubescent mouths), do not even allow them near you they are quick and know more tricks than you do.

Also be aware of Italian perpetra¬tors who ride by on motorbikes, grab the shoul¬der strap of your bag, and step on the gas. Keep your bag well under your arm, especially if you're walking on the street edge of the side¬walk, or wear a money belt. Don't carry more money than you need, and don't carry your pass¬port unless you need it to exchange money. Numbers in the margin correspond to points of interest on the Exploring Rome map.

The Colosseum Rome

2010-02-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

The first sight of the Colosseum is highly gratifying. It reassures the most bewil¬dered visitor. No one could mistake it for any¬thing but a large shambles designed with the utmost skill to focus the attention of many thousands of people upon a small field of ac¬tion, then to disperse them with the greatest possible efficiency. The amazing thing about the Colosseum is the fact that it is built in a marsh, and that its stupendous weight has been resting for all these centuries upon artificial foundations set in water.

This part of Rome is still water¬logged with springs which trickle down from the Esquiline Hill, as you can see today in the underground churches beneath S. Clemente. How the Colosseum was built on such a soil is a wonder of engineering, and I can well imag¬ine that any architect might forsake all else in Rome to study the problems of this trium¬phant mass.
In the year 1864 one of the peri¬odic stories about buried treasure in the Colosseum was revived with success by a cer¬tain Signor Testa.

He claimed to have a clue to the Frangipani treasure believed to have been concealed there in the middle Ages when that family turned the amphitheatre into a fortress. Pope Pius IX became inter¬ested and gave permission for the excava-tions, which were followed with breathless interest by everyone in Rome. Nothing of in¬trinsic value was found, though the effort was not wasted as it gave Lanciani his only chance to examine the foundations of the Col¬osseum.

He wrote that he saw the upper belt of the substructures, arched like those of the ambulacra above ground; and underneath them a bed of concrete which must descend to a considerable depth. So beneath the visible The Colosseum the arches of the Colosseum are others, carry¬ing the weight of the building on cores of the indestructible Roman concrete sunk into the water.

It was the Venerable Bede, writing in his monastery at Jarrow somewhere about AD 700, who first addressed the building as the Colosseum in the famous proverb that Byron translated as:

While stands the Colosseum, Rome shall stand;
When the Colosseum, Rome falls shall fall; And when Rome falls the world. Bede had never been to Rome, but no doubt he had heard of the Colosseum from Saxon pilgrims and may even have preserved a say¬ing current in Rome in those days. I climbed all over the mighty monument, thinking that it is the most comprehensible ruin in Rome.

It demands little imagination to rebuild it in its splendour and fill it with 80,000 spectators, with Caesar in the royal box, the senators in their privileged seats near the rails, the aristocracy, and the Vestal Virgins; then, ascending, to the mob in the highest seats of all, for the audience in the Colosseum was seated in strict rotation. There was an official called a designator who saw to it that people kept in their proper places.

There were at various times dress regulations which had to be obeyed. Roman citizens were obliged to attend the games in the toga, and the magistrates and senators came in their official dress. This enormous gathering, rising in tiers and mostly clothed in white, must have presented a mighty spec¬tacle, with the senators in their striped togas and red sandals, the consuls in their purple tunics, the ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps in the dress of their various countries, the praetorian guard in full dress, and the emperor in his royal robes. High above the gallery protruded stout masts where sailors from the fleet at Misenum, who had been trained in the manipulation of a vast awning, swarmed among the ropes and pul¬leys as in some gigantic galley.

Even with a slight wind the sound of this velarium was like thunder, and on gusty days it could not be used at all. One can imagine what it must have been like to walk through the deserted Forum on a day of the games and to hear the flapping of this great awning, then to be pulled up by a savage roar of sound from eighty thousand voices.

Such a gathering of people assembled to enjoy suffering and death must have been a fearful sight, and I remembered the story of St. Augustine's friend, Alypius, who was taken to the games against his will by a number of fellow students. At first Alypius shut his eyes and refused to look, but, hear¬ing a sudden savage shout, he opened his eyes to see a gladiator beaten to his knees.

His heart filled with pity for the man, then as the death blow was delivered he drank down a kind of savageness and sat there, open-eyed and initiated. With the exception of Sene¬ca, not one of the writers of antiquity, not even the kindly Horace and the gentle Pliny, condemned the degradation of the amphi¬theater, and the world had to wait for Chris¬tianity before men had the courage and the decency to close such places.

As I climbed about the broken tiers and ledges, I thought of the organization which fed this monstrous circle of savagery. All over the empire officials trapped and brought wild animals for the arena, and in the course of centuries the number of noble beasts that died to please the mob is said to have almost exterminated certain species from the Ro¬man world. It is said that the elephant disap¬peared from North Arica, the hippopotamus from Nubia, and the hon from Mesopotamia.

The Colosseum 25 Long before the Colosseum was built this slaughter of animals used to be the popular prelude to the combat of gladiators; one dis¬play occupied the morning and the other the afternoon. Sulla once exhibited 100 lions in the arena and this, Cicero says, was the first time these animals were allowed to roam about instead of being tethered to stakes. In 58 BC several crocodiles and the first hippo¬potamus to be seen in Rome were exhibited in a trench of water in the arena, and during a venatio attended by Cicero in 55 BC, 600 lions were slain and 18 elephants tried to break down the barriers in an attempt to escape.

The only animal which roused any compas¬sion in the heartless Roman mob was the elephant. Cicero says that this was due to a notion that it had something in common with Mankind; and the elder Pliny says that these animals, which had been procured by Pompey, implored the compassion of the multitude by attitudes which surpass all description, and with a kind of lamentation bewailed their unhappy fate, until the whole assembly rose in tears and showered curses on Pompey.

Unfortunately, such pity did not go very deep, and for centuries to come the mob continued to watch the slaugh¬ter of elephants and every other kind of ani¬mal; indeed, as the empire declined these fearful shows became even more extrava¬gant.

There were schools in Rome where men were trained to fight animals and to de¬vise tricks to amuse and thrill the mob. Such men, known as bestiarii or venatores, were lower in rank than the gladiators. Criminals could be sentenced to join such establish¬ments and to be trained in an arena with the animals. After the Colosseum was built, the animals destined for the amphitheater were kept in a zoo known as the Vivarium, on the neighboring Celian Hill. On the day of the games they were taken under the amphi¬theater and placed in lifts, worked by pulleys and windlasses, which pulled the cages up to the arena.

The death of animals merely stimulated the palate for the afternoon combat of men. In imperial times there were four state schools in which gladiators lived under strict discipline. They were fed on a special diet and trained in every kind of weapon from the sword and the lance to the net and lassoo.

The professional gladiator, like the modern film actor, was the idol of the crowd and, of course, of some women. There is a wall scribble in Pompeii which describes a certain glad¬iator as the maiden's sigh. With good fortune their popularity lasted longer than that of a film star today, for we hear of old warriors, the heroes of a hundred fights, winning the wooden sword, which was handed to them in the arena as a badge of honorable retirement. There was also a great deal of money to be made.

In addition to the state schools, there were numerous private ludi, where gladiators were maintained at the expense of rich ama¬teurs or businessmen, who hired them out to fulfill engagements all over the country, as the promoters of bullfights today engage matadores with their cuadrilla. The Colos¬seum could also be rented.

A rich man, or a politician anxious to curry favor, could orga¬nize games to take place in the Colosseum and while they were in progress he occupied place of honor, the editoris tribunal, a special seat which has now disappeared.

The Vestal Virgins were the only women allowed in the official seats, and if the em¬press attended the games, she sat with them. Women were not encouraged, however, to at¬tend the amphitheater, and could sit only in the upper tiers with the plebs. In later times they were allowed to fight and were some¬times pitted against each other as gladiators; but this, like the woman matador of today, was not usual.

How the Vestal Virgins, who were so care¬fully protected against the harder facts of life, were expected to endure the games, I do not know, and I have read that it was sometimes necessary to move them to the higher parts of the Colosseum where they could not see so much. From the first moment until the last, when a ghastly figure dressed as Charon, or a denizen of the underworld, appeared and tapped with a wooden mallet the heads of those not yet dead, the enter¬tainment can hardly have been fit for their eyes, and that these cloistered women were required to be officially present indicates one of the great differences between the pagan and the Christian world.

The gladiators paraded in carriages on a day of the games, just as modern bullfighters do. Arriving at the Colosseum, they lined up and took part in the paseo to the sound of music, and marched around the arena, with attend¬ants following, bearing their weapons. When they reached a point opposite the royal box, they would fling up their right hands and give their famous cry: Hail Caesar, we about to die salutes you!

The weapons were then inspected, and any that had been tampered with were thrown out. Sometimes the duelists were selected by lot; sometimes experts in the use of differ¬ent weapons would be matched against each other, a swordsman against a man with a net and a trident, and so forth.

At a signal from the emperor a series of life and death duels began, while the band of trumpets, horns, flutes, and a hydraulic organ, struck up and added to the noise of excited thousands, and the shouts of the instructors, who urged on the fighters with bloodthirsty incitements and, if they were not really trying, used a whip on them.

The most merciful combats were those in which the beaten gladiator had the right to appeal for his life. If he had fought well; the crowd might save him from death, as they leaned forward with their thumbs up, a sign meaning Mitte! (Let him go), but if they wished to see him die, the thumbs would be turned down Jugula! (Kill him!); and the master of the world, glancing around to inter¬pret the wishes of the multitude, would give the signal of life or death.

No mercy, however, was possible in the com¬bats known as the fight to the death, in which a company of gladiators fought until only one survived; and even more horrible than this were the noon interludes, before the serious contests began, when a crowd of miserable robbers, highwaymen, murderers, and oth¬ers condemned to death, were driven into the arena and given weapons with which they were compelled to kill each other.

The deaths of Christians in the arena in Nero's time, and later, were of this character, but as the Christians could not be expected to slay one another, wild beasts were let loose to do the killing. It is extraordinary to contrast the gravity and dignity of Roman life at its best with the hideous degradation of mind exhib¬ited in the public amusements of Rome.

One of the most vivid impressions of the Col¬osseum is the account by Dion Cassius of an occasion when the crazy young Emperor Commodus, who wanted to be worshipped as the royal Hercules, appeared as a bestiarius in the arena. Dion Cassius was present in his official capacity as a senator, dressed in his robes and wearing a laurel wreath. He de¬scribes the young emperor, dressed as Mer¬cury, shooting bears with his bow and arrow as he darted about the galleries of the amphi¬theater. Then, descending into the arena, Commodius slew a tiger, a sea lion, and an el-ephant.

At intervals during these exploits the senators, ashamed to see the son of Mar¬cus Aurelius lowering the imperial dignity, were nevertheless obliged to give certain rit¬ual shouts or acclamations: You are the mas¬ter!; You are always victorious! Then, says Dion Cassius, the emperor advanced to¬wards the senatorial benches holding up the head of an animal he had just killed, and, with his dripping sword held aloft, he shook his head without saying one word, as if by that action he intended to threaten us in the same manner as he had served the beast.

Many of the senators were convulsed with laughter, but, as this might have cost them their lives, Dion Cassius says he quietly pulled some of the laurel leaves from his crown and chewed them and advised those sitting near me to do the same.

Reading these ancient authors I had an idea that many of them disliked the games, but accepted them as a national insti¬tution and one that had the blessing of the head of the state. The Emperor Tiberius dis¬liked them and made no secret of it, and so did Marcus Aurelius, who caused great offence by talking and dictating letters while he was seated in the royal box: but it was not until Christian times that opposition could make any real headway and the games gradually fell into disuse.

The last games were probably a mere memory of the past, for Cassiodorus says that the wild beasts imported by Theod¬oric in 519 were a novelty to his contemporar¬ies. The games held by Anicius Maximus in 523 are the last to be recorded. If the bones of horses and bulls discovered by professors in the Colosseum in 1878 belong to this occa¬sion, it would appear that in later times it had become a bullring.

And so it became in the Middle Ages, with oc¬casional plays and pageants. Then, with trees and weeds gaining upon it, robbers and hermits took up residence there, while witches and sorcerers made it the headquar¬ters of the Black Art. It was here on a dark night that Benvenuto Cellini experienced his celebrated encounter with devils. With a Si¬cilian priest and a young boy from his studio, he went to the Colosseum to hold a séance. A magic circle was drawn, the proper incanta-tions were made, and perfumes burnt; then, visible to the priest and the terrified boy, but not apparently to Cellini, the amphitheater became filled with demons.

A million warlike men surrounded them, said the frightened lad, and his terror was shared by the priest, who trembled like a reed. Cellini says he also was afraid, but told them that all they saw was smoke and shadows. The boy shouted The whole Colosseum is on fire, and the fire is upon us!, and refused to look again. Even¬tually they left as Matin bells were ringing, and on the way home the boy reported that a couple of the demons were still following them, sometimes frisking ahead or capering on the rooftops.

Centuries later the Georgians and Victori¬ans claimed this same site to be the most romantic ruin in Rome. Upon the ancient stage stained with the blood of innumerable men and beasts our great grandmothers put up their easels and sketched a shepherd and his goats near a broken marble pedestal. By that time trees and shrubs were growing where senators had once sat in official digni¬ty, and hermits in the upper circles now added a touch of romance.

A botanist wrote a book on the flora of the Colosseum, noting 266 species, which investi¬gators later increased to 420. It became the fashion to see the Colosseum by moonlight. Leaving the candlelight and the card tables, the ices and the after dinner sweetmeats, satin and velvet would crowd into carrozze and go by the light of a full moon to the fallen giant.

It is not possible to express the solemn gran¬deur of it, wrote Lady Knight in 1795. The moon entered the broken part and struck full upon that which is most perfect, and as by that light no small parts were seen, you could almost believe that it was whole and filled with spectators.

Here, later, Byron heard the owl's long cry. Dickens and Dr. Arnold, and a hundred more, added their tributes to a scene of mel¬ancholy that had no equal in the world. Then, as soon as Rome became the capital of Italy, the Colosseum was weeded by archaeologists and the 420 varieties were heartlessly torn from their crevices.

So it stands today, still arousing wonder and incredulity: a colossus in stone with a gash in its side from which thousands of tons of travertine crashed in the middle Ages. If all the stones which once filled that gigantic gap could fly back to their original positions, the Palazzo Venezia, the Palazzo Farnese and the Palazzo delia Cancelleria, and many more, would suddenly disintegrate and vanish.

Things to do in Rome

2010-02-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

Coming off the auto strada at Fiano Roma¬no or Roma Sud exit, you know by the convergence of heavily trafficked routes that you are entering a grand nexus: All roads lead to Rome. And then the interminable sub¬urbs, the railroad crossings, the inter sections no wonder they call it the Eternal City.

Nearer the center, Rome begins to have the air of a city socially divided. On one side, com¬pact masses of old tenements crowd above mean streets. On the other, soaring yellow washed apartment blocks, five stories high with inner courtyards, are geometrically aligned. Poor or not so poor, your Roman likes living in a crowd, in the thick of things. The residential suburb, out at Monte Sacro or Garbatella, has little appeal for him.

In the urban sprawl a few features that match your expectations of Rome begin to take shape: a bridge with heroic statues along its parapets; a towering cake of frothy marble decorated with allegorical figures in extrava¬gant poses; a piazza and an obelisk under an umbrella of pine trees; a fountain pitted with age, bearing the notice ACQUA NON POTABILE which doesn't prevent street urchins from dashing up to drink at it. Street names touch a chord of school room memories:
Via Appia Nuova, Via Aurelia Antica. The very gratings and manhole covers are stamped SPQR, The Senate and Populace of Rome, an expression that links the citizen with his ancestor of 22 centuries ago and gives the stranger the eerie feeling that the dust he stirs has been stirred by the togas of Cato, Cicero, and Seneca. In Rome, 22 cen¬turies are just a few generations back.

You have arrived. You are in the city's heart. Your automobile is parked in the shadow of a stone she wolf, along with automobiles which have ROMA on their license plates. Italian in¬dex letters are abbreviations of the vehicle licensing towns, MI for Milan, GE for Genoa and so on except in Rome.

The Roman mo¬torist wears ROMA, spelled out in full. Like the SPQR, that was Mussolini's doing. He re¬asserted the grandeur that was ROME. He made Romans understand that they were the children of heroes and demigods. Up north, they tell us that Turin with its industry and Milan with its commerce are the true capital cities of Italy.

Rome is badly planned, badly sited, too far south, too enervating in summer, a town of lawyers, civ¬il servants, and tourists. But the Romans can smile at that. They know they inhabit the fountainhead of the Western world, not solely of Italy. They know that their town, and no other, collected the wisdom of Egypt and Greece, refined and enriched it, and supplied the nations which arose afterward with their laws, systems of government, religions, mili¬tary arts, and the foundations of their language and literature.

Those black-eyed urchins at the wall fountain, that gross wom¬an bawling from her tiny balcony, that grand¬father snoring on a cane chair at street level, that white robed child emerging from the side door of the church, that pallid waiter polishing the restaurant window with yester¬day's newspaper all can say, as their dis¬tant ancestors said, Civis Romanus sumI am a Roman citizen.

If they should travel to other parts of Italy they will note without surprise that most main streets are called Via Roma; that every medieval walled town has its Porta Romana, the gate that faces Rome; and that, on posts beside every main road, the distance to Rome is recorded every tenth of a kilometer.

Rome was not built in a day, though much of superficial Rome was built in less than a century. The old city grew organically, and still grows, and its growth is chronicled in its stones. When you look into this city you see how, like Troy, it exists on several levels. Un¬like the levels of Troy, these have each been a spiritual metropolis for whole societies of human beings, most of whom never set eyes on Rome. Under the swarming traffic lie traces of Etruscan Rome; ancient Veii and Caere, strongholds of Etruscan princes, are virtual¬ly part of modern Rome.

There is a Rome of the Republics and the Em¬perors, outcropping in unexpected places like barbershops, garage forecourts, and railroad sidings. There is an early Christian Rome, tunneling away in the catacombs, and a Dark Age Rome, when the pampered citizenry fled to Carthage and, on arrival, immediately wanted to know what was playing at the the¬ater. Engineers working on sewers or boring for extensions to the metro politana (the sub¬way) run afoul of the relics. A constant war is waged between archaeology departments and the town planners.

There are gaps in history's stratification. In the middle Ages the city was reduced to a ru¬ral slum on the banks of an evil smelling Tiber, and the malarial heirs of imperial grandeur borrowed classical pillars to repair their hovels. There is also Rome of the papa¬cies, and Rome of a period when the popes were hunted in and out like criminals. There is evidence of Byzantine Rome, of the dark little brick and tile churches that incorpo¬rated Rome's name in an architectural style (Romanesque), and of the sumptuous flower¬ing of the later Renaissance styles which are called Roman Baroque.

Rome, however, though rich in florid sculp¬tures, intricate ornamental motifs, and neo Introduction classical effects, cannot show us galleries of famous paintings the way many provincial centers can. For a capital city, it lacks a capi¬tal display of national artists. The Italian heritage is spread over the whole country; all major cities and many small towns and vil-lages have their share of the treasure.

Closer to the present day and to the sur¬face of Rome lies the early 19thcentury city, destination of Grand Tourists. That is the Rome of Gioacchino Belli, dialect poet and satirist, and of Goethe's and Stendhal's travel books. In the English quarter, at the foot of the Spanish Steps, the poet John Keats died and Mrs.

Babington kept her teashop. Students of the Risorgimentothe resur¬gence and reunification of Italy in the 19th century know a Rome of Garibaldi and his insurgents. From a vantage point on the Ja¬niculum, the hero on horseback surveys the terrain in bloody skirmishes and betrayals. Pigeons from St. Peter's Square love to fly up and perch on the saddle of that equestrian statue, so that it often looks as though Gari¬baldi is carrying the birds to market.

Toward the end of the last century, the Eter¬nal City spread its wings. On September 20, 1870 (Via Venti Settembre is one of the most durable of Italian street names), General Cadorna's regiment of bersaglieri breached the Porta Pia, proclaimed Rome capital of It¬aly, and made Pope Pius IX the prisoner of the Vatican.

The gold rush of merchants and contractors from the north, the arrival of hordes of bureaucrats from Florence, briefly the former capital, and of poor immigrants from Naples and Calabria, doubled the popu¬lation of 100,000 in days, and took it to half a million in months. The Via Nazionale and the Via Venti Settembre were christened and the city center slums were cleared for public buildings more in keeping with Rome's dignity. But the new city council rejected Garibaldi's scheme for diverting the Tiber. Without the Tiber, floods and all, Rome would not have been Rome.

Much of modern Rome, therefore, went up in a few years in the 1880s, decade of the gran febbre di Roma (great fever of Rome)a fever that ended with the pa¬tient's total collapse. Through greed and childish dreams, a newspaper said, the bankers have promoted building in a manner devoid of all prudence.... Every stage of construction depended on promissory notes .... When foreign bankers refused to discount notes, the paper tower crumbled.

The so-called building yard of Italy in the later 1880s was a field of ruins among the classical ruins, infested by provincials whom the promise of work had drawn in by the thousand. Rome grew dirtier and more de¬crepit, littered with shacks and cardboard tents until well into the present century. Of the 1920 population of 800,000, it was re¬ported that nearly one fifth of all citizens lived in abusive dwellings.

Then came Fas¬cism, which ruthlessly swept them away. Wreckers moved into Trastevere and the slums near the Capitol, homes of those who could most truly claim Roman citizenship. A new central thoroughfare, the broad Via dei Fori Imperiali, was laid down from Musso¬lini's Palazzo Venezia to the Colosseum of the Caesars. One human touch was the rebuild¬ing of the old rione (district) fountains, the sculpted wells of the different parishes an important feature of tourist Rome today.

Monumental architecture of the past 50 years has not much disturbed the shabby but styl¬ish buildings of central Rome. No skyscraper out tops the 450 foot dome of St. Peter's. New look architecture, by exponents of the Introduction xiii school of Gio Ponti and Nervi, is almost wholly confined to the EUR complex, site of the aborted Universal Exposition of Rome in 1942 and Olympic venue of 1960a suburb bigger than Florence. On the whole, modern buildings look pretentious and ephemeral, and they fall far short of tradition.

Through the '50s and the '60s there was an uncon¬trolled expansion of building along the main exit roads, but this has now long since been checked and many who can't find reasonably priced housing in Rome have moved to satel¬lite towns in the Alban and Sabine hills. Rome has once again its Gypsy encampments among the arches of the old aqueducts, espe¬cially on the eastern approaches, Via Casilina and the Cinecitta area. But it is decreed that the city itself beautiful and pleasing in spite of everything shall be confined within its present limits.

Things to do in Caceres

2010-02-09T03:48:00.000-08:00

The Roman colony founded here during the 1st century BC was one of the five most important in the province of Lusitania. Destroyed by barbarians, it was rebuilt by the Moors, who called it Cazris, the forerunner of its modern name. They used it as a fortress town from which to embark on other incursions, and built the walls that still stand, setting them atop Roman foundations.
Today Caceres is the capital of the province of the same name. Surrounded by the Moorish walls, the city's Barrio Monumental (Old Town) is so superbly preserved that it has served as a backdrop for more than one film set in the Middle Ages. A stroll through the sandy-colored maze of narrow streets is like stepping back to the 15th and 16th centuries, when noblemen vied with each other to build more beautiful mansions and palaces with the wealth acquired in their exploits across the Atlantic. Almost every house bears a coat of arms, proudly carved out of the tawny stonework.

Until the late 15th century, most of these residences had battlemented defensive towers as well, but Queen Isabella ordered all but one - the Florentine Renaissance-style tower of the Casa de las Cigiienas (House of the Storks)to be razed in an effort to put a halt to internecine fighting. The tower stands in the Plaza de las Veletas, and is now a military government office that is closed to the public.

All is quiet now in Caceres; there's little to disturb the storks that nest everywhere in the Barrio Monumental atop the Iglesia de San Mateo (Plaza de San Mateo), a church built on the site of a former mosque, and up on the spire of the Iglesia de Santa Maria. Step inside this latter church, in the main square of the walled city, to see the tombs of some of Caceres's most famous citizens, marked with their heraldic crests. Also look for the 15th to 16th century Palacio de Ovando in the same square; for the intricately carved facade on the 15thcentury Palacio de los Golfines de Abajo nearby; and, in a corner of the walled city, for the 16th century Casa de Toledo Moctezuma, where Juan Cano, a henchman of Hernan Cortes, lived with his wife, a daughter of the last Aztec emperor, Montezuma. The 16th-century Renaissance Palacio de Godoy, with its impressive entryway, is just outside the walls. (The interiors of these houses are not open to the public.)

Casa de las Veletas

Near Plaza de San Mateo, the 17thcentury Casa de las Veletas (House of the Weather Vanes), site of the one time Moorish Alcazar, today serves as the town's Museo Arqueologico. It incorporates an interesting Moorish cistern and houses collections of Celtic, Roman, and Visigothic remains. It's closed Mondays; admission charge. Aside from the Casa de las Veletas, the only building in the Barrio Monumental that can be visited is the Palacio de Carajal (Plaza de Santa Marfa; inquire at the tourist office to arrange a tour).

In addition to the Barrio Monumental, Cachas a much more bustling area at the foot of the walls in the vicinity of the Plaza Mayor, the main square and site of the Oficina de Turismo. Much farther down is the sprawling modern section of the city, where most of the shops, hotels, and offices are to be found. Two miles (3 km) east of town, on a road that climbs steeply up through olive trees to the peak of the Sierra de la Mosca, stands the Santuario de Nuestra Senora de la Montana (Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Mountain). From here, there is a spectacular view over Caceres, with the Gredos mountains to the north and the Sierra de San Pedro range to the south.

Plasencia cheap car hire

If you are planning a trip to Plasencia hire a car from Madrid Barajas Airport and take your time to explore the diverse countryside and landscapes around the region of Extremadura.

This town's name is derived from the Latin for may it be pleasing to God and man, which is what Alfonso VIII hoped it would be when he rebuilt it in the 12th century after its recapture from the Moors. With its whitewashed houses, narrow streets, and flowers on almost every wrought iron balcony, Plasencia is indeed a charming town, as well as an ideal base to explore the north of Extremadura. The town is set in a bend of the Rio Jerte and is crowned by a splendid Catedral de Plasencia, part Romanesque and part late 15th century Gothic, especially dramatic at sunset. The cathedral museum contains century’s worth of treasures.

Its open daily; admission charge. The 13th century Iglesia de San Nicolas, with its gorgeous rose window, is in the vicinity of the cathedral, and the magnificent Iglesia de San Vicente, the former Monasterio de Santo Domingo, dating from the 15th century, stands in a quiet plaza dotted with orange trees nearby. The porticoed Plaza Mayor, the town's main square, is a pleasant place to have a drink and watch the green mechanical doll atop the Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) at the north end of the square spring into action to strike the hours. If you're here on a Tuesday, visit the market, which has been held in Plasencia since the 13th century.

Things to see in Badajoz

2010-02-09T03:37:00.000-08:00

This is the most popular city in Extremadura, and the capital of the province of Badajoz, one of the two provinces into which the region is divided (the other is Caceres). Badajoz was once one of the most important Moorish strongholds in western Spain, home to Muslim kings who left behind the city's name (their kingdom was called Batalvoz) as well as an impressive castle-fortress and massive ramparts.

Today, it's hard not to get the impression that the town has seen better days, hardly surprising considering its troubled history. Its frontier position, just 3 miles (5 km) from the Portuguese border, has made it particularly vulnerable, and it has been torn by just about every war fought on the Iberian Peninsula in the past 500 years. One of the worst scenes of carnage occurred in 1812, during the Peninsular War, when 5,000 of the Duke of Wellington's 15,000 troops died here trying to drive Napoleon's occupying forces back toward France. During the early stages of the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War, Badajoz was the scene of a brutal massacre when Franco's Nationalist rebel forces captured it and then rounded up scores of citizens and herded them into the bullring, where they were executed by machine gun.

Badajoz is not the kind of place in which to spend a great deal of time, but it is fascinating to climb up to the top of the town to get an idea of what it once was. Visit the Alcazaba, the Moorish fortress (open daily during daylight hours; no admission charge), and take a closer look at the Torre del Apendiz, known locally as the Torre de Espantaperros, or Dog Scarer Tower (explanations for the origin of the name vary, but the most likely is that it formerly held a huge bell that when rung would send the local pooches scurrying frantically). Inside the fortress is the Museo Arqueologico. This vantage point also gives a good view of the Puente de las Palmas, the fine 16th-century bridge that leads across the Guadiana and into town through the crenelated Puerta de las Palmas gate.

The area around the Alcazaba is still very Moorish in feeling a glimpse into the courtyards of some of the houses reveals typically Arabic tiles and ornate columns. Farther down, in the town's main square, Plaza de Espana, stands a monument to the 16th century painter Luis de Morales, a native of Badajoz. Several of his paintings can be seen in the Museo de Bellas Artes, which is closed Sundays and afternoons; admission charge. The 13th-century Gothic Catedral de San Juan, which stands in the same square, also houses works by Morales, as well as by Zurbaran and Ribera. The Oficina de Turismo de Badajoz is at 3 Plaza de la Libertad. Closed weekend afternoons.

Florence Italy and car hire

2010-01-29T09:11:00.000-08:00

The best way to get around Florence, Italy is by hire car, which can be pre-booked directly from the airport.
Florence is one of history's phenomena. Few nations, let alone cities, can boast such an overpowering array of talent literary, artistic, political concentrated over so short a period of time. The names of some of Florence's greatest sonsDante, Boccaccio, Giotto, Donatello, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Cellini, Machiavelliare known the world over. Not a bad achievement for a city whose great period spanned less than 300 years.

At every turn of this amazing city, historic churches and museums unfold for you all the treasures of the flowering of the Renaissance. And in the narrow streets loom the stony masses of the palazzo from medieval fortress dwellings and Renaissance mansions to ornate 17thcentury buildings with names like Strozzi, Pazzi, Salviati, Medici, straight out of history.
Florence is much more than a museum of stone, marble and bronze. Its historic palaces, its great churches, its innumerable works of art are not dry as dust relics. They're very much lived-in, worked in, prayed in and prized by today's Florentines.

Only an hour's drive from Florence lie the marvels of Pisa, where the 800yearold Leaning Tower, delicate as carved ivory, continues to defy gravity alongside the exquisite marble cathedral and baptistery. It’s hard to believe today, but Pisa was once the River Arno's estuary (now at Marina di Pisa, 62 miles away). A flourishing seaport colonized by the Greeks, settled by the Etruscans, then the Romans, it had become a rich, powerful naval republic by the 12th century, battling the Saracens throughout the Mediterranean and building fine churches to celebrate its victories. But with the silting up of the Arno, Leghorn (Livorno) supplanted Pisa as a port and the burgeoning Republic of Florence soon dominated both.

Earlier, the city of Lucca surpassed even Florence and Pisa in prestige. Its arms still proudly bear the one word Liberty. Its ancient walls enclose a plethora of marble churches, chapels and palaces. At different epochs, the names of each of these great Tuscan cities Florence, Pisa, Lucca spelt power and wealth. They will open for you a window onto a golden era of European civilization.

What to do in Florence Italy

Florence is a city to be savoured, its finest monuments and works of art to be lingered over. The city can be divided into six geographical areas to facilitate sightseeing. Each district can be covered on foot (cars, anyway, are banned from the historic centre).

From the Duomo to the Uffizi A good place to start your tour is in the twin squares around the Duomo (Cathedral), undoubtedly Florence's religious hub for tourists. Officially known as Santa Maria del Fiore (Our Lady of the Flower), the green, white and pink marble-faced Duomo was intended by city proud Florentines as a cathedral to end all cathedrals (it can hold over 20,000 people !).

The cathedral itself, flanked by its freestanding Campanile (bell tower) was designed by the great architect Arnolfo di Cambio in the 13th century, and the mighty cupola is a contribution from the Renaissance. First and unquestionably greatest of his talented peers, the architect Filippo Brunelleschi (13771446) had marvelled at the dome on Rome's Pantheon, rebuilt for Emperor Hadrian about A.D. 125. No one had subsequently achieved such an engineering feat.

The cupola's 138foot (42metre) diameter surpasses the domes of the Pantheon, St. Peter's in Rome, and St. Paul's in London.Battistero (Baptistery), a precious gem of Romanesque architecture, was built in the early 12th century on the site of a Roman templc of Mars. Salvaged Roman columns were used in its construction. The Baptistery's tourist popularity rests on its three sets of bronze doors: those on the south side arc by a 14thcentury artist, Andrea Pisano; those on the east side, made by Ghiberti, were called the Doors of Paradise by an admiring Michelangelo.

If the Piazza del Duomo is Florence's religious heart, then the civic heart lies in the Piazza delia Signori a, domina ted by the fortress walls of the Palazzo Vecchio or Palazzo delia Signoria. Designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, the Duomo's architect, this future seat of the city's government (it's still Florence's city hall) was completed in.

Flanking the square, the Loggia delia Signoria, or Loggia dei Lanzi, shelters celebrated statuary, incl uding Cellini's fine bronze Perseus; two Giambologna works (Rape of the Sabines and Hercules and the Centaur) and some Roman statues. Michelangelo's David outside the palazzo was moved to the Accademia in 1873 and replaced by a copy.

Highlights of the Palazzo Vecchio include the massive first floor Salone dei Cinquecento. Built in 1496 for Savonarola's shortlived republican Council of 500, it was turned into a grand throne room by Cosimo I, adorned with giant Vasari frescoes of Florentine victories and Michelangelo's Victory statue in a niche. Three centuries later, the first Italian national parliament sat here.

On the second floor are the apartments of Eleonora of Toledo (Cosimo I's wife), a riot of gilt, painted ceilings and rich furnishings. Visit the nearby 15thcentury Sala dei Gigli (Hall of the Lilies), all blues and golds, lavishly decorated with Florentine heraldry, fine gilt panelled ceiling, bright Ghirlandaio frescoes and doors superbly inlaid with figures of Dante and Petrarch.

Don't miss the splendid Guardaroba, a cupboard lined room whose panels were painted in the 1570s with 53 maps of Tuscany and the four continents by two learned and artistic Dominican friars. Medici treasures were once stored here. Climb up to the gallery below the battlements and, a little higher, to the top of the tower 300 feet (90 metres) above the ground, for one of the most sensational panoramas in all Florence. See also the cell where Savonarola was locked up awaiting his execution in the piazza below.

To the palazzo's right, the Uffizi Museum stretches in a long U-shape right up to the Arno. Built as headquarters for government offices (hence the name), it's now one of the world's most famous art museums. Paintings, in chronological order, cover the cream of Italian and European art from the 13th to the 18th century.

Start with the altarpieces of those early Tuscan greats, Cimabue and Giotto. Enjoy Fra Angelico's Coronation of the Virgin, full of light and music; and Paolo Uccello's Bailie of San Romano, an astounding exercise in perspective and volume. Best loved and most reproduced among Renaissance paintings are Botticelli's haunting Primavera (spring) and the renowned Birth of Venus. Outstanding among the 15thcentury Flemish paintings is Hugo van der Goes' huge Adoration of the Shepherds triptych. One room belongs to Leonardo da Vinci. See the Baptism of Christ, painted with his great teacher, Verrocchio. The exquisite Annunciation, painted around the same time, is entirely Leonardo's work.

Among German masterpieces in the Uffizi, don't miss Durer's Portrait of His Father and Adoration of the Magi,' and Cranach's lifelike little portraits of Luther, his renegadenun wife and a solidly Germanic Adam and Eve.There is only one work by the great Michelangelo in the Uffizi: a round panel, the Holy Family, firmly but humanly treated, his earliest knowrt painting (1503).

Equally notable are Raphael's placid, maternal Madonna of the Goldfinch and Titian's voluptuous Venus of Urbino. Not to be missed is Rubens' Portrait of his Wife. She is so glowingly alive it's sad to think she died a year after it was painted.

From San Lorenzo to San Marco

With its rough, unfaced stone facade, San Lorenzo looks for all the world like a Tuscan barn. Florence's first entirely Renaissance church and one of Filippo Brunelleschi's earliest architectural triumphs, the building was begun in 1419 on the site of a 4thcentury church.The Medici are buried here in force. Cosimo the Elder himself is in the crypt, his father and mother in the Old Sacristy; Cosimo's two sons Piero the Gouty and Giovanni lie here, too, in a sumptuous bronze and porphyry tomb by Verrocchio.

The adjacent New Sacristy (Sagrestia Nuova) is an amazing one-man show by Michelangelo, who designed the interior and most of the sculptures; it took him more than 14 years. Two undistinguished Medicis are immortalized by Michelangelo in two of the most famous funeral monuments of all time, their elegantly curved sarcophagi surmounted by splendid figures symbolizing Night and Day, Dawn and Dusk.

The old monastery and museum of San Marco offer one of Florence's most evocative attractions .Fra Angelico (1387-1455) lived here as a monk, and most of his finest paintings and frescoes can be seen in this museum. Off the graceful, columned cloister you'll find Angelico's luminous paintings; and, in the small refectory, a vivid Ghirlandaio mural of the Last Supper.

Upstairs, visit the simple monks' cells, each one frescoed for religious inspiration by Fra Angelico and his pupils. His famous Annunciation fresco IS located III cell no. 3. At one end of the row of cells see the suite reserved for Cosimo de' Medici's meditations and, at the opposite end, that of the monastery's fiery prior and enemy of the Medici. Girolamo Savonarola.

Set in the most Renaissance of Florence's squares, the church of Santissima Annunziata deserves to be savoured in the context of its surroundings. Giambologna's bronze equestrian statue of Grand Duke Ferdinando I (1608) and the two 17th-century fountains add to the unity of the square and the feeling of spaciousness. The Galleria dell' Accademia is second in importance only to the Uffizi. It boasts seven major Michelangelo sculptures, including the original David.

Mercato Nuovo to Santa Maria Novella

The main attraction of Mercato Nuovo (the Straw Market) are the stalls selling leather goods and straw baskets. But don't overlook the 17thcentury bronze statue of a boar, known as Il Porcellino (the piglet). Tradition has it that if you stroke his nose and throw a coin into the fountain, you will be sure to return to Florence. In the centre of the market is a marble circle, the Batticulo (buttock smacker), where, in the 16th century, welchers and swindlers were soundly beaten.

The 15th-century Palazzo Strozzi, one of the most beautiful private residences in the whole of Florence, is nearby on Via de' Tornabuoni. One of Florence's greatest monastic churches, Santa Maria Novella was designed by Dominican architects in the mid13th century. An unlikely setting for the beginning and end of Boccaccio's Decameron! Walk through the mystic gloom of the nave to a cluster of richly frescoed family chapels around the altar. The chancel behind the altar features Scenes from the Lives of the Virgin and St. John frescoes by Ghirlandaio and his pupils.
Most striking of all is Masaccio's Trinity (c. 1427) on the wall of the left aisle. Amazing for its uncanny spatial depth, the fresco sets the crucifixion, with kneeling husband and wife donors, in a purely

Renaissance architectural setting.

To the left of the church the great 14th-century cloister with its three giant cypresses is a haven of tranquillity after the noisy piazza.

From the Bargello to Santa Croce

The forbidding fortress of the Bargello in Via del Proconsolo contains the National Museum and represents for sculpture what the Uffizi is to painting. Florence's first city hall and one of its earliest public buildings, it served as the seat of magistrates (podesta) responsible for law and order and later housed the Captain of Justice (bargello), 16thcentury equivalent of a police commissioner.

Men were imprisoned, tortured and executed here. Its outer walls were decorated with lifelike effigies of traitors and criminals hung by the neck or by one foot. Just off the courtyard lies the Hall of Michelangelo and 16th-century Florentine sculptors. Michelangelo was 21 when he finished his early masterpiece The Drunken Bacchus. He sculpted the marble Virgin and Child ( Pitti Tondo) eight years later, while working on his famous David.

The Great Hall contains the spirit of Early Renaissance Florence. Donatello's sturdily human St. George (1416), embedded in a huge expanse of blank wall, dominates the high-vaulted room. It's generally held to be the first great sculptural breakthrough of the Renaissance.With its vast expanse of open piazza, Santa Croce became one of the city's social and political hubs.

Within the church are buried some of the most illustrious figures in Italian history. Biographer Vasari designed Michelangelo's tomb (first on the righthand wall). Smuggled out of Rome in a packing case, his body was given the finest funeral in Florentine memory. The next tomb, Dante's, has no body, much to the Florentine's dismay. His real grave sin Ravenna where he died. Further along you'll spot Machiavelli's (14691527) tomb. Opposite Michelangelo is the Pisan genius Galileo (1564 1642) who perfected the earliest astronomical telescope. On the same side lies Lorenzo Ghiberti, creator of the Baptistery doors.

Immediately to the right of the altar in the Bardi Chapel, you'll find Giotto's finest, most moving paintings: scenes from the life and death of St. Francis, done around 1320. The Santa Croce museum contains frescoes and statues removed from the church, but its proudest treasure is Cimabue's massive 13thcentury painted cross, almost destroyed in the 1966 flood. Pitti Palace to Santa Maria del Carmine Cross over the Arno on the oldest bridge in Florence, Ponte Vecchio, the only one spared in the last war. The present construction, complete with overhanging boutiques, dates back to 1345. Vasari built the covered passageway above the shops so that Grand Duke Cosimo de' Medici could go from the Pitti to the Uffizi without getting wet.

From the double terrace in the middle, admire the elegant, softly curved arches of Ponte Santa Trinita. Destroyed in 1944, the bridge was carefully reconstructed, exactly as Ammannati had built it in the 16th century. Official Medici and grandducal residence since 1549, royal palace of united Italy from 1865 to 1871, the Pitti Palace comprises museums and galleries, plus some ten acres of ornate Italian gardens. In the sumptuous Galleria Palatina, you'll feel more like a collector's guest than a tourist. Priceless paintings hang four high against a lavish gilt, stuccoed and frescoed decor.

There are splendid works here by Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Rubens, Velazquez and Murillo. In the 16 sumptuously decorated rooms of the Museo degli Argenti (Museum of Gems), admire some of the Medici's most cherished jewels, cameos, gold, silver, crystal and ivory objects, furniture and porcelain. The Giardino di Boboli is an Italian pleasure garden of cypress and hedge-lined alleys and arbours filled with unusual statuary, lodges, grottoes and fountains.

Mecca of artistic pilgrimage, the unpretentious church of Santa Maria del Carmine shelters some of the most momentous frescoes ever painted. Commissioned by the Brancacci family, Masaccio and his teacher Masolino worked from 1423 to 1427 on fresco decorations for their chapel here. Masaccio's Tribute Money and the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden lift painting to a completely new plane. His feeling for light and space, his dramatically stage set figures, the concreteness of their forms are little short of an inspired miracle. Nothing of the kind had been painted before; the Renaissance had come to stay. Masaccio died at 27 before completing his commission.

Piazza Ie Michelangelo

For a panoramic view over the city, drive up to the Piazzale Michelangelo (yet another David statue!) and to the church of San Miniato nearby.St. Miniato, an early Christian martyred in the 3rd century A.D., is said to have carried his severed head up here from Florence and set it down where the church was later built.

Rebuilt in the early 11th century, it's a remarkable example of Florentinestyle Romanesque architecture.

Florence is a fascinating city which is best explored by hire car from the airport. Make the most of the good road networks and take your time to discover the very best of Italy at your own pace.

Things to do in Edinburgh Scotland

2010-01-29T09:07:00.000-08:00

Elegant, civilized and dignified are the adjectives most frequently used to describe the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh. As you visit the city most of the sights are within walking distance of each other you may well add surprising to that list of adjectives. You'll be astonished by an easygoing atmosphere and the graceful architecture, more usually associated with a southern European city. From the castle above the city you'll look down on one of Europe's finest urban panoramas. Impressive buildings set in green and manicured parks, broad and stately streets, ancient steeples and towers all proclaim that Edinburgh has undeniable individuality and style.

The scene of so many dramatic historical events, Edinburgh is today the setting for the drama, liveliness and excitement of a three week international festival held at the end of summer. It's one of the great arts festivals of Europe. Edinburgh is very much the cultural capital of this nation of some 5 million people that has made such an impact on the world. Scotsmen have ranged far and wide as soldiers, scholars and priests, as explorers, poets and engineers.

And in turn, the romance of Scotland and the reputation of the Scots have drawn people here from all over the Anglo Saxon world to claim decent from clansmen of old and to share in national pride. Whether your name is Scottish or not, you'll find that the generosity and lively humour of this immensely talented and practical. people will dispel from your mind forever the image of the dour and tight fisted Scot.

Places to visit in Edinburgh and car hire

Scotland is a diverse place to visit, and whether you want to discover the city of Edinburgh or take a trip out into the stunning countryside which surrounds the city, pre-book a hire car from Edinburgh Airport.

Heavy with history, Scotland's most popular tourist attraction stands on an extinct volcano, high above the city. No one knows how long ago Edinburgh's history began on this great rock, but a stone fortification was definitely erected late in the 7th century and the first proper castle built in the 11th century. Two Royal Scots guards, bayonets fixed on their unloaded rifles, are posted for your camera at the first gate leading up the cobblestoned ramp ways to the castle.

The impressive black naval cannon poking through the ramparts have never been fired, but you'll see the canon which booms out over the city every weekday to mark 1 p.m. Why isn't it fired at noon? Remember where you are, quips the guide. One cannon shot at one o'clock is much cheaper than 12 at noon.

Tiny St Margaret's Chapel with its plain whitewashed interior is the oldest building in Edinburgh and the oldest church in use in Scotland. Built by the devout Queen Margaret in about 1076, it survived assaults over the centuries that destroyed the other structures on Castle Rock. The simply restored Norman chapel is kept decorated with flowers each week by Scotswomen named Margaret.

On the promontory here commanding one of Castle Rock's many grand views over Edinburgh stands Mons Meg, a stout cannon forged in the 15th century, probably in Flanders. The five-ton monster ingloriously blew up 200 years later while firing a salute to the Duke of York. Close by is an oddity, the world's most spectacular canine graveyard. In a niche overlooking the city you'll find the Cemetery for Soldiers' Dogs with tombs of regimental mascots.

In the Palace Yard is the Great Hall, built in 1502, which claims the finest hammer beam ceiling in Britain. The oak timbers are joined without a single nail, screw or bolt. Scotland's parliament met here for a century. Among 171 the arms on display is a hefty 900-yearold claymore (from the Gaelic word for broadsword), labelled only with Do Not Touch. The adjacent military museum exhibits a vast array of regimental paraphernalia. Queen Mary's Rooms in the royal apartments include a very small chamber where she gave birth to James VI (later James I of England) in 1566.

The castle's greatest treasure, the crown, sceptre and sword of Scotland, are displayed in the Crown Room. At times more than 10,000 viewers a day file through here to see the oldest royal regalia in Europe. The gold and pearl crown has been altered since it was first used for the coronation of Robert Bruce in 1306. Charles II wore it for the last time in 1651. Popes Alexander VI and Julius II gave the sword and sceptre to James IV. In cases on the wall hang a huge necklace and other pieces of dazzling jewellery.

Note: Edinburgh Castle's entrance lies just beyond the Esplanade, formerly a site for the execution of witches, later a parade ground, now a modern parking lot where the celebrated Military Tattoo is performed during the annual Edinburgh Festival. On Castlehill the Camera Obscura atop the Outlook Tower offers a fascinating 25 minutes in clear weather. After climbing the 98 steps to a darkened octagonal chamber, you'll enjoy living panoramas of Edinburgh projected onto a circular table screen by a periscope like device. The accompanying commentary is masterly.
Entrance is free to the castle's outer precincts, including St Margaret's Chapel. But for a token charge you can join a group being escorted by one of the witty and lore loving palace guides, a great bargain.

The Royal Mile Edinburgh

It's all downhill along the high ridge from Edinburgh Castle to the royal palace, Holy rood house. The Old Town's famous thoroughfare, its cobbles now smoothed, is actually about 2 km. Edinburghers of this area of high tenements and narrow closes (entryways) seem to take delight in recounting how the residents used to toss their slops and refuse from windows after a perfunctory shout of Gardyloo !the local equivalent of gare de I'eau. That meant centuries of rampant disease and a decidedly unpleasant reputation for a city so graced with intellectual genius.

Today, odourless, tidy and lined by historic buildings, the Royal Mile assumes five names as it descends: Castlehill, Lawnmarket, High Street, Canongate and Abbey Strand just before the palace.Food and cloth merchants no longer hawk from stalls in the Lawn market. In James Court here (named after its builder, James Brownhill), Samuel Johnson once visited his biographer, James Boswell.

Brodie's Close recalls one of Edinburgh's favourite stories. Deacon Brodie was a respected city official and carpenter by day, a burglar by night (having taken wax impressions of his clients' house keys). Finally arrested and condemned to death, Brodie thought he could escape death by wearing a steel collar concealed beneath his shirt. He was wrong. The city gallows, which he himself had designed, worked. Brodie's double life inspired R. L. Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

It's a brief detour down George IV Bridge to the head high statuette of Greyfriars Bobby. This Skye terrier waited by his master's grave in nearby Grey friars Churchyard for 14 years until dying of old age in 1872. Admiring the dog's fidelity, authorities made Bobby a freeman of the city meaning he had the vote long before women, they'll tell you. Back along the Royal Mile, St Giles, the High Kirk of Scotland, dominates Parliament Square.

Its famous tower spire was built in 1495 as a replica of the Scottish crown. The oldest elements of St Giles are the four huge 12th-century pillars supporting the spire, but there was probably a church on the site since 854. John Knox preached here and is thought to be buried in the rear graveyard. St Giles' soaring Norman interior with splendid stained glass is spectacular, filled with memorials recalling great moments of Scottish history. Most beautiful is the vaulted Thistle Chapel, ornately carved of Scottish oak. You'll see a stall for the queen and a princely seat for each of the 16 Knights of the Thistle, Scotland's oldest order of chivalry.

Farther down the Royal Mile are the popular Edinburgh Wax Museum, the Museum of Childhood with toys from yesteryear and Huntley House, the principal city museum. From carefully restored White Horse Close,17th-century stage coaches used to trot off towards London.

The celebrated royal palace of HoIyroodhouse began life about 1500 as a mere guest residence for the adjacent, now ruined, abbey. Much expanded and rebuilt in the 17th century, it has often housed visiting monarchs. During the summer, Holyroodhouse is closed to the public for the week or so that the Royal Family is in residence. In the long Picture Gallery, snide comments abound as guides shepherd groups past portraits purportedly of Scottish kings, dashed off between 1684 and 1686 by Jacob de Wet, a Dutchman who had imagination, brushes and paint.

Upstairs III King James' Tower, connected by an inner stairway, are the apartments of Darnley and Mary Queen of Scots. A plaque marks the spot where the hapless Rizzio, Mary's secretary, was stabbed 56 times with a dagger. You'll hear all about it.

The New Town of Edinburgh

Until late in the 18th century all of Edinburgh was confined to the crowded, unhealthy Old Town along the ridge from the Castle. The population, about 25,000 in 1700, had nearly tripled by 1767 when James Craig won a planning competition for an extension. With significant help from the noted Robert Adam, the resulting New Town has become the most complete complex of Georgian architecture. A fetid stretch of water called Nor' Loch was drained and made into Princes Street Gardens, the city's attractive green centre-piece. Rising from the gardens is the landmark spire of the Scott Monument, which has a statue of Sir Walter with his dog, statuettes of Scott's literary characters and 287 steps to the top. For climbing them you get a certificate and an excellent panorama. The celebrated floral clock, with some 24,000 plants, also adorns Princes Street Gardens.

A sloping road known as the Mound (formed from refuse during construction of the New Town) passes through the gardens. Here you will find the National Gallery of Scotland, a distinguished small collection of the great painters. Look for Van Dyck's The Lomellini Family with its five pouting members, Rubens' dramatically gory The Feast of Herod, Velasquez's striking Old Woman Cooking Eggs and four Rembrandt portraits. The English school is represented by Turner, Gainsborough and Reynolds, and you'll see numerous paintings by the city's own Henry Raeburn.

Past Edinburgh's main thoroughfare, ever busy Princes Street (the apostrophe was dropped long ago), spreads the neoclassical New Town. Its masterpiece is Charlotte Square, the noblest square in Europe.

The 11 symmetrically facaded houses forming the square's north side are considered the finest accomplishment of Robert Adam, Scotland's esteemed 18th century architect. No 7 Charlotte Square has been converted by the National Trust for Scotland into an authentic Georgian show house. In the dining room you'll see an enviable table setting for eight of Wedgwood and Sheffield, and in the bedchamber a marvellous old medicine chest, a canopied four-poster and an early 19th-century water closet called the receiver.

Things to do in Edinburgh

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art occupies premises in Belford Road. The collection is ambitious, with an emphasis on Scottish and British work. Along Tnverleith Row extend the 75 acres of the much admired Royal Botanic Gardens with perhaps the world's largest rhododendron collection, cavernous plant houses and a remarkable rock garden containing hundreds of meticulously cultivated specimens. A colony of some 200 parading penguins is the main attraction at Edinburgh's famous zoo, set in rolling parkland in the western suburb of Corstorphine.

Excursions from Edinburgh and car hire

Although there are plenty of organized trips from Edinburgh, the easiest and most economical way to get around and discover the area is to hire a car from Edinburgh Airport before you fly.
Hopetown House, the finest Adam mansion in Scotland, lies 10 miles (16 km.) west of Edinburgh. Deer and the rare four horned St. Kilda sheep roam the grounds of this neoclassical house set in 100 acres (40 ha.) of parkland. The ruins of the great fortified palace where Mary Queen of Scots was born stand nearby in Linlithgow, overlooking the loch.

Picturesque landscapes unfold east of Edinburgh in the resort area of East Lothian, with its pretty villages and romantic ruined castles. Further south, four great monasteries founded in the 12th century lie in ruin. The battered shells of the abbeys of Melrose, Dryburgh, Kelso and Jedburgh bear witness to a violent past. The monks used to export cloth to the Continent, and weaving is still a major industry in the border area.

Eating Out in Edinburgh

When the Auld Alliance linked Scotland to France five centuries ago, Scotsmen began to take a serious interest in food. Since that time porridge, kippers, smoked haddock, smoked salmon, shortbread and marmalade have been exported worldwide to the further glory of Scotland. The secret of Scottish cooking lies in the quality of the ingredients used. Aberdeen Angus cattle provide prime beef. From the icy waters of the North Sea and north Atlantic come some of the world's finest seafood. Scotland is also the land of game: venison, pheasant, partridge.

The Scottish Tourist Board has launched a campaign to revive some of Scotland's traditional specialities, including cockaleekie soup, an Edinburgh favourite made with chicken, leeks and prunes, and Fife broth, a rich soup of pork ribs, barley and potatoes. For the next course, how about young chicken stewed with spinach and served with poached eggs. Kingdom of Fife pie contains rabbit and bacon, while the pastry of Forrar bridies encloses a rich steak filling. That king of fish, salmon, is poached and served with a delicate wine sauce in a dish called Tweed kettle. Perhaps one of the most intriguing Scottish preparations is haggis. Burns' great chieftain of the pudding race comprises sheep's innards, oatmeal, suet, onion and seasoning stuffed into a sheep's stomach bag and boiled. Eat it with chappit tatties and bashed neeps: mashed potatoes and turnips.

Drinks in Edinburgh Scotland

Nobody outside Scotland has been able to duplicate Scotch whisky, however hard they try. The Scots claim it is the pure water, the aroma of peat and the highland air that makes Scotch what it is. There are two types straight malt, distilled from malted barley, and grain whisky distilled from malted barley and grain. Most whiskies are blended from both types. You may offend your Scottish host if you drink his malt with anything other than a little plain water. The other great Scottish drink is beer. Ask for a pint of heavy. You can drink it as a chaser with your whisky, in which case you ask for a half and half.

Shopping in Scotland

Woollens are among Scotland's finest products. Tweed is woollen cloth unrivalled for warmth and durability, especially Harris Tweed from the Outer Hebrides. Shops selling tartans will endeavour to find some clan affiliation for you, however un-scottish your name sounds. Shetland sweaters, cashmere and sheepskins have a deserved reputation for quality. Bagpipes will proclaim unmistakably that you've been to Scotland, especially if you learn how to play them. The Scottish Craft Centre in Canongate, a non-profit making enterprise, sells the work of local artisans.

The variety of handcrafted goods is astounding textiles, pottery, silverware, metal, wood and leather work, tapestry, calligraphy.

Few visitors can resist the array of Scottish edibles: cakes, shortbread, marmalade, fudge, and other sweets. Scotland's most famous product, Scotch, is quite likely to be no cheaper here than anywhere else, and probably somewhat more expensive. But you will be able to purchase some rare whiskies and fine malts that would otherwise never leave the country.

Things to do and car hire in Dublin

2010-01-29T09:02:00.000-08:00

There are so many things to do in Dublin, that the best way to explore this fascinating city and its surrounding areas is to hire a car from Dublin Airport.

Sightseers who prefer cities won't be disappointed in Dublin. The capital of Ireland is a very European city of low profile buildings, many of them outstanding examples of 18th century architecture. Birthplace and inspiration of great authors, Dublin is pervaded by contrasting moods which can affect even the transient visitor: sweeping avenues and intimate side streets, chic shopping and Smoky pubs, distinguished museums and colleges along with sports galore. In this appealing melting pot of old and new, the traditional lace curtains still mask the windows of modern apartment blocks, and a policeman riding a bicycle reports to headquarters by lapel radio.

The name of Dublin comes from the Irish Dub inn, meaning dark pool. But you'll also see a much older Gaelic name on buses and signs: Baile Atha Cliath, the town of the hurdle ford, which explains why Dublin was originally settled centuries ago as a place to ford the River Liffey near its exit to the sea. The river, a system of tranquil canals and the nearby Irish Sea all contribute to Dublin's special atmosphere. Seagulls frequent the centre of town; so do the ghosts of Vikings, Normans, Viceroys ... and Leopold and Molly Bloom, late of Eccles Street.

Where to go in Dublin

O'Connell Street to St. Stephen's Green The main street of Dublin, O'Connell Street is worthy of a major capital, a lasting monument to the Wide Street Commissioners of the 18th century. It is 45 metres (150 ft.) across and as straight as the morals of Father Theobald Mathew, the 19th-century priest known as the Apostle of Temperance.

You'll find him commemorated in one of the four monuments down the middle of the roadway. There used to be five. As an anti-British gesture in 1966, unidentified citizens removed the imposing Nelson Pillar erected in 1808. Many Dubliners admired the panache and technical skill of the demolition crew that blew it up in the middle of the night.

The best known landmark of O'Connell Street, the General Post Office, has a significance far great than its postal predominance. The GPO (as it is known) was the command post of the 1916 Easter Rising and badly damaged in the fighting. A plaque on the front of the building, in Irish and English, and a statue in the main hall mark the historic event.

At the south end of the street, facing O'Connell Bridge, stands the monument to Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847), The Liberator, after whom the street and bridge are named. From the three-arched bridge, almost as wide as it is long, you can look up and down the River Liffey and along the embankments. To the east, beyond the skyscraper headquarters of the Irish trade unions, rises the copper dome of the majestic 18thcentury Custom House.

Like many buildings along the Liffey, it was all but destroyed in the civil war fighting of 1921, but has been fully restored. Some of the most interesting old buildings in Ireland, including disused churches, are now occupied by banks. But it may come as a surprise that the momentous white stone building facing College Green on the south side of the Liffey is the headquarters of the Bank of Ireland company. It was built in the 18th century for the parliament of Ireland, but when parliament was abolished (by the Act of Union of 1800), the bank moved in. The grand portico has 22 Ionic columns.

Places to visit in Dublin

Behind the curved railings at the entrance to Trinity College are the statues of two famous alumni the philosophers Edmund Burke and the playwright Oliver Goldsmith. Founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1591, Trinity remains a timeless enclave of calm and scholarship in the middle of a bustling city. For centuries it was regarded as an exclusively Protestant institution; as recently as 1956, the Catholic church forbade its youth to attend Trinity under pain of mortal sin. TCD, as it is generally called, is now integrated.

The campus is mostly a monument to the good taste of the 18th century, and visitors will enjoy roaming the cobbled walks among trimmed lawns, fine old trees, statues and graceful stone buildings. But Trinity's greatest treasure may be found in the vaulted Long Room upstairs in the Old Library. Here the double-decker stacks hold thousands of books published before 1800, and priceless early manuscripts are displayed in glass cases. Long queues of students and tourists reverently wait for a look at the Book of Kells.

This 340-page parchment manuscript, handwritten and illustrated by Irish monks in the 8th or 9th century, contains a Latin version of the New Testament. The beauty of the script, the decoration of initial letters and words, the abstract designs and above all the saintly portraits constitute the most wonderful survival from Ireland's Golden Age. The leaves of vellum on display are turned once a day to protect them from the light and to give visitors a chance to come back for more.

Some of Europe's finest Georgian houses face Merrion Square, once the proposed site for a Catholic cathedral, now a public park. The discreet brick houses have those special Dublin doorways, flanked by columns and topped by fanlights, and no two are alike. In a complex of formal buildings on the west side of the square stands Dublin's largest 18thcentury mansion, the home of the Duke of Leinster. Today Leinster House is the seat of the Irish parliament, consisting of the Senate (Seanad in Irish) and the Chamber of Deputies (the Dail, pronounced doyle).

At the entrance to the National Gallery of Ireland is a statue of George Bernard Shaw, a Dubliner known locally as a benefactor of the institution. The National Gallery displays some 2,000 works of art, but holds 6,000 more in reserve. Irish artists, reasonably enough, receive priority but important Dutch, English, Flemish, French, Italian and Spanish masters are also well represented. Among those on display: ha Angelico, Rubens, Rembrandt, Canalctto, Gainsborough and Goya.

Rounding out a prize collection of medieval religious art is the gallery's most recent acquisition, two glorious frescoes of the lith or 12th century, delicately lifted from the walls of the Chapel of St.Pierrede Campublic, in Beaucaire (near Avignon), France. The main entrance to the National Museum, another important Dublin institution, is reached from Kildare Street.

The museum's collection of Irish antiquities contains all manner of surprises, from ancient skeletons and tools to exquisite gold ornaments of the Bronze Age. The most famous exhibits are the 8thcentury Ardagh Chalice, the delicately worked Tara Brooch from the same era and the Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell (12th century).

You can also examine ancient Ogham stones with inscriptions of what might seem a childish way of encoding Latin. And if you don't have time to make a tour of churchyards and faroff monasteries, you can admire replicas of the greatest carved stone crosses from the early centuries of Christian Ireland.

South east Dublin Ireland

The southeast part of central Dublin is unusually well endowed with breathing space, thanks to a number of pleasant squares and parks. The biggest, possibly the biggest city square in Europe, is St. Stephen's Green. In the 18th century it was almost surrounded by elegant town houses, some of which survive; conservationists despair at the dwindling number. Inside the square is a perfectly delightful park with flower gardens and a manmade lake inhabited by waterfowl.

The square contains many sculptures and monuments in varied style, including a memorial to the poet and playwright W.B. Yeats by Henry Moore. Nearby is a bust of Yeats friend, Countess Constance Markievicz, the legendary defender of St. Stephen's Green during the 1916 insurrection and the first woman elected to the British House of Commons. Another statue honours the man who paid for landscaping St. Stephen's Green in 1880. He was Lord Ardilaun, son of the founder of the Guinness Brewery. Some thirsty sightseers might be inspired to find a nearby pub and raise a toast to the stout hearted benefactor.

Medieval Dublin

Dublin Castle was begun in the 13th century on a hill overlooking the original Viking settlement on the south bank of the Liffey. It was largely rebuilt in the 18th century, which explains why it no longer looks like a medieval castle. Over the centuries it served as seat of government, prison, courthouse, parliament and occasionally as fortress under siege most recently in 1916. Many a visiting head of state has been feted in the lavishly appointed State Apartments, once the residence of the British Viceroy.

Around the corner from the castle, Dublin's City Hall (formerly the Royal Exchange) was built in the late 18th century in neoclassical style. It contains ancient royal charters and the municipal regalia. Dublin has not one but two noteworthy cathedrals. And though it is the capital of a predominantly Catholic country, both cathedrals belong to the Protestant Church of Ireland. The reason for two cathedrals is easily explained if you have the time to sift through 12th century political and religious rivalries.

In any case, Christ Church is the older of the two, dating from 1038. One unusual architectural touch is the covered pedestrian bridge over Wine tavern Street, linking the church and its synod house. This was built in Victorian times but doesn't spoil the overall mood. Otherwise, Christ Church has Romanesque, Early English and neo Gothic elements. The crypt, which extends under the whole church like a vast wine cellar, is a remnant of the 12th century, when the cathedral was expanded by the Earl of Pembroke, whose remains were buried here. However, the authenticity of the present Pembroke tomb the statue of a recumbent cross legged knight in armour in the southern aisle is discounted.

St Patricks Cathedral Dublin

A short walk south from Christ Church leads to Dublin's newer and larger cathedral, St. Patrick's, dedicated to the national saint. It is said that St. Patrick himself baptized 5th-century converts at a well on this site; a stone slab which covered the well is displayed in the northwest corner of the cathedral. This church was consecrated in 1192, but the present structure dates mostly from the 13th and 14th centuries.

The cathedral is best known for its association with Jonathan Swift, the crusading satirist, who was appointed dean in 1713 and served until his death in 1745. Many Swiftian relics may be seen in a corner of the north transept, and a simple brass plate in the floor near the entrance marks his grave. Next to it is the tomb of the mysterious Stella, one of the two great loves of his life. Over the doorway to the robing room is his own bitter epitaph, in Latin: ... Savage indignation can no longer gnaw his heart. Go, traveller, and imitate, if you can, this earnest and dedicated defender of liberty.

The talented choirboys of St. Patrick's Cathedral lift up their voices and the spirits of the listener sat services every day except Saturday. The Cathedral Choir School was founded in 1432. A joint choir from both cathedrals was first in the world to sing Handel's Messiah when the composer was in Dublin in 1742. The original handwritten score may be seen in Marsh's Library, next to St. Patrick's. This was Ireland's first public library.

The North Bank in Dublin

The most impressive building on the north bank of the Liffey is the domed home of the Four Courts (originally Chancery, Common Pleas, Exchequer and King's Bench). It's the work of James Gandon, the 18th-century English born architect who also designed Dublin's Custom House. The courthouse was quite seriously damaged during the civil war in 1922. St. Mithan's. Church, around the corner from Church Street was founded in 1095 and rebuilt several times since.

Among curiosities on view is a so called Penitent's Pew in which sinners had to confess to the congregation. In the vaults, wood coffins and many a mummy can be seen in a remarkably healthy state of preservation. Some of them have been here for over 200 years, saved from normal deterioration, perhaps, by the dry air or its high methane content. It's all a bit spooky.

The last great official building designed by James Gandon, the King's Inns, is the headquarters of the Irish legal profession. It contains an important law library and a magnificent dining hall decorated with the portraits of judges. On the north side of Parnell Square is Charlemont House, one of Dublin's best 18th century mansions. Now the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, it includes pieces from the superb collection of Sir Hugh Lane. He was drowned in the Lusilania disaster of 1915, provoking a long legal struggle over custody of his paintings.

For 20 years pictures shuttled back and forth between Dublin and London. The latest agreement assures the Municipal Gallery three fourths of the contested legacy, including works by Corot, Courbet, Manet, Monet and Rousseau.

Phoenix Park Dublin

The Phoenix Park provides Dubliners with nearly three square miles of beautiful parkland on the western edge of the city. The most conspicuous monument , overshadowing flower gardens, forests and sports fields, is an immense obelisk commemorating the military victories of the Duke of Wellington. He happened to be born in Ireland but later quipped ungraciously that although a man may be born in a stable ,that doesn't make him a horse.

Among the buildings discreetly planted in the park is the residence of thc president of Ireland (Aras an Uachlarain). On the northeast side of the park, the Dublin zoo provides education and diversion. If you can't distinguish an ostrich from an emu, the informative signs will remove all doubts. The zoo is noted for successfully breeding many generations of lion cubs in captivity.

In Kilmainham, a half mile south of the park on the South Circular Road, a stone towergate in a style sometimes reviled as gingerbread gothic guards the grounds of the Royal Hospital. The building within, Dublin's principal 17th-century monument, was a home for army pensioners. An ugly, forbidding structure, Kilmainham Jail has bcen painstakingly restored as if it were a work of art. But its relevance is historic not aesthetic. The prisoners who lived and died within its walls include many heroes of Irish nationalism. Guided tours are organized every Sunday afternoon. The central cellblock now features exhibitions from Irish revolutionary history.

The Guinness Brewery Dublin

Jails are unlikely tourist attractions, and so are factories. But many a pilgrim makes his way to the biggest industrial enterprise in Dublin, the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate. The firm has been on this site since 1759 and its dark, full-bodied stout is known far and wide. Visitors are shown a film about the manufacturing process and invited to sample the finished product so much a part of Irish life. Connoisseurs say it tastes best of all, from the keg, in its native Dublin.

In the Balls bridge district of southeast Dublin are the spacious grounds of the Royal Dublin Society (RDS). A green and golden privet hedge surrounds the fields on which one of the world's great horse shows is held every August. The RDS complex is also the site of agricultural and industrial exhibitions as well as conferences and concerts.

This area of parks and large residences contains many foreign embassies, especially in Ailesbury Road. Around the corner in Shrewsbury Road is the Chester Beatty Library and Gallery of Oriental Art. The collection is known for its priceless manuscripts and literature from thc East: jade books from the Chinese imperial court, early Arabic tomes on geography and astronomy and a sampling of korans from the Middle East. The collector and donor was Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968), an American retired in Ireland.

Eating out in Dublin Ireland

LIke most Anglo-Saxons, the Irish prefer honest meat and potatoes heaped high on their plates. Not for them the esoteric sauces and spices of European cuisines. Following is a selection of specialities. Irish soups are usually thick and hearty: vegetables and barley and meat stock and a dab of cream, for instance. Look for potato soup made of potatoes, onions and carrot.

Fish fresh from the Atlantic or the Irish Sea or the island's streams is sensationally good. Keep an eye out for these great Irish delights: fresh salmon (poached or grilled), smoked salmon, sole, trout from sea or stream. Dublin Bay prawns are a famous natural resource, as are Galway oysters (often washed down with a bottle of stout). With luck you'll be offered local mussels or lobster, though the bulk of the catch is exported to appreciative clients on the Continent.

Meat of the highest quality is the centre-piece of Irish cuisine. The beef is excellent but there is little veal. You'll have a choice of sumptuous steaks (T-bone, sirloin or filet mignon) or roast beef. Lamb appears in tender chops or roast or as the main ingredient in Irish stew, a filling casserole with potatoes, carrots, onions, parsley and thyme. Irish pork products bacon, sausages, chops, Limerick hamare also famous. Dublin Coddle is a stew of bacon, sausages, onions, potatoes and parsley, a favourite Saturday night supper in the capital.

Vegetables as basic as potatoes and cabbage play a big role in Irish cooking. Potatoes have been a mainstay of the Irish diet since the 17th century. Mushrooms, which thrive in the cool and humid atmosphere, are Ireland's biggest horticultural export.

Desserts are often similar to English pudding trifles, gateaux and generally very sweet sweets, often fruity, with a scrumptious topping of thick sweet cream.

Drinks in Dublin

The Irish drink nearly 500 million pints of beer a year, mostly a rich creamy dark brown version, stout. Irish lagers and ales, much less filling, are also worth trying. A unique Irish drink, Black Velvet, combines stout and champagne; it is said to be helpful in the event of a hangover. Pot stilled Irish whiskey is matured in wooden casks for at least seven years. It's drunk neat or with a little water. Never with ice. Irish coffee, served in a stemmed glass, consists of hot coffee laced with whiskey and sugar with a tablespoonful of thick cream floating on top. Two Irish liqueurs merit a try: Irish Misthoney and herbs in a whiskey base tingles the palate, and Irish Cream Liqueur contains whiskey, chocolate and cream, like a leprechaun's milkshake.

Shopping in Dublin Ireland

Friendly, low-keyed sales personnel help make shopping in Ireland such a pleasure. Shopkeepers and assistants are full of informed advice, and sincere they're likely to advertise a competitor if they think he's selling something better or cheaper. The most appealing products here are made by Irish craftsmen in traditional or imaginative new styles. Some ideas for shoppers, in alphabetical order:

Aran sweaters. The elaborate stitches in this fisherman's sweater, knitted of undyed wool, can easily be recognized. Demand so far exceeds the supply that they are made in mainland factories as well as in the cottages of the Islands of their origin. Be sure t examine the label to find out whether the Aran sweater, scarf or cap is handknit.

Connemara marble, rich green in colour, made into book ends, bracelets and brooches. Crosses. Especially reproductions of ancient Christian crosses, and St. Brigid crosses of straw. Dolls, dressed in traditional regional costumes. Enamel dishes, plaques and pendants by local craftsmen. Fishing flies from Donegal and Tipperary.

Glassware. Waterford crystal, world renowned until the industry succumbed to 19thcentury economic pressures, is again a going concern. Jewellery. Ancient Celtic designs and illustrations from the Book of Kells inspire some of today's goldsmiths and silver smiths. Kinsale smocks. Stylish cotton wind cheaters for sailors. Not to be confused with Kinsale cloaks, traditional local dress now revived as chic eveningwear.

Lace. Convents in Limerick and County Monaghan have kept this industry alive. Linen. Weaving goes on in Northern Ireland but the finished product from handkerchiefs to table sets is sold everywhere. Peat. The turf of Ireland is now compressed and sculpted into reproductions of ancient religious and folklore symbols.

Pottery. Traditional and modern designs in tableware and ovenware.
Records. Individuals and groups sing or play traditional tunes.
Rush work. In this land of thatched cottages, the makers of woven baskets and similar wickerwork are still in business.

Smoked salmon. The souvenir you can eat is specially packed for travelling, on sale at the airport. So are Irish sausages, and butter, if it comes to that. Tweed. Handwoven Irish fabrics come in a considerable variety of colours and weights, fit for winter overcoats or light shawls or drapes. Whimsical souvenirs. Leprechauns in all sizes, worry stones of marble, Irish coffee glasses and shillelaghs (cudgels).

Things to do in Copenhagen Denmark

2010-01-29T08:58:00.000-08:00

Introduction Centre of Danish government, administration and finance, Copenhagen is home to nearly one third of Denmark's people. It also lodges the old royal dynasty in Europe.

In 1157 Valdemar I becomes king. At this time, Copenhagen is a little fishing village called Havn (harbour). But thanks to its position at the entrance to the Baltic, one of the main trading routes of medieval Europe, Havn quickly develops into an important trade centre. Statesman and warrior hero Bishop Absalon builds a fortified castle on Havn's harbour island, Slotsholmen, in 1167, the year considered as founding date of today’s city. In 1170, it changes its name to Kopmannrehafn (merchants' harbour).

During his reign (1340-75), King Valdemar IV Atterdag leads Denmark into conflict with its Nordic neighbours. However his daughter Margrete marries Hakon VI, king of Norway and Sweden, and by the Treaty of Kalmar in 1397, the three Nordic countries are unified under her rule. The following 200 years are marked by internal strife, the Lutheran movement and constant wars against Sweden. Copenhagen is enlarged and becomes official capital under Christopher III of Bavaria. With the founding of its university in 1497 it also becomes the cultural centre of Denmark.

The Reformation takes place in 1536 under Christian III who declares himself supreme authority of a State Church based on Lutheranism. During the first half of the 17th century, Christian IV enlarges Copenhagen and erects many fine buildings. In 1660 the town becomes a free city all residents being granted the same privileges as the nobles.

By the latter half of the 17th century, Denmark is forced to relinquish remaining Swedish possessions. During the 18th century, Copenhagen suffers a plague (1711-12) and two devastating fires (1728 and 1795). Serfdom in Denmark is abolished in 1788. Denmark gets involved in the European revolutionary wars without really wishing it.

Copenhagen is attacked by the British in 1801 and again in 1807 when the Danes have to hand over the rest of their fleet to the British, only to be forced immediately afterwards to sign an alliance with Napoleon who is marching into Jutland.

To payoff war debts, Denmark has to hand over Norway to Sweden in 1814. 50 years later it loses the Schleswig and Holstein duchies to Bismarck's Prussia. In 1848 Frederik VII is forced to relinquish absolute rule to the National Liberal Party. Denmark stays neutral in World War 1. In 1920, North Schleswig votes itself back again from Germany into Denmark. During World War II, Copenhagen escapes large scale destruction. In 1949 the country enters NATO and in 1972 becomes a member of the EEC.

What to see in Copenhagen Denmark

No one visiting Copenhagen would wish to miss the statue of the Little Mermaid (Den Litle Havfrue), as well known and beloved as Hans Christian Andersen himself. In his fairy tale, the tragic sea girl exchanged her voice for human legs in order to gain the love of an earthly prince, but mutely had to watch as he jilted her for a real princess. In desperation, she threw herself into the sea and turned to foam. Today she sits forever on a small clump of rocks, looking wistfully out to sea.

Watching over the Little Mermaid is the 300-year old Citadel (Kastelet), a cornerstone of Christian IV's defences of Copenhagen. The 300yearold fort (built mostly between 1662 and 1725) is still used by the army the church, prison and main guardhouse have resisted the assaults of time. It is a delightfully peaceful enclave in a modern city, and has a charming windmill (1847) as well as remains of the old ramparts.

The nearby Gefion Fountain is Copenhagen's most spectacular. Erected by the Carlsberg Foundation, it depicts the legend of the Nordic goddess Gefion, who turned her four sons into oxen and used them to plough the island of Zealand out of Sweden.

Ama Henborg Palace, home of the royal family, is situated in a spacious and stately square off Bredgade. Actually, it is not a square but a cobbled octagon, on four sides of which stand identical mansion like palaces. These were originally designed as noblemen's homes by court architect Nicolai Eigtved during a city expansion in the 1750's. After Christiansborg Castle (formerly the royal residence), was destroyed by fire in 1794, the royal family gradually bought up Amalienborg from the nobles and has lived there ever since.

Today it's reckoned to be one of the finest Rococo ensembles in Europe. Its centrepiece is a unique copper equestrian monument to King Frederik V. Outside, the ceremony of the changing of the guards is sometimes to be seen. For a complete change of atmosphere you could visit the lively seamen's quarter, Nyhavn. Hans Christian Andersen spent part of his life in this area. Though he would still recognize the facades and buildings, he would find quite a change: it is now a mixture of taverns, topless discos and tattoo parlours on the immediate north side, and elsewhere of elegantly restored frontages, luxury apartments, some good restaurants and one superb hotel conversion of an 18thcentury warehouse.

Copenhagen canals

(From the Kongens Nytorv end of Nyhavn you can take a trip round Copenhagen's canals. Lasting about one hour, these trips provide an excellent view of many parts of the city and of such fascinating harbours as Christianshavn.) On Siotsholm Island, linked to the capital by several bridges, is the Christiansborg Palace, once the home of the royal family and now that of the Danish parliament.

This is the sixth castle or palace on the site since Bishop Absalon, founder of Copenhagen, built his fortress here in 1167, pillage, fire or rebuilding frenzy having taken their subsequent toll. The third castle became the permanent seat of king and government in 1417. The present edifice dates only from the early years of this century.

Christians borg's chapel, the riding lodges and lovely restored marble bridge, which managed to survive two disastrous fires in 1794 and 1884, help to give the palace a more venerable aspect than its generally very recen t origins might lead one to expect. The palace houses three museums:

On a tour of the Royal Reception Chambers you can see a series of rooms in everything from imitation marble to the richly tapestries, gold and green room where monarchs are proclaimed from the balcony overlooking the Castle Square below.

In a vast building on the southeast side of Christians borg is housed the Royal Arsenal Museum (Tojhusmuseel) where you are greeted by attendants in three cornered hats and knee length red jackets. It's appropriate for a museum housing one of Europe's most important collections of military uniforms and historic equipment.

Across the royal riding grounds at the rear of Christiansborg, and in an elegant little terrace above the stables, is one of the world's most unusual theatre museums, the Teaterhistorisk Museum. |It is unusual, for a start, because of the constant aroma of horses seeping up through the 200yearold creaky floorboards, and it has always been thus. Already at the former Court Theatre's first production in 1767, the authentic country smell was remarked on.

The small auditorium and galleries of the former Court Theatre are packed with Danish and international theatre relics memorabilia of Hans Christian Andersen, Anna Pavlova, Ibsen; playbills, costumes, prints and photographs of Danish theatre history.

Just off the Castle Square is the highly ornamented Borsen (Stock Exchange), dating from the days of Christian IV. It has a green copper roof with a famous spire composed of four intricately intertwined dragons' tails. The National museet (National Museum) on Frederiksholm Kanal is the biggest museum in Scandinavia. It holds an uncountable number of exhibits in eight separate major collections, ranging from prehistoric to Middle Ages, town and manor culture, ethnographical, special and classical antiquity, coins and medals.

Riidhuspladsen (Town Hall Square) is the city's largest square from which 14 streets branch out in different directions. A hub of constant activity, it has several notable statues and, of course, the Town Hall itself. Built between 1892 and 1905, this building boasts, among other things, an impressive main hall and banqueting room, as well as a world clock designed by Jens Olsen. One of the streets leading off Radhuspladsen is Stroget, the capital's most famous pedestrian street with its numerous small bars, pavement cafes and excellent shops. It winds its way for three quarters of a mile to the city's other main square, Kongens Nytorv, changing its name four times en route Frederiksberggade, Nygade, Vimmelskaftet and Amagertorv.

The famous Tivoli Gardens are just across the street from Radhuspladsen. These gardens, the pride and joy of the people of Copenhagen, are unique in that they provide something for everyone. There are fountains, bands, orchestras, theatres, lakes, bridges, a pagoda, restaurants, flower beds, slot machines, and donkey rides; it is a place in which to enjoy yourself or simply relax. Almost opposite Tivoli, down Axeltorv, is Copenhagen's famous circus.

The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, across Tietgensgade from Tivoli, was founded on the classical collection of Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer and art connoisseur (1842-1914), and developed by his family. Today, under one elaborate roof, you can thus see one of the world's foremost exhibitions of Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Etruscan art, with enough statues and artefacts to equip 100 ancient temples. In quite another vein, there are 25 Gauguins, three van Goghs and seven Rodin statues, as well as a complete set of Degas bronzes delicate little statues that won the painter posthumous acclaim as a sculptor. A museum with two distinct sides to it, in fact.

Slightly off the main tourist route, but well worth a visit, is the Rundetarn (Round Tower), built in 1642 by Christian IV as an astronomical observatory. It has been one of the city's most beloved landmarks for 300 years, even if it only reaches the modest height of 118 feet (36 m.).
You can walk to the top, but not by steps these would have been impractical for raising the heavy equipment needed there. Instead, a wide spiral sloping causeway winds its way round for almost 700 feet (209 m.) inside the tower. Not only did Czar Peter the Great ride up it on horseback in 1716 his empress followed in a coach and six. Rosenborg Castle, on the other side of town, boasts exhibits which span Danish royal history over the past 300 years. Of special interest are Christian IV's tower room study, the Knight's Hall and the treasury which contains the crown jewels.

North of Copenhagen and car hire

If you want to travel north of Copenhagen, hire a car from the airport to save you time and money when you arrive in Denmark.

At the Frilandsmuseet (Open Air Folk Museum) at Sorgenfri, the 90acre (36ha.) site is scattered with forty farmhouses, cottages and workshops, all furnished in strictly authentic style. Broadly, the buildings are divided into geographic groups laid out along country lanes, with old bridges and village pumps, the whole authentically landscaped.

Another popular excursion is the lovely drive to Helsingor, along the so-called Danish Riviera with its small fishing villages and bays. If it's seaside weather, you might be tempted to stop en route and join the bathers at Bellevue Beach near Klampenborg. At Helsingar itself (better known as Elsinore), Hamlet's castle juts out dramatically towards Sweden. In fact, though the film was shot on this site, Hamlet himself never slept here, nor did he ever see a ghost within these walls.

The castle's real name is Kronborg, and it was built between 1574 and 1585 at the command of King Frederik II. Its purpose was to help extract tolls from ships entering the narrow Sound (and thus the Baltic) at this point. Restored this century, the moated brick castle stands today as Frederik's proudest memorial, now sparsely furnished but immensely impressive. It has the feel of solid strength and royal presence, permeating the elaborate little chapel, the long galleries and stone stairways, and above all the huge oak beamed Banqueting Hall.

At 205 feet by 36 (62 x II m.), it is the largest hall of its kind in northern Europe and one of the noblest rooms of the Danish Renaissance. The interesting Handels og Sofartsmuseum (Trade and Maritime Museum) in the castle's northern wing contains an exhibition of old navigation instruments as well as relics from early Danish settlements in Greenland and elsewhere.

In the rolling farmland of North Zealand lies Fredensborg Slot. Built between 1719 and 1722, it is a perfect exampIe of Italian/Dutch Baroque, situated on a small hill, surrounded by grounds which were the delight of King Frederik V, who turned this hunting seat into a royal summer residence. You can stroll around the beautiful, lakeside grounds any time, but the royal apartments and private garden are opened to visitors only when the royal family is absent.

Six miles (9 km.) away, near Hillemd, stands Frederiksborg Slot, one of the greatest Renaissance castles in northern Europe and the most monumental achievement of the Great Builder, Christian IV. In 1859 much of the interior of the castle was destroyed by fire but was later restored by a Danish brewer, J. C. Jacobsen, and turned into a museum. Today, in more than 60 rooms, is a complete record of the Danish monarchy from Christian I down to the present queen.

Also of interest are the Knights' Hall, awesome in its dimensions, and the richly carved and ornamented chapel with an organ dating back to 1610, virtually unchanged. Remarkably, the chapel escaped almost untouched from the disastrous fire.

What to eat in Denmark

There are approximately 178 varieties of smorrebrod, those buttered slices of rye or white bread covered with one or a variety of delicacies: veal, beef tartare, liver paste, salmon, smoked eel, codroe, shrimps, herring, ham, roast beef, salad or cheese. This main layer is garnished with a variety of accessories carefully selected to enhance both taste and appearance.

Koldt bord

The cold buffet style spread is known in Denmark as koldt bord (cold table), and resembles the Swedish smorgasbord. For a fixed price, you start at one end of the table helping yourself to herring in various preparations, seafood, mayonnaise salads and other delicacies, and continue on to sample liver paste, ham and other cuts of meat. Despite its name, a kold bord always includes a few hot items, such as meat balls, pork sausages, soup and fried potatoes. Several kinds of bread and salads are also provided.

En platte is a cold dish (smaller version of previous) made up of six to eight specialities, often eaten at lunchtime.

Fish in Denmark

Herring is a great favourite, served pickled, marinated or fried, with a sherry, vinegar, curry or fennel dressing. The succulent red Greenland shrimps are keen competitors in the popularity stakes. Lobster is widely available (but not cheap), as arc crab, salmon, cod and halibut. The little oresund rodspcette (red spot plaice) is on every menu. A speciality in summer is danske rejer, the small pink shrimps from local waters, served piled high on white bread.

Shopping in Denmark

There's value added tax on all goods bought in Denmark. In many cases it can be waived or funded on purchases by residents of other countries ask the retailer.

What to Buy in Denmark

Amber necklaces. The local gem (actually fossil resin) found in the southern Baltic, is probably cheaper here than back home, but starting prices still have a tendency to be rather high. Danish porcelain. The big names are Royal Copenhagen Porcelain and Bing & Gmndahl. Furs are fantastic quality. Glassware and household products in stainless steel are particularly good buys if you want top design matched with excellent craftsmanship.

Knitwear is Nordicstyle, often highly patterned, warm and perhaps expensive. Lamps are a lovingly designed product, as are household textiles and hand woven rugs. Silver is a Danish speciality, dominated by the name Georg Jensen. Silver in Denmark is quality-controlled and must be hallmarked. Pipes are another indigenous craft. Toys are simple and attractive, especially those in solid wood: trains, ships, etc. Souvenirs are myriad: little mermaids, Copenhagen dolls in black lace caps and frilly skirts, ceramic blue figurines and animals. All kinds of trolls and Vikings also abound naturally!

What to do in Cologne Germany

2010-01-29T08:54:00.000-08:00

Cologne, capital of the Rhineland, is one of the oldest and most distinguished cities in Germany. It lies at the centre of a pious but never austere religious tradition where good Catholics take a secular, even pagan delight in the joys of the flesh. The great symbol of the Church's abiding authority is Cologne's gigantic, almost overpowering, twin-spired cathedral. Yet the town is the scene every year of Germany's most riotous, lusty, frolicking Carnival, when wives put away their wedding rings and the husbands are not home to complain.

Long a commercial and cultural centre, Cologne has witnessed the nation's growth from earliest Roman times through medieval prosperity to its present state of comfortable stability. It has been home to a number of famous people: in the 16th century Peter Paul Rubens, the painter of exuberantly fleshy nudes, grew up among the burgers' stout wives. About 70 years later, in 1642, Maria de Medici, the wife of Henry IV of France, died here in exile; her heart is buried in the cathedral. The composer of Orpheus in the Underworld, Offenbach, was born here in 1819.

Cologne car hire Germany

The best way to explore Cologne is to book a hire car from the airport in Germany before you travel.Cologne's site on the Rhine is of prime importance. The old city was founded on the left bank, the new industrial centre on the right (Deutzer) bank.

It is the ideal starting place for a visit to the Rhine Valley, land of mists and towering rocks, terraced vineyards and avenues of poplars, Gothic churches and ruined castles, of every poetic image dear to the romantic side of the German character. But it's also coal barges, express trains and juggernaut lorries, cement works and power plants. Phoenix/like, Cologne arose after World War II from a rubble strewn desert to the proud, businesslike city of today. For now, as in centuries past, Rhinelanders settle down to their romantic dreams only after a hard day's work.

History of Cologne

A Brief History 1000750 B.C. Celts settle on the west bank of the Rhine, Germanic tribes occupy the east. In 72 B.C. the Germanic king Ariovistus crosses the Rhine with 15,000 troops and conquers part of Gaul. Gallic leaders call on the Romans for help and Caesar defeats Ariovistus in 58 B.C., driving the Germans back across the Rhine. Three years later the Gallic left bank is declared a Roman Protectorate. In 38 B.C., Augustus's general Agrippa brings a Germanic tribe, the Ubii, across to the left bank, and establishes the settlement of Oppidum Ubiorum.

Julia Agrippina, wife and murderess of the Roman Emperor Claudius, renames her birthplace Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensis, shortened later to Colonia. The Roman Rhineland suffers under invading barbarians, first the Alemanni who conquer Cologne, later the Burgundians, who are in turn defeated by the Huns. Turmoil continues with wars between the Alemanni and the Franks; the latter achieve supremacy under Clovis, who introduces Christianity. At the beginning of the 9th century, Charlemagne establishes a Christian European empire and builds his imperial palace on the edge of the Rhineland at Aachen. Cologne, already a bishop's see, becomes an archbishopric.

The Rhineland becomes a major recruiting centre for the Crusades to rescue Jerusalem from the Infidel. At Easter, 1096, Peter the Hermit arrives in Cologne with thousands of French eager to fight for the cause. They influence the Rhinelanders to such an extent that they began to massacre local Jewish communities.

The medieval city blossoms into one of Germany's principal towns. The increased power of the church, represented by the cathedral begun in 1248 is matched by growing commercial strength. An independent city III 1475, and part of the Hanseatic League, Cologne grows fat on trade with Bruges and London and imposes its own system of weights and measures on other northern towns.

Decline sets in with the collapse of the Hanseatic League and the growth of Lutherism. A bastion of the Catholic faith, Cologne resists the Reformation, and its Protestant craftsmen flee to other towns. The Thirty Years' War (1618-48) devastates the land, although neutrality saves the city from destruction. The 18th century brings peace but also French domination.

In 1813 Napoleon is driven back across the Rhine into France, and the Congress of Vienna hands the Rhineland to Prussia. However, the area remains a hotbed of unrest until Wilhelm of Prussia defeats the French in 1870, taking Alsace and Lorraine.

After World War I, at the Versailles Peace Conference, Marshal Foch pushes for an independent Rhenish Republic under French supervision. Rhenish separatists, among them the Mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer, stage a coup d'etat on June I, 1919. They declare a republic which lasts only a few hours, until Clemenceau, under Anglo-American pressure, sends orders to break it up. The effects of the Third Reich are longer lasting.
Hitler marshalls troops in the Rhineland in 1936, delivering a triumphant speech in Cologne cathedral. In May 1942 British bombs devastate the town. By 1945 the population has fallen from 800,000 to 40,000, but within 15 years the city is rebuilt.

Things to see and do in Cologne Germany

For a taste of the Rhineland's mixture of the practical and the romantic, the serious and the humorous, there's nowhere better to begin than Cologne. And in Cologne the starting point is inevitably the cathedral (Dam). After the devastating bombardments of World War II, it was one of the few buildings left standing, defiantly dominating the city. Today, amid Cologne's shining rebuilt prosperity, elevated on a terrace like a somewhat haughty dignitary, the cathedral occupies a position that has been sacred since Roman times. Around A.D. 50, it was the site of the Temple of Mercurius Augustus. The first Christian church was built there in the 4th century by Bishop Maternus.

Progressively expanded over the next few centuries, the church began to burst at its seams in the 13th century when thousands of pilgrims flocked to Cologne to view the shrine containing the relics of the Three Kings. In 1248 the church was replaced with a cathedral conceived on a gigantic Gothic plan. Work went on for 300 years and then halted for lack of funds, with 121 the steeples still un-built.

The church remained that way for another 300 years until, at the urging of the young German Romantics and nationalists, work was resumed and the steeples completed in 1880.
Those steeples are the first thing you see of the cathedral, the first thing you see of Cologne, in fact. They complete the largest façade 200 feet wide, 515 feet high (61 m. by 157 m.) of any church in Christendom. Inside, the true architectural glory of the cathedral is its choir, a magnificent example of 13th century Gothic intensity, its slim, almost delicate lines forming a. Striking contrast to the massiveness of the whole edifice.

Very impressive in their natural elegance, set on the pillars of the choir, are the statues of Christ and Mary flanked by the apostles, sculpted by Master Arnold, one of the building's original architects.

The cathedral's richest treasure, looking itself like a basilica, is the gold Dreikonigenschrein (Shrine of the Three Kings) behind the high altar. The bones of the Three Kings were brought by Friedrich Barbarossa's chancellor, Reinald von Dassel, from Milan in the 12th century. Nikolaus von Verdun was commissioned to design this masterpiece of the goldsmith's art. Begun in 1181, it took 40 years to complete. The solid gold figures include the kings and prophets of the Old Testament along with scenes of Christ's baptism and the adoration of the Kings.

Another highly prized work is Stephan Lochner's splendid 15th century Dombild, a triptych to the right of the choir, celebrating the patron saint of Cologne Ursula, Gereon and the Three Kings. On the left side of the choir is the fine 10th century Gerokreuz (Gero Cross), named after Archbishop Gero who commissioned this movingly sim pie crucifixion. It is the earliest example of a Byzantinestyle sculpture appearing in Western Europe. In the Sakramentskapelle is the beautiful Milan Madonna, sculpted around 1280, with the colour, crown and sceptre restored in the last century.

Appropriately enough, next door to this formidable Christian monument, in the Romisch Germanisches Museum, is the delightfully pagan Roman tribute to Bacchanalian pleasure, the Dionysos Mosaic. One of the few nice things to have happened in Cologne during World War I I was the discovery of this marvellously well preserved work in the course of digging an air-raid shelter. The museum in which it is now housed was built around the mosaic's original site, once the floor of a prosperous 3rd century Roman wheat merchant's dining room. Dionysos is the Greek name of the fun-loving god the Romans called Bacchus. You can see him leaning tipsily on an obliging satyr while around him other satyrs and nymphs cavort and make music.

The reconstruction of Cologne and car hire in Germany

The post war reconstruction of Cologne has generally been a boon for the reorganization of its museums and particularly the Rhineland's most important art gallery, the Waljraf Richartz Museum. Car hire in Cologne, Germany can be picked up from the airport. Situated on the Wallrafplatz a short walk southwest of the cathedral, the pleasant modern building is a triumph of imaginative lighting and display for an excellent collection of early Rhenish art and many fine examples of the great European painters Lochner, Durer, Cranach to name but a few.

Above the Wallraf Richartz in the same building is the Museum Ludwig, devoted to modern art Picasso, Dali, Klee, Kandinsky and Max Ernstbut it is perhaps most remarkable for the comprehensive American pop art collection. There is something especially pleasing about a building that houses both the exquisite, anonymous J 5thcentury Gothic Madonna with Pea Blossom and Claes Oldenburg's lusty Giant Soft Swedish Light Switch.
For just a hint of what the old town of Cologne used to look like, go back to the river, to the tiny Austadt between the Gross St.

Martin church and the Deutzer bridge. There, around the old Fischmarkt, along the Salzgasse and across the Eisenmarkt (Ironware Market), you can find miracles of survival and restoration of houses dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries. Now a thriving, renewed neighbourhood of restaurants, antique shops, art galleries and apartments with attractive gardens, the lively atmosphere helps you imagine what it was like in the good old days.

But Cologne also has a bouncing, bustling present attested by the gleaming, pedestrians only commercial area along the Hohe Strasse southwest of the cathedral. Reflecting its taste for things French, the town offers plenty of outdoor cafes. Some of the most agreeable are around Am Hof where you can linger over a delicious pastry and coffee while contemplating. The delightfully kitschy dwarfs . and inquisitive tailoress of the Heinzelmiinnchenbrunnen (Heinzeldwarfs Well), sculpted in 1899.

To round off the church scene, you might like to look in on the Antoniterkirche (on the Schildergasse), the main church of the small Protestant community, and admire Ernst Barlach's 1927 sculpture Der Trauernde Engel (the Mourning Angel)to which he has given the features of his fellow artist Kiithe Kollwitz. The best of the city's Romanesque churches, indeed one of the most delicate in the Rhineland, is the St. Aposteln west of the Neumarkt on the Mittelstrasse.

The area is decorated with blind arcades and graceful galleries. But perhaps the most moving of Cologne's ecclesiastical edifices is the Madonna in den Triimmern (Madonna in the Ruins), the modern chapel built out of the rubble of the old Gothic St. Kolumba church on Briickenstrasse. World War II bombardments left standing only the stump of a tower and part of one outer wall. Amazingly, a statue of the Virgin Mary also emerged unscathed. Hence the name of the chapel, which Gottfried Bohm designed in the 1950s, artfully integrating modern simplicity with the Gothic remains. Here you'll get a true feeling of the city's history of pain and recovery.

On the western side of the Alter Markt is the proud old Rathaus or Town Hall. Its elegant Renaissance pillared loggia is as warm and inviting as the administrative extension of its modern Spanischer Bau is cold and forbidding. From the Rathaus, the Judengasse, once the main street of the medieval Jewish quarter, takes you to the Giirzenich, home of historic merriment. Cologne's most important secular Gothic building and practically the only one to survive into this century was designed as a dance hall for the city government and its honoured guests, including the occasional Habsburg or Hohenzollern. The original building, constructed in 1441, was damaged by fire in World War II. Rebuilt, it is still the most prestigious venue for Carnival balls, banquets and concerts, the perfect Gothic complement to the cathedral.

Excursions along the Rhine

No visit to Cologne is complete without a trip along the Rhine. You could take a train south to Bonn, and return downstream by boat; or take a leisurely cruise upstream to Mainz, along the most scenic part of the river. Bonn Not many people take Bonn seriously as the capital of Germany - least of all the Germans themselves. This is as much a tribute to its quiet serenity as a complaint about its lack of dynamism. But Bonn does have a modest charm, rather a nice surprise for the seat of government of such a busy, purposeful, selfconfident nation.

To get a feeling for the atmosphere in which the country conducts its official business, start at the complex of government buildings between the Rhine and Adenauerallee. The Bundeshaus, the parliament, offers multilingual guided tours when not in session. There's a fine view of the Siebengebirge (Seven Hills) across the river from the public restaurant on the 30th floor of the Abgeordnetenhochhaus (Deputies' Building).

You can change gears with a restful stroll at the other end of the Adenauerallee, around the old trees of the Hofgarten. This leads back to the university, housed in the elegant Baroque residence designed for the high living elector of Cologne, Joseph Clemens, by Louis XIV's architect Robert de Cotte. It was in the elector's private chapel here that a bright 16year-old schoolboy named Ludwigvan Beethoven performed his first music.

Bonn's sunny Baroque style can be appreciated in the graceful Rathaus (Town Hall) with its balustraded outside staircase, very much the centre of the quiet city basking in its 18th-century dream. The shopping area, like Cologne's blocked off from traffic, keeps things in the subdued mode.

Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1770 and his birthplace, the Beethovenhaus, at Bonngasse 20, has been preserved as a museum, proudly claiming the largest and most valuable collection of Beethoven memorabilia. It includes one of the grand pianos he played towards the end of his life and the acoustical instruments he used to combat his increasing deafness. The best of Bonn's museums is the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, outstanding for its Rhenish painters with some fine examples of the Cologne School.

But the stars are undoubtedly the Neanderthal Man and Cromagnon Couple. Old Neanderthal, 50,000 years old in fact, was found by workmen In a quarry near Dusseldorf in 1856. His remains include the top of his skull and 16 other bones, enough for anthropologists to determine that he was 5 feet 4 inches tall and 60 years old when he died. The Cromagnon man and woman, date back to 10,000 B.C.

Rhine Valley Germany and airport car hire

If you hire a car from an airport in Germany you can take your time to explore and look around the Rhine Valley.The Rhine Valley that people dream about is the part betwen Koblenz and Mainz. This is where the mountains of the Hunsriick on the west and the Taunus and the RheingauGebirge on the east come right down to the river forming a narrow valley of steeply terraced vineyards and pine forests guarded by castles and towering rocks, where myth and history mingle inextricably with the Nibelungs, medieval war and piracy, and romantic idylls.

The dreams begin just south of Koblenz, at Stolzenfels, high above the river. Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia started rebuilding the 14thcentury castle, sacked by the French in 1689, at the height of the German Romantic movement when the nation was lovingly reconstructing its past. His Koblenz architects gave it the full treatment turrets and crenellated battlements, funny little arches, giddy external staircases leading nowhere in particular, half -hidden rosé windows under knobby minarets all integrated into a fairytale natural setting of paths winding past gurgling brooks, of waterfalls among the pine trees, and shrubbery to break the fall of anyone accidentally cast into the dry moat.

Just before St. Goal', on the other side of the river, you will see Burg Thurnberg, better known as Burg Maus, coupled in popular imagination with Burg Katz (Cat) further south, directly opposite St. Goar. Katz was built at the end of the 14th century by Count Johann von Katzenclnbogen to snatch away the river tolls that previously went to Mau . St. Goal itself has a splendid castle ruin, the Burg Rheinfels, built by an earlier equally rapacious Katzenelnbogen in 1245. Louis XIV's troops' rampage through the Rhineland left it unscathed, but in 1797 morc French troops reduced it to the picturesque ruin you see today.

Across the river is the myth laden rock of Lorelei, the siren that inspired Heinrich Heine's celebrated poem. Riidesheim is perhaps the best known of the Rhineland's wine villages. Certainly its Drosselgasse has the liveliest collection of taverns and wine cellars of the region.

Brussels Belgium and car hire

2010-01-29T08:49:00.000-08:00

Car hire in Belgium is available from Brussels Airport.
Life in a European melting pot is nothing new for the people of Brussels. Through the centuries invaders and occupiers have come and gone, some with a whimper and others with more of a bang, but the natives have developed a healthy, good humoured cynicism that helps see them through the crises and pervades everyday life.

It is no shock nowadays, of course, to catch the babble of a dozen foreign tongues as you revive yourself with a glass of beer at one of the myriad pavement cafes, for Brussels has established itself as the capital of NATO, the European Economic Community and Western capitalism. This newly found international status has swept in with it a flood of bureaucrats, Eurocrats, businessmen, army chiefs and property developers, with a host of attendant offshoots.

But though some 230,000 foreigners almost a quarter of the total population now mingle multicultural on the broad cosmopolitan avenues of modern Brussels, the enigmatic spirit of the heart of Belgium is still very much in evidence.

The idiosyncrasies of a thousand years of European culture have helped to shape both people and city they look back on invasions by Roman legions, Spanish Inquisitors, the Habsburg armies, Napoleon, the Kaiser and Hitler. But Brussels has not been cowed into insipidness. Tucked away behind the skyscrapers there is a lively brew of boisterous old fashioned working class districts and elegant bourgeois neighbourhoods, lusty taverns and superb restaurants, museums steeped in history and parks aglow with colour. The people of Brussels have a deep seated allegiance to Catholicism but forces sacred are balanced by an exuberantly profane attitude to life.

Things to do in Brussels and a brief history

They revel in revelries, especially if they involve dressing up and cavorting through the colourful past. Many of the festivals and processions stem from religious roots, but the most flamboyant are the purely secular, which date back to proud civic parades before visiting rulers during a Joyeuse Entree, or Ommegang.Brussels' architectural glories reflect the importance attached to the municipal, material side of life the spirit of prosperity in the shape of the magnificent Town Hall and fascinating guildhalls of the Grand Place.

And the symbol of modern Brussels, the enormous molecular model known as the Atomium, erected for the 1958 World Fair encapsulates its progressive 20thcentury prosperity. The Fair's slogan was Balir Ie monde pour l'homme (Building the World for Mankind), with the emphasis on building.

In keeping with its international political and economic role, Brussels is officially bilingual, with both Flemish and French street signs and public notices. Bilingualism is also a reflection on the Belgian split, between Dutch speaking Flemings in the northern region and French speaking Walloons in the Southall 103 though the official equality in language does not prevent somewhat stormy relations between the two groups.

Despite internal French Walloon squabbles and the bureaucratic invasion, Brussels remains a city of good beer and good cheer, the province of the happy cartoon adventurer Tintin and the great painter Pieter Breughel, whose solid, serene, yet sceptical subjects are still personified in the city's narrow backstreets four centuries later.

To appreciate the real Brussels, you have to appreciate the combination of prosperous modern living and the power of tradition; the festive rituals of historical pageantry, which are played out with such relish beneath the gleaming sky scraping symbols of post industrial success.
On any meanderings through the streets of Brussels keep an eye open for the details, for there are many delightful minutiae in the most unlikely places. Old shop signs; delicate wrought iron railings, banisters and even butchers' hooks; street corner shrines in the walls holding effigies of the Virgin Mary and the saints all offer further insights into the reality of Brussels.

Grand Place Brussels

The focal point of Brussels' daily life and history, is a joyous architectural Glebration of the city's civic pride. Sit outside in one of the cafes and absorb the riot of colour in the flower market along with the throngs of natives and tourists. If you visit in July you may catch the Ommegang, the great parade of the patridan families' descendants, While at any time you're likely to see an openair theatre performance or concert held there. The square's harmony of Gothic, renaissance and Baroque was achieved when it was planned and re built after Louis XlV's attack on the city in 1695.

Only the graceful 295foot (90m.) tower of the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall) somehow escaped destruction and still soars over the square as a testament to the 15 th century architectural talents of Jan van Ruysbroeck. The Town Hall's Gothic bulk derives much of its charm from the off centre placing of the door and tower. Its carving also merits close inspection, and a breathtaking view of the city makes the long haul up the tower well worthwhile.

The magnificent Renaissance guild houses around the Town Hall are the most concrete evidence imaginable for the historical importance of the craftsmen and merchants. Number 10, L' Arbre d'Or (The Golden Tree), once housed the brewers' guild and is now the home of the brewery museum. Opposite the Town Hall is the Musee Communal, displayed in the inelegant 19thcentury neo Gothic Maison du Roi, a must for any visitor to Brussels. The ground floor contains the original carvings preserved from the facade of the Town Hall, and the next floor has a fine collection of 18th century Brussels pottery to rival that of Delft.

The top floor, however, draws the biggest crowdsit contains the vast and ever growing wardrobe of Mannekenpis, contributed by visitors from all over the world. The Mannekenpis, an irreverent little statue, can be found relieving himself into a fountain on the Rue de l'Etuve; he has become the worldwide mascot of Brusselsas is all too evident from the plethora of souvenir bricabrac on which he cheekily displays himself.

Attractions in Brussels Belgium

Just north of the Grand Place is L'Ilot Sacre (The Sacred Isle), a treasured enclave of historic Brussels preserved from the ravages of the property developers. Many of the tiny backstreets are now for pedestrians only, hiding a veritable profusion of delights for any sensualist beautiful Renaissance houses, many converted into excellent restaurants, others containing art galleries and craft shops.

In the summer, strolling musicians, acrobats and flower sellers add to the pleasures of this little haven. Wander through the complex of glass vaulted arcades of the Galeries Saint Hubert, a fascinating array of shops and restaurants off the Rue de I'Ecuyer; then past the Theatre de la Monnaie back to the realm of 20th century Brussels the main shopping streets, Boulevard Anspach and Rue Neuve. The Cathedral Saint Michel is worth a visit too. The choir of this imposing Gothic edifice dates back to 1226; the nave and chapter are from the 14th and 15th centuries, and the chapels were added later.

The two towers, designed by Jan van Ruysbroeck, echo his soaring masterpiece on the Town Hall, while inside, in the diffuse light of the fine stained glass windows, is the Chapeau du Saint Sacrament. This artistic gem was built in 1540 to commemorate a miracle now acknowledged as false and unjust by the archbishopric. The legend is that in 1370 some Jews stole the sacraments and on Good Friday they stabbed them in ritual defilement, whereupon blood spurted from the sacrament's wounds. Accused of this crime, four Jewish families were burned at the stake in Brussels (hatred of the Jews was rife at this time). In spite of the loathing that motivated their construction and the gruesome facts that surround them, the tapestries and stained glass windows are magnificent pieces of artistry.

Le Sablon Brussels Belgium

South of the Grand Place lies an elegant and peaceful relic of pre19th-century Brussels, the Sablon area. Around the Place du Grand Sablon nestle antique shops and chic restaurants, while on the other side of the church of Notre Dame du Sablon, the Square du Petit Sablon is a welcome garden retreat in which to sit and muse upon the Sablon of days gone by. The 19thcentury bronze inhabitants of the square include the great martyrs of Belgium, Counts Egmont and Hoorn (who were executed for their part in the resistance movement against Spain), as well as forty eight little statues representing the medieval guilds, each identifiable by the item he is clutching.

The church itself, which took a hundred years to build, is a masterpiece of the 15th and 16th centuries and worth savouring in its own right, rather than for any particular treasures inside. However, don't miss the charming statue of the patron saint of huntsmen, St. Hubert, accompanied by a stag with a hanging Christ between its horns. This stands just beyond the porch; there is also a beautiful Baroque pulpit inside the church.

Les Marolles To the north and west of Le Sablon is the working class area of the Maroues, whose street names indicate the types of crafts once practised therefore instance, Rue des Orfevres (goldsmiths) and des Chaisiers (chair makers). The streets themselves are always fascinating places In which to watch the vigour of daily goings on in the district, and to try to identify the hotchpotch of languages Flemish, French, Spanish, with Italian, German and Hebrew thrown in that make up the rich dialect of the inhabitants.

This is the area where the great populist painter Pieter Breughel lived and died. His home was probably no. 132, rue Haute, a fine gabled house which often holds exhibitions of Breughel's paintings. His marble mausoleum is just up the road, in the Gothic church of Notre Dame de la Chapeau. Wandering southwards, you cannot fail to come across the enormous hulk of the Palais de Justice, the biggest building erected in the 19th century; the bombastic epitome of Belgium's golden age of expansionism. Down the Rue de la Regence is the Place Royale with the Musees Royaux des Beaux Arts the homes of III some of the Low Countries most stunning and valuable art treasures.

The Musee d'Art Ancien contains pieces dating up to the end of the 18th century, and began life in 1799 as a depository for everything the French couldn't carry back to Paris. Much was retrieved from France after Waterloo, and there are now around 1200 paintings, mostly from the great Flemish schools. The celebrated names represented there include Roger van de Weyden (1399-1464), Dirk Bouts (c. 1415-75) and Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516), whose Crucifixion is a relatively modest and conventional work compared with his usual macabre style. There is a fine collection of Pieter Breughel's work, including The Fall of Icarus, while Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) occupies a whole gallery.

The morbidly fascinating imagination of Ribera mayor may not be characteristic of the 16thcentury Spanish occupiers one hopes not, looking at his Apollo Flaying Marsyas. Apollo has discarded his lyre and is calmly and gracefully skinning Marsyas alive.

The Modern Art Museum Brussels

The Musee d'Art Moderne holds exhibitions of 19th and 20th-century art in rotation. Regularly on show are such masters as Felicien Rops, Rene Magritte and Paul Delvaux, each taking a potshot at the bourgeoisie in characteristically satiric or surreal fashion. There are also a number of fine French painters. Brussels' other museums span a wide range of interests those whose fancy lightly turns to other civilizations and cultures should not miss the astonishing panorama of ancient and modern arts on show in the Musees Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire in the Parc du Cinquantenaire.

Music lovers should make time for the Musee Instrumental on the Rue de la Regence, which contains rare European instruments dating back to the 16th century, and some weird and wonderful pieces from China, Java, Sumatra and Mexico. Further out of the city, the House of Erasmus in the borough of Anderlecht is a charming and tranquil combination of Gothic and Renaissance architecture. It houses a fascinating museum of the philosopher's career. Also in Anderlecht is the Beguinage, a 16th-century nunnery where eight nuns lived and worked at the budding lace industry.

Parks in Brussels and Belgium car hire

You will find yourself spoilt for choice, as far as parks in Brussels are concerned. The Parc de Bruxelles lies in the centre of the city, an elegant area of fountains, and Baroque and Rococo statues. The botanic gardens of the Domaine Royal de Laeken are a delight in spring and summer, and the royal greenhouses are beautifully illuminated at night during May. But the favourite of the inhabitants of Brussels is the Bois de la Cambre at the far end of the Avenue Louise, merely the municipal tip of the gigantic Foret de Soignes, which extends across the southeastern corner of Brussels.

The Bois offers boating lakes, tearooms, restaurants in a setting of regal beech trees; the perfect place to rest after a hard day's pavement pounding.

Day trips from Brussels Belgium

There are a number of easy day trips from Brussels: Waterloo is closest, only 12 Y2 miles (20 km.) south. Slightly further afield are Antwerp, 29 miles (46 km.) north, and Ghent, about 37 miles (60 km.) away. Bruges is 31 miles (49 km.) west of Ghent but is also highly recommended, and from there Os tend and the coastal resorts are easily accessible.

Antwerp Belgium

Antwerp is now a thriving and animated port. Port tours leave from the Steen, the castle on the right bank of the River Schelde. The town was the 113 home of Peter Paul Rubens during his heyday. The Cathedral, well worth a visit for its Rubens masterpieces alone, also boasts a majestic open stonework steeple 400 feet (122 m.) high. Groenplaats, south of the cathedral and at one time its cemetery, is now a colourful square edged by openair cafes, with a central statue of Rubens. And Rubens' house itself, at Rubensstraat 911, is an unexpectedly sumptuous affair - clear evidence of the painter's success.

For a fascinating glimpse into Antwerp's golden agethe 16th century visit the PlantinMoretus Museum (Vrijdagmarkt 22), where Christopher Plantin lived and set up his great printing press. The whole place presents a most informative history of books, printing and the evolution of handwriting. The omnipresent Rubens may be enjoyed at the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, which has a firstclass collection of Flemish art. Antwerp also has marvellous Zoological Gardens and a couple of lovely parks, Nachtegalen and Middelheimthe latter with an open-air sculpture museum which includes pieces by Rodin and Henry Moore.

Ghent Belgium

Ghent should be appreciated for the first time from the middle of the Saint Michielsbrug (St. Michael's Bridge), a splendid vantage point from which to study the city. The magnificent Gothic and Renaissance merchants' houses lie on Graslei (Grass Quay) to the right and Koornlei (Corn Quay) to the left of the bridge works of art in colour, form and detail. Also visible from the bridge, to the north, is the Gravensteen, the 9th to 12th century castle of the counts of Flanders, which has a dubious collection of sickeningly imaginative instruments of torture.

The other castle, Geraard de Duivelsteen, in Bauwens square, dates from the 13th century and has an equally nasty reputation. Back towards St. Michael's Bridge is the 15th century LakenhaUe (Drapers' Hall) with its great belfry, the architectural evidence of Ghent's ancient wealth. The multilingual sight and sound show in the huge hall sets the historical scene very well.
The Museum voor Schone Kunsten houses two of Hieronymus Bosch's best known surreal paintings Saint Jerome and The Bearing of The Cross. Not to be missed in Brussels is the Museum van Oudheden, housed in the medieval Abbey of Bijloke. It is a haven of tranquility, far removed from the bloody history of the torture chambers in the old castles.

Eating Out in Belgium

When it comes to matters gastronomic the Belgians do nothing by halves their reputation for sturdy appetites is nourished on the enormous portions and generous second helpings found in most restaurants; and quality is certainly not sacrificed to quantity. The stock caricature of the ruddy cheeked Belgian munching stoically through an unvarying diet of mussels and chips is, of course, far from accurate but fresh North Sea mussels steamed in a seasoned broth, and crisp, succulent pommes frites are delectable everyday fare. To make the most of the robust flavour of Brussels keep an eye open for such specialities as beer soup, delicious oysters from Zeeland, or potjesvlees, a cold veal, pork and rabbit pate, to start your meal.

Main course delicacies include anguille au vertbaby eel with shredded herbs. Waterzooi is not to be missed a fish stew with herbs, leeks and cream. A good variation on the theme is the Brussels version using chicken instead of fish. Beef casseroled in beer ( carbonnade); hare or rabbit served with prunes (lievre or lapin a lafiamande); boiled goose and a variety of powerful wine soaked game dishes involving venison (chevreuil), pheasant (faisan) or hareall should be sampled, though the richness of Belgian food makes a strong stomach a useful acquisition.
The figure conscious must be staunch indeed to bypass Belgian desserts waffles (gaujies) warm from the street stalls; apple pancake (crepe aux pommes); larle au sucre (sugar tart) for the really sweet toothed, or the famous spec loos, king and queen shaped gingerbreads.

Drinks in Belgium

Brewing is an art form for the Belgians, and there are a variety of beers to be savoured, preferably from the small scale breweries which still thrive. Kriek, for instance, is flavoured with cherries during fermentation; and while most beers are of the lager type, the strong dark malt Trappiste is brewed around Antwerp. liS Spirits and liqueurs are not sold in bars, so to sample Peguet, the local slightly sweet gin, you must visit a cafe labelled as a private club (cercle prive) and sign a membership form, or order it with a meal at a restaurant.

Shopping in Belgium

Everything you ever needed is on display in this shop window of the world at a price. The enormous international selection of goods and the cosmopolitan clientele make Brussels an expensive place to shop, and it's often hard to pick up authentic Brussels memorabilia when searching for mementos and presents.

The best value goods are Belgium's own products. The Belgians are masters of lace and tapestry making. Much is machine produced nowadays but a little detective work will often yield exquisite handmade results. Try the Sablon antique dealers for tapestry. Glassware, crystal and pewter are all crafted in Belgium; fine leather goods are a speciality of Brussels itself; and of course for those who have the wherewithal the city still revels in its reputation as a centre for good jewellery. All these products can be found in the chic boutiques of the Avenue Louise, as well as their more popular neighbours at the Marolles and the department stores of Rue Neuve and Boulevard Adolphe Max.

But it is more rewarding for many people to pick up antique or secondhand versions, by browsing in the antique shops of the Sablon or haggling over prices in the flea markets of the Marolles. Indeed the markets are a joy not to be missed flowers every day; the Sunday bird market in the Grand Place; antiques and books at the weekend the Place du Grand Sablon; the Midi market at the Gare du Midi on Sunday mornings.

No chocophile can pass by the chance to partake of Brussels' expensive but exquisite pralines, some of the finest and smoothest filled chocolates in the world. The arrays of mouth watering biscuits such as spicy spec loos always go down exceedingly well and extremely quickly as presents. In fact, from a nation as conscious of the wellbeing of stomach and taste buds as the Belgians, nothing could be more appropriate than a selection of their delicious comestibles for the folks back home.

Things to do in Berne Switzerland

2010-01-29T08:38:00.000-08:00

Start at the railway station (one of the most modern in Europe). In the pedestrian underpass you'll find the remains of the Christoffelturm, part of the wall of the town gates dating back 600 years. Taking the escalator to street level, you come out at the beginning of the Spitalgasse, a lively shopping street whose thriving department stores take refuge behind elegant old fayades. The solid looking arcades are characteristic of the architecture the city has over 5 miles of them!

Before walking down the Spitalgasse, notice the Heiliggeistkirche (Holy Ghost Church) on the left. Built between 1726-29, it is considered by many to be the most beautiful Protestant Baroque church in Switzerland. But to visit it you'll have to come 30 minutes before a service on Sundays as otherwise it's closed to the public. The first fountain you come to is the Pfeiferbrunnen (Bagpiper Fountain). Berne's numerous fountains were almost all built in the 16th century and are as much a symbol of the city as the arcades, bears and red geraniums. The little bagpiper atop the column was probably by Hans Gieng, who designed many of the fountains.

Pass through the 300-yearold Klifigturrn (a prison tower) into the Marktgasse where you'll find two typical fountains; the first of hospital foundress Anna Seiler in a flowing blue gown and a little further on the Schlitzenbrunnen (Musketeer Fountain). Not so charming is the 16thcentury Kindlifresserbrunnen (Ogre Fountain) on the left as you come out into the Kornhausplatz. On a slender column the child eater sits poised to bite off the head of one victim, while others wait in his sack. Back to the famous Zytgloggeturrn (Clock Tower). Pass through to the other side and try to get there 3 minutes before the striking of the hour for a fascinating display of 16thcentury Swiss clockwork.

About 60 yards from the Zytglogge in the upper part of the Kramgasse is the Zahringerbrunnen (Zahringer Fountain)a warrior bear in armour with a tiny bear at his feetdedicated to the city's founder. Down the Kreuzgasse on the left you come to a little square where you can sit and admire the Rathaus (Town Hall), a lovely Gothic building (1406-17). The colourful Vennerbrunnen (Flagbearer Fountain) shows a Bernese standard bearer in full uniform.

Rejoin the Gerechtigkeitsgasse to get to the finest fountain in the city: the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen (Justice Fountain), an allegory of justice holding a sword and a delicately balanced set of scales with the Pope, emperor, sultan and mayor at her feet.

The Nydeggkirche (Nydegg Church), in the oldest part of town, dates back to the 14th century although the interior was completely renovated in 1953. Continuing downwards, the street levels out at the Lauferplatz, and directly in front of you is the Untertor briicke (1461-89), Berne's oldest bridge. On the left, the Lauferbrunnen (Messenger Fountain) honours a Bernese herald who had the audacity to reply to a French king's complaint that he didn't speak French, Well, you can't speak German!

Turn right after the Untertorbriicke and walk up the gradient to the Blirengraben (Bear Pits). If you're lucky enough to be in Berne on Easter Sunday, weather permitting, you'll be able to see the bear cubs let out with their mother for their first spring outing. Berne's late Gothic cathedral (Miinster) took centuries to build. Started in 1421, the nave was completed more than 150 years later and the tip of the filigreed steeple (nearly 300 ft. (90 m. tall) added in 1893.

In the interior the 15thcentury stained-glass windows are impressive and the Renaissance choir stalls magnificent. If you've only limited time and want to stay near the city, the Gurten is well worth the 25minute tram and funicular ride. From this high spot (2,815 ft.; 845 m.) above the city, there is a magnificent panorama of the Bernese Alps in one direction and Berne itself in the other.

Museums in Berne Switzerland and car hire

The best way to see Berne is to pre-book a hire car from the airport in Switzerland.Bernisches Historisches Museum (Historical Museum) at Helvetiaplatz 5. The mock16thcentury building, actually constructed between 189294, houses various collections from arts and crafts to furniture, but the most interesting is the treasure taken from the Duke of Burgundy in the Battle of Grandson (1476). Closed Mondays. The Kunstmuseum, Hodler strasse 12, is famed for its Paul Klee collection the artist was born and grew up in Berne.

For an overview of the whole country, go to Ballenberg, near Brienz, to the Schweizerisches Freilicht museum (Swiss Open Air Museum). Here you can see full size reconstructions of farmhouses, chalets and homes from all over Switzerland. Open daily between April and October.

The Bernese Oberland

A one day excursion from Berne can cover some of the loveliest countryside in the Oberland. Around the lake of Thun, in beautiful surroundings, are the towns of Thun and Spiez, and between the lakes of Thun and Brienz is Interlaken. This famous summer resort has huge Victorian hotels, nostalgic grandeur and an incomparable view of the Jungfrau. The Jungfrau railway line from Kleine Scheidegg (the train is actually inside the Eiger for half the trip) leads to Europe's highest railway station, Jungfraujoch (11,330 ft.; 3,454 m.), with wild and craggy scenery all the way up.

Berlin car hire Germany and things to do

2010-01-29T08:31:00.000-08:00

With so many places to visit in Berlin, the best way to discover the city is to pre-book a hire car from the airport. More than a place, Berlin is an idea: few cities have a more dramatically evocative name. Brandenburg Gate, with its goddess of Victory on her chariot, continues to honour the formidable Prussian past.

The Kurfilrstendamm, at once elegant and garish, offers an ebullient echo of the wildly creative 1920s. The restored Reichstag recalls united Germany's brief attempts at parliamentary democracy, while the gigantic Olympic Stadium still proclaims the bombast of Hitler's dictatorship. The chaos and destruction that followed finds a quite deliberate reminder in the bombed out shell of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

The serene green spaces (largest of any city in the world) are West Berlin's lungs, but the heart, the centre around the Kurflirstendammor Ku'damm as its popularly known has an urgent, urban beat. Here are the shops, cafes, cinemas and theatres that have always appealed to both the Berlin bourgeoisie and intellectual community.

Berlin History

Friedrich II, Prince Elector of Brandenburg, assumes greater control over Berlin in 1447. The town retains virtual autonomy within the empire. During the Reformation, the people persuade the Prince Elector, Joachim II, to accept the Reformed rituals taught by Luther.
17th century The Thirty Years' War causes widespread strife. The Great Elector, Friedrich Wilhelm (1640-88) dreams of one united state of Brandenburg and Prussia. His efforts prepare Berlin to become a strong capital. Jewish refugees from Vienna and Huguenots fleeing France add to the city's cosmopolitan population.

In 1701 the Kingdom of Prussia is proclaimed under Friedrich I. His successor, Friedrich the Great, concentrates on building up the Prussian empire. Wars against revolutionary France begin in 1792. 19th century Napoleon's Grande Armee defeats Friedrich's successors. The French advance through Eastern Germany in 1806. Napoleon rides unimpeded through the Brandenburg Gate into Berlin. After the two year occupation the Prussian rulers are left to contend with liberal nationalism. Workers revolt in 1848 and are brutally suppressed by Prussian cavalry.

The Franco Prussian War

In the Franco Prussian War of 1870-71, the Germans under Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor, overcome the French. In the aftermath of the conflict he creates a united Germany. Berlin booms as the centre of the machine industry. 20th century Berlin's university and research institutes bring new prestige to the city but fortunes turn with World War I. Afterwards the Weimar Republic lasts fourteen years only to be overcome by economic difficulties and mass unemployment, ultimately causing a return to power of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party in 1932. Hitler becomes chancellor in 1933.

Starting in 1939 after Germany's invasion of Poland, World War II ends on May 7th, 1945 with the unconditional surrender of German troops. Four power control of Berlin is formalized at Potsdam by Churchill, Truman and Stalin. Soviets try to incorporate Berlin into East Germany, blockading West Berlin in 1948; but this is circumvented by airlifting supplies into the city. In 1961 Soviets construct the Wall to prevent refugees leaving East Germany.

Running through the centre of town is Berlin's most important street, Kurfiirstendamm (Prince Elector’s Embankment), perhaps the liveliest avenue in all of Germany. This is one place which pulsates with traffic late into the night. The street is known widely as Ku'damm and, like the Champs Elysees in Paris, it plays a more popular role as the town's preferred promenade. When Ku'damm window shopping expeditions take you as far as Fasanen strasse, you might like to visit the Jewish Community Centre at number 79/80. Framing the entrance is the portal from the synagogue that once stood here.

It was burned to the ground in 1938 From the hub of the Ku'damm at Joachimstaler Strasse, move on to Breitscheid platz, site of Kaiser Wilhelm Gediichtniskirche (M emoria I Church), preserved as a ruin, never to be restored. There is no more eloquent symbol of the city's suffering from bombardment and postwar rebirth. The war-scarred tower with the broken stump of its steeple is flanked by a new octagonal church to the east and a chapel (see the altarpiece by Ernst BarJach) and a six-sided tower to the west.
Beyond the church is the 22 storey Europa Center, which extends from Tauentzienstrasse to Budapester Strasse.

There are scores of boutiques, a cinema, a casino, and, best of all, a rooftop cafe with a splendid view of the whole city. KaDeWe (short for Kaufhaus des Westens), Berlin's phenomenal department store, lies a stone's throw away in Ta uen tzienstrasse. The zoo, or Zoologischer Garten, in Budapester Strasse contains such beguiling attractions as Indian and African elephants, giant pandas from China and rare, single horned rhinoceroses from India. Next door is the Aquarium, with fascinating ocean and river life.

Tiergarten Area Berlin

Despite its name, the Tiergarten (Animal Garden) is not another zoo. For the Brandenburg princes, it was a forest for hunting deer and wild boar. Friedrich the Great cleared away the trees and turned it, as was his Francophile wont, into a French style park of formal gardens and geometrical avenues. The northwest side of the Tiergarten constitutes HansaViertel, a chic residential neighbourhood damaged during the war and rebuilt III 1957 for an international exhibition.

To the south, just off Strasse des 17. Juni, you'll catch sight of a whimsical architectural landmark: the Technical University's und Schiflbau (Hydraulic and Ship Engineering Institute). The budding, despite its earnest name, is painted blue, pink and green technology with a smile.
Climb the 285 steps of the soaring Siegessliule victory column on the circle of the Grosser Stern for a magnificent view of the city.

Between the canal and Tiergarten strasse, in rubble strewn wasteland not far from the Wall, is a cultural centre, where some of Berlin's most prestigious institutions can be found: the Nationalgalerie, Staatsbibliothek and Philharmonie. In the nearby Strasse des 17. Juni you'll see a gloomy Soviet war memorial (SovielDenkmal) made of marble from the Reich Chancellery, topped by a huge bronze statue of a Russian soldier.

In the palace courtyard is a splendid statue of the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm on horseback, designed by the prolific Baroque sculptor and architect Andreas Schluter. The palace interiors have been restored to recapture the gracious atmosphere of royal life in the 18th century. You are free to roam at will through the ornamental world of the Hohenzollerns, except for Friedrich 1's and Sophie Charlotte's apartments in the central building and west wing (join one of the guided tours offered daily at regular intervals). The rooms occupied by the king and queen echo the Baroque grandeur of Versailles.

Rococo Paintings Berlin

Do not miss the incomparable Rococo paintings in the concert room. Like the Tiergarten, the Charlottenburg gardens were originally laid out in the formal French style. English landscaping was introduced later. Several outbuildings can be visited. The nearest is the compact little Schinkel Pavilion, just behind the New Wing of the palace proper, where you can see three major early works by Caspar David Friedrich, the great German Romantic painter.

Further exploration of the gardens takes you to the Belvedere, a tea house at the northern end of the carp pond, and the Mausoleum in the form of a Doric temple, put up in 1810 and enlarged some 30 years later. Here lie the remains of 19th century members of the Prussian royal family.

Olympic Stadium Berlin

Sightseeing in Berlin never ceases to be a graphic exercise in contemporary history. Nowhere is this more evident than in the area around Olympia stadium. The stadium provides a supreme example of Hitler's folie de grandeur in all the bombastic gigantism of his favourite architecture and sculpture. As you approach through the main Olympic Gate, the stadium looks surprisingly low slung. But once inside, you see that the field itself lies 40 feet (12 m.) below ground level. Built originally for 120,000 spectators, the stadium now holds 96,000.

The huge Olympic complex has facilities for soccer, hockey, tennis riding and swimming.Southeast of the stadium in Masurenallee there is a colossus of more recent apparition, the I.C.C. (Internationates Congress Centrum), completed in 1979 as an audacious gamble on West Berlin's economic viability? The giant complex boasts 80 conference halls and meeting rooms. You may want to take a guided tour of this ultimate in buildings; the ingenuity and efficiency of it are fascinating, almost frightening.

Grunewald Forest and car hire Berlin

The best way to explore Grunewald Forest and the attractions of Berlin is to pre-book a hire car from the airport in Berlin.
Grunewald and the Havel before World War II, Grunewald Forest was rather melancholy woodland of dense pines. Wartime bombardments and the Berliners' postwar needs for fuel stripped an estimated 45 per cent of the forest, now replanted with a number of varieties18 million pines, but also six million chestnut, linden, beech, birch and oak trees. The grassy clearings make pleasant picnic grounds, while the wooded areas form a reserve for deer wild boar, marten, foxes and myriad rabbits.

You can reach this greenery by bus or car. Take the Avus Road, turning off halfway at the Grosser Stern. From here Huttenweg runs to the Grune waldsee, a lake which offers good swimming from delightful, sandy beaches. On the east shore, set impressively against the lake and surrounded by beach trees, stands Jagdschloss Grunewald, a hunting lodge built in the 16th century for Prince Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg.
Havelchaussee, a more leisurely route than the Avus skirts the Grunewald on th west side, bordering the broad Iver Havel. Several ferry stations along the way offer boat rides on the river and lakes.

Museums in Berlin

Some of Berlin's fine museums which shouldn't be missed are the National galerie (Potsdamer Strasse 50) which displays 19th and 20th century art, the Bauhaus Archiv (Klingelhof strasse 13), showing progressive architecture and design from the Weimar period, and the Agyptisches Museum (across the street from the Charlottenburg palace): three millennia of Egyptian artin all its diversity. The Antiken museum (opposite the Egyptian Museum) contains artefacts from Greek and Roman antiquity, and the Berlin Museum (Lindenstrasse 14) tells the story of the city from early times to today.

The museums housing the major part of the Prussian State art collections are situated to the south of the city centre (In addition to European painting, sculpture and engraving, Dahlem groups the museums of ethnography (noted for its pre Columbian holdings) and Indian, Islamic and Oriental (Chinese, Japanese and Korean) art. These last will take over the entire Dahlem installation when the European collections are moved, eventually, to the Tiergarten.

Rather paradoxically, the most elegant building on Unter den Linden may well be the old Baroque Zeughaus (Arsenal), next door to the Neue Wache. It was built at the end of the 17th century to hold the Prussian Army's munitions and weapons. Now it houses the Museum Deutsche Geschichte (German History Museum), which traces the nation's history from earliest times to the present day from a consistently Marxist point of view.
A short distance from Unter den Linden stands Schinkel's Schauspielhaus (Playhouse), notable for its imposing Ionic columned entrance. After refurbishing, the playhouse is once again an exciting place, though nowadays it serves as a concert hall. To the north of the Schauspielhaus is the Franzosischer Dom (French Cathedral), and to the south the classically inspired Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral), forms its natural counterpart.

Karl Liebknecht Strasse Marx Engels Briicke, designed by Schinkel, links U nter den Linden to KarlLiebknecht Strasse. As you cross the bridge, you'll catch a glimpse of Museumsinsel off to your left. This is the site of East Berlin's most prestigious museums . On the opposite side of the bridge lies Marx Engels Platz, focus for May Day military parades and mass rallies.

The Palast der Republik, completed in 1976, houses the Volkskammer (Parliament) 89 and a 5,000seat conference hall for Communist Party congresses. The outsize and somewhat ponderous Dom (cathedral), erected at the turn of the 20th century, stands across the street from the Palast der Republik. Further along, in the square beyond the crossing, you'll see the venerable 13thcentury St.MarienKirche, Berlin's oldest surviving parish church.

The neo Gothic bulk of the Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall) stands on the opposite side of the square. And in the centre lies the massive Neptune fountain, stranded in a sea of concrete. Monumental in their own right, the fountain, church and town hall are nevertheless completely dwarfed by the soaring 1,197foot (365m.) F ernsehturm (Television Tower).

Alexanderplatz Berlin

Alex, as the square is universally known, remains the undisputed heart of the city, despite relentless post war modernization. (It would probably be the centre of both halves of town if Berlin were ever reunited.) Now it is a bustling pedestrian area of cafes, hotels, small shops and apartments.

Kopenick

Kopenick, with its delightful Altstadt (old town) of 18thand 19thcentury houses, lies on the edge of the city to the southeast of East Berlin's centre. The solid 17thcentury Schloss Kopenick occupies an island in the River Dahme. From Kbpenick, a branch of the Spree leads to the Grosser Miiggelsee, Berlin's largest lake and a very pleasant place for picnics. You can get a good view of the surrounding countryside from the 98 foothigh (30m.) Miiggelturm nearby.

Eating out in Berlin

Eating out Some local specialities are Soljanka, originally a Russian mixed vegetable soup; Soleier, eggs pickled in brine served with seasoning and mustard; and Havelaal griin, eel boiled in dill sauce.

Eisbein mil Sauerkraut und Erbsenpiiree is pig's knuckle with pea puree and spicily seasoned sauerkraut, and gebratene Leber is liver fried with apple and onion rings. Dessert favourites are Schwarzwiilder Kirschtorte, Black Forest cherry cake, Haselnuss Sahne, hazelnut cream cake; and Kiisekuchen, cheesecake. Snack bars and mobile stalls sell Bulette (meatballs) and Schaschlik (skewers), as well as Currywurst and Thiiringer Rostbratwurst and other tasty German sausages. The most highly reputed Rhine wines are those of the Rheingau, the birthplace of the Rieslingthe pick of the crop being Schloss Johannisberg, Schloss Vollrads, Kloster Eberbach, Hattenheim and Riidesheim.

Berlin, like any other selfrespecting German town, can offer you a good glass of beer on tap or bottled in several varieties. If West Berlin is one big shop window for western culture, then the main branch is undoubtedly Ku'damm. Fashionable boutiques and big department stores line the avenue itself, while (Kaufhaus des Westens), a cherished Berlin institution, is situated close by in Tauentzienstrasse. The EuropaCenter near the Gediichtniskirche gathers together a variety of small shops under one roof.

Some articles to look out for in West Berlin: Antiques. Objects from the era of Kaiser Wilhelm; Art Nouveau and Art Deco glassware. Cutlery and electronic gadgets. These are of very high standard and design. Linens. Whether traditional or modern in design, German linens are noted for their good old fashioned quality. Porcelain. The manufacture of tableware and decorative objects continues a great German tradition.
Precision instruments. Many people appreciate German binoculars and telescopes. Turkish products. A delightful side effect of the Gastarbeiter (immigrant worker) colony.

Berlin information and car hire

You can book car hire in Berlin from most parts of the city but to save you time and money, pre-book car hire at the airport before you travel.Banking hours: From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to Friday. Most banks remain open two afternoons a week (often Tuesday and Thursday from 3.30 to 6 p.m.). Shops: Open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Barcelona Spain and car hire

2010-01-29T08:12:00.000-08:00

Whether you intend to visit Barcelona for a city tour or a beach holiday on the nearby Costa Dorada, the best way to travel around is to hire a car from Barcelona Airport.

Close on two million people live within the boundaries of Barcelona, a centre of banking, publishing and industry. Another million live in the surrounding metropolitan area. The city's attractions for visitors are renowned the mighty cathedral, the port, gracious promenades and distinguished museums.

You have to be alert for the smaller delights: a noble patio hidden from view, a tiled park bench moulded to the anatomy, a streetlight fixture lovingly .worked in iron, a sculpted gargoyle scowling down from medieval eaves. The lively people of Barcelona know how to make money.

They spend it on flowers

The next great era, economically and artistically, came with late 19th century industrialization. Politically, the 20th century witnessed a brief revival. In 1931, Barcelona became the capital of an autonomous Catalan Republic that came to an end in 1939 when General Franco triumphed. After Franco's death, the Catalan spirit was unshackled and regional power restored to Barcelona. The capital of Wilfred the Hairy and James the Conqueror remains an outward looking, eminently European city.

A Brief History of Barcelona

Phoenicians and Greeks bring commerce and culture to Catalonia. The Carthaginians give Barcelona its original name, Barcino, in honour of General Hamilcar Barca, father of the legendary Hannibal. In the 2nd Punic War the Romans defeat Carthage; they rule Iberia for the next six centuries. By the 5th century A.D., Rome's grip slackens and Spain is overrun by Vandals and Visigoths.

The next invasion occurs in 711 when Moorish forces from Africa assail the Iberian Peninsula. As Muslim civilization takes root, Christian efforts to reconquer Spain begin. Charlemagne captures Barcelona from the Moors and Catalonia becomes a Frankish dependency called the Spanish March. Count Wilfred the Hairy wins the independence of Barcelona from the Frankish king, Charles the Bald, in 878, ushering in a period of prosperity commercially, politically and intellectually. Count Ramon Berenguer I of Barcelona draws up a constitution called the Usatges in 1060. Ramon Berenguer IV (1131-62) marries a princess of Aragon, an expansionist tactic which creates a sizeable joint kingdom.

With the addition of two dukedoms in Greece, the seizure of Sardinia and annexation of Corsica, Catalonia dominates the Mediterranean. Catalan culture flourishes, great churches are constructed and works of art created. The discovery of the New World proves disastrous for Catalonia. The Mediterranean loses much of its importance as a trading zone and Barcelona declines as a commercial centre.

Seventeenth century Catalonia rebels against Philip IV of Spain. Violent struggles continue for more than a decade, until a besieged Barcelona finally surrenders and Catalonia renews its allegiance to the Spanish crown. In the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), Catalonia sides with Archduke Charles of Austria. The Bourbon King Philip V triumphs and Barcelona is overrun. The Catalonian parliament is disbanded and the Catalan language banned. Catalonia becomes little more than a satellite of France.

Throughout the 19th century

Catalonia is embroiled in a succession of disastrous wars, beginning with the War of the Third Coalition in 1805 and ending with the Spanish American War of 1898. In the first, Spain was defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar, and in the latter it lost the colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

Three decades after the empire fades away, King Alfonso XIII goes into exile as confusion and disorder grow in Spain. The Republicans, who favour socialist and anticlerical policies, gain control in several Spanish cities. Catalonia is proclaimed an autonomous republic. But Spain is a divided nation, and civil war breaks out between the conservative Nationalists and the Republicans.

Barcelona falls to the Nationalists in January 1939 and Catalonia is absorbed into General Franco's Spain. On Franco's death in 1975, King Juan Carlos I is crowned. After the years of repression, the language and culture of Catalonia flourish a new, and regional autonomy has been granted. Sightseeing The Barri Cotic (Gothic Quarter).

Old Barcelona and car hire

The old city of Barcelona can be explored by pre-booking a hire car from the airport.The nucleus of old Barcelona, the Barri Gotic is concentrated round the cathedral. Here are elements from just about every century since Iberian tribesmen first settled n the site over 2,000 years ago. On the spot where the cathedral stands today, the Romans dedicated a temple to Hercules (you will see three remaining columns in nearby Carrer del Paradis).

Two early Christian basilicas occupied the area before construction for the present Catedral de aula Eulalia between 1298 and 1454. Don't be taken in by the facade; however it dates from the end of the 19th century, when new work on the cathedral began, thanks to a subsidy from a rich industrialist.

The interior is laid out in classic Catalan Gothic form, with three aisles neatly designed to produce an effect of grandeur and uplift. Impossibly slender columns soar upwards to support the nave; muted golden light filters through 500year old stained glass one of the most striking characteristics of Catalan Gothic architecture. Below the altar lies the Crypt 65 of St. Eulalia, the 13yearold martyr to whom the cathedral is dedicated.

Basrelief carvings on the 14th century alabaster sarcophagus supply vividly gruesome details of her torture and execution. Behind the altar, in the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, have a look at the Christ of Lepanto. Juan de Austria carried this sacred image during the decisive sea battle of Lepanto (Spaniards and Venetians versus the Turks), and legend has it that the image of Christ moved its body at precisely the right moment to escape a bullet.

Pride of the Cathedral Museum, with its religious paintings and sculpture from the 14th century onwards, is undoubtedly the Piedad del Arcediana Despta, executed in 1490 by Bartolome Bermejo on commission from an egocentric archdeacon, who is pictured kneeling in the foreground of this transcendental Biblical scene. The nearby Carrer de la Tapineria where cobblers made shoes called tapb1leads to Plac;;a de Berenguer el Gran. Behind the modern equestrian statue of Ramon Berenguer III (who ruled Catalonia from 1096 to 1131) stands a reconstructed Roman wall. You can follow the wall for a fair dis tance on either side of the Plalaca de I'Mgel.

Not far away is the Museu de la Ciutat (Museum of City History), housed in a stately 16thcentury palace. There are paintings, tapestries, maps and documents of municipal import. But the real spectacle is below ground, for beneath the museum are the remains of a settlement the Romans called Julia Faventia Augusta Pia Barcino. Houses, a drainage system, roads and marketplaces have been excavated. The well lit, clearly documented underground archaeological zone now extends as far afield as the cathedral.

The museum windows face onto (King's Square), where, in the Middle Ages, farmers sold their produce and locksmiths made bolts. Here, too, is Salo del Tinell (Tinell Hall), where Columbus may have been welcomed by Ferdinand and Isabella on his return from America. The extraordinary span of the meeting hall's ceiling, without a column or support, represents a remarkable technical feat.

Beside the hall, the Archives of the Crown of Aragon contain documents dating back to the 9th century, as well as some very ancient books. Two other highly important buildings of medieval civic architecture remain to be visited: the Generalitat (provincial Council) and Casa Gran or Ajuntament (City Hall), facing one another on Plaz;a de Sant J aume. The Generalitat is the seat of the Catalonian Parliament. This ceremonial 15th century structure hides a surprise or two: the overpowering ornamentation of St. George's Room and an upstairs patio with orange trees. The Casa Gran still serves, from time to time, for meetings, and the impressive 14thcentury Sa1a del Consell de Cent (Hall of the Council of One Hundred) does honour to any assembly.

La Rambla Barcelona and car hire

Discover Barcelona and La Rambla and hire a car from Barcelona Airport.
Barcelona's best known promenade, La Rambla, descends gradually but excitingly from Plaza de Catalunya to the port, a distance of about a mile. Like the women of Barcelona, La Rambla is full of life, self assurance and charm. Almost every visitor succumbs to the attractions of this boulevard, thronged day and night with a fascinating crowd of people, animals and things.

Every couple of cross streets, the Rambla's character changes. So does its official name: Rambla dels Estudis, Rambla dels Caputxins, Rambla de Santa Monica and others-five in all which explains why very often it's simply referred to as Les Rambles.

To walk down La Rambla's full extent from the Plaza de Catalunya to the Monument a Colom (Columbus Monument) is an experience, an entertainment and an education. You can buy a canary, a monkey, a mouse or a turtle; a carnation, an orchid, a potted plant or a bird of paradise flower, a packet of nuts or one cigarette from a newsstand. Here the bookstalls stock all the papers and magazines of Europe, gypsies insinuate hot watches, lottery sellers flutter tickets practically guaranteed to win you a million. Visit the fronton to see a game of pelota (calledjaialai in the Basque country). The ball flashes around the court at speeds of up to 125 miles per hour. The betting around you is even more frantic; split tennis balls stuffed with gaming slips whizz overhead.

Places to go in Barcelona

Need a rest? Stop at one of the multitude of bars and cafes lining La Rambla while traffic streams by in a seemingly endless flow, barely noticed except by the waiters, brandishing their trays aloft, who dodge to and fro to their sources of supply between serried ranks of cars. Alternatively, leave bustling La Rambla, go through a small arcade and find yourself in the quiet, stately Plal;a Reial, the city's finest square. Or simply hire a chair on the Rambla. People watching is a cheap entertainment by any standards, and there's hours worth to watch.

The Mercat de Sant Josep (Boqueria), St. Joseph's Market, faces La Rambla. You have to wander among the eye catching displays to appreciate the wealth of fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and seafood available here. The fish are lovingly laid out on crushed ice. Just beside the market, in the graceful Palau de la Virreina, many an exhibition of more than local interest takes place. The palace also houses the remarkable permanent exposition of the Coleccio Cambo, where each one of 50 choice works is a masterpiece.

The Rambla leads on down to the Columbus monument and the port. Whether you stay in the shade of the tall plane trees on the promenade or cross the traffic to window shop along the edges of the street (where you can buy anything from a guitar to a deepsea diving bell), you'll want to walk the Rambla from beginning to end and back again. For this is surely where it's all happening.

On the other side of La Rambla, entering at the Plaza del Teatre, are the noisy streets of the infamous Barri Chino (Chinatown). Al The energetic yet graceful national dance of Catalonia, the sardana, with its haunting woodwind accompaniment, hypnotizes Catalans wherever they may be.

The Sardana Dance Barcelona

The exact origins of this disciplined ring dance are unknown. But in the Iliad, Homer describes a Greek dance very like the sardana, and researchers suggest that Greeks may have introduced it to Catalonia when they were established in Ampurias and elsewhere on the coast. The deceptively simple looking sardana is danced in normal everyday clothes, except on special occasions, and very often Catalans simply put their satchels, bags or briefcases in the centre of the circle.

The dancers form a circle which grows as newcomers join it. If it proves unwieldy, they simply form another. If they run out of room, they make circles within circles. Each group has a leader who keeps meticulous time and signals changes. If he makes one error his ring loses its rhythm and can't complete the final step in time with the band.

The wonder of the sardana, quickly noted by visitors, is the spirit it generates. The dance performed in many resorts on weekend evenings cuts all barriers. Doctors and farmers dance together; longhaired students join the same circle as middle aged housewives. They may have little in common in everyday life, but the sardana reminds them that, whatever their social differences, they are Catalans. Even tourists can, technically, join in. In actual fact, prudence is advisable.

There is a fairly strict rule that puts an end to most tourists' ambitions: no local would ever move into a circle that has a much higher standard of dancing than he is capable of, and the uninitiated visitor might thus 'find himself edged out.Though prostitution was outlawed in Spain in 1956, the colourful denizens of Barri Chino's bars have, one might gather, yet to be notified, and the area has a classic air of portside lowlife.

Montjuic Barcelona Spain

Montjui'c is a modest mountain less than 700 feet (some 200 metres) high. It long had only military significance. But Barcelona's World Exhibition of 1929 saw hundreds of buildings planted upon its hillsides. One of them, the Palau National, houses the Museu d'Art de Catalunya (Museum of Art of Catalonia), a great collection of medieval art; another, the Palace of Graphic Arts, has been turned into the Museu ArQueologic (Archaeological Museum), displaying prehistoric finds from Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.

The Museu Etnologic Colonial (Ethnological Museum) of Montjuic is devoted to specimens gathered by expeditions to exotic far-off places. While the newest museum on the mountain, opened in 1975, goes under the unwieldy name of Fundacio Joan MiroCentre d'Estudis d'Art Contemporani. This complex of original concrete and glass buildings Barcelona pays tribute to the great Catalan artist Joan Miro.

Perhaps the most popular sight of Montjulc is Poble Espanyol, a five acre exhibition of Spanish art and architecture in the form of an artificial village designed to show off the charms and styles of Spain's regions. The Waterfront Glass and steel commercial castles may come and go, but the Drassanes, or medieval shipyards, are special. From these royal dockyards were launched the ships which carried the red and yellow Catalan flag to the far corners of the world as it was known before Columbus. Since 1941 the Museum Maritime (Maritime Museum) has occupied the site. An annexe of the Maritime Museum is moored at the wharf of Port de la Pau (port of Peace): a fullsized replica of the Santa Marta, Columbus's own flagship. You may board the floating mini museum any time during the day.

The Picasso Museum Barcelona

The Museum Picasso is located in three contiguous 13thcentury palaces in Carrer de Montcada, a short walk inland. Though Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born in Malaga, he came to Barcelona at the age of 14 to study art. The museum displays examples of his early work, as well as a selection of paintings, drawings and prints spanning the decades from the 1920s through the '60s. The Ensanche, the new city which grew beyond the medieval walls in the 19th century contains some of the most creative buildings ever designed, the work of Barcelona's inspired art nouveau architects at the turn of the century. The Aerial ropeway over Barcelona’s port offers panorama of lively city.

Greatest of them all was Antonio Gaudi, a controversial genius who died in Barcelona in 1926, run down by a tram. Take a look at some of Gaudi's famous projects: Palau Giiell, just off the bustling Rambla, is noted for its innovative facade, decorated with imaginative ironwork. Casa Mila (La Pedrera), a block of flats on the corner of Passeig de Gracia and Carrer de Provenca, has an undulating facade and a roof terrace with weird formations covering chimneys and ventilators.

Casa Vicen, Gaudi's first big commission, sports the distinctive ironwork and tile that became the hallmark of his style. Parc Giiell started out as a suburban real estate development which failed. Count Gtiell and Gaudi wanted to create a perfect garden city for 60 families.

But only two houses were sold (Gaudi bought one of them). Explore the grounds and discover that the plaza is in fact the roof for what would have been a marketplace supported by a thicket of mock classical columns. The last column in each regiment is playfully askew.

Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia (Holy Family), Gaudi's eternally unfinished sandcastle cathedral, must be seen; you may not believe it. Wild and wonderful, it is an extravagant hymn to one man's talent and faith. Many Catalans look on this stupendous church as an extension of their own faith and strivings; their donations keep the construction work going.

Barcelona food

The Catalans appreciate hearty dishes based on honest ingredients fresh from the farm and the sea. If you share this enthusiasm, some memorable treats are in store. Since the Mediterranean is near at hand, the accent is on fish. Here are some of the varieties you'll be offered, normally fried or grilled: lenguado - sole; mero - sea bass; salmonetes': Mediterranean red mullet; calamares - squid; gambas prawns (shrimp); langostaspiny lobster.

Perhaps the greatest speciality of Catalonia is zarzuela, a triumphant concoction of up to a dozen different kinds of seafood, including prawns, shrimp and clams, octopus, squid and various white fish, all topped by a brandy and wine sauce, or try a stimulating salad of cod, beans, pickled onions and tomato. Xato (pronounced shoat) de Sitges is a related, but more complicated salad including anchovies, tunny fish or cod and a hot sauce made of olive oil, vinegar, red pepper, diced anchovies, garlic and ground almonds.

Pa amb tomaquet goes well with any salad. Peasant style bread, in huge slices, is smeared with fresh tomato and grilled. Butifarra, a rich pork sausage, may be served with chips, vegetables or eggs. Habas a la catalana are broad beans cooked with ham and butifarra. The sweetest temptation of all is crema catalana, custard with a glazed caramel topping.

Barcelona and Tarragona wines

The provinces of Barcelona and Tarragona produce good wine. Priorato is a well-known red wine of the region. White or rose Tarragona wines are notable. Penedes can be red or white. In Sitges a dessert wine, malmsey (malvasfa in Spanish), is produced. And the Penedes region is a major source of the world's bestselling white sparkling wine, unofficially called Spanish champagne. Sangria, a mixture of red wine, lemon and orange juice, brandy, mineral water, ice and slices of fruit, is rather like punch.

Shopping in Barcelona

Barcelona, with its fashionable shops, offers variety and quality, but no single street or neighbourhood will satisfy Your window shopping. The 75 commercial area is so extensive that you might have to walk miles to compare quality and value. Visitors from abroad can obtain a 10 per cent discount thus: 1) The shop will give a form to be duly filled up; one copy stays with the seller, the three others are for the tourist. 2) These three copies are to be presented at customs at the same time as the goods. 3) The sum represented by the discount will be forwarded by the shop to the tourist's home address.

What to buy in Barcelona

Catalonian ceramics range from the primitive to the sophisticated and they're always original. An intensive cottage industry along the coast produces leather goods, mainly handbags and items of clothing. The quality of the leather and the workmanship is erratic and so is the style you have to look around. High fashion shoes and boots are top class but expensive. Embroidery, lacework and woven goods such as rugs and bedspreads are produced in coastal villages which keep alive the old patterns and skills. Jewellery, either simple modern designs or traditional styles with lots of silver or gold filigree, can include bargains for the knowledgeable.
For less expansive budgets, there are records of Catalan music the sardana played by those reed bands, or emotional choral works.

Or local glasswork, such as the parron, from which wine is projected through the air to the consumer. Among the best buys of any trip to Spain are alcohol and tobacco, which remain inexpensive by European and American standards. Look for antiques in the shops concentrated around the cathedral. Dealers carry the real thing, as well as reproductions; sometimes the dividing line becomes blurred.

Places to visit in Athens Greece

2010-01-29T07:45:00.000-08:00

For every visitor, Athens holds an undeniable fascinations many centuries spanned, so much of Western civilization rooted in a single city. The city centre, just 4 miles from the sea, is scanned by a gentle audience of hills. Crowning Athensas it has since the dawn of Greek history the Acropolis with its breathtaking Parthenon. Considering the very real ravages of man and time, the wonder is that any of the city's venerable monuments have survived at all.

They have though even if the ancients would hardly recognize Athens today. Suburbs of cement and steel sprawl chaotically over its historic basin, and the crystal like quality of Attica's light, famous since Homer, has become little more than a memory. Swollen by unrelenting floods of Greeks migrating from the countryside, Athens' population has soared.

Athens and car hire

Car hire can be booked from Athens Airport before you travel.
During the white hot afternoon hours, the city's bustle dies away, the streets are shuttered. Athens drowses in ritual observance of that most logical of Mediterranean traditions, the siesta just as it doubtless did under Pericles. When the sun starts its downward curve, the pace picks up again. Offices and boutiques reopen, often until 8.30 p. m. Shopping streets throb with activity, cafes fill up, neon blinks on, the first strains of bouzouki music are heard from the labyrinth of bars under the Acropolis.

Generally Athenians are short in stature and dark haired. Some could pass as replicas of their discus throwing ancestors who pose classically in the museums. They are a volatile, talkative and irrepressibly curious people. The Athenians' surpassing kindness to foreigners reflects the tradition of generous hospitality instinctive to all Greeks.

At the same time you'll come to respect the local business acumen: shoppers beware! First Hellenic races (Achaeans, Aeolians and lonians) descend from north and settle on Greek mainland (Mycenaean civilization). Siege of Troy (14001390 B.C.). Invasion of Dorians who destroy Mycenaean culture (1100 B.C.). 776 B. C. first recording of Olympic Games. Although city states of Athens, Sparta, Thebes and others are often at war, they share common sense of identity: they are all Greeks with same language and religion. Athens dominates entire peninsula and experiences all forms of government from monarchy to democracy to dictatorship and back to democracy. The country produces great poets, lawmakers, generals, statesmen and philosophers.

Persian wars which influenced entire history of Europe. 490 B. C. Athenians defeat Darius' vastly superior forces at Marathon. 480 B. C. a few Greek troops under Leonidas hold up enormous Persian army un der Xerxes at pass of Thermopylae long enough for Athens to be evacuated, before Xerxes plunders the city and burns all wooden constructions. In same year Greece's much smaller fleet under Themistocles renounces Persians in the bay of Salamis. In final and decisive battle at Plataea, Persians beaten and Greek independence ensured (479 B.C).

The Golden age of Athens

Athens reaches its Golden Age of art, literature, philosophy and science under rule of Pericles. Parthenon built. 431-407 B. C Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta won by latter with naval help from Persians. Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, takes political lead after battle of Charioneia (338 B. C). Macedonian troops occupy Athens in 322 and again in 262 B. C while the city continues to decline. Macedonia becomes Roman province (146 B. C). In 86 B. C Roman General Sulla sacks Athens in retribution for its alliance with one of Rome's enemies, and many Athenian treasures are taken to Rome. After visit of St. Paul (A. D. 50)

Christianity in Greece

Emperor Constantine chooses Greek colonial town of Byzantium as his New Rome and calls it Constantinople. During Byzantine rule, Athens sinks into provincial obscurity. In 529 Emperor Justinian puts definite end to Greek polytheism by closing last pagan temples and Athenian schools of philosophy.

After being ruled by adventurers from Burgundy, Catalonia and Florence, Athens and Attica fall to Turks in 1456. Venetians briefly take Athens from Turks in 1466 and again in 1687 when they damage the Parthenon. The Ottoman rule is Greece's darkest age, and only the Orthodox Church provides people with a sense of continuity with the past. With foreign help (Lord Byron has popularized cause abroad), Greeks finally win against Turks. 1834 Athens becomes capital of Greece. Great Powers install Bavarian Prince Otto as king. He and Queen Amalia deposed in 1862 and after European diplomatic bargaining, William of the Danish royal house takes Greek throne as George I, King of Hellenes, until his assassination in 1913.

Cretan politician Venizelos, several times prime minister, helps Greece regain Macedonia, most of Aegean Islands and Epirus. Under population exchange agreement with Turkey (1922), many repatriated Greeks flood into Athens. 1934-40 Greece under dictatorship of Metaxas. During World War 11 Greece invaded and controlled by Germans, until freed by Allied forces in 1944. 1947-49 Civil War which ends with Communist defeat. 1967 Military dictatorship seize power forcing King Constantine into exile. 1974 regime of the colonels crumbles. With King Constantine still in exile, popular referendum abolishes monarchy, and democracy with free elections is
restored.

Piraetts and Modern Athens

But you can still find local colour especially at Tourkolillano (officially called Mikrolimano). Here you can eat at one of the enticing seafood restaurants ringing the tiny yacht basin, and watch the fluffing of brightly coloured canvas and the bobbing of masts. Included in your outdoor dining programme will be a stream of gardenia vendors, fortune tellers, guitar players strumming Theodorakis tunes, pistachio salesmen.

None will press too hard. The only thieves you'll encounter on this enchanting waterfront will be the overfed cats (if you give something to one, you'll end up with 30 or 40 around you).

In Athens, you can get your bearings from the two great squares: elegant Syntagma and dowdier Omonia. They're perhaps a ten minute stroll apart, linked directly by two major streets, Stadiou and Venizeziou.

On Syntagma (its name celebrates the March 1844 Greek constitution) are deluxe hotels, expensive cafes, and tall glass and concrete buildings containing air terminals, travel agencies, banks, post offices and international business concerns.

Across the upper, east side of the square is Greece's Parliament, until 1935 the royal palace. Soldiers in traditional uniform guard a memorial to the nation's unknown warrior in the forecourt.

The oldest quarter of Athens and by far the most charming is the Plaka. People have lived continuously for more than 3,000 years in this picturesque maze huddled against 51 the northern slope of the Acropolis. Ancient ruins, Byzantine churches, shops, cafes, hotels, bars and nightclubs are packed into less than one quarter of a square mile.

Athens and The Acropolis

This I0-acre (4ha.) rock rising 300 feet (90 m.) above the plain of Attica was the making of ancient Athens. Battered and incomplete though it may now be, the Acropolis possesses such majesty that it still ranks among the world's true wonders. The name means high town, from the Greek acro (highest point) and polis (town or city). Alternately it means citadel, which it was originally place of defence shared by gods, kings and heroes.
The visitors' entrance is the Beule Gate (a 3rd centuryA. D. Roman addition named after the French archaeologist who discovered it in 1852). The Propylaea. Six Doric columns mark this monumental entranceway to the Acropolis.

The Propylaea was planned by Pericles and his architect Mnesicles as the most spectacular secular building in Greece, more complex than the Parthenon which it was designed to complement. Construction began in 437 B. C. but was halted five years later by the Peloponnesian War and never finished.

The central and largest of the gateways was for chariots and approached by a ramp; steps lead up to the four other entries destined for lesser mortals. The well preserved building on the north (left) side

The Temple of Athena Nike

Housed a gallery of paintings by famous artists offered to Athena. The Temple of Athena Nike. High on a terrace off to the right (southwest) of the Propylaea perches this enchanting temple, the work of architect Callicrates. It enjoys a glorious panorama of the sea and distant mountains. Tiny compared with the Parthenon towards which it points, the temple of Athena Nike (also called Wingless Victory) now standing is a piece by piece modern reconstruction of what remained after the Turks tore down the original in 1687.

Passing through the Propylaea, you emerge onto the great sloping plateau of the Acropolis. Try to imagine what it was like 2,400 years ago, when these masterworks of architecture and sculpture were gong up. Scores of stone cutters, carpenters, founders and others swarmed over this site.

Dominating the immediate foreground was a gigantIc bronze statue of Athena under another guise Athena Promachos, the Defender. This statue of the goddess holding shield and spear was created by Phidias to honour the victory at Marathon. The great statue stood here for 1,000 years, until it was carted off to Constantinople in the 6th century A. D.

The history of Athens

Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 132. It had 104 Corinthian columns, each 56 feet (17 m.) high and more than 7 feet (2 m.) thick. Today only 15 remain upright. To mark the separation of his own Athens from the ancient city of Theseus, an arched gateway was erected facing the temple. Relatively modest in size, Hadrian's Arch is thought to have been a donation from the people of Athens. The Agora. The Agora is almost as old as Athens itself. Originally the word meant a gathering together, later the place where people met and conducted business. Sprawling under the northern walls of the Acropolis, it was the heart of the ancient lower city, the marketplace and civic centre.

Today only rubble and foundations remain of the marble or stone altars, temples, law courts, state offices, public archives, shops, concert hall, dance floor and gymnasium that stood here. A panoramic, pictorial reconstruction on a pedestal by the main entrance on Odos Adrianou helps you visualize the Agora in its golden days.

The Olympic Stadium. In the hollow of Arditos Hill, the modern Olympic Stadium is on the site of the stone original built by Lycurgus in 330 B. C. In the 2nd century A. D. Emperor Hadrian introduced Rome's favourite sport here: he imported thousands of wild animals to be pitted against gladiators. The stadium, built for the first modern Olympics in 1896, seats 70,000 people. Its length is just over 600 feet (180 m.) or one stadion. In form it's identical to the ancient U shaped stadiums at Olympia and Delphi. Poseidon's renowned temple crowns this promontory 45 miles (70 km.) south of Athens, as beautiful a place to watch the sun set or rise as there is in the Aegean.

The marble temple, with 15 of its original 34 Doric columns now standing, was built about 444 B. C. Another of stone had been started in this obviously commanding location, but the Persians destroyed it in 490 B. C. The precipice is a sheer 197foot (60m.) drop to the sea. Lord Byron, whose name you'll see carved on one of the pillars, was so inspired by the union that he wrote a famous poem about it.

Eating Out in Athens

Although Athens can hardly claim to be a gourmet's paradise, you'll find eating here very satisfying, perhaps even exciting and often in a pleasant outdoor setting. Most restaurants will serve the following specialities: Appetizers - a baked aubergine puree flavoured with garlic, onions and herbs. Dzadziki: a yoghurt dip of sliced cucumber, flavoured with garlic. Tararnosalata: a spread of lararna (grey mullet roe), mashed potatoes, bread, olive oil and lemon juice. Dip bread in it as an appetizer or have it on lettuce as a salad. Soup Soupa avgoernono: a soup of chicken or meat, eggs and rice, flavoured with lemon.

Fish in Greece

Aslakos: spiny lobster; barbouni: red mullet; fagri: sea bream; garides: prawns; glossa: sole; kalamaraki: squid; kefalos: grey mullet; lilhrini: spotted bream; marides: similar to sprats; chtapodi: octopus.

Meat dishes in Greece

Dolmades: grape leaves stuffed with lamb and rice, seasoned with wine, grated onion and herbs. Often served hot with lemon sauce. marrow (zucchini) stuffed with rice and meal. Kefledes: meatballs, flavoured with onion, cinnamon, oregano, mint and wine. Baked or deep fried in oil and served with a sauce. Osaka: sliced aubergine and minced meat, baked with a white sauce and grated cheese.

Greek Salad

Don't miss the delicious village salads (salata chorialiki), sliced vegetables lopped with feta, a cheese made from sheep's milk.

Wine in Greece

The first time you sip Retsina, you may get a shock; it's flavoured with resin and has a turpentine like taste but it rarely causes hangovers and helps digest rich, oily foods. Of the undesignated wines Demestica, white or red, is popular, and Santa Helena and Pallini are pleasant, dry whites. Reds are Naoussa and Santa Laoma, and some refreshing lighter roses can also be found.

National drinks in Greece

The national aperitif is ouzo. a clear, aniseed flavoured spirit. Greek brandy is sweet and quite agreeable. Metaxa is the best known; Kamba is a little drier. Greek beer (bira) is excellent.

Snacks in Greece

Ask for souvlakia. meat and vegetables grilled on a skewer; picy sausages (giros) and doner kebab, meat cooked on a spit, or sollvlaki me pilla, grilled meat, tomatoes, peppers and onions in a Oat bun (pi Ita). Try not to buy on impulse: things are not always what they seem in Greece. The best bet is to stick to handmade items. Labour costs are still low, and the quality of rural and island handicraft remains high. Rugs and Carpets.

Flokali rugs priced by the kilo (a square metre weighs about 2'1, kilos) come machine made or, preferably, hand oven. They are made of pure sheep's wool shag, spun from fibres into yarn and then luoped together to be processed under water. Furs. If purchased intelligently, fur coats, stoles, capes , and hats made from pelts hand sewn together can be a handsome bargain. You'll find mink, muskrat, beaver, red, stone marten and Persian lamb.

The secret of the pelt strip coat lies in the sewing, which varies in quality. Shop carefully around Syntagma, and verify the quality and origin of the pelt. Jewellery. Reproductions of museum jewellery in gold and silver are definitely worth a second look.

You'll find the best jewellery shops in the Voukourestiou and Panepistimiou area. Gold and silver are sold by weight; each item should be weighed in front of you. Some gold rings are made from two different purities; check for hollowness and correct weight price equivalents. Enamel cannot be graded for quality, so cast a suspicious eye on anything which seems too spectacular.

Places to visit in Europe

2010-01-29T07:40:00.000-08:00

Lovers, young and old, will swoon at the bel canto singers in Greece, both in the backstreet tenements and the great Theatre San Carlo opera house. Athens has long basked in its reputation as the cradle of Greek and indeed Western civilisation. Greece's return to the democracy it invented 2,500 years ago, along with its more recent entry into the European Common Market, has shaken the capital out of its torpor, persuaded it to clean up its ancient monuments and at least make a start on the problematic air pollution.

If you're headed for a rest on the Greek islands, stop off in Athens to see the great Acropolis, with its Parthenon temple, and the unrivalled classical collections of the National Archaeological Museum. The Plaka district of boutiques, bars and restaurants has a slight air of 'tourist trap' about it, but the Monastiraki is a lively flea market. Watch the Greek world go by from a sidewalk cafe on Syntagma Square.

Switzerland offers a cool relief from that unrelenting Mediterranean sun. The younger artists, writers, movie makers and other jolly misfits who find a special stimulus in the air of this exceptional city. The main street is Kurfiirstendamm, which you'll soon know as Ku'damm, symbol of Berlin's boisterous prosperity.

The art galleries on and off the Ku'damm, the museums of European art at Dahlem, ancient Egyptian art near the Charlottenburg Palace or modern art at the National gallery, the Philharmonic concert hall, are all testimony to the vitality of West Berlin's cultural life.

You should also visit East Berlin, not only for the curiosity of crossing the Wall, but also to get at least a glimpse of both how the most prosperous of the East bloc countries lives, and what this great city used to look like, architecturally at least, in its roaring twenties. The eastern sector has kept much more of that old world intact.

Hamburg is the pride of Germany's north, a thriving port city of great civic dignity. Its opera, theatre and art galleries belie the somewhat tawdry reputation it has acquired through the red light district of the Reeperbahn.

The curious and bold will seek it out, down by the docks, but the more prudent or less prurient will stick to the nearby Sankt Pauli fish market early in the morning.

Rhine River Cruise and car hire in Germany

Whether you decide to take advantage of a Rhine River Cruise or tour the cities of Germany by hire car, you will not be disappointed.

If you're planning a Rhine river cruise, pay a visit first to Cologne. Not only does it have a grandiose Gothic cathedral and fine museums of Roman and German art, but it's the ideal place to sample the best of the Rhine and Mosel wines perfect with the locally hunted venison. It still may not look like it, but Bonn is the political capital of the Federal Republic. It's also a pleasant university town and most famous as Beethoven's birthplace. His well preserved home is certainly worth a visit.

At the junction of the Rhine and Main rivers, Frankfurt is Germany's financial centre, and its mammoth Book Fair every October has contributed towards making it capital of world publishing. Badly bombed in World War II, its 15th century Romerberg square has been meticulously restored.

The town's prosperity has enabled it to replenish the great art museum, Stiidelsches Kunstinstitut, with some of the best European and American works on the market. The attractive town of Heidelberg, animated by lively student taverns and dramatic firework displays in the ruins of the old castle, is an easy drive down the Autobahn.

Munich car hire

Munich car hire is easy to book before you travel. Munich is the capital of Bavaria and often likes to think of itself as a place apart from the rest of the country while remaining resolutely the most German of cities. It's both a rollicking town for lovers of beer and sausages at the annual Oktoberfest and a magnet for the most creative talents in German art and cinema, concentrated in the neighbourhood of Schwabing.

Luxembourg is the charming capital of a country of the same name, which is not much bigger than the city itself. The old part of town is perched up on a plateau overlooking the Alzette river and you get a superb view of the surrounding forests and meadows. To the extent that the Common Market represents a European unity, Brussels is its capital. The imposing Grand Place is the centre of town life and civic pride. Gourmets agree the Belgians produce the best French fries in Europe (in curious combination with mussels). Let's finish in style with Amsterdam, one of the most cheerful cities in the world.

Things to do in Holland

True, it's a rich repository of Dutch culture. The Rijksmuseum is famous for its Rembrandts, the Van Gogh Museum is the perfect place to contemplate that tormented Impressionist's work and life, the Stedlijk is an admirable museum of our modern era. But above all this is a town to see the people and their homes. Start your visit with a boat trip along the canalsSingel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengrachtand you'll float past delightful mansions of the 17th century. This is a town of noble bourgeois and bumptious youngsters. Get out there walking or rent a bike and join in the fun.

Seek out the floating flower market, beautifully arrayed on sturdy old barges near the Munt (Mint). Wheel around the lively popular neighbourhood of J ordaan, peep into the sleepy courtyards. This town manages to be bright and clean without the sterility of excessive hygiene. The people are friendly, witty, they speak good English and they're curious about the whole world.

If you have something of the same attitude as the people of Amsterdam, you're all set to go to Europe. Bon voyage.

Italy and things to do

2010-01-29T07:21:00.000-08:00

The special richness of Italy for the tourist is that centuries of regional rivalries have left the country with no dominant capital like London in Britain or Paris in France. Rome may be the political capital, but culturally, other major cities Florence, Venice, Milan or Naples in no way feel overshadowed.

But let's start in Rome anyway, since so much of Europe itself started there, too. It's certainly not a town to 'do' in a couple of days. Take its cultural riches slowly the ancient splendours of the Coliseum, the Roman Forum in its noble ruins; the artistic treasures of the Vatican, not just Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, but also the serenity of the Raphael Room and the grandeur of St. Peter's and its vast square.

Combine them with the enjoyment of Rome's wonderful street life, from the famous Spanish Steps of Piazza di Spagna and the lovely Piazza Navona, to the old working class neighbourhood of Trastevere, Fellini's Rome across the Tiber River. Throw your three coins in the Trevi Fountain, seek out the last vestiges of a few dolce vita dinosaurs along the Via Veneto. You should shop or at least window shop around the stylish luxury of Via del Corso.

Via Condotti, Frattini or Borgognonafor knitwear, silks and leather goods. Cool off with a granita di caffe (iced coffee). Fill up with one of the great simple Roman pasta dishes, olio, aglio, peperoncino (spaghetti with oil, garlic and pepper) or carbonara (bacon bits, egg and cheese), together with a local Frascati white wine. Above all, try to see this town at dawn and sunset, when the light is mellow, mellow, and mellow.

Milan car hire

Car hire in Milan can be prebooked at Milan Airport. Milan is the country's major business centre, home of its stock exchange, but also a leading focus for fashion and the arts. The Milanese tend to regard themselves as more sophisticated than the provincials of Rome or Florence.
These days, men will find English suits and coats on the Via Monte Napoleone better cut than in most shops in London.

When you visit the cathedral, get up on the roof to wander around the, yes, 135 white marble steeples. The Pinacoteca di Brera has a magnificent collection of old Italian masters and in the little galleries of the surrounding neighbourhood, you'll find the country's principal avant/garde artists.

Things to do in Venice

Do it right and Venice will never disappoint you. Even at the busiest moments of the year, in July and August when you might think that La Serenissima, as she is known, will succumb to the onslaught of the hordes of her admirers, you walk just 100 yards away from the crowds and you'll find yet another blessed quiet spot of Venetian magic.

For this town perched on a lagoon is magic, like no other on earth, and its canals and bridges, palaces and little churches, artisan's workshops and galleries, all contain a part of the potion.

Your gondolier you must try one at least once is well enough paid to know exactly where to take you away from the mob. If the Piazza San Marco with its cafes and bandstands, splendid basilica and cheeky pigeons, is too crowded in the middle of the day, go back at midnight or first thing in the morning.

The shopping district of the Rialto is nearly always packed but It would be much less fun when deserted, so just plunge in. The great Venetian artists Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronesecan be seen at the Accademia, but also in the Doge's Palace. One painter, Carpaccio, had a famous beef dish named after him, another, Bellini, is honoured with a peach champagne cocktail.

There's something awe inspiring about the towering reputation of Florence, but there's no better place to go to sense Europe's achievements. Less boisterous than the Romans and less bustling than the Milanese, the Florentines today have an elegance and dignity appropriate to their city's prestige. Women travelers insist that there is no more handsome man in the world than an upright,.

silver haired 60 year old Florentine gentleman strolling on the fashionable Via de Tornabuoni with his cashmere coat nonchalantly draped like a cape over his shoulders, a Medici reincarnate.

Each visitor comes away with his own favourite memory the Masaccio frescoes in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine, the Ghiberti bronzes on the Baptisery's Doors of Paradise, the Fra Angelico paintings for the monastery of San Marco.

The masterpieces of the Uffizi and Pitti galleries are beyond counting don’t try to 'do' them all, just seek out a dozen and you'll still leave dazed and happy. For your best first or last view of Florence go up to the hillside town of Fiesole. From here, you'll get a taste of the rest of Tuscany of which

Florence and Pisa Italy

Florence is the capital. The vineyards and cypress trees will lead you west to Pisa, where you'll find the leaning tower more poetic than comic in the cathedral square understandably named Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles). A few miles north of Pisa, Lucca offers a charmed moment in the exquisite medieval streets inside its ramparts.

Don't be frightened of Naples. Cynics say that the old adage See Naples and die is exaggerated and should really only be See Naples and have your pocket picked. In this respect, Naples is in fact not so very different from American port towns. You'll avoid trouble with the elementary precautions of leaving your valuables in the hotel safe deposit and holding firmly on to your handbag. The rewards of a visit to this unique south Italian city far outweigh the risks. Many of Pompeii’s treasures are on display in the museum.

Naples and car hire

Car hire in Naples is easy to pre-book from the airport.
The bay really is as beautiful as the poets and singers say, the Mount Vesuvius volcano makes a spectacular backdrop and the people are the most colourful in all Italy. The Certosa (charterhouse) di San Martino gives you a lovely view of the bay.

Things to do in Spain and Portugal

2010-01-29T07:17:00.000-08:00

Since the death of General Franco, Spain took on a new lease of life. Things are a lot more exciting these days, even in the once rather staid and melancholy Madrid. The flamenco from Andalusia but also the Castilian fandango and bolero are danced in the cabarets of the capital till the early hours of the morning. Every other bodega claims to be an old Hemingway watering hole. Most of them are.

Nonetheless, despite the heightened bustle at the Puerto del Sol, the prevailing tone of Madrid is still one of dignity. Its Prado museum has one of the great art collections of the Western world, proud not only of its Velazquez, EI Greco and Goya, but also of the triumphant return of Picasso's Guernica. You'll find the stately essence of old Madrid in the narrow streets tucked away behind the Royal Palace.

And if you're an aficionado of bullfights, the best are to be found at the Plaza Monumental and Vista Alegre.For some easy and rewarding excursions around Madrid, drive out to Toledo with its fantastic cathedral and colourful old Jewish quarter, to Avila for its fascinating ramparts or to EI Escorial for the grand domes of King Philip II's royal palace city.

Capital of the Republican government during its valiant struggle against fascism in the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona stands with pride and independent spirit apart from the rest of Spain. The feisty Catalonians have made it the country's liveliest cultural centre, the gathering place for writers, artists and eccentrics.

Barcelona and La Rambla

The centre of town is around La Rambla, where high and low gather to discuss the future of the nation, the fortunes of the local soccer team or how to carryon a torrid affair without wife or husband finding out. The port district behind La Rambla, the Barrio Chino, is raunchy but exciting for the bold and brazen. Plan your evening stroll or paseo, like the Spanish, before a late dinner. Catalan cuisine is robust rather than refined try the zarzuela fish soup and escudella meat stew, with a fruity sangria wine punch to help it down.

Besides the impressive cathedral in the medieval Barri Gotic, Barcelona's great architectural attraction is the bizarre 19th century work of Antonio Gaudi, plant like extrusions covering his church and apartment buildings. Seville was the commuter terminus for the Spaniards' voyages of discovery to America. Testimony to the famous mistake they made about where they thought they were going can still be seen today in the Archivo General de las Indias, the museum where you can see original documents of Columbus, Cortes and Magellan.

But Seville is now above all a great centre of Spanish Catholicism. Its great cathedral is the third biggest church in Europe, after Rome's St. Peter's and London's St. Paul's. It's also the home of the country's best flamenco dancing, often right there in the streets of the Barrio de Santa Cruz (once the old Jewish quarter).

Together with the minaret of the Giralda, remains of the mosque that the cathedral replaced, the Moorish fortress of the Alcazar and its tropical gardens are an intriguing reminder of the varied exotic elements of Spain's beginnings. You're a long way from Oslo. Important wherever you are in Spain (or, for that matter, in any other of the hot countries of southern Europe): participate in the lifesaving local custom of the siesta. A half hour nap in the afternoon will work wonders it makes late nights and early starts a lot easier.

Portugal and things to do

First thing to remember when in Lisbon is not to mistake the Portuguese for Spaniards, they really don't appreciate it. But you'll find them a polite and friendly people, for the most part more easygoing than the Spanish. But note, too, that touch of melancholy in their music, the heartrending fado sung as you sip a glass of chilled semi sparkling young white wine known as vinho verde, literally green wine, not sweet, not dry. And they don't kill their bulls at the bullfight. Enigmatic bunch.

Walk through the ancient Alfama neighbourhood and you'll encounter vestiges of the Greeks, Romans, Visigoths and Moors who created this intriguing cocktail. Built on hills overlooking the Tagus River, it's a' great walking town, with sudden dramatic views, best of all from Castelo Sao Jorge (Saint George's Castle).

Places to visit in Europe

2010-01-29T07:14:00.000-08:00

After the acclimatization in Britain and Ireland, your choices are infinite. In Scandinavia, where they speak very good English, too, Stockholm can be easily navigated by hire car from the airport, and is a pleasant mixture of historic and modern, sexy and straitlaced. The medieval charm of Gamla Stan has been lovingly restored to house art galleries, covered and open air markets, and nightclubs for every taste. For a sense of traditional Swedish life, visit the open air folklore museum at Skansen.

If you like the variety of smorgasbord, check out the giant market at Ostermalms Saluhall to see just how many different kinds of herring the Swedish can put together (almost as many as the French with their cheeses). Copenhagen is of course the home of Hans Christian Andersen and you'll find his old house down at the harbour, along with a lot less whimsical nightlife for sailors and other lonely hearts. But there's still something of Andersen's fairy tale atmosphere in the Tivoli Gardens ablaze with the colours of 160,000 flowers, particularly spectacular when illuminated at night.

Oslo, big capital of a small country, is spacious enough for dozens of cross country. ski runs inside the city limits, much favoured by businessmen commuting in the wintertime. In a beautiful setting of moorland, lakes and fir tree forests, the town has grown prosperous through Norway's North Sea oil and you can watch construction of the gigantic oil rigs down at the city docks.

The museums of this seafaring people will also show you their ancient Viking long boats and the Kon Tiki balsa raft that crossed the Pacific a few years ago. In the Vika shopping district, you'll find some terrific ski sweaters or mink coats, and art lovers will appreciate the Edvard Munch Museum to which the great Norwegian neurotic bequeathed the bulk of his work.

Finland car hire

Finland is attached to, but not strictly speaking part of, Scandinavia, and car hire from the airport at Helsinki is easy to prebook. Its capital Helsinki acts as a kind of bridge between the Russians and the Swedes, Danes and Norwegians. The city's roots in the western world are clear in the striking modern architecture of Aalto Saarinen. Aalto's splendid Finlandia Hall is the ideal place to hear a concert of the great Finnish composer Sibelius.

The onion domes of the Orthodox churches are an equally clear indicator of the Russian presence in Finnish life. Helsinki boasts the cleanest air of any capital in Europe and broad spacious avenues to enjoy it.

The shopping is much appreciated by the wives of Moscow based Western diplomats who fly in for the hairdressers and boutiques around Esplanadi Park. Connoisseurs insist that the local vodka is the best in the world, bar none, and their children love the pancakes with raspberries.

If you may, from the purely practical point of view, have some legitimate hesitation about driving in London, on the Continent a hire car can be a real asset. European freeways are first class, and the secondary roads, with some exceptions in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, are excellently paved and signposted. The important thing is to have the right means of transport at the right moment.

For instance, as fast and convenient as it may be, instead of flying to Paris from London, you could take the cross Channel ferry and then the train to see something of the beautiful Normandy' countryside on the way into the French capital. For visiting Paris itself, the local subway (Metro) and bus systems are efficient and a lot of fun, too, but you should consider renting a car for your excursions outside the city to, say, the magnificent chateau at Versailles or the horseracing in idyllic Chantilly. A car will make it easier for you to plan a picnic and so give you an excuse to take full advantage of Paris's marvellous street markets for your provisions.

Things to do in Paris

For the best way to enjoy Paris is to try, for however brief a time, to participate in the Parisians' daily life rather than make your stay there just another sightseeing tour. Visit those bakeries, cheese shops and wine merchants. Don't always take your breakfast at the hotel, get out early to a corner cafe and have your coffee and croissants with the locals.

But don't neglect Paris's traditional sightseeing, either. There are some tricks: get your first view of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame cathedral from a Seine riverboat, bateau mouche. Go to the Louvre Museum early Monday morning, not Sunday, to the super modern Pompidou Centre in the evening, not the afternoon, to the flea market at Clignan court at dawn with the early bird antique dealers.

In Paris you'll be able to sample all the regional cuisines of the country the snails of Burgundy, oysters of Brittany, goose of the Perigord and of course the wines, not just the great labels of Bordeaux and Burgundy, but also the lesser known regional wines of Cahors, Provence or the Loire. There's something here for all 13 five senses, plus that sixth intuitive sense for adventure.

Fly or drive down to the French Riviera. From Nice east to the Italian border via Monaco and Menton, or west through Antibes, Juan les Pins and Cannes to Saint Tropez, you pass through towns whose names evoke lazy luxury, easy fun in the sun, sea and sand.

After years of pollution, the French Mediterranean beaches have cleaned up their act. Nice has a pebble beach, but superb white sands are to be found in and around Cannes, home of the international film festival in May, or outside Saint Tropez, where the girls look like film stars all summer long.

Things to do in Nice France

In Nice, take a walk along the stylish Promenade des Anglais (the English are credited with discovering the Riviera) to the old town and its Italian style fish, fruit .and vegetable market. As Nizza, Nice was for long an Italian possession, and its older neighbourhoods still have a certain Italian atmosphere. Monaco is famous for its Grand Prix motor race through the downtown streets of Monte Carlo (also in May) and the casino gambling. Choose between the old fashioned elegance of crystal chandeliers over the roulette and baccarat tables or the more recent Las Vegas style rooms with craps and slot machines.

Europe and its history

2010-01-29T07:11:00.000-08:00

Looking back over their history, it's hard to find a time when they weren't killing one another, grabbing each other's land, sinking ships, burning churches, stealing works of art. Even today, when they've made what for want of a better word they call peace, they can't help fighting over the price of olive oil, wheat and codfish or whether to put clean gasoline in their cars. No, Europeans are not exactly one big happy family.

But they do have fun. The land they grabbed is marvellously fertile, the churches they left standing are magnificent and the works of art eminently worth stealing. And when you taste your first Genovese tagliatelle al pasta or crusty French baguette, you'll understand that the olive oil and wheat are worth fighting for.

Europe and car hire

Touring some of the three dozen cities, you'll soon sense that the good things of European life derive from its sheer diversity. Take the city parks. When you walk around the geometrically arranged lawns bordered by regiments of chestnut trees in Paris's Tuileries Gardens, you couldn't possibly mistake them for the rolling expanses of grass scattered with sturdy oaks, deck chairs and loving couples in London's Hyde Park.

Paris's poets and philosophers meditate along right angled or diagonal gravel paths while their London counterparts proclaim their wisdoms corralled in one corner of their park on soapboxes. Even the so called Englischer Garten of Munich has as its centrepiece a decidedly unEnglish beer garden. Or the cheeses.

France may have 400 different kinds (the figure seems to change as often as the Dow Jones average), but the serious gourmet should not neglect the scores of others to be found in Italy, Britain or the Netherlands, each of them subtly different in aroma, texture and taste. The Baroque palaces of Austria do not resemble those of Italy; the beaches of Greece and Spain are as different as chalk and cheese.

The diversity of urban landscape, cuisine or architecture is of course an inevitable expression of the endless variety in the people themselves, not just the obvious differences between, say, Swedes and Italians but also between Prussian and Bavarian Germans or Parisian and Mediterranean Frenchmen.

These national and regional differences are occasional causes of international and civil wars, but a permanent source of pride for the natives and a joy for the foreign visitors. The ideal places for you to sample the flavour and spice of this variety are the major cities, natural magnets for the best talents in Europe.

Well, where do you start? If you don't want to add too much culture shock to your jet lag by confronting a foreign language as soon as you land, it may be a good idea to start with an English speaking city. So unless the old country demanding your undivided allegiance is Ireland or Scotland, which we'll get to in a minute, your first choice is likely to be London.

Things to do in London

The old lady is looking good. Since Britain's entry into the European Common Market in the 1960s, London has become a top tourist destination not just for Americans but for all of Britain's European partners. This has forced London, at last, to raise the standards of its restaurants and the comfort of its hotels. The internationalization of the job market has brought in Italian,

Spanish, Greek and even French chefs and the competition has improved the quality of English food, too. The theatre is as good as ever, whether in the venerable West End houses around Shaftesbury Avenue or in the ultramodern performing arts centre at the Barbican and the prestigious new National Theatre on the South Bank of the River Thames.

The monuments and museums of London's historic past are remarkably unforbidding, but you still won't get the guard at Buckingham Palace to give you a kiss. Shopping is a delightful adventure both in the imperturbable department stores of Oxford Street and Knightsbridge or the elegant arcades of Piccadilly.

Car hire in London

The best way to get around London is to hire a car from the airport at Heathrow or Gatwick. If you're not planning to tour the surrounding countryside, wait till you get to the Continent. But before you cross the English Channel, why not take a plane or train up to Edinburgh? Scotland's dashing; cobblestoned capital charms visitors with its graceful Royal Mile stretching from Edinburgh Castle to the palace of Holy rood house.

The couple of dozen courses in and around the city limits make it a heady delight for golfers, and the pure malt whisky served in the cheerful taverns does a similar job for the rest of us.

Dublin is for poets, professional and amateur, romantic and cynical. The professionals bear names like W.B.Yeats, James Joyce and George Bernard Shaw and the amateurs are to be seen and heard any night of the week in the pubs around St Stephen's Green. They are at their most entertaining on cabaret night. For your moments of meditation, walk the quadrangles of Trinity College and in the evening enjoy the splendid Irish drama at the grand old Abbey Theatre.

Bars restaurants and Cyprus entertainment

2010-01-22T09:40:00.000-08:00

Catering specifically for tourists many bars and restaurants in Cyprus pro¬vide music, both traditional bouzouki and international pop, rock and disco, late into the night in all the resorts, par¬ticularly around the harbour. Strolling musicians occasion¬ally liven up the night scene at quaysides and in the tavernas.

If you want to find where the young Cypriots go, follow their motor scooters down the back streets behind the ports of Limassol, Larnaca and Pa¬phos. Nicosia's taverns as are more traditional. But Limas¬sol's cabarets provide the liveliest night out, keeping the Arab and Lebanese colony en¬tertained until the small hours.

Most hotels offer weekly folklore shows with Cypriot¬-costumed performers singing and dancing to charming village tunes. Visitors are in¬variably encouraged to get up and dance along and nobody objects to missteps. Hotels also organize special buffets and cocktail parties, gaming nights and fashion shows.

The Nicosia Municipal Theatre stages plays in Greek and sometimes English; concerts are held here, too. Films in English are shown in the larger cities. Ask at your hotel or consult local papers and Cyprus Time Out for informa¬tion about special events. A Cyprus-by-night tour might take you to a local res¬taurant to sample mezedes and on to a performance of tradi¬tional Cypriot dancing with bouzouki music. Some tours include a pastiche of a Cypriot wedding full in swing.

Festivals and car hire in Cyprus

Every town commemorates its patron saint in Cyprus, and if you want to tour around the festivals and events, there is no better way to do it than by hiring a car at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus. Feast days and other holi¬days bring out the inevitable merchants and their stands (paniyiri) of market produce, sweets, drinks and trinkets.

On Epiphany Day (6 January), bishops bless the waters in all the seaside towns, throwing their Holy Crosses into the sea. Boys dive for them, winning a small prize when they surface with one. February/March Clean Monday. Large amounts of vegetables, olives and wine are consumed on this day of 'fasting', the Monday before Lent. Carnival. Limassol's ten¬-day long celebration features fancydress balls and a spate of parades. It's not Rio, but it's lighthearted.

March/April

Good Friday. Orthodox Solemn Masses take place all over Cyprus, with a procession of the Holy Sepulchre in main streets and squares. Easter. A midnight service takes place on the Saturday before Easter, when people light their candles from the priest's, moving around the church and chanting the litany in a kind of sound-and-light atmosphere that is neverthe¬less fervently religious. On Easter Sunday, High Masses celebrate the resurrection of Christ. The rest of the day is devoted to socializing, eating and games.

May/June

Kataklismos. Also known as Pentecost, this two-day holi¬day harks back to ancient times, when Cypriots con¬vened at temples to worship and sacrifice to Adonis and Aphrodite, continuing their celebrations down at the sea¬shore. Nowadays there are ex¬cursions to the beach, parties, games, colourful parades, competitions and 'dousing' ¬especially at Paphos.
August

Assumption of the Virgin. On 15 August, the faithful gather at the leading monasteries: Kykko, Chrysorroyiatissa, Troodhitissa, Macheras. (Be¬ware of crowds: the small roads leading to the churches can be clogged with cars.) Lefkara Festival. In mid¬-August, Lefkara holds a vil¬lage festival to display its famous embroidery and other crafts. There's music, dancing and food stands galore. September The Virgin Nativity. On 8 Sep¬tember, a crowd assembles at Kykko Monastery to observe rites from iconkissing to lemonadedrinking.

Nicosia Arts Festival. This two-week long event features everything from art exhibi¬tions and folk dancing to avant-garde ballet and rock concerts. Most of the events take place in the Famagusta Gate Cultural Centre. Limassol Wine Festival. A fortnight of wine-tastings, dancing and folklore shows. Ayia Napa Festival. Folk¬lore, music, dance and theatre.

Eating Out in Cyprus

People in Cyprus eat well and plenty; they are not a thin race. Their island has the cuisine of its geography and history ¬conquerors and refugees alike have left their mark Turkish, Greek, Syrian, Lebanese and Armenian. And the modern Republic has the prosperity to make the combination distinct¬ive: good fresh vegetables, tangy meat dishes, fish and seafood savoury but undis¬guised by dubious sauces. Best of all is that mindboggling procession of mezedes where you have the delightful prob¬lem the French call embarras du choix too much to choose from.

But with mass tourism has come that bland hybrid called 'international cuisine' getting in the way of the real local food. And British-style fish¬ and chips is being overtaken by the ubiquitous hamburger and pizza. But take heart: such local fast food items as pitta bread with sheftalia (a kind of •sausage) and souvlaki (skewered meat) are not yet mass-¬produced and the quality can be high.

As opposed to Greece, where you're encouraged to rush in to the kitchen to point out what you'd like to eat, Cyprus restaurants usually ex¬pect you to order from the menu (almost invariably trans¬lated into English and perhaps other languages), with the waiter's help.

Some traditional Cypriot tavernas have no menu, just a set meal and you pay a fixed price for whatever is being served that night: trust them and enjoy your meal. In Mediterranean fashion, local people tend to eat late (from 1.30 to 3.30 p.m. for lunch, 9 to 10.30 p.m. for din¬ner). But service begins an hour or even two hours earlier.

Things are quieter, but you'll usually get good service if you come early, which is also a good idea if you're eating with young children. To be sure of eating in the company of Cypriots, come later. As Cyprus produces excel¬lent wine, beer and brandy, reasonably priced drinks before, during or after meals can contribute to the general euphoria.

Breakfast in Cyprus

The usual hotel breakfast is continental: rolls, toast or bread, biscuits and perhaps croissants with butter and jam, and coffee, tea or chocolate. The tea will probably be made from tea bags, and the coffee is all too often hot water, provided with an envelope or two of instant powder, to be added to taste.

For big appetites, some hotels offer an Englishstyle breakfast of ham and eggs, perhaps porridge or kippers. Some international hotel menus also list Americanstyle breakfast cereals. Fresh fruits and fruit juices are almost always available and they are delicious.

Those who prefer real cof¬fee should order the 'Greek' or 'Turkish' variety, readily available at any time of day in cafes or tavernas. Order it sweet (gliko), medium sweet (metrio), or without sugar (sketo). Greek coffee is taken black, never with cream or milk, and is usually accompa¬nied by a glass of ice water.

Starters in Cyprus

Hot and cold appetizers (mezedes) can be so varied and interesting that you could make a whole meal of them. Some restaurants offer menus of over 20 items. Naturally, in this food cornucopia, there is Greek-style taramosalata (fishroe paste with oil, mashed potato or softened bread and lemon juice). Dzadziki (yoghurt with cu¬cumber, crushed garlic and seasonings) is well known as a Greek or Turkish dish, but probably originated in Lebanon.

Talattouri, a Cypriot variant of this preparation, will invariably be seasoned with fresh mint. Other popular dips include tachinosalata (sesame seed paste with garlic) and hoummous, a puree of chick¬peas, olive oil and hot spices.

To accompany these dips, you'll be served fresh Cypriot sesame seed (koulouri) bread, which has a hearty homemade taste, and may be toasted. The array of mezedes continues with melidzano¬salata (aubergine eggplant ¬pureed with oil, garlic, a little vinegar, lemon juice and sea¬sonings) and a small plate of black olives.

You may be served a tomato salad, pickled capers and cauliflower (moun¬gra) or spicy squid or octopus (ktapodhi ksidhato), cut into small pieces. Smoked sausages figure prominently among mezedes offerings, whether sheftalia (port, veal or lamb) or the ever-popular pork and beef loukanika.

There is succulent marinated ham, pressed (chi¬romeri) or smoked (lounza), and smoked fillet of pork, served hot (charcoal-grilled) or cold and thinsliced. Do try haloumi, Cypriot ewe's milk cheese, which may be served hot (grilled or fried) or cold. Dolmadakia are the well-known vine leaves stuffed with rice, lamb and sometimes mint. Souvlakia, skewered pieces of lamb (or chicken, beef or pork) grilled over charcoal, may be eaten as a starter or a main course as may grilled lamb chops.

Fish and shellfish in Cyprus

Since offshore catches are relatively scanty, the choice of seafood may be limited. Shrimp, squid and spiny lob¬ster appear on menus, but it's likely they will be frozen, rather than fresh. However, you may be offered fresh swordfish (xifias), red mullet (barbounia), red snapper (sinagrida) or a small Medi¬terranean fish called psirika.

These varieties may be grilled, sauteed, stuffed and baked or, more rarely, cooked in a wine sauce. Some hotel chefs prepare salads of mixed shell¬fish (mussels, shrimp, spiny lobster), and they can be ex¬cellent. In the Troodos moun¬tains the farm-raised trout are very good, whether smoked, sauteed, perhaps with slivered almonds, or au bleu (poached with clarified butter).

Meat and vegetables in Cypus

Cypriots love the ubiquitous moussaka as much as Greeks do; this layered dish of minced meat, aubergine (egg¬plant) and marrows (squash),potatoes, cream sauce and spices varies somewhat, ac¬cording to the chef.

A slightly different taste and texture characterize aubergine stuffed with minced meat and toma¬toes and topped with beaten egg and breadcrumbs (papout¬sakia). Stifado, beef or veal stew, usually contains wine, onions and herb seasoning. Patcha is sheep's head stewed with lemon and garlic. Chick¬en (kotopoulo) may be barbe¬cued, roasted, or served in a casserole with sauce, and per¬haps mushrooms and onions as well.

A variety of plain grilled steaks and chops feature on all menus. Lamb is cooked in a kind of clay pot with vegeta¬bles and spices (tavas) or cut into chops and kebabs and barbecued (kleftiko). Pork and suckling pig can be delicious grilled (perhaps over charcoal) or roasted. Look out for aphe¬lia, a tender pork stew made with red wine and coriander seeds, which does not often appear on hotel and restaurant menus.

Vegetable dishes and ac¬companiments include black¬-eyed beans (louvia), potatoes, rice, green beans or peas, tomatoes, courgettes (zucchi¬ni) and aubergines. Fresh green salads are always avail¬able. 'Greek' or 'village-style' salads incorporate tomatoes and feta cheese. In hotels and at poolsides you'll see mixed chef's salad, potato, egg and Nicoise salads.

Desserts in Cyprus

Cheese offerings are limited to the local ewe's milk halloumi (salty and mild), Greek-style feta (a bit stronger) and some rather tired imports. Some¬times graviera is served a local version of Swiss gruyere as well as kefalotyri and kaskavalli. Charcoal-grilled meat {souv¬laki is the speciality at this Ayia Napa hotel. Concentrate instead on the fruit of Cyprus.

Depending on the season, you'll be able to try the outstanding honeydew or cantaloupe melon, water¬melon, cherries, peaches, figs, apricots, oranges, tangerines, plums, grapes, pomegranates, and more ... You may also find wonderful yoghurt and honey, though not as often as in Greece. Cypriot sweets are very sweet indeed.

A speciality of Yeroskipos and Lefkara, louk¬houmi is the sugar-dusted, jellied Turkish delight. Honey and nuts flavour baklava, a strudel-like pastry, and kataifi, a pastry which resembles Shredded Wheat.

Another speciality of Cypriot pastry chefs, loukoumades are a kind of very sweet puffy dough¬nut dipped in syrup. The ice¬-cream, ices and sundaes can be excellent, and many hotels offer French-style pastries and tarts.

Drinks in Cyprus and car hire

If you are planning a tour of the local tavernas, you may not want to take your hire car with you, but the best way to tour around Cyprus is still to hire a car from Larnaca or Paphos Airport. If you pre-book car rental from Larnaca Airport, your vehicle will be waiting for you when you get there.

In addition to a variety of soft drinks and mineral water, there is excellent beer, brewed in Cyprus. Like the Greeks, Cypriots favour ouzo, the re¬freshing anis-flavoured aperi¬tif. Poolside drinks often include cooling Pimm's cup; and do try the heady, fruit brandy sours which are to Cyprus what pifia colada is to the Caribbean. Otherwise all the usual cocktails and drinks are available, but these are likely to be on the expensive side when they include import¬ed spirits. WINES Cyprus wines have been renowned since antiquity. Foremost among them is the sweet red Commandaria, originally produced for the Knights of St John at Kolossi.

Celebrated as an aperitif or dessert wine, it is worth try¬ing even if you usually eschew sweet wines. Sweet to dry wines of the sherry type are another Cypriot speciality. Constantly improving in quality, Cypriot table wines equal the best similar vintages 106 of Italy and Spain, and even some of the lesser wines of France.

Cyprus wines

White wines are usually quite light but not sweet; the outstanding names include Keo Hock, White Lady, Aphrodite and Arsinoe. Bella Pais, a rather bubbly white, makes a good aperitif or dessert wine. Duc de Nicosie is the closest a Cyprus wine comes to being champagne. It is produced using the traditional French method for a quite honourable result.

Red wines are catching up to whites in quality and popu¬larity even in this warm climate. Keo Claret, Olympus Claret and Domaine d' Ahera in particular often have subtle¬ty as well as body. Othello, a very well-known brand, can be outstanding (but not cheap) in vintage years try the ban¬ner year of 1959.

There are a few roses; most people consid¬er Coeur de Lion the best. For an after-dinner drink, try some Cypriot brandy. In the more sophisticated cate¬gory, Five Kings is one of the better-known brands. Filfar, a very strong liqueur, resembles Grand Mamier in taste.
Cyprus is a fascinating island and the best way to explore it is to pre-book a hire car from Larnaca Airport or from Paphos Airport, which will not only save you time and money, but will also enable you to travel in style and comfort. Car hire at Larnaca Airport Cyprus starts from just €80.00 per week, so book before you go, and save the hassle of delays when you arrive.