This little neighborhood in Colmar’s old city is charming, but it only looks like Venice, Italy if you have a vivid imagination. No matter. The area is captivating in its own Alsatian style. A worker’s community in ancient times During the middle ages, the district was a rural community of farmers, fishermen, and laborers. Its nickname comes from the attractive...

This is a relatively large village along the Wine Road, and not as pedestrian friendly as nearby Riquewihr and Hunawihr. One of the best ways to get oriented to the area is on a tour aboard the Little Train. It runs daily May-September from the Tourism Office on Grand Rue and covers old town, the vineyards, and Hunawihr. On your...

Riquewihr is one of the most beautiful and well-preserved villages in Alsace. Get acquainted with the town and its vineyards with a commentated ride on the open-air Little Train, which runs daily April-November from the town hall on  Grand Rue. You’ll want to come back after the train ride to explore the town, which is enclosed by fortification walls and surrounded...

This little village south of Colmar is known for its excellent vineyards, which benefit from the shelter of the Vosges Mountains to the west. Among its interesting tourist sites is the Witches’ Tower, which was utilized up until the 18th century to incarcerate women accused of witchcraft. Find this designated historical monument on Place de la République. Other historical old structures...

Surprisingly, this huge church has never been a cathedral, but locals refer to it as Colmar Cathédrale and it stands on a square named Place de la Cathédrale . The beautiful 13th-century red-and-gold sandstone building was badly damaged during the French Revolution, but it has been restored and well-preserved. Excavations during the 1980s revealed that the church as built on the foundations...

Strasbourg’s Notre Dame Cathedral is a medieval masterpiece. It’s easy to find since its 15th-century pink sandstone tower is 463 feet high and visible from most parts of the city. It took more than 300 years to build, and it was the tallest structure in the world at that time. You will agree with Victor Hugo that the Gothic church...

Built in 1232 as a Dominican convent, the Unterlinden Museum (Under the Linden Tree) is a treasure house of important international masterpieces and Alsatian art. In December 2015, a new wing opened connecting the former convent to a contemporary building devoted to modern art. A tunnel joins the new with the old and gives the museum more open space. The Isenheim Alterpiece...

ScheduleScheduleScheduleIf you arrive in Amsterdam by train, then one of the first buildings you will come across is Amsterdam Centraal Station. This neo-Renaissance building built in the 1880s is best viewed from outside where the high gables, brickwork, and faux Gothic towers impress even the weariest of travellers. The station, which is the main train station of Amsterdam was designed...

The Eye Film Institute Netherlands is a Dutch archive and museum that preserves and presents Dutch and foreign films. Not impressed yet? How about this? The collection includes over 37,000 film titles, 7000,000 photographs, and 60,000 posters. Inside there are four modern cinemas, room for exhibitions and educational activities, a shop, and a cafe-restaurant. In addition to screening films, holding...

ScheduleScheduleScheduleScheduleOverlooking the Singelgracht, the Heineken Experience is housed in the former company headquarters (1864-1988). Inside a self-guided multimedia tour will take you through the brand of Heineken, from advertising campaigns to beer-making, before depositing you in a strategically placed gift shop. There are some interesting things to see, including the draught horses in their original stables and the copper vats,...

No, you didn’t read that wrong. Amsterdam has its very own Hermitage. Displaying small exhibitions since 2004, the museum has been functioning in its current full form since 2009. The museum has an agreement with the Russian government to produce exhibitions together with the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The museum itself is worth visiting for the exhibitions, but...

ScheduleScheduleScheduleDespite its massive size, the Koninklijk Paleis (Royal Palace) standing in Dam Square is easy to miss, especially with the number of street artists that have begun popping up in front of it. But this is a building well worth ensuring is on your to-do list. Built between 1648 and 1655 as a city hall (the largest in Europe at...

ScheduleScheduleScheduleWhen visiting the Museum District, it is almost impossible to miss the impressive Stedelijk Museum. Whether you are more attracted to the red brick and white stone dressings or the recently renovated portion that has been nicknamed “The Bathtub”, it is well worth visiting. Inside you will find a mix of modern and contemporary art — including photography, sculpture, furniture,...

This special “museum” will require a bit of planning on your part. Located in a private house of the Dutch aristocratic family, the Six family, this small museum is made up of a private art collection. With roots dating back to 1032, the Six family collected and preserved art through the centuries. Eight of their most valuable pieces, including “The...

Part native, part cultivated, Crane Point Hammock is 63 acres of tropical hardwood hammock in the heart of Marathon. Purchased by Francis and Mary Crane in 1949, they added flowering tropical plants and orchids to the hammock. Preserved from development in 1989 by the Florida Keys Land Trust, it is the largest tropical hammock in the Middle Keys. The Museum...

Though it has plenty of landmarks, the wide-open plaza of George Square is as close as Glasgow gets to having a focal point. Heavy traffic and the close railway station always give it a vibrant bustle, but it’s not really a place to linger, other than to soak up its self-confident Victorian architecture and trappings. The square’s centrepiece eighty-foot column...

In 1901 a German competition called on entrants to design a “House for an Art Lover… a grand house, thoroughly modern, fresh and innovative…” Premier Glasgow architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his artist wife, Margaret Macdonald duly entered a detailed dossier – though late – which led to its disqualification. So their designs really just gathered dust until...

The Auckland Art Gallery contains the city’s finest collection of New Zealand art, housed in the beautiful product of a $120 million 2011 revamp. The 1888 French Château-style galleries have now been stylishly integrated with a modern glass-and-timber wing which marries the gallery with the adjacent Albert Park. What’s on display is constantly changing, but on any given day you...

Set aside a couple hours to explore delightful Devonport, Auckland’s original waterside suburb founded in 1840. With only one road in from the north it almost feels like an island, a sense enhanced by the presence of New Zealand’s diminutive navy. But the best approach is by ferry, the ten-minute jaunt across the harbour from the CBD making some kind...

While Auckland’s main eating and dining areas – Britomart, Wynyard Quarter, Ponsonby – get ever slicker, Karangahape Road (always known as K’ Road) somehow remains grungy – in a good way. Rumours of its gentrification always seem premature. Every few years up-an-coming designers or artist collectives open a boutique or a gallery but if they’re successful they seem to move...