Land of ice & fire
A world of white is veiled behind misty clouds, the sun faint as the moon. Snow-laden trees are just visible against the mountains, their dark figures forming a classical ink-wash painting. The monochrome tableau is broken only by the occasional stamp of red: persimmons clinging
Taste tour Italia
Emilia-Romagna has been known for its immense agricultural abundance since ancient times. The Roman Empire might have been forged through the sword, but its armies were fed off the fields in this region of northern Italy. The road the Romans built through here, the Via
Field & shore
IT’S SATURDAY MORNING AT ST GEORGE’S and the market in central Belfast is thick with aromas: crisping bacon from an Ulster fry, rich coffee and the sweet fragrance of dahlias on a farm stall laden with rhubarb, blackcurrants and a rainbow of fruit juices. Nearby
Great Escape to the American West
2016 is the centenary of America’s National Park Service: celebrate with a road trip across South Dakota and Wyoming, for larger-than-life landscapes, wildlife and history in the parks and preserves that define the nation. Badlands FROM UP ON BIG BADLANDS Overlook, the land concertinas out
California dreamin’
It’s been 50 years since the Summer of Love put San Francisco in the spotlight. But from organic farmers markets to open-air street parties, and a store where everything is free, the legacy of those golden days lives on across the Bay Area Set for
White gold and the birth of a nation
It’s Saturday morning and the town’s creatives are packed into a large courtyard. At row after row of tented stalls, young designers sell their creations, from elegant tea sets to hand-painted ceramic earrings. I could be in east London, that is, until regimented tones of
China’s frozen fog
I was on a mission – one that required me to wear four layers of warm clothes and a fleece balaclava. I was going to be braving temperatures below -20C for hours. My friend Cherry Li, who grew up nearby and knew what to expect,
Four perfect days in Paris
Follow our insider itineraries and explore four very different Parisian neighbourhoods on foot, by bike and by boat, taking in gourmet markets and secret bars, little-known galleries and knockout views DAY 1: HISTORIC CENTRE Entering Sainte-Chapelle feels like climbing into a kaleidoscope. From all directions,
In search of the Manchus
Palms pressed flat together above his forehead, knees bent over a yellow silk-covered block, Hong Haibo offers an inaudible prayer to his forebears. This genuflecting gesture of ancestor worship is reproduced daily throughout East Asia, but Hong’s are no ordinary ancestors. They are the Manchu
Off-road in scenic Fujian
The sweat, the strain, the huffing and puffing – it had all been worth it for this. After a long morning of biking, the 20-minute uphill climb had nearly beaten me. Much of the time the slope was so steep that I decelerated to a
Qufu, China: a tour of Confucius’s home town
“I am a descent of Confucius,” says my guide, and I am enormously impressed – until I learn later that the Chinese philosopher’s progeny officially number over two million people. Still, Kong Xiangqiang (or Tommy, as he asks me to call him) has the ideal
Inside Beijing’s former brothels
“Welcome to my humble brothel,” jokes Simon Gjeroe, our 6ft-plus guide. Kowtowing to fit through the doorway, he ushers us into a two-storey building that was once one of Beijing’s bordellos. Today we are touring Bada Hutong, an area a half mile square that is