Welcome to hidden europe 12. The issue features articles on Potsdam's hidden history, the hofjes of Haarlem, the Polish port of Frombork, European night trains and communal living in beguinages.
hidden europe 12
hidden europe travel magazine features articles on Potsdam's hidden history, the hofjes of Haarlem, the Polish port of Frombork, European night trains and communal living in beguinages.
Picture above:
Frombork harbour (photo © hidden europe)
Summary
hidden europe travel magazine features articles on Potsdam's hidden history, the hofjes of Haarlem, the Polish port of Frombork, European night trains and communal living in beguinages.
Amid the parks and palaces of Potsdam (near Berlin) is an area known as the Neuer Garten ('New Garden'). For almost fifty years, part of it was an extraordinary 'forbidden city' - a place reserved for the Russian military and the KGB. hidden europe explores this area through the eyes of one woman.
The city of Haarlem is just twenty minutes from Amsterdam. Guest contributor Richard Tulloch shows how Haarlem offers insights into a Holland beyond the big cities of the Netherlands.
In Frombork, a tiny port on Poland's Baltic coast, the ferry terminal has closed down for the winter. A lone fisherman sits at the end of the pier and looks out over the lagoon to Russia. But the town where Nicolaus Copernicus lived and worked turns out to have a rare off-season appeal.
After the last of the daytime express trains have left, Europe's mainline railway stations play host to night trains. These are the trains which are the stuff of poetry. We explore some of the very best which the continent has to offer.
The finest cities are an appeal to order. We survey some of the highpoints of European city planning - from ecclesiastical cities to Utopian communities.
In Belgium, as elsewhere in northern Europe, there are some remarkable béguinages - reminders of an important social movement dating back to the 13th century. Today, these courtyards are havens of quiet that attest to the capacity of women in the mediaeval period to take control of their own lives.
Not for the first time, hidden europe salivates over north Italian food. Guest writer Peter Wortsman takes a few Piemonte byways in search of truffles, the perfect ravioli and a tongue tingling grappa.
With Bulgaria joining the European Union on 1 January 2007, hidden europe drops in one of the countries more unusual communities - the tiny village of Rezovo that lies right on the Turkish border.
Why do the Faroe Islands feature on the map of Europe shown on the euro banknotes even though the archipelago is not part of the EU? And yet Malta, a fully paid-up member, is not shown on the map. We ponder one of Europe's great cartographic curiosities.
Marin Sorescu died ten years ago. He was a poet who laughed in the face of adversity. It is something that Romanians do rather well.
There is one British motorway that appears on no maps. We unravel the tale of the M96.
The finest arrivals are moments to savour. hidden europe recalls a few memorable arrivals: by train in Istanbul, by boat in Venice, by plane in L'viv (Ukraine) and by car in Newmarket (England).
Les Marolles is a place of smoky bars, tiny shops and rich dialects. hidden europe alights from the train at Brussels' Gare La Chapelle to explore the city's most intriguing district.
The Maiden Tower in Baku is a powerful national symbol for all Azeris. But remarkably little is known about this enigmatic structure.
There is a part of Russia that finds itself curiously isolated from the Motherland. hidden europe reflects on the Kaliningrad puzzle.
Motorways come and motorways go! Yes, some routes really do disappear - like the A862 in Germany. And there are rumours that the days of the M10 in southern England are numbered.
A look ahead to the next issue of hidden europe.