Welcome to issue no. 27 which contains articles on Liguria's Hanbury Gardens, the Georgian town of Akhaltsikhe, subterranean Vienna, the Sami of the Kola Peninsula, a quest for the elixir of youth and more.
hidden europe 27
Issue number 27 of hidden europe travel magazine contains articles on Liguria's Hanbury Gardens, the Georgian town of Akhaltsikhe, subterranean Vienna, the Sami of the Kola Peninsula, a quest for the elixir of youth, the Simplon pass and more.
Picture above:
Dragon fountain in the Hanbury Gardens, Italy (photo © hidden europe)
Summary
Issue number 27 of hidden europe travel magazine contains articles on Liguria's Hanbury Gardens, the Georgian town of Akhaltsikhe, subterranean Vienna, the Sami of the Kola Peninsula, a quest for the elixir of youth, the Simplon pass and more.
The Quaker businessman and philanthropist Thomas Hanbury was a latter-day Marco Polo. His legacy includes a remarkable garden on the Riviera coast of the Mediterranean. We visit the Hanbury Gardens at La Mortola.
Akhaltsikhe has seen better days. The town has had Georgian, Ottoman, Russian and Soviet masters. Today it is one of the remotest towns in Georgia, and still engagingly multicultural, for Akhaltsikhe has a large Armenian minority.
Vienna is a city noted for its grand facades and repressed desires. But the Austrian capital should never be taken at face value. Delve below the surface to find another Vienna. Guest contributor Duncan JD Smith introduces us to his home city.
We review Islamic influences in architecture across Europe, and find eastern traces in a few unexpected spots. Along the way we take a look at early mosques in Britain.
Church bureaucrats divide the world into dioceses. The process throws into prominence places that figure little in the secular world. Bishops preside over territories like Gor, Ombi and Sodor. hidden europe takes a look at some unusual geographical titles of European bishops.
The 'Logos Hope' was once a car ferry that connected the Faroe Islands with the wider world. Now it is the largest floating bookshop on the planet. See how old ferries are redeployed to new purposes.
There is a Sámi proverb that says: "Don't try to predict today that which we shall know for sure tomorrow." So the local Sámi in Russia's Kola Peninsula will not venture any opinion on whether Sámi life has any credible future in their home region.
On long train journeys across Europe, it is always worth checking the timetable to see if your journey includes any abnormally long halts. Passengers travelling on the direct Moscow to Paris train, for example, linger for eleven hours in Berlin.
The European Union's Eastern Partnerships initiative is designed to smooth relations with six of the EU's ex-Soviet neighbours. Moscow perceives the initiative as the EU meddling in Russia's sphere of interest. hidden europe reports from Poland's border with Ukraine.
Serge Voronoff was a Russian doctor with a smart idea - or so he judged. At his estate on the Riviera coast, he offered the elixir of youth to elderly gentlemen. Voronoff's endeavours, one might say, really took some balls.
We check out a lightweight towel that claims to be an indispensable aid to travellers. An ingeneous piece of packing, to be sure, but not quite the soft and fluffy experience that we might expect of a decent beach towel.
For those without a hint of romance in their souls, it is possible to speed through the Simplon Tunnel from Switzerland to Italy. The train takes just fifteen minutes. But the old Simplon Pass route is still there for the taking. Brig is the starting point.
A small Norwegian airline called Widerøe operates flights into some of Europe's remotest communities. The company's Explore Norway Ticket allows travellers to hop from one small airport to another.
We take a look at one of Europe's remotest outposts. The island of Gavdos is south of Crete in the Libyan Sea. The fact that George Bush and Colin Powell have both visited is a measure of the strategic importance of Gavdos.
The Norwegian Depression is not a state of mind. It is actually a submarine valley off the coast of Norway. We explain more in this short note.
a look ahead at hidden europe 28