Cotroceni Museum

A short half hour train ride away is the small city of Asti. It may be familiar as a wine growing region -both their red wines including Barbera D’Asti as well as their sparkling wines like Asti Spumante. After reading a bit about it, it seemed like an interesting place to visit and pretty easy…

Located not far from the Paris city limits (where height restrictions wear off) is an area called La Defense. It has a history as a business centre dating back to 1958. According to Wikipedia: La Défense is Europe’s largest purpose-built business district, covering 560 hectares (1,400 acres), for 180,000 daily workers, with 72 glass and steel…

Less than a minute’s walk outside my apartment, it was market day today. I had seen the no parking signs go up the day before and they don’t mess around here in Athens. I was a huge market spanning several closed streets with endless fruits and vegetables, the occasional olives, nuts and dry beans. From…

the Et’Hem Bey Mosque started construction in the 1790s and was finished around 1820. It was closed of significant period of time under the rule of communism, coming back into use in the 1990s. Liqueni is an artificial lake created in the 1950s. With its leafy forest and great views it makes for a wonderful…

Two different galleries – both for shopping rather than art. Starting with Gallerie Vivienne a covered set of shops dating back to 1826. Next up, Galleries Lafayette, probably the largest department store known outside France. I took a guided tour that allowed access an hour before the store opened to learn all about the history…

Though Bari is often a city that people travel through more than a destination, the city makes for a good few days of exploring. I managed to stumble across a protest (a very festive one) of farmers in the area unhappy with European agriculture policy.