Tokyo Sightseeing Bus, Shitamachi
Every half hour Tokyo’s sightseeing bus, the Shitamachi, departs on a journey across the city through its older and more characterful districts, with useful information on nearby sights in English displayed on screens inside, and you can hop on and hop off wherever you like. This is Read more…
Meet the Romans in Serbia
I was sat right at the top, in the Royal Opera House it would have been seat Y51 – very high up with a restricted view. Looking down and behind the half naked archaeologist who was unmoved by the burning sun I could almost see Russell Read more…
Art, Wine and Honey in Novi Sad
The Matica Srpska Gallery in Novi Sad is to be found in the old Stock Exchange building and it has more than 7,000 works of art, especially that from Vojvodina from the 17th centuryonwards. All the exhibits have English translations. On the ground floor are copies Read more…
Day Tour to the Royal Heart of Serbia
An unusually warm day in November in Belgrade gave me the excuse to take a day trip to a small town in central Serbia, called Topola. I had always wanted to go and visit this charming town to see its church of St George which is Read more…
Mountain Hideaway near Belgrade, Avala
A warm November weekend in Belgrade brought a huge number of people out to visit Avala, a mountain and National Park 16 km from Belgrade. The reason for the huge number of visitors was the newly opened Avala Tower, one of Belgrade’s landmarks, which has been restored and reopened in Read more…
the Sagano Romantic Train, Kyoto
The narrow-gauge steam train Sagano Torroko Ressha or Romantic Train is one of Japan’s most scenic journeys, and can be combined with an exciting boat trip back on the Hozu River to make a wonderful day trip from Kyoto. The scenery is beautiful all year-round, with Read more…
A Serbian’s second home, the ‘kafana’
The English have pubs, the French their cafes, Italians their ice cream parlours, the Greek Tavernas and we, Serbians, have Kafanas or second homes as we spend more time there than at home. The word Kafana is derived from the Turkish kahvehane (“coffee house”) which Read more…
What to see in Belgrade
Am I the only Yugoslavian who hasn’t visited the Flower House, the resting place of the last President of Yugoslavia, Tito? I was born and brought up under liberal communism and I should be grateful to him – Tito. But I was never confirmed into Tito’s youth Read more…
Agra’s Bear Rescue Centre
When you’ve seen the Taj Mahal, what do you do for the rest of the day in Agra? Are the kids fed up with forts and temples and markets? Why don’t you try Agra’s lesser-known but rare and uplifting sight, the Agra Bear Rescue Facility (ABRF), Read more…
The Perfect Tour of China
When you book a group tour to China usually there is not much choice about what to see and when. Your day is packed from 8am to 7pm when you are taken to a restaurant where the menu is decided by the government. You are usually Read more…
A Day and a Night in Yokohama, Japan
Firstly, head to one of Japan’s newest but soon-to-be most popular interactive museums, the Cup Noodle Museum. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the invention of the Cup Noodle a museum dedicated solely to this ever-popular yet much maligned snack opened last weekend in the Minato Read more…
the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection of Art in Novi Sad
Next door to the Gallery of Matica Serbia there is the fascinating Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection of Art. Who is Pavle Beljanski? Pavle Beljanski was born in a sleepy town on the Danube River, Veliko Gradiste, in Serbia, in 1892, into a respectable middle-class family. After Read more…
the Dabbawallahs (tiffin-carriers) of Mumbai
A unique and quietly spectacular process takes place in Mumbai twice a day. Each day 200,000 hot home-cooked lunches are delivered to students, workers and managers in their offices by a barefoot fleet of 5,000 white-uniformed lunch box men, tiffin carriers or dabbawallahs. Their favourite curry Read more…
Chrysanthemum (kiku) Festival (matsuri), Tokyo
Tokyo hosts several Chrysanthemum exhibitions at this time of year, when the shortening days see these late flowers burst into glory before the onslaught of winter. Long considered the emblem of Japan and the 16-petal variety the official crest of the Emperor and the Chrysanthemum Throne, Read more…
Day Trip to Dolmabahce Palace, Istanbul
Dolmabahce Palace was really easy to get to, it’s at the northern end of tram line T1 and from our hotel in Sultanahmet in the Old City it was just a short walk to the tram stop near the Blue Mosque where we bought a couple Read more…
