City Breaks

Apr 09 2025 239 ep. 29 mins 27

City Breaks Podcast artwork

City Breaks: a podcast which covers the historical and cultural background you need to really appreciate your city break.

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Amsterdam Episode 04 The Churches of Amsterdam

Apr 09 2025 23 mins

The churches of Amsterdam are not always what they seem. One is more of a national memorial, another is an art gallery and concert venue. A third is a museum where you can learn the story of the hidden churches which opened in the 17th century and where worshippers gathered for over 200 years. They key factor is a date – 1578 – when an event occurred which changed everything: t

Amsterdam Episode 03 The Canals of Amsterdam

Mar 26 2025 23 mins

The canals ARE Amsterdam and Amsterdam IS its canals. This episode is all about them, covering both the engineering genius which gave them their UNESCO World Heritage Site status and their beauty, charmingly different in each season. We bring you a little history, a little atmosphere and 4 suggestions for places to visit to find out more. READING SUGGESTIONSAmsterdam A Brief Life

Amsterdam Episode 02 5 Walks Around Amsterdam

Mar 12 2025 25 mins

Here are 5 suggestions for walks around Amsterdam. They include possible stopping places and between them they offer a way to see something of all of the main parts of the city. We give enough detail to follow the route if you take a map with you and a little info on the main places you’ll be passing, although we’ll be coming back to most of them in later episodes. None will ta

Amsterdam Episode 01 Introduction

Feb 26 2025 27 mins

Welkom in Amsterdam! This introduction to our Amsterdam series brings you the basic facts - geographical, historical, cultural - which underpin everything. To capture the spirit of Amsterdam, here’s Russell Shorto’s description of the view from his Amsterdam window: ‘the little boats moored by the quay, the row of tilting, gabled buildings on the opposite bank and, on any giv

Valletta Episode 08 Stories from Malta

Feb 12 2025 27 mins

This last episode on the Valletta series brings you lots of different stories from Malta. We start with a little descriptive writing, factual and fictional, followed by mini-biographies of 4 people who’ve featured in previous episodes but not really had the time they deserve: St Paul, St Publius, Caravaggio and Daphne Caruana Galizia, the high-profile journalist murdered for her

Valletta Episode 07 Easy Days out from Valletta

Jan 29 2025 26 mins

Here are our ideas for easy days out from Valletta if you want to explore some of the rest of Malta. We start with the two most popular day trips, to the 3 Cities and to Mdina and Rabat, both very easy to do on public transport. Then we have a look at hop-on, hop-off bus tours and boat trips. You could spend a week in Valletta, you could just as easily spend a week doing day trips

Valletta Episode 06 Food and Festivities

Jan 15 2025 27 mins

This episode is dedicated to two topics which are very important in Malta - food and festivities. Malta has more public holidays – 14 – than most other European countries, plus a whole range of other feasts and festivals. Of course, food is key to most of them and so this episode introduces you to both. We cover the varied culinary offerings, influenced by so many centuries of

Valletta Episode 05 Art, Architecture and Archaeology

Jan 01 2025 22 mins

This is a pot-pourri episode, beginning with a look at Valletta’s art scene: the National Art Gallery, 3 artists linked to the island and the oratory where the 2 most famous paintings are hidden away. Next, some pointers on the city’s architecture: typical design features and the three main periods, all of which are represented by buildings to look out for in Valletta today. La

Valletta Episode 04 Finding World War II in Valletta

Dec 18 2024 25 mins

There are traces of World War II everywhere in Valletta. This episode begins with a little history from the period and explains why the island of Malta was awarded the prestigious George Cross. Then we look at 3 museums which all take a different approach, covering the military action here on ‘Fortress Malta’ and also explaining what the war did to the daily lives of its people

Valletta Episode 03 Finding the Knights of Malta in Valletta

Dec 04 2024 26 mins

This episode gives a little history on the Knights of Malta and explains where to 'find' them in Valletta today. In fact they’re everywhere, not least in the Maltese Cross you'll keep seeing, on information panels everywhere and in the beautiful buildings they left behind. In fact, they founded the city of Valletta and built it from scratch - Europe's very first planned city. Rea