City Breaks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Valletta is a very walkable city and this episode offers three walking routes for exploring it. They could be done in a day if you want to see all the main sights quickly, or you could spread them out over a few days, linger a little, go into some of the places we pass by and build up an in-depth knowledge of Malta's capital city. Take a street map with you and you should be able t

Merħba il-Valletta: welcome to Valletta, the capital of Malta. Valletta is a World Heritage Site, small in scale, easy to explore and known for its stunning coastal views and gorgeous architecture. Here you can 'meet' such varied characters from history as St Paul, Caravaggio and the Knights of St John and learn some of the island's most inspiring stories: how Malta triumphed duri

Our Marseille Anthology includes some travel writing, plus a range of fiction pieces set in the city. Extracts include Simone de Beauvoir hiking in the surrounding countryside and Jean-Claude Izzo's description of the Italian immigrant community in Le Panier in the 1930s. The Count of Monte Cristo's daring escape from the Château d'If is here, as are a meal of boullabaisse in a wa