The freshwater springs that extend beneath the Persian Gulf have attracted settlers to Bahrain for four thousand years – not just for the drinking water, but for the pearls that they encouraged. Today the economy is based not so much on an international pearl trade but on rich oil deposits and a booming banking sector. […]

Spanning eleven time zones and twice the size of the USA, Russia is not a country that can be rushed. Many travellers go no further than Moscow, with its historic old city and lively nightlife, or follow the Volga boatmen along the waterways of the Czars to the baroque architecture of St Petersburg. This, however, […]

While the Table Mountains near Cape Town may have been the inspiration for Tolkein’s epic Lord of the Rings, it is the Matamata of New Zealand which provided the stunning backdrop for the 21st century films. Dramatic, snow-dusted peaks cast mirror images in crystal lakes, tapering to green, rolling foothills in the distance; gushing rivers […]

The Giant Bear of Russia has long been shrouded in mystery, but the city of Moscow feels somehow far more familiar. The imposing behemoth of the Kremlin and the view from Red Square in particular have become iconographic images of both the capital and the country as a whole. The association with the old Soviet […]

Santa Fe can feel like a world apart from the rest of the US, and for long periods of its history it has been precisely that. Even under previous Spanish and Mexican administrations the citizens had a reputation for being independent, while many travellers wondered that such a dusty, barren land could support a city […]

There’s a Welsh saying, “if you would get ahead, be a bridge”. As a gateway to industrial Wales, Cardiff has certainly done that. It was John Crichton-Stuart, the 2nd Marquess of Bute, who constructed the docks here during the 1830s, is often accredited with the creation of modern Cardiff and being the catalyst for the […]

The self-styled capital of the New South, Atlanta is a modern economic powerhouse, home to the global headquarters of Coca Cola, AT&T and CNN among others. The glittering evening skyline is as breathtaking as anything New York has to offer and the last decade has seen a boom in growth as the city now houses […]

You could never accuse Queenstown of being shy; it wears its heart on its sleeve and practically drags you on an action-packed, thrill-a-minute, adrenaline junky’s dream ride. You want to jump from something high, or race down something steep, or explore something deep and dangerous? Perhaps wild river rapids are more your style, or maybe […]

The capital of Andalusia, Seville is a city that screams passion from the moment you arrive. The city’s rich heritage boasts Roman, Islamic and Renaissance influences, not to mention the largest gothic cathedral in the world; yet it is the plentiful tapas, rich Spanish wine and the golden glow that ensconces Seville during the early […]

The Emerald Isle has seen unprecedented levels of growth over the last two decades and much of the processes of industrialisation and modernisation have centred about the nation’s capital. What Dublin lacks in conventional beauty it makes up for in character and the list of city alumni includes such literary giants as Oscar Wilde, while […]

The majestic Atlas Mountains are a fitting backdrop for this impressive Imperial city, whose ancient walls of mud and straw rise like molten gold from the surrounding red plains. Swaying palms line sweeping plazas pulsing with merchants and street performers, while the ancient mosques are as resplendent today as centuries before. There’s a lot to […]

Take one sandy, barren wasteland, and pump full of oil. Leave to simmer for fifty years et voila; one pulsing, modern metropolis of dizzying skyscrapers and thriving city streets. That’s the recipe for Riyadh, a heaving conurbation of nearly five million citizens that was little more than a provincial town of 80,000 as recently as […]