cities
Lisbon in Three Hills
Forget the tram queue. The city makes sense if you walk it as three climbs and two descents, and the whole thing fits in a long day.
Venice, After They Go Home
Eighty per cent of visitors to Venice never sleep there. The city between six in the evening and nine in the morning is a different proposition entirely.
Porto Between the Bridges
Six bridges, two banks, and a river that decides everything. A walking route that treats the Douro as the spine of the city rather than the view from it.
The Riad Worth the Alley
The good ones are down a lane a car cannot enter, behind a door with no sign. How to tell a real riad from a small hotel with a fountain.
Athens Is Not Only Marble
Two hours on the Acropolis and three days in the city underneath it. What to do with the other seventy hours, and why the small museums win.
Seville in the Shade
A city built to be crossed without sunlight. Where the awnings are, when the courtyards open, and why the middle of the day is not a write-off.
Istanbul on Both Shores
The ferry is the city's best value and its best viewpoint. Three crossings that turn a sprawling place into something you can hold in your head.
Kyoto Before Seven
The temples are not overrated. They are overcrowded, which is a different problem, and one with an unglamorous solution: get up.
The Souks, Without the Panic
The medina is not trying to trap you. Learn four landmarks, accept that you will be lost anyway, and the whole thing becomes enjoyable in about an hour.
Naples, Read Vertically
A city that goes up as much as it goes along. Four funiculars, one hill, and the sense the place makes as soon as you stop treating the map as flat.
Prague on Foot, No Timetable
Four days with nothing booked in a city small enough to cross twice before lunch. What turns up when you stop scheduling it.
What the Tiles Are Actually For
Azulejos are not decoration bolted onto Portuguese buildings. They are cladding, insulation and weatherproofing, and the pattern comes third.