Lyon is a fitting escape for pilgrims in search of culinary delights as well as feeding the hungry soul with the city's cinematic sights.   T here are these moments in Lyon during summer when the heat seems to be far removed, tempered by a cool breeze where the Rhône meets the...

There is nowhere in the world quite like Istanbul - spread across two continents, a city exuding with culture and contrast and always on the move.   Everyday mostly at six, old wooden carts pass and move along the narrow cobblestoned alleyways hauling merchandise of freshly picked cucumbers, tomatoes, nuts and...

The French Wine Country is a fairytale landscape of chateaus and idyllic vineyards. Bordeaux invites everyone to enjoy a tipple and dream altogether.   In many ways a story can always be written and, at times be told. If I have to start mine, I would like to begin in the...

It’s the scruffiness that turns you off. It’s the realness that turns you on. ‘Berlin ist arm, aber sexy’ as the saying goes, which translates to ‘Berlin is poor but sexy'—and if there’s a neighborhood that best represents that idea, it’s Kreuzberg.   Throughout the years of self-shame and retrospection, Berlin...

The "Golden Centuries of Discoveries” ended a long time ago in history books, but in Lisbon, the resurging energy is finding a comeback.   Travelers have been talking in reverent tones about a number of encouraging sights they noticed in Lisbon. It seemed it was all people could talk about lately....

There aren't many places left in Phuket where travelers can find peaceful retreats. But if you know where to look, the island could be yours.   I n Surin, that raw idyllic stretch, about 7 km of imperceptibly inhabited coastline across the Andaman Sea, which lies on the west coast of Phuket,...

Why this sunny port city of Andalusia is the new capital of cool.   At the time when the favored Andalusian sisters Granada, Sevilla and Córdoba were far too busy beguiling audiences across the globe while absorbed in their own spirited rhythmical trance, Málaga is the sister on the coastal south that...

From a rocky gorge to Spain’s oldest bullfighting ring, Ronda is not just a place to see monumental architecture but also dreams and dramas.   Through the large glass paneled windows blurred by the cold mist of the Andalusian winter, the clip-clop of well-shod hooves from the carriage horses striking the...

Vienna allows a traveler to indulge in a waking dream, and there is nothing more real than setting foot in Austria's alluring capital.   Between Vienna’s imposing Parliament Building and its famous university, which dates back to medieval times, there sits a classic newspaper-laden Viennese café that bears the impress of...

Postcard-perfect Lisbon with its dramatic scenes and slopping terrains, there's no better place to experience all that Portugal has to offer than its capital.   Lisbon is in no hurry. It takes its time. The city wakes up when it wants to and sleeps only when it needs to. Slow. Like the...