Tea time on the right tracks in India

Tea time on the right tracks in India

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Darjeeling conjures up images of women in colourful saris delicately hand picking the finest tips of the tea plants. It is also where the British Raj fled to escape the heat of the Indian plains and sweltering Calcutta. The town itself is precariously spread down a steep mountain ridge in the foothills of the snow-capped Himalayas amid tea “factories” on sprawling plantations. While it has lost the charm of other colonial hill towns such as Strawberry Hill in Malaya’s Cameron Heights or…

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Rust in time: Rhur industrial heritage trail

Rust in time: Rhur industrial heritage trail

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  WHO would have thought a rusting closed down steelworks, coal mine or gasometer in Germany’s Ruhr would be on the tourist trail as we increasingly value industrial architecture? The former heavy industry powerhouse has preserved some of the best examples of it economic heritage and saved them from the bulldozer to be replaced by retail parks. The Ruhr region has been transformed from slag heaps and smoke-belching ugliness to a green, leisure-based landscape that include the vibrant cities and towns…

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Discovering our coast on a Celtic Cruise

Discovering our coast on a Celtic Cruise

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What better way can there be to discover the Irish and Scottish coast than by sea with your hotel doing the travelling, particularly when you are asleep? So we headed for Dover to join board the Fred. Olsen ship Braemar for a packed and varied cruise taking in such varied destinations as the cities of Dublin and Belfast and the rugged beauty of Scotland’s Western Isles and the Orkneys. It is hard to imagine an easier holiday. All you have to…

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Shining role of Leipzig in fall of East Germany

Shining role of Leipzig in fall of East Germany

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The shadow of the Wall was lifted from Berlin  more than a quarter of a century ago yet the spark of freedom that finally took flame across the German Democratic Republic in 1989 started in Leipzig, just 70 miles away. It was away from the glare of Western media and politicians in Leipzig that a peaceful protest on October 9, 1989 after prayers for peace in the city’s St Nicholas Church and three other cities across the city that around…

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Remembering the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Remembering the Fall of the Berlin Wall

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East Side Gallery, Berlin   He might have said he was a Berliner but the days have gone since anyone in the German capital could tell you where they were when John F Kennedy was assassinated. Rather, everyone will tell you where they were on November 9, 1989. The night the Wall came down. More that 25 years have passed since the “Die Berliner Mauer” opened and every year the city and country have seen staggering growth in tourism numbers….

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Paying respects at the First World War sites now the politicians have gone

Paying respects at the First World War sites now the politicians have gone

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Now the 100 year anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War has passed and the politicians and dignitaries have been and gone, now is the time to visit the rows of uniform gravestones, vivid museums and monuments to remember the horrific slaughter. Across the regions of Flanders Fields (Belgium) and the Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Somme and Aisne (Northern France), museums, revitalised existing collections, new visitor centres and, in this digital age, electronic, virtual resources, is bringing us face to…

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Back to Berlin

Back to Berlin

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Berlin is Europe’s most fascinating destination  combining history, both proud and disastrous, culture that is awesome yet accessible, excellent transport, and cool bars, cafes and restaurants. And, despite being in the Eurozone, it is surprisingly affordable. I first went to Berlin just as the wall came down and it was very much a city of two halves, then again 10 years ago when a monstrous construction site between them. Now I go nearly every year and there is always something different especially…

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Remembering Bremen – Maybe

Remembering Bremen – Maybe

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The conversation went something like this: I’m sure I have never been to Bremen before. Yes, it has the statue of the animals on each other’s backs. No, I don’t remember anything. We did it in a couple of hours by car when we were staying in Hamburg. Well I still don’t remember anything. The lesson of this complete memory lapse is that Bremen deserves far, far more than a quick walk round and then jump back in the car…

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Mike Smith’s That’s Tripical travel blog

Mike Smith’s That’s Tripical travel blog

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Now first of all, the name, That’s Tripical. You will find there is nothing Typical about That’s Tripical. It might occasionally get Tropical. It will always be Topical. Over the days, weeks, months and, well let’s not push it, I’ll be sharing trip tales from near and far so fasten your seat belt, it could be a bumpy ride.